Remember when Star Wars was awesome? When it owned the sci-fi genre and had the most devoted fans in the world, including its own legion of real storm troopers?
And then came the prequels… and then The Clone Wars…
This is where a big portion of the fans of old lost interest, where many became angry at George Lucas for what happened with Star Wars and more recently with Indiana Jones. While there were a billion different overpriced toys to buy from for the franchise from a million different Star Wars toy lines, the franchise was heading in the wrong direction.
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To me, Star Wars was no longer the cool thing and it was no longer exciting… How could that possibly happen? I used to love it! The prequels were dumbed down and not as respected as the originals, changes were continually being made to the originals for a dozen different variations of the DVD sets, most of the video games were weak and the obvious focus and effort was placed on merchandising which was getting out of hand. It had become an absurd case of quantity over quality in all facets of the Star Wars business model.
What interesting timing for Star Wars to fall a few notches in the minds of many fans, as Star Trek began to make its triumphant return with J.J. Abrams leading the charge. And to the pleasant surprise of moviegoers around the world, the movie was a smashing success critically and financially. Trek had stepped up to re-claim the sci-fi throne from the faltering Star Wars (we’re talking movies here).
One of the bright spots in all of this for Star Wars was its two amazing Knights of the Old Republic video games which brought Star Wars to a new era, with a strong story based 4,000 years in the past. The games won major awards (including game of the year for the first), were critically acclaimed and everyone seemingly loved them. It was even rumored that they might make a film based on the first game. It’s funny that the only good games we had seen in the franchise in such a long while had to distance themselves as far as possible away from where the movies had gone -- We also saw this with The Force Unleashed.
While gamers waited eagerly for a third installment in that franchise on the new generation of video game consoles, we were instead given news that the next game made by Bioware (the electronic entertainment company behind KOTR) would instead be an MMO (massively multiplayer online game like World of Warcraft) and the trailer for it debuted not long ago.
John over at The Movie Blog picked up on the trailer for this game and made a great point – If the prequels were anything like this, everyone would be a lot happier, and the state of Star Wars a lot different.
You must watch this video and see how awesome it is:
Imagine a movie like that? Instead, the recent Star Wars films targeted children in a dumb way. People of all ages loved the original trilogy movies without having overly childish moments, characters and dialogue – why do it like that now?
Anyways, instead of a movie like what we see in that trailer, we got this:
… and this:
We got ripped off.
What do you think of this trailer and where do you see the future of Star Wars heading?
Source: The Movie Blog
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71 Comments
This game looks utterly insane. I saw the trailer for it two days ago and when that shuttle door opened and all those red lightsabers lit up i knew it was on.
I liked all six films, but yeah this would sooo much better.
Agree completely with everything in this post. Ever since the first prequel (or maybe the special edition re-releases of the late 90’s), I’ve hated Star Wars. Now with just this little clip, I’m on board again. If they made a movie like this then all would be forgiven.
and Bioware stated aT E3 that “the old Republic” would be the 1st Fully Voiced(voice acted) Game using over a thousand Voice acting roles, and over a Million Lines of diologe.
the Guys at BiaWare are commited.
and thats why many fans like me Love KOTOR.
lol Rob, still going with his “Star Trek reclaiming the sci-fi mantle’” claims, on the basis of one NEW movie.
I liked the third prequel and the second was almost good IMO, but the first wasn’t really at all. I think that any Star Wars movie though with a fight sequence like the one seen in that trailer would have been a better movie just for including that fight.
Don’t mean to be an uber-nerd here, but the Knights of the Old Republic games take place roughly 3-4,000 years before The Skywalker storyline…
that trailer was far awsome. it looks more real then any of the prequels, it was also far better then any scene from the prequels. I hope that bioware would make a movie or tirogy based on the events before and after this trailer.You can barley tell its animated at all. Only when they do close-ups on the face.The story sounds great ill definatly get the game. Also i loved the first 2 Kotor games.
If this new game is extremly sucsesful like it predicesers i wouldnt be surprised to see some movies.in fact id love to see some.
Where do I see the ‘future’ of Star Wars heading?….No where, it’s over.
The fact is, Lucas doesn’t give a rats behind what we want or think. He honestly believes he did a great job with all 3 prequels, including the last Indy abomination.
That, his age and the fact that the story is told means he isn’t planning on giving the audience anything but what he already has, which is what HE wanted all along.
It’s done. All we’re gonna get from here on out is animated little shorts and possibly an animated t.v. series at best.
That trailer ROCKED! Thanks for posting.
When it comes to the games, the two Knights of the Old Republics were rich in story and graphics, but the game play was horrible. Battle Front was the best selling Star Wars game and Battle Front II was even better than it’s predecessor.
The Old Republic, however, looks like it’s going to blow them all away. An in depth story (KOTRs) combined with great game play (The Force, The Force Unleashed, BFs) should make for an awesome MMO. Perhaps this will bring Star Wars back to prominence.
Eh, or so I thought. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and apparently LEGO Star Wars sold more than Battlefront.
“Republic Commando” would have been a cool film,,,
Anyone play that one?
I think George Lucas was trying to clone the prequels from “Howard the Duck movie”… and succeeded in the effort too.. LOL
(IMO) Would it be fair to say that of the 6 Star Wars movies, the best one was NOT directed by Georgie? Hmm…
I can only hope one day Star Wars is revamped like the new Star Trek, and this game looks amazing. Though, I’m not much for MMO’s. Anyone else think that villain is modeled after Vader when he has half his helmet off?
And what’s this?! When was a KOTOR movie rumored, Rob?! And why the hell didn’t they go through with it?!
