May the fourth … er, uh, the force be with you, and may you be spared from ever having to watch a prime-time live-action “Star Wars” television series.
I say this not because I hate “Star Wars,” but because I love it. I also love TV. And television is not the right place for a live-action “Star Wars” series.
There are some things that belong on the big screen. This is one of them.
(Clarification: This does not apply to animated “Star Wars” series. More on that below.)
After flirting with the idea of putting a live-action “Star Wars” series on ABC, which it owns, Disney announced that Jon Favreau will produce one that will stream online. We have no other details at this point; there’s no guarantee it will actually happen.
n this Dec. 9, 2017, file photo, Jon Favreau arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" in Los Angeles. Favreau will write and executive produce a live-action “Star Wars” series for the Walt Disney Co.’s planned streaming platform. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
It’s one more way for Disney to monetize Lucasfilm, which it bought for $4 billion in 2012.
But, creatively, it makes no sense — because it’s not possible to create a live-action TV series that can live up to the films.
For those of you too young to remember, one of the most highly anticipated shows of 1992 was “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.” It featured a preteen Indy, a teens/20s Indy, and it was narrated by a 93-year-old Indy. Harrison Ford was nowhere to be seen, with the exception of one brief appearance.
The movies were rollicking fun; the series was a snooze.
“It is not an action-adventure series like the features are,” creator/executive producer George Lucas understated at the time. What with the low ratings, ABC didn’t even air all of the highly expensive episodes.
Lucas knew he couldn’t produce weekly action episodes, which is what viewers wanted to see. Even with the astonishing advances in movie/TV-making, it still can’t be done.
And even if it were technically possible, Favreau has his work cut out for him to come up with 10 or 13 decent scripts for a season of his “Star Wars” series.
I know, I know. “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” are not the same. But the same principle applies. The “Trek” movies — particularly the three reboots— have been action films. So much so that some Trekkies complain the films aren’t relationship-oriented or cerebral enough.
This undated file photo shows actors in the TV series "Star Trek," from left, Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock, William Shatner as Captain Kirk, DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy and James Doohan as Commander Scott. (AP Photo/Paramount Television ,File)
The movie that most resembled the original series was “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,’’ which was by far the most boring of the 13 to date. And it’s no coincidence that the screenplay was reworked from a script for a TV series reboot.
Yes, the “Star Wars” animated series “Clone Wars” and “Rebels” have been good. Sometimes excellent. And I’m looking forward to the launch of the new animated “Star Wars: Resistance” on Disney XD in the fall.
But those are half-hour adventures. And it’s an entirely different thing to create a world — a galaxy — with animation.
So, yeah, a “Star Wars” series on ABC is a really bad idea.
And not just because, selfishly, I’ll admit I don’t want to hear the same crowd who petitioned Disney to erase/remake “The Last Jedi” as they bitch and moan about every single episode of the proposed series
And you know they would.
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