So the excitement is now fading on the power house merger of Disney and Lucasfilm here at Geektyrant and I can't help but wonder what kind of negatives we will see out of this collaboration. Sure, a Star Wars land, three more movies and a good reboot of Indiana Jones are all fantastic ways to get any geek battalion behind you, but how far does this merger go into the beloved franchise? Star Wars fans are numerous throughout the world and are religious in terms of their dedication to the franchise. If you were to combine the fan bases of just the original Star Wars and Knights Of The Old Republic Facebook pages (and ignore the possibility of overlap between the two) you would have 10,000,000 individual fans. That's comparable to the size of the entire nation of Turkey.
So what ways could Disney possibly let down the fans? While nothing is certain, I can't help but speculate about the ways Star Wars Celebration and other fan events will feel the hurt. Will we see such events happen without being in arms length of a Disneyworld? What about the annual Star Wars night at the numerous ball parks, hockey rinks, and stadiums across the world? What will the fans say when the little things about the culture feel the hurt?
Will Star Wars Uncut still be able to continue? What about the sheer amount of fan films across the web? How will they fare if Disney puts the kabash on lightsaber fx? What happens when your most beloved film franchise enters the Disney vault?
Let's not forget that this merger also means no more Star Wars on Cartoon Network. With the recent announcement that slates Disney XD to start carrying Clone Wars I sit here and wonder how many cable providers still do not offer XD without a premium package. What about Robot Chicken and Seth Green? Will Disney allow for the installments to continue on Turner Broadcasting? Furthermore, will we ever see Star Wars Underworld debut on the Disney Channel? We are going to lose trilogy marathon weekends on SPIKE!
Now Disney does own ABC so there is a minimal amount of hope for at least some of these programs to continue without too much change, but also a lot of uncertainty about the future of many other projects that are on the way. I know it's a bit of a rant and seems extreme at times, but this is just an example of how much of a cultural impact the series has on our every day lives. I didn't even touch on the wide array of literature the series has, the soon to be lack of modeling Slave Leia costumes, video games and toys we all see and consume on a yearly basis.
My solution? Don't change anything and just write the checks and collect the cash when you need to Disney... wouldn't want to feel the wrath of the nation of Turkey.
Email Me: MickJoest@Geektyrant.com Twitter: @MickJoest