When Vader Met Mickey

One of the biggest pieces of news to hit the pipeline in... well, almost EVER has been this week's acquisition of LucasFilm by Disney. George Lucas, notorious for wanting to keep STAR WARS fresh and yet retain control over the property sold it along with his production company (and it's holdings Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), and LucasArts, not to mention INDIANA JONES if they can work out a deal with Paramount) to the House Of Mouse. It makes sense, as I've previously blogged on, Lucas never really seemed to like being a business man anyway. Now he can sit back and retire and dabble and go back to making films like clouds in the desert like when he was at USC. Oh, and the fact that Disney paid $4.05 BILLION doesn't hurt either. If that wasn't enough of an announcement to reel from, came the immediate follow up, that Disney plans STAR WARS: Episode VII and it will be released in 2015.

The silence you heard was thousands of fan boy hearts as they skipped a beat.

More STAR WARS?

I can honestly say I'm torn on the issue, something I never expected to be. STAR WARS without George? Yes, he's remaining as a "creative consultant" and yes, he's passed on notes and story ideas to Kathleen Kennedy, who will take over the day to day operations at LucasFilm. But will he still have a hand in it? And after what many fans consider to be the disastrous prequels, should he? And quite honestly, I was ready for STAR WARS to be done. It had been a good ride, it was a lot of fun, and then it was over. Sad, but okay, all things come to an end. I had made my peace with it. Suddenly I have to readjust that position.

Then there's the Disney factor. Yes, Disney has done good recently by acquiring Pixar, and then keeping out of their way, allowing the studio to do what it does best in putting out quality films. They've done the same with Marvel, and we got THE AVENGERS. And, they just revamped THE MUPPETS, which was beyond awesome. But, they've also been a little lackluster on the Sci-Fi end. Historically, Disney doesn't do science fiction, and when they do it ends poorly. Yes, they have TRON and TRON LEGACY to point to, but TRON didn't start off as a classic, it attained that status after years, and Legacy wasn't exactly the home run we were hoping for. Anyone remember THE BLACK HOLE (which was in and of itself a poorly done STAR WARS rip off?) And then there's JOHN CARTER, which I understand isn't too bad a film, but it was advertised so badly it just proves the studio doesn't know what to do with these properties.

But now they've got the big enchilada. As if to say, "We really cant do good Sci-Fi, lets go out and get some. And if we're gonna do that, let's get the biggest property around." Don't get me wrong, it could be phenomenal. They could get a great script together and give it too... oh, I dunno, how 'bout wunderkid and AVENGERS director Joss Whedon? Think he'd know what to do with STAR WARS?

That sound you just heard was thousands of fan boy hearts skipping another beat.

But then again, it could be the next BATTLEFIELD EARTH.

And that sound you just heard, was millions of voices as they cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

Sorry kids, but until I know more, I've resigned myself to being cautiously optimistic.