REWORKING THE CLASSICS

Things are not going at light speed in the new Star Wars universe. According to CNet via the Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winning writer Michael Arndt left the new JJ Abrams Star Wars project back in October because of what direction to take in Episode VII.

Arndt is said to have wanted to focus on a younger generation of heroes, specifically the children of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia, with the original stars playing supporting roles.

Apparently director Abrams wanted to keep the classic protagonists in the spotlight for one last hurrah for the fans before they are likely dispatched to the annals of science fiction future history (or something like that) in Episode VIII. That makes the picture more marketable and accessible to the older fan base.

Columnists lament that we have to wait a while longer to get to know those new, younger characters. Reportedly, some characters have disappeared from the Arndt version of the Episode VII script completely and been replaced with new ones. As the CNet writer opined: "Let's hope it's not the fickle juggling of cast and characters we saw from Abrams in "Lost" that drove the series into complete silliness and a narrative storyline that became impossible to resolve in a satisfying way."

Burn.

Star Wars has a deep origin story and guidebook for the universe George Lucas created when he helmed the franchise. The question pondered in the media is a good one: will Abrams mess with the characters so much that the basic narrative of the series becomes garbled or silly?

This is also the first criticism I have read that based a reviewer's unsatisfied explanation of the The End of LOST as being partly the "fickle juggling" of characters that made it impossible to resolve the series. If this refers to the fact that the Others story line, then the odd time travel arcs, then later the Jacob-MIB story line, masked or clouded the original vision of the show, that is a valid point. The additional new characters introduced into the series may have been conflict fodder to stretch the show through six seasons, but all shows have to address those issues. If one removes the Others, the time travel, the Jacob-MIB story, and the sideways world (which may be the "silliness" of plot switches), then could LOST have been resolved to everyone's satisfaction?