JJ Abrams to direct Star Wars Episode VII

[Frak]

The Clone Wars cartoon does a good job of going over the time period between II and III, but there really isn't that much out there from III to IV. Some books I guess.

For VII, I think that Abrams is a clever writer. It all depends on how they want to do it. If they go right after ROTJ, then the key point is recasting Luke, Leia and Han. That will be a tough one...almost impossible with those characters, especially since they aren't doing a prequel like Trek with Kirk and Spok. There are some good books out there post ROTJ with Luke starting the Jedi Order and Leia helping run the new republic. Other than casting, the key is to keep Lucas as far away as possible. He went WAY too far into making the prequels kid friendly. I loved those movies as a kid, but I didn't need burp and fart jokes or Ewoks or Jar Jar. The droids are plenty of comic relief. It has to be serious (or as serious as SW can be). Empire is the standard that they should all be held to.

[Rural]

No burp and fart jokes? What's the point of having a movie?
And the soundtrack of 20 or so current pop standards.

[HFCS]

I loved those movies as a kid, but I didn't need burp and fart jokes or Ewoks or Jar Jar. The droids are plenty of comic relief. It has to be serious (or as serious as SW can be). Empire is the standard that they should all be held to.

Me too. Empire was the first movie I went to and basically the center of my life as a kid.

If Abrams looks at IV, V and VI as sacred canon these will likely be great. He has a huge advantage in that people will like any improvement over the prequels and some people who brainwashed themselves into thinking the prequels were good will be blown away by even average films in this universe.

[pulse]

In fairness, III was actually pretty good. Not sure how you'd make a 3.5, there's no real decent conclusion. Maybe just go back before I, and just make them good and not 7-year-old-marketing movies to sell Happy Meals.

[SuperCy]

VII can still have Han, Luke and Leia. It will probably just focus on their kids and the next generation.

As far as a Vader movie goes, they've said that they intend to do "stand alone" movies. No reason they couldn't do that there.