New Beginnings for The Balance, and Star Wars

New Beginnings.  Not just for me and this blog, but for the Star Wars Universe as well.

As for things here, as of this post we're moving to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday format, Barring holidays that's something I'll be sticking to - and hopefully something you'll be looking forward to.  The topics will remain mostly the same, but perhaps branch out a bit more to talk about not only video games, but different aspects of technology and real world events as well.  We'll see how this experiment goes.

Speaking of experiments, I mentioned Star Wars, didn't I?  In case you were under a rock during the month of October this year, you probably already know that Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion.  Their plan?  To release a new Stars Wars film every "Two to three years." (Source)

Ya like that, huh?  That's another new change.  When I do research/quotes/state facts, I'll make sure I list sources.  This effectively nullifies anyone's right to complain about anything.

To be honest, a new film every two to three years scares the shit out of me.  But they probably won't follow through with that.  You'll see them do a follow-up trilogy and then it'll go dormant again for awhile.  If they did, god only knows what kind of garbage we'd get after they spent the better part of a decade parking the Millennium Falcon on a dead horse.

What I'm more concerned about, however, is what these new films will contain.  (I know where I'd take them, and because I am always right and never, ever wrong, I'll save my ideas for the end of this.)  I guess my real point of contention is that these actors are getting old - and while we can make them look younger, I'm kind of interested in what happened right after Return of the Jedi, not what happens decades later (but don't get me wrong, I'd like to eventually know that too.)

Maybe what scares me the most is that they won't use a character that spent the better part of a decade being a dominant force in gaming.  In case you missed out on the mid-90's FPS+Lightbaber scene, I'm talking about Kyle Katarn.

Seen here in the live-action scenes from the first Jedi Knight game.  You can read more about him here: Kyle Katarn.

 Aside from taking us through the Dark Forces saga, his premier game, he takes us through multiple other titles eventually leading up to him helping Luke Skywalker himself re-found the Jedi Order.  Holy shit, those were good games - you can get them all on steam for about $20 (total) if you're feeling lucky - I say that because getting them to work on newer computers can be challenging.

I need a lightsaber.

But aside from the Dark Trooper Project, and his discovery of the force, Kyle has a certain side of him that combines the two leads from the original Star Wars saga.  He's a loner with an attitude; "I'm no Jedi; I'm just a guy with a lightsaber and a few questions."  That quote alone is something you could almost hear Han Solo saying, aside from his preference of having a good blaster at his side.

On the other hand, regardless of how you played him (good or evil) through the games, Kyle often reminded me of Luke.  He was lost, desperately trying to find his way while coping with a lot of family drama.  There's that whole "Holy shit!  I can use the Force!" thing too.

If you played the games, you already know that he'd be an excellent choice for the main character in the 7th movie.  That being said, you can't just pick up the story with him, we've waited almost 30 years to see what happens after Return of the Jedi (you can read about it in a few books, if you'd like.) 

So maybe he'd be better left off to the 8th or perhaps even 9th movie?  Hell, putting him in towards the end of the 3rd trilogy leaves a hell of a segway to the 4th. 

But the problem is, well.  The actors are getting old.  And we kind of need Luke to re-found the Jedi.  If it takes another 8 years to produce the next three movies, that'll make it kind of difficult to put an almost 70-year-old Mark Hammill into live action scenes during Kyle's story.  In the Star Wars Lore, Luke would only be about 6 years older than he is during Episode VI.  But that's all just guess work at this point.

Who knows where Disney will take the franchise.  I'm eagerly awaiting some news - but for now, I'll secretly hold out that one day I can see Luke and Kyle drop into an Empire base and dispatch hundreds of Stormtroopers within a matter of minutes.

God damn those were awesome games.  Go play them.  Seriously.