Star Wars Live Action TV Show

As December 18th approaches, I have decided to write a few more articles concerning Star Wars. It has long been my opinion that Star Wars should go to TV in a big way. I was not myself a big fan of the Clone Wars series for several reasons that I will not go into here, but I have enjoyed what I have seen of the new cartoon show Rebels. Star Wars still needs to branch out more into television. A few cartoon shows is not enough. We need a live action Star Wars TV show. George Lucas apparently did plan on giving us one back in the day. It was called Star Wars: Underworld. They even apparently wrote some scripts for this show, and Ronald D. Moore (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica) was one of the writers. In this article though, I would like to somewhat spitball another idea for a TV show that goes in a totally different direction.

I have heard many people complain that the problem with a live action Star Wars TV show would be the special effects. Now, I myself am not convinced that this would be a problem. It would mainly be dependent on how much of a budget Disney would be willing to give such an enterprise and how big the scope of the show would be. Basically, I don’t think that people should be looking for a Star Wars movie level experience every episode. However, I would rather just do away with that problem all together.

My brother and I were talking recently, and the topic turned to Star Wars, specifically a live action Star Wars TV show. Do you know what we realized? There is a lot of time to draw from in Star Wars. One could have the show follow soldiers in the Clone Wars. It could follow Rebels in the time in between. It could focus on smugglers or bounty hunters. It could even focus on the history of Star Wars. What would happen if the show were to take a step back into the history of Star Wars? What if it were to take place before The Republic and before the Jedi? What if it were in fact to be concerned with the founding of the Jedi?

Now, my brother and I as we often do when we follow into such discussion actually came up with an idea for a show. Mind you, it is a very bare bones idea, but it would be about the founding of the Jedi. After all, there has not been a lot done with this even in the EU as far as I know. The oldest stories that I can think of still take place a long time after the Jedi Order is founded, and they were written by Kevin J. Anderson so we really should just disregard them. They touch a little bit on it in the MMORPG The Old Republic on Tython, but I really think that that is it. This story would all start in a small town on a frontier world. At this point, I would like you to think Wild West Star Wars style.

A long, long time ago, I thought that sci fi westerns were a dumb idea. Then I watched Firefly. This of course convinced me that the genre of sci fi had a whole lot more to offer than just Star Wars and Star Trek, both of which I love. So I ask that you bear with me as a describe an idea for a Star Wars Western.

The story would of course focus on a Force Sensitive living on this frontier planet. The one thing that I will suggest in regards to the planet is that we not have it be Tatooine. Nothing against Tatooine, but we have a whole galaxy of planets to choose from. Not everything has to happen on Tatooine. The planet though should be rugged and untamed like the wild west. The main character would either be the sheriff of the town, or the sheriff of the town would be corrupt and the main antagonist. If the main character is the sheriff, then he is most likely at odds with a group of bandits and outlaws possibly funded by some corrupt individual.

Obviously, throughout the show, the tension between the protagonist and antagonist will build. There will be robberies, murders, and the like. The protagonist will feel helpless, but the Force will of course be guiding him to his great destiny. A challenge will be given for a show down, and the protagonist will know that he has no chance of victory.

However in the show the protagonist will often be seen at times to be working on developing a new type of weapon. As the showdown draws nigh, the Force guides him to build the first lightsaber. He strolls out to face his opponents. They surround him. The screen fades to black, and the snap hiss of lightsaber turning on is heard.

One of the things that I really like about this idea is that it gives a lot of room to maneuver. We know that by the time of The Phantom Menace, the Jedi have evolved into this stodgy old order of monks, but the founders of the order do not all have to be that way. Even with the main character, one could go in several directions. He could be a wise cracking roguish fellow like Han Solo, an utter and complete scoundrel, who doesn’t fight fair. On the other hand, he could also be the noble and stoic sheriff defending his people and doing his duty. Either way would produce an excellent character if done right. He could even be a bit of a mix of the two as well. The main point is that he doesn’t have to be simply a sword wielding philosopher monk, who thinks emotion is bad.

This leads us to a very important thing that needs to be touched upon if Disney is to do a live action Star Wars TV show. Who should be in charge of the show? I of course would have several ideas in this particular direction. There is always that great option of Joss Whedon. I can not think of a show that he has made that I have not liked. Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and even Dollhouse were all good. Give him a decent budget, and he could make an awesome Star Wars show. After all, he did make one of the best sci fi westerns that I can think of. Another option of course would be Ronald D. Moore. This is the man that made one of the Syfy Channels best and most successful shows. Now, I know that making the best show for that particular channel is not hard, yet Battlestar Galactica was breathtaking. The third option that I would personally float is J. J. Abrams. He will of course already be well connected to the new Star Wars canon after he finishes Episode VII. I believe any of these three would make an excellent Star Wars show.

Alright, obviously that story would need a lot of fleshing out to actually make even one season of a TV show. Of course, I would envision the description above being the first season. If Disney were to pursue something like this, I would also suggest that they do something like what Marvel is doing with the Defenders. They should have some lead up shows dealing with different founders of the order, one of whom is this sheriff guy. Then they should bring them all together in one ultimate team up show.

The main reason I wrote this article though was not to give Disney ideas as I sincerely doubt they are reading my hubpage, and if they are then might I just say, “Hello, do you have any jobs available?” In all seriousness though, I mainly wrote this article to respond to those people