Star Wars 7-9 why didn’t they plan?

[Esceptico]

I am genuinely puzzled by what Disney did with Star Wars. They knew before filming episode 7 that there was going to be a trilogy. They had a huge budget. Why didn’t they write all three films at the beginning so that there was a coherent story? Surely they could have found someone who understood the original three films and who could sympathetically extend the series, remaining true to the spirit and lore of the originals whilst taking SW in a new direction. Why was that too hard?

[RobDickinson]

They gave the director of 8 too much power and leeway.

He fked it up I assume because he hates the franchise.

[Tycho]

RobDickinson said:

They gave the director of 8 too much power and leeway.

He fked it up I assume because he hates the franchise.

They also appointed a head of Lucasfilm that hates men and that influenced the stories as well.

[Tyre Smoke]

Excuse the derailment.

Not being a massive fan, I'm now very confused as to how to binge watch Star Wars. As I understand it, the first film was actually the third part, and there was at least one prequel but that came out after parts four and possibly five? Then all the later stuff is sequels?

Could someone please help?

[anonymous-user]

Tyre Smoke said:

Could someone please help?

Apparently it goes:

Solo
The Phantom Menace
Attacks of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
Rogue One
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
Rise of Skywalker.

If you’re binge watching over Christmas do it right though:
Die Hard
Die Hard
Die Hard
Die Hard
The Empire Strikes Back
Die Hard
Die Hard
Die Hard

[rider73]

Esceptico said:

I am genuinely puzzled by what Disney did with Star Wars. They knew before filming episode 7 that there was going to be a trilogy. They had a huge budget. Why didn’t they write all three films at the beginning so that there was a coherent story? Surely they could have found someone who understood the original three films and who could sympathetically extend the series, remaining true to the spirit and lore of the originals whilst taking SW in a new direction. Why was that too hard?

Well Lucas gave them his draft of what the 3 should be, but they totally ignored it .... not that i think it was going to be any good, given the prequels!

I think perhaps Disney did a list of things that each film must have - a whole list of tick boxes and aims and who must be alive at the end, then the director works around that - thats the only reason i can think of why they are all a little disjointed - things like must have at least 1 new droid, 3 new planets, 4 new characters, 4 new ship designs (all for selling toys), have a happy bit, have a sad bit, have a cute alien etc etc etc

But for sure they should have had a bunch of writers come in and outline the entire story start to finish and even 1 director too - perhaps they were concerned about leaks

....and its not just these ones either, Rogue One when through massive reshoots and redits and story changes - and Solo went through new directors and reshoots too....

all issues with these movies lie squarely at the door of Disney - i suspect as time goes by we'll here more from the people involved about what was happening behind the scenes.

Did i hear there is another "fresh" trilogiy in the works?

The Mandalorian has been pretty good so far, although 2 eps have been a little dissapointing, the series as a whole is good so far - but thats all under 1 story arc written by Jon Favreau

[CaptainSlow]

Disney have achieved the impossible and made the prequels appear like masterpieces.

[AshVX220]

People really dislike the prequels, but at they had a coherent story that ran through the whole trilogy.

the biggest mistake Disney made was appoint KK as head of Lucasfilm, she's far too into agenda politics.

Plus the order above is wrong, Solo would come between Episode 3 and Rogue One.

Rogeu One is without a doubt one film that Disney have got right, it is by far the best thing Disney have done with Star Wars, The Mandalorian being a close 2nd.

[Tyre Smoke]

So no definite answer to what order then? Which episode is the original first one now?

[mikeiow]

BenjiS said:

That’s “in universe” chronological order but if you watch them like that then you spoil one of the greatest reveals in cinema history (assuming you don’t already know it through popular culture because you’ve been living under a rock for the last 35 years).

The best order for preserving and maximising the impact of the story is “Machete Order”:

Episode IV: A New Hope
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
Rogue One

The rationale for the order includes plot spoilers so I won’t describe it.

That Machete Order skims the recent ones: with it back in, it looks like this:

Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Rogue One (2016)
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) chop for machete order, most say this adds almost zero value!
Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Solo (2018)
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Optional: The Mandalorian (2019)
Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

More (& alternative orders!) here

[AlexS]

It's also worth searching out the Genndy Tartakovsky animated series of Clone Wars which sits between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. This isn't to be confused with the CGI Clone Wars which followed after.

[anonymous-user]

i'm currently watching them all, as Nowtv has some of them.

My order will be

The Phantom Menace
Attacks of the Clones
Clone wars cartoon
Revenge of the Sith - currently here
Solo
Rogue One
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Mandalorian
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
Rise of Skywalker.

You can forget the first one, it's rubbish and adds little. If you are hardcore there is the full cartoon series to watch, which adds a lot of the story background.

[Halb]

Esceptico said:

I am genuinely puzzled by what Disney did with Star Wars. They knew before filming episode 7 that there was going to be a trilogy. They had a huge budget. Why didn’t they write all three films at the beginning so that there was a coherent story? Surely they could have found someone who understood the original three films and who could sympathetically extend the series, remaining true to the spirit and lore of the originals whilst taking SW in a new direction. Why was that too hard?

