Did The Sequel Trilogy Always Exist?

karaokeman

Ok first of all I know there is a thread here about the upcoming Disney-Lucasfilm trilogy (Episodes VII-IX), but I saw this on other forums and wanted to post one here to discuss my (somewhat controversial) views.

I was talking to my friend last night who although she may be a huge SW fan is not looking forward to the new films. The two of us disagree on this, but personally I think that the ST always existed, and that Lucas' line SW was "the story of Darth Vader" was rubbish, it was an excuse to quit when he realized nine films was too ambitious.

I was not surprised at all with the announcement on October 30, mainly because I was always aware of these rumours.

I was reading "The Complete History of the Sequel Trilogy" (http://www.secrethistoryofstarwars.com/completehistoryofthesequeltrilogy.html), and in this article, Michael Kaminski looked at the evidence since the 1970s, of all the instances where Lucas did indeed state that SW was meant to be a 9-part saga and he was starting with the middle trilogy.

He ended ROTJ in a way it could have been the final film just in case he got sick of it by the time the prequels were completed, though it was still well documented at the time this movie would complete the "middle trilogy".

Even Steven Spielberg said as late as 1999 "George always wanted to make nine. He wanted to make the first three, then he wanted to make the prequels to that, then he wanted to make the last three. And that was something that was part of his concept".

I just can't bring myself to believe Lucas' claim that VII, VIII and IX were originally media creations, when he has lied so many times in the past about Greedo shooting first, that he made SW for kids, the list is endless. The claims he had been hit by for years were based on many of the statements outlined in Kaminski's article, because Lucas gave people reason to believe he always had these movies in mind, they might have been vague for a long time, but it did cross his mind since the early days.

I also like the idea now that SW will be a trilogy of trilogies. I could never imagine it as a 6-part saga because for me that would make it seem like two parts of the same drama, having a third trilogy makes the saga feel more like an epic.

henryporter

I was only a young buck when Episode IV was released but even then I remember hearing that the movie was part of a greater plan to release nine in total.

thegreatiam

my mother told me when i was a kid the reason it was started on number 4 was it was part of 9 movies and that the other movies were being released later. So I think she probably heard the same information back in the 80's.

salacious crumb

As far as I know, there was a 2/3 page treatment for the third trilogy, several eople claim to have seen these treatments, and allegedly Lucas outlined his ideas for these movies when he sold to Disney.

There is a long rumoured "Journal of the Whills", which doesn't actually exist, but is supposed to be the basis of the whole nine stories.

the_monkey

I remember reading an article in Empire back in 1997 when the originals were re-released that Star Wars is a trilogy of trilogies, and George Lucas took the middle 3 as he thought this was the best part of the story.

How developed they were at that stage, who knows ??

I doubt George Lucas will have much input to the new films.

redbaron_99

I think the new trilogy, and the supposed spin-offs, will be the final nails in the coffin for Star Wars. It's been dying a death for many years now.

redbaron_99

Just like this thread.

Mickalus

redbaron_99 wrote: »

I think the new trilogy, and the supposed spin-offs, will be the final nails in the coffin for Star Wars. It's been dying a death for many years now.

No way!
It's one of those things that is so well merchandised and promoted that it's nowhere near dying a death.

You read any EU stuff? have you seen what's available?
Clone Wars cartoons, Lego, Computer games, regular old action figures, comics, board games ... the list goes on.

If the new set of Movies are decent, then they're likely to be up there with the best of them in terms of box office success.

irishthump

the_monkey wrote: »

I remember reading an article in Empire back in 1997 when the originals were re-released that Star Wars is a trilogy of trilogies, and George Lucas took the middle 3 as he thought this was the best part of the story.

How developed they were at that stage, who knows ??

I doubt George Lucas will have much input to the new films.

The trouble is Lucas has changed his story so many times over the years! Personally I don't think he envisaged a 9 movie story arc at all. I'll go one further and don't think he even had a concrete idea for a trilogy when he made Star Wars in 1977.

slave1

The first 6 are the story of Anakin to Vader and (briefly) back to Anakin again and I see them as now complete.
The next 3 will always be separate to me unless they do the whole ready-brek glow to Anakin...

Wedwood

After Star Wars became a phenomena in 1977, I remember reading at the time Lucas had ideas for 12 movies, not just 9.

The 'Episode 4' subtitle was added later in 1977 after the movie became the massive hit.

I think Lucas just jumped on the bandwagon by stating he had all these other movies up his sleeve to generate demand, which in fairness worked spectacularly, as we're still going on about it nearly 40 years later!!!