Star Wars Episode VII: A Brand New Hope

With the rights for the Star Wars franchise now firmly in Disney's hands and a new movie in the works, hundreds of us fanboys have been hoping and praying that, this time, finally, hopefully, our generation will have a trilogy that it can be proud of. Sure there are sceptics, people who have no faith in the House of Mouse and the team that our beloved franchise has been entrusted to, and at first I was one of them. But when JJ Abrams signed up as director I dared to hope. Here was a man who created Lost, in my opinion, the greatest tv show of all time. And with this new found hope I started imagining. Imagining a Star Wars that I wanted. Imagining who I did and didn't want to see, where I wanted to go and where I didn't, and what I wanted to happen in this new chapter. Here's what I came up with. First off, I'm not keen on seeing any Solos, Skywalkers or Organas. The Expanded Universe has covered the adventures of Luke Han and Leia and their descendants extensively and in truth I usually avoid these stories as they tend to interest me less. Also the fact that George Lucas has forbidden any writer from killing off any of the major characters from the original trilogy puts me off as there was always a lack of excitement for me. I know that whatever trouble they get in to, no matter how dangerous, they will survive it. Also in regard to the extended universe, the issue of maintaining the canon of these stories would, I feel be problematic for the writers. Let's not mess around here the extended universe has a huge fan base and writing a story which conflicts with anything that has already been established as canon by the EU is going to upset and annoy a lot of loyal fans. It may simply be that I feel that the inclusion of Luke and co. in the new trilogy wouldn't bring that much to the table. They've had their time in Tatooine's two suns, lets move on and tell someone else's story. Secondly I don't want to see the inclusion of any of the secondary characters who were constantly popping up in the prequel trilogies. Your C3P0s, your Chewbaccas and R2-D2s. Their presence in the prequels felt purely as though it were for nostalgic reasons. "Hey guys remember how awesome Bobba Fett was? Well guess what... Here's his pops"! It was poorly done. Chewie didn't bring anything to the films neither did threepio. So why drag them out again. If we want to relive our nostalgic memories of the characters from films gone by then I'm sure, in the age of bluray, Netflix, TiVo and Sky On Demand, that we will find a way. The third, and for me most important thing. Enough with the cutesy crap. I get that George Lucas aimed Star Wars at kids when A New Hope was released, but it feels now that the people who go to see these movies are adults. Hell, the kids who grew up with I, II and III as their trilogy have got to be in at least their teens by now. We've all grown up loving these films yet the films which we love still refuse to! We have the Clone Wars on Cartoon Network for the kids. Let the adults have a Star Wars that's more mature. More sophisticated. Without Ewoks or Gungans rearing their stupid, stupid heads. I want to see turmoil, I want to see tears. I want the good guy to lose every battle for the first two films, so that when the he eventually starts to overcome the evil he faces and begins winning, I actually want him to win.

The hugest disappointment of the prequels was that the bad guy never won (except for the end of Revenge of the Sith, but we knew that would happen anyway). We had Darth Maul, an amazing character, who would have easily carried the role of villain until Anakin turned to the dark side, but Obi Wan had to avenge Qui Gon. We didn't need Dooku. We certainly didn't need Greivous. But the bad guy kept on losing which resulted in an amazing character being replaced by a lesser one. Then he was killed off at the start of ROTS and what are we left with? An asthmatic half robot, half Krang for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! He's fine for the Clone Wars but for a movie we waited over 30 years for!? No way!

So let's hope that when we go into that cinema on the midnight premier of episode VII that this time we aren't disappointed. But with Disney at the helm the kids are probably still the priority. Maybe JJ Abrams can't resist doing what he did with Star Trek and having some form of original cast member show up. But maybe. Just maybe. This time they listen to the fans. The people who queue up for weeks to be the first in line. The people who risk ridicule on the bus in San Diego every year on the way to ComiCon. And that this time people will stand up and say that these three films are as good as, if not better than, the original trilogy. Help me Mickey Mouse, you're my only hope!