Star Wars on TV!

It's true—Lucas is filling in the blanks of Star Wars between Episodes III and IV by running a TV show. Had this news happened 10 years ago, I would have been excited, but now, in the wake of what special effects can do to enhance Firefly and Battlestar Galactica, I'm positively ecstatic. It means we'll get to see a darker Star Wars, Yoda in exile, more Darth Vader, Obi-Wan... but those characters won't play a central role, if I'm guessing correctly. To maintain a 100 episode TV series, you'd have to introduce and maintain interest in a totally different set of characters. The world is obviously rich enough a tapestry to draw a viewership, so if the writers are smart, they'll give us the other half of the equasion—and on hyperspeed: good acting, intriguing characters, and great writing.

Ha ha—how funny. I didn't read the whole article below before starting this post and I was dead on. See the boldface.

Can't wait!

Star Wars series to run and run

The TV series spin-off of the Star Wars film franchise will run to at least 100 episodes, according to producer Rick McCallum.

He told BBC Radio 1 the writing team would soon be meeting to start on the project, which would begin filming in 2008 and be ready the same year.

"Hopefully if we can make it work and everybody's excited and watches it we will keep on going," said McCallum.

The series will be set between episodes three and four of the film saga.

It would cover the 20 years in the life of Luke Skywalker growing up that remains a mystery to most film-goers.

McCallum said there would be "a whole bunch of new characters" and the series would be "much more dramatic and darker".

He added that it was unlikely any of the stars of the movies would be involved in the TV series.