Previously, on Star Wars . . .

The news that two (two!) Star Wars TV shows are coming our way in the not-so-near future is hardly new. But the latest dribbles of info released by the gatekeepers at Lucas HQ (see the link) have raised a few questions for me:

1) According to Lucasfilm, each ep is expected to cost $1.8 million to produce, about normal for a new hour-long drama. Here's where I get confused. Episode III had a budget of around $115 million for two hours or so of movie. Even for only 40 minutes or so of an episode, shouldn't the budget be comparable? A third of $115 million is almost $40 million, not $2 million. Why is the TV show so much cheaper than the films--for that matter, why are TV shows in general so much cheaper to produce than films? Why could they make the Lost pilot, which for all intents and purposes was a movie, for so much less money than a Hollywood production would cost? It can't all be more expensive actors.

2) Where will the dramatic tension come from? Throughout the prequel trilogy, even though we knew that Anakin would become Darth Vader, all the Jedi would be killed, and the Emperor and Empire would rise, there was still dramatic tension to be had around just how and why those things would happen. In the live-action series, which will take place between Episodes III and IV, what dramatic tension will there be, given that we pretty much know what's going to happen within the next 20 years? I'm not suggesting that there won't be any, just that exactly what it is should be a key question they are trying to figure out, as it's not built in like it was for the prequels.

3) Will Lucas' relative non-involvement (he won't be writing or directing episodes) bring a new pulse to the franchise? I loved the prequels, as I've said, and yet I acknowledge that the acting and dialogue were less than they could have been. How different will Lucas let the tone/feel be--how much leeway will he give the creators of the episodes?

4) Will tradition continue and C3PO and R2D2 appear in the new live-action series? And will the writers and producers avoid the temptation to visit Yoda on Dagobah? Will McDermid sign on to do Emperor cameos, and if not will they use someone else or just avoid actually showing the Emperor at all? Will they stick to their guns and not make this the Darth Vader show, as I can easily imagine it becoming?

Until Whenever