Can This Guy Save the New 'Star Wars'?
A certain subset of nerds can possibly breathe a sigh of relief. While we (yes, sigh, we) Star Wars geeks may still be balking at the general idea of three impending sequels to the original trilogy, at least Lucasfilms (now owned by Disney) has hired an old pro to write two of the movies. (Toy Story 3 scribe Michael Arndt is still on tap to write the first in the trilogy.) Lawrence Kasdan, co-writer of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, has been brought aboard to help write the new films. Which is good news, hopefully. Of course George Lucas was Kasdan's cowriter on those films, and George Lucas went on to write and direct the harrowingly awful prequel films, so these new movies could still be a disaster — maybe Kasdan has spoiled the way Lucas did. But hopefully it is a step in the right direction. Another writer named Simon Kinberg has also been hired, and he has experience writing and producing on the X-Men: First Class films, so that might bode well, too?
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Look, there's no complaining or fretting in the world that can stop these things from happening, so maybe we should just go with it and let them come and try to stay optimistic as possible. Of course the prequels have scarred us all for life — those are hours and brain cells and hopes and dreams that we can never get back — but we have to look forward now. Literally! We're now dealing with the post-Empire world, which hopefully won't include boring preamble about trade federations and senate disputes. And with old timer Kasdan signed on, maybe we'll get some of that old pep and scrappiness back. None of the sleek, robotic nonsense of Episodes I-III. Let's get back to the grainy, derring-do stuff. We need a Han Solo, not just a bunch of boring, pious Jedi monks. So come on, Kasdan. You can do it! And Mr. Lucas, hopefully you will have the wisdom to let him do it.