And that's the most important bit.....in a pre conceived set of three films, why was there not a guiding hand? KK was the person in charge, but she's not a writer and the stuff given to them by LUcas was thrown in the bin...until, they knew they were up shiot creek post Last Jedi and they went running back to him....to then ditch him again.
WHat has been going on behind closed doors at Lucasfilm...who the fk knows, it sounds like a clusterfk of unreal proportions, it's why the entire film (and alternative endings) have been leaked, because there are unhappy people behind the door.
It seems JJ was offered it, baulked, created ideas for the next fella to take up, but the next fella was Rian who destroyed everything previously, caused the stink only or Colin Trevarro to be sold to sod off...or he walked for JJ to come back and try and get back to his old ideas.
With regards to the film plot, there are some great yters out there, with regards to the politics, Doomcock and Midnight's Edge have been releasing good stuff. But again, the main question of, 'why not pan it all out?' Seems...wierd now in hindsight....it was started after MCU right, and Disney/Iger saw how amazing that was going. It seems a huge misstep by Iger/Disney.

I wonder if we'll see the Matt Smith character in any future leaks, dvd extras?
Why George Lucas wasn’t invited to Star Wars Rise of Skywalker premiere
https://youtu.be/sym7xM4ytgM
Star Wars Rise of Skywalker Review – How The Last Jedi Messed it up!
https://youtu.be/_KTTWOUsZcU
Matt Smith’s Deleted Star Wars Rise of Skywalker Character Revealed & Other Leaks
https://youtu.be/ybJSuVcparI

[Halb]

Emergency Awesome has a few nice vids on the filmplot itself and finished off his explanation of the ending with a ranking, which I agree with. We're pretty much the same up to 5, and he lists all the films, he puts SOlo last.

Star Wars Rise of Skywalker Review and Ending Explained
Emergency Awesome
https://youtu.be/RepMk502FTI
For me Empire and Star Wars are joint first
Return in Jedi
Rogue One
Revenge of the Sith
then it doesn't matter

[Halb]

I've been thinking on this, and somebody in another thread mentioned DIsney was in profit from Star Wars. (it's not)
I think the main reasons why DIsney race forward seemingly with such a cackhanded vision is they massively overpaid from the start. Some blame can be laid at Lucas, and some at Eiger. Lucas chaffed at MCU being worth more and wanted the same for his brand which was dormant and not as big. Talk surrounded EIger at that time of politics and a possible 2020 run. I reckon Eiger reluctantly paid the asking price because he wanted another yuge success after pixar/mcu deals. Solidify him as the bestest Disney leader ever.
I think that created the urgency for immediate success to push out as much product as possible, and Eiger wanted safe bets. KK was not a fan or a creative and was happy to oversee stuff so long as her 'force is female' and other political visions were followed. Rian Johnson seems to be the one she got on with best, so he had carte blanche. Which meant that keeping Luke alive and allowing Leia to die on screen didn't happen when it should have done when Carrie Fisher sadly passed away.
I looked at the profits from the films plus the costs (production and marketing) and on that the films seem to have broken even with costs (not including the initial purchase of buying Lucasflm), of course there's parks and toys. The toys seem to be not selling well.

So in short it was a combination hubris of Eiger and the political will of Kennedy?

[anonymous-user]

Tyre Smoke said:

So no definite answer to what order then? Which episode is the original first one now?

I’d watch them in the order they were made.

Like bond or any science fiction, they’re a product of their time a bit and it’s also interesting to see the methods of making the films and themes evolve from the 70s to now.

Plus if you watch them in order you see the change in producers and can get what all the fuss is about when looking at the different eras, which is all part of the Star Wars experience.

[AshVX220]

Halb said:

I've been thinking on this, and somebody in another thread mentioned DIsney was in profit from Star Wars. (it's not)
I think the main reasons why DIsney race forward seemingly with such a cackhanded vision is they massively overpaid from the start. Some blame can be laid at Lucas, and some at Eiger. Lucas chaffed at MCU being worth more and wanted the same for his brand which was dormant and not as big. Talk surrounded EIger at that time of politics and a possible 2020 run. I reckon Eiger reluctantly paid the asking price because he wanted another yuge success after pixar/mcu deals. Solidify him as the bestest Disney leader ever.
I think that created the urgency for immediate success to push out as much product as possible, and Eiger wanted safe bets. KK was not a fan or a creative and was happy to oversee stuff so long as her 'force is female' and other political visions were followed. Rian Johnson seems to be the one she got on with best, so he had carte blanche. Which meant that keeping Luke alive and allowing Leia to die on screen didn't happen when it should have done when Carrie Fisher sadly passed away.
I looked at the profits from the films plus the costs (production and marketing) and on that the films seem to have broken even with costs (not including the initial purchase of buying Lucasflm), of course there's parks and toys. The toys seem to be not selling well.

So in short it was a combination hubris of Eiger and the political will of Kennedy?

Indeed, they're a long way from making back what they paid for the whole franchise, especially when taking into account the money being spent on other Star Wars projects at the theme parks etc.

[sgtBerbatov]

Star Wars is a kids film that exists to sell toys. That's why they didn't plan the story line or anything like that.

It doesn't need to make sense to an adult for it to make money.

[anonymous-user]

sgtBerbatov said:

That's why they didn't plan the story line or anything like that.

George Lucas wrote the first three as they went. He pretty much made it up as he went along. So it's nothing new.

[Halb]

Thesprucegoose said:

George Lucas wrote the first three as they went. He pretty much made it up as he went along. So it's nothing new.

It's fairly new getting three different people to write it.