Don’t Make ‘Episode VII’

I have a lot on my mind that I want to write about presently. I want to look at Samurai movies and which ones disfranchised Star Wars fans should look to for their mystical Jedi fix. I want to write about Crimson Empire and what is going wrong in Council of Blood. I want to throw down my ideas of areas the Expanded Universe could explore to remain fresh, and debate my personal theories on the fundamental flaws of the Jedi.

But I don’t have time to do any of that tonight. So in order to keep up my goal of regular posts, I’ll state one of my quick ideas. That being a plea to Disney. It’s simply this – please don’t make Episode VII.

Clarification: I’m not begging you to not make more Star Wars movies. Obviously. What I am asking is don’t give any of them specific numbers.

For good or bad, The Star Wars Saga is the primary work of George Lucas. His prints are all over it. Even though the quality varies, there is a consistency across the films. You can put imagery from The Phantom Menace alongside A New Hope and see it all fits. Yes, the vision may have changed over the years, but the final result is one story that – for all its faults – does work.

When looking back decades from now, I’d like those initial six movies to stand out from the countless sequels Disney is going to produce. They should be recognised as different, as a work from largely one individual.

So instead, I would politely request that Disney dispenses with the episodes and just makes Star Wars movies instead. If, for example, it were called Resurrection Of The Sith (ugh) the crawling text should simply have that in capitals before the first paragraph. Similar to how A New Hope first worked. Similar to every Star Wars video game released by Lucasarts.

I want to see more Star Wars movies. I really want to see more Star Wars movies with Luke Skywalker in. But I think it should be acknowledged the original six movies are something separate. Something different. And – though perhaps not good or great – something special and unique in cinema.