By Savanna Kiefer
Ever since the full prequel trilogy was released, fans have been debating whether or not George Lucas should make Episodes 7,8, and 9 to complete his story. Again, the fans are split on this topic and some want the Expanded Universe to be made in movie form while the other half just want to stick with the 6 films. I have very conflicting opinions about this subject but ultimately fall into the category of people who think that Episodes 1-6 should be the only Star Wars movies.
So let's start with the story line that Episodes 7-9 would contain. When I imagine possible Star Wars movies after the original trilogy, I automatically think of the Thrawn book series by Timothy Zahn. This is one of the most popular Expanded Universe stories and it's the one that fans want to see in movie form. If these three books were transformed into films, I honestly think that fans would be disappointed overall. The good portions of the movies would include Mara Jade, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and the entire plot that Zahn brought to life in the books. Mara is such a popular character among both men and women; I think that she would be great to watch. The same goes for Thrawn because he's such an interesting and diverse character. Lucas could hire any modern actress and actor to portray these characters. However, Mark Hamill is much too old to portray a middle aged Luke Skywalker. Therefore, Lucas would have to find another actor to play his part and who could imagine Luke Skywalker without Mark Hamill?! That would just be weird. There would also be the same situation in relation to our other beloved characters like Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Lando Calrissian. All of the original actors are in their latter years of life and definitely don't look as fresh as they did when Star Wars was first released.
With the modern animation technology, I'm sure that the effects and CGI characters would look spectacular but, there would be an awkward flow between the previous two trilogies. The original trilogy used technology from the 1970's-80's and the prequels used animation from the late 1990's to 2005. If you watch Episodes 1-6 in that order, there is already an odd movement from modern tech to older/dated methods. Creating Episodes 7-9 in current CGI techniques would just throw off the visual order even more.
Since the Thrawn trilogy is divided between three books, I'd expect that each book would be a movie. Whenever books are made into movies, the directors and producers are forced to cut some of the material in order to make a reasonably timed film. Depending on what scenes they would shorten or delete from the book, fans would probably be very upset and frustrated. It would be like the prequel hating all over again! It's not possible for George Lucas to legitimately please the fans anymore because we complain about every little thing. We already have too many divided fans due to the prequels and modified versions of the six films; any more change would just be horrible. Just imagine if Lucas decided to add any additional scenes or information that were not included in the books, just to shake things up. The fans would go completely ballistic!
In conclusion, the concept of George Lucas making Episodes 7-9 delights many Star Wars fans but, in the end, I think that the movies would just disappoint too many people and create mass chaos between the fan community. The saga is perfect just the way it is and I honestly think that Lucas (or any other writer/director for that matter) shouldn't make any more Star Wars films. Do you think that he should finish the story and make Episodes 7-9?
