Anghus Houvouras thinks we need more Star Wars prequels…
My old friend, writer Dean Lines made a post on Twitter the other day that shook the foundation of everything I hold dear, all the way down to my midichlorians.
https://twitter.com/deanlines/status/898320728990171136
Dean’s sarcastic, venom laced tweet was the last straw in a never-ending stream of razor-sharp barbs hurled at the idea of more Star Wars prequels. No more Star Wars prequels, Mr. Lines? What else do you want to see end? Freedom? Democracy? Oxygen?
If anything we don’t have ENOUGH Star Wars prequels. Disney is only releasing one Star Wars movie per year. Does anyone really think that’s enough? Why is it we get two to three Marvel movies but only one visit to a Galaxy Far, Far Away per year? And don’t talk to me about video games or animated series. The only thing that counts is what’s on the big screen.
We need MORE Star Wars prequels. I won’t be satisfied until every single potential storyline between George Lucas’ prequel series and the Original Trilogy has been examined at a molecular level. The announcement that Disney is in the early stages of launching an Obi-Wan Kenobi is a nice move in the right direction. This year we’ll be gifted with Han Solo: A Star Wars Story. And of course there was 2016’s crowning achievement that was Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Rogue One set up a nice template for where these movies need to go. We need a painful level of examination on anything that happened, mentioned or referenced in the Original Trilogy. It’s not enough to know that the Death Star had an exploit that could be used to destroy it. We need to know HOW that exploit showed up in the first place. There’s potential drama in every single line of dialogue in the original Star Wars films. Like, what’s a nerf herder? I need to know. I need NERF HERDER: A Star Wars Story.
Or a character like IG-88. You know, the robot bounty hunter that appears for two minutes and 36 seconds in the Empire Strikes Back? What’s his story? I need a movie that gives me every ounce of his back story. In fact, let’s give every single bounty hunter that appears in that scene a movie. Why just Boba Fett: A Star Wars Story? How about Bossk: A Star Wars Story followed six months later by Dengar: A Star Wars Story? Remember that game of holographic monster chess they played on the Millennium Falcon? Who invented that? What’s that guys story? Who designed the Stormtrooper uniforms?
Is there a division of the Empire that is solely dedicated to fashion design? That’s a movie just waiting to be made. You’re leaving untold BILLIONS on the table Disney.
You know what, Mr. Lines, the world does need more Star Wars prequels. As many as Disney can churn out. There are thousands of unemployed directors whose first movie just premiered at Sundance. These guys need to work, at least until you decide you don’t like what they’re doing with the material and replace them with Ron Howard.
So let’s stop pretending that the world is over-saturated with Star Wars and get to putting out some Star Wars movies that really get into the granular minutia of A Galaxy Far, Far Away.
Anghus Houvouras
Originally published August 18, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
