Originally published at: There's a new Star Wars project from Damon Lindelof in the works | Boing Boing
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The story line is easy - rebels blow up even bigger planet killer based on a even bigger round object with a flaw that allows a single fighter to blow it up from the inside.
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So tell us what you really think about Disney-era Star Wars, @dnealy.
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Nothing could match the horrendousness of the Lord of the Ring Rings Ring that Amazon just produced, nothing?
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Although it hasn’t been a complete catastrophe, calling Disney’s management of the Star Wars franchise a success would be gloriously disingenuous.
I’m not sure I follow. By most accounts, Disney has made a profit from their purchase of LFL. At its core, that alone is a “success” for them as a for profit company.
But, even seen through a less mercenary lens, they’ve managed to produce 4 generally well regarded films --including one that seems to receive near-universal acclaim (“Rogue One”), managed to make Star Wars on TV a reality (when even George couldn’t manage to make that happen), and kept interest high throughout. All while maintaining a carefully curated Canon. I don’t see how that isn’t “a success”. Failings in “the new Star Wars” to be considered bad is a tale as old as time (vis a vis the reception to “Phantom Menace” in 1999).
Ever since Disney got their mitts on George Lucas’s sci-fi cash cow
Huh? George chose to sell LFL, and picked Disney to sell it to. There’s a weird presumption in your choice of wording here.
the studio has been seemingly intent on cutting as many corners as possible in its attempts to profit off Star Wars.
Such as? Your examples below don’t actually seem to support the premise of cutting corners (more on that in a moment). And to the contrary, they have invested in new filmmakers, throwing gobs of money at them rather than always using known quantities. They continued to allow at least the Skywalker saga to travel the world to film “on location”, building effectively an entire city in the desert to shoot TRoS; no cheep undertaking, and something they could’ve insisted be done in CG instead. They’ve invented/invested in brand new technology (“the Volume”) to make The Mandalorian, etc, etc. Not to mention there are no visual indicators in the actual output of cost cutting.
From creating a sequel trilogy without a concrete plan in place…
Um, both Original Trilogy and the Prequel Trilogy went into production without a “concrete plan”. The stories moved and morphed and changed as the production effort went on.
to failing to reunite Luke, Leia, and Han in at least one scene.
I guess I can’t really argue against this, though I also don’t know that it wasn’t potentially in the cards until Carrie Fisher died.
Disney has botched the Star Wars brand so badly that the company has been actively rehabbing the property for years.
Huh? (See above)
Do I think everything in the Disney-era is complete gold? Of course not. Are there bits and bobs I don’t like? Sure. But I can also say the same of the original six flicks, large swaths of the old EU, etc, etc.
I can see disliking some (or perhaps all) of the Disney-era Star Wars, but to paint it as some sort of slip-shod, mercenary, mismanaged mess seems extraordinarily hyperbolic at the least.
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Same here, I’m adequately satisfied with Disney’s efforts. The sequel movies were acceptable, not as good as the original trilogy, but a whole lot better than the prequels. The series shows are where Disney is doing a really good job; I’ve become a fan of Dave Filoni’s work.
We’ve also been enjoying Amazon’s interpretation of Silmarillion tales in the Rings of Power series, possibly more than Peter Jackson’s LoTR which felt like the books were being rushed through and missing the character development.
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The primary flaw for the sequel trilogy was putting J.J. Abrams in charge and not demanding that someone flesh out the full story arc before they started filming. Abrams is notorious for setting up what first appear to be intriguing mysteries only to reveal he doesn’t have any more idea what’s going on than anyone else.
As for the rest of the Disney Star Wars stuff…
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That is a very good, and accurate critique, IMO.
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Disney Star Wars has been hit or miss for me. I don’t hate every project, but I don’t love them all either. Rogue One, Star Wars Visions, and The Mandalorian were awesome, but I wasn’t too smitten with everything else.
I’m also not the best person to serve as a litmus test for the quality of Star Wars material.
I’m a Star Trek and Doctor Who guy. I dig Star Wars, but I’m an ULTRA casual. I just know that compared to Marvel’s success next door, Disney isn’t too happy with how their investment in Star Wars has shaken out thus far.
That’s what I mean when I say Disney’s run with Star Wars hasn’t been successful. I’m gauging it by their metric, not my own.
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Maybe that’s because you’re limiting yourself to the cinematic end of things, but now there are physical experiences available too. You gotta join @jlw for a boozy drink at the cantina at Disneyland then go for a ride on Rise of the Resistance. (On second thought, maybe not in that order.)
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Alias, Lost … I cringe now when I see that something is a J.J. Abrams project. He has great ideas, and no follow through.
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This is the Way.
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A given: New small and cuddly alien creatures for the plushie and action-figure market.
… as long as we all change our definition of “television” to include internet videos 
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lol, fair enough.
Lindelof is no better. His name on a project is plenty sufficient to turn me off it, ever since the stinking turd that is Prometheus.
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I mainly object to him not caring about how an existing world works. (Rian Johnson had this problem too.) Abrams broke a lot of the logic of the Star Wars universe and made it more like a Marvel movie. Like in Star Trek, he was good a freshening up the look of things while leaving it tied enough to the past not to piss off fans… but other than that, his stories sucked.
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Glad to see that I wasn’t the only one to instantly think of that new beach planet with EDM music as “Space Florida.”
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