While the trailer hard rocks like a pile of granite, I can’t say I’d like to see a movie done like this. The absolute LAST thing the Star Wars franchise needs is an overblown all wire-work and CGI matrix-style fight fest (most especially if Lucas were personally involved which he would be in his never-ending quest to push the envelope of special effects). That certainly would lead to the DARK SIDE (meaning the complete and total death of the franchise which is currently breathing harder than Vader in an NYC marathon).
Simply put, that’s Star Wars. For me, the prequels were “Star Wars plays politics,” with a bit of action thrown in. That trailer was the aspect of struggle we all care about. It is a shame it’s an MMO though, because I won’t play it. Good thing I can watch the trailer as many times as I may like.
@ arrell,
Nope, it’s not based on one movie. Star Wars earns much more $$ as a brand across many forms of media and product. It’s based on the general feeling about the franchise. Many feel negative or nothing at all for Star Wars nowadays, most feel positive about Trek.
It’s about what’s the best Sci-Fi out there in terms of movies and what people want to see next.
I should point out that I enjoyed Ep.1 and thought Maul was one of the best parts of that. I didn’t like Ep.2 but I did like Ep.3.
@ Adam Frazier,
You’re right, thanks for the correction – It’s based 4000 BBY as they say (BBY = Before the Battle of Yavin)
All I feel is utter disapointment knowing what could have been.
Nice to see Star Wars less childish (trailer = very interesting). I must add though, that I did like the 3 prequels, only for different reasons than the older 3. I find it funny to see most people bash jar-jar binks. I actually thought he was hilarious.
DonIsGood, quite right. The best is Empire.
This is what I was hoping for when the prequels came. Full on Sith vs Jedi battles. But no.
Sorry, but there were emberassing moments in the first three films. Return of the Jedi? Georges first real jump into catering to the little kids. His original plan was for Endor to be all Wookies (which would have rocked) but instead he had a pander siezure and we ended up with the ewoks.
To this day, when I watch Jedi I skip everything Endor and focus on Luke, the Emperor and Vader.
This clip looks absolutely amazing and I, for one, would watch this as a CG flick as long as an excellent story backed up this kind of action.
That Sith looked exactly like Darth vader but without the helmet. So it wasn’t Darth vader?
I think it looks amazing.
The Ewoks were a little silly, yes, but having primitive natives be the key to overthrowing a galactic empire was a great story twist. If there was Wookies there instead, would we really have bought the whole Empire ignoring the “harmless” native storyline?
Trailer was very cool, by the way. Brought back a little of the old, “I’m watching Star Wars” feeling. Something sadly lacking in any but the first 3 movies.
Rob, I wouldn’t say that star wars was not scifi, it was more fantasy, like Flash Gordon which is what Lucas was trying to do.
Real Sci-Fi is Babylon 5,thats where its at!
This is insane! Why is a game better than the movie?! Lucas, get off your butt and listen to the people! That clip was amazing!
And yes, the best part of Ep 1 was the fight with Darth Maul.
Check out the Legacy comic series, the Fate of the Jedi novels, this MMO game, and the Clone Wars series to see where Star Wars is headed … those three things are the main storytelling engines for Star Wars at this point. There are a few others, but I think these are a combination of what is most popular with the fanbase as a whole and what Lucas himself wants to see.
In terms of whether what’s in that trailer would have made a better movie than the prequels … sure, that’s what everyone was expecting — good movies in a conventional sense. It’s obvious now that none of us truly anticipated a full-on 1930’s Flash Gordon treatment of the plot and dialogue, particularly since we’d had years of straight-up novels and comics to immerse ourselves and our expectations in. To his credit, Mr. Lucas did indeed produce the best 1930’s Flash Gordon-esque movies ever … unfortunately, that means they are inherently not like what we’re used to — what they could have been. Which is a shame, from a fan’s perspective (or would that be, “from a certain point of view?”).
As far as where Star Wars as a franchise is headed … I’ve really not been happy with the direction they took with the original trilogy characters … starting with the whole Yuuzong Vong storyline and the decisions that were made there … from a writer’s perspective, I understand why they made these choices, but from a fan’s perspective, it feels like they have undermined the original intent and feel of the classic trilogy in the name of trying to provide new stories. Probably, I’m in the minority, but I think Luke and the others should have gotten their happy ending and give the Galaxy a new Golden Age for their sacrifice and heroism. In other words, I would have rather seen the New Republic defeat the Empire once and for all, have a decisive end to the series, and then do the Vong or Legacy reboot and tear up the old galaxy. So, the upshot is that I don’t buy the new books anymore, and just kind of check in on what’s happening there every once in a while.
As far as the Clone Wars series goes, I’ve learned to enjoy it for what it is … sure, it could be better, but they still do some interesting and entertaining things on occasion.
I expect the new live action series to be tailored for the same audience as the Legacy comic series … since it’s rumored to focus on the grey, murky areas of the Star Wars galaxy — bounty hunters and the fringe element (I know, Legacy does have the larger galaxy in view, but the main character is a Jedi-turned bounty hunter, and we get lots of focus on the fringe). Again, very popular, just not really my cup of tea.
From what I can see, they’re going to continue to put out “original trilogy” novels and comics intermittantly, but the focus is shifting to the KOTOR, Clone Wars, and post-Vong invasion eras.
I’ve delved into the KOTOR era a few times, and though the new imagery is great, I still haven’t really found anything there that grabs me. Lots of potential, though.
SK-47 said,
“June 5th, 2009
Real Sci-Fi is Babylon 5,thats where its at!”
Agreed, wholeheartedly! Though even B5 tried to ruin itself with Crusade.
Never been a fan of Star Wars (I would’ve been if I was born 2 decades earlier) but I gotta say, I got goosebumps watching that trailer. VERY exciting, the whole thing.
I do agree that the prequels were some of the worst big budget movies ever made. The dialogue is borderline reta*ded.
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