You May Be Luke's Father, But Now Mickey Is Your Daddy!

Tuesday my friend Amanda Belle Starr asked me to write a piece for her site:  amanadabellestar.com.  It happened to be the day the Disney/Lucasfilm merger was announced . . . 
 

This afternoon I got a strange email from Amanda “Belle” Starr.  It read:  “Do you want to write something about Disney buying Lucasfilm?”

To which I responded:  “Sure.  Wait . . . WHAT?!?!  That happened???”

Pesky day job gets in the way again!  But I soon caught up on today’s big Disney news.  In a deal valued at over $4 Billion (with a B) George Lucas turned the keys to the Empire over to the Kingdom.

The minute I read it, I got chills.  And the strangest thing is I don’t know why.  To be honest, I’m not that big of a Star Wars fan.  I’ve seen the flicks and liked about half of them.  In fact according to most hyper-Star Wars fans I like all the wrong ones.  I loved the third one, Jedi, which is somehow of course the sixth. And I thought the last one, Revenge of the Sith, somehow the third movie (man my head hurts) was completely satisfying. How Anakin Skywalker went from whiny, emo white kid to James Earl Jones I’ll never understand, but otherwise a solid origin story!

I’ve never read any of the litany of Star Wars novels (whether they’re canon or not.)  I don’t watch the Clone Wars, nor do I have a box of action figures stashed away in the basement for the kids’ college fund.  I do have some Star Wars Legos – I never said I’m not a geek, just not a Star Wars geek!  But I couldn’t tell you if Han shot first if my life (or Greedo’s) depended on it.

I owe more of what I know about the galaxy far, far away to Kevin Smith than I do George Lucas. But I’ve always respected the worlds and creatures that Lucas created.  His alien characters are some of the most memorable in cinematic history and have inspired generations of artists, like myself.  Just like Disney.

Where the mighty chinless one always fell short for me was in the story department. His plots are pretty infantile and yet sometimes so pointless they become impossible to follow.  And as a director, I sometimes wondered if he even watched the performers in the monitor or was too busy signing advanced licensing deals.  No offense, but that Hayden Christensen was about as emotive as a hermit crab.  And I mean no offense to hermit crabs!

Perhaps that’s why I see this as such a brilliant move.  Disney believes story is most important.  At Disney, be it the studios, parks, stores, or even the office bathrooms, everything tells a story.  I’m guessing on one of those!

According to Tony Baxter, Lucas once said “if I couldn’t have done it on my own, the only company I would have trusted with was Disney.” Today he put his money where his mouth . . . well, he actually took their money and put it where his . . . their . . .you know what I mean!

Lucas states he wants to retire but wants to see the universe he created carry on. Quite a switch from the guy who said after Sith there’d never be another Star Wars.  One wonders if all the criticism of the prequels finally got to him. One also wonders if all those zeroes on the check got to him!

Disney has announced the seventh Star Wars is already in the works.  We don’t know the current stage, but are told Lucas handed over 3 complete treatments for Episodes 7, 8, and 9, and it’s widely speculated they will continue the stories of Han, Luke, and Leia.  Whether the original cast will be reprise them remains to be seen.  Mark Hammill would be great as the elder Obi Wan-like leader of the reborn Jedi.  And everybody loves Harrison Ford’s Han Solo . . . and he knows.  God forbid they take the Hollywood route replacing Han with a Robert Pattinson-type or Leia with Kristen “I’m always constipated” Stewart.

Beyond the obvious stories, imagine the cornucopia of stories that could be expanded on in the Star Wars universe.  An entire film franchise based on the exploits of badass bounty hunter Boba Fett!  I’d like to see the story of the completely underused Sith Lord, Darth Maul.  Who was he?  Where did he come from?  Was he really red with black spots, or black with red spots?

Disney has the resources and creative teams to make expand these stories and a million more.  And as for the Disney parks, forget about it!  Yes, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is already Star Wars heavy.  CEO Bob Iger implied that the parks will play a large role in this acquisition.  The rumors of a Star Wars theme park have flown around the galaxy for years.  While that seems like a risky move to me, an entire Star Wars Land somewhere seems plausible and exciting and now, more likely.  As long as it doesn’t screw up any possible Marvel additions!  Though I’ve officially accepted we can kiss Pandora goodbye!

Whatever happens from here, this deal ensures that the Star Wars legacy, were it ever in any kind of trouble, will endure for generations to come.  Judging by my own inexplicable excitement, it seems very likely Disney taking the controls of the Millennium Falcon will bring a whole new fan base … to the rebel base!  See what I did there?

Punch it, Goofy!