Jentasmic! on Lucasfilm Acquisition: Do’s and Don’ts for Disney

At Star Wars Weekends 2008

When news broke earlier this week about Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, all my geeky internet feeds simultaneously exploded with joy and surprise. And I don’t just mean the Disney geeks. The anime geeks, the gaming geeks, the sci-fi geeks . . . everybody was freaking out. And almost everybody seemed overjoyed.

But I’m feeling a good bit more cautious about this acquisition. Sure, it could mean good things; I’ve enjoyed the results of Disney’s collaboration with Lucasfilm over the years. I’m a big fan of Star Tours 2.0, and had a great time at Star Wars Weekends. But I also fear there are many ways this could go wrong. From my Jentasmic! column today at StudiosCentral:

DO learn from your experience in the Pixar merger. The response to Brave from both critics and fans, plus the increasing reliance on sequels, has me a little worried that Pixar may be losing its identity as some of its key players have taken on significant roles in other areas of the Walt Disney Company. And I’m sure there’s plenty to be learned from the Marvel experience as well. Don’t be afraid to look squarely at your mistakes and learn from them. It’s equally important to look carefully at what you’ve done right, so you can do it again.

Head on over to StudiosCentral to read the rest. I promise you there’s a non-gratuitous mention of the Star Wars Holiday Special, which isn’t usually all that easy to pull off.

May the Fourth Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day everybody! May the fourth be with you! Let’s see, how shall we celebrate?

Well, we could begin by watching the Star Wars Holiday Special on Google Video, and be grateful that the interwebs mean we no longer have to scour fan conventions looking for an old VHS dub. Or, if we’ve seen it before and need a little extra boost, we could watch it again with a rifftrax. Or if we’re in a hurry, we could just reminisce over Princess Leia’s timeless song.

If we had planned ahead, we could have worn this Admiral Ackbar shirt from woot.com. “It’s a trap!”

We could book a trip to Star Wars Celebration V, conveniently located in Orlando, not far from that little magical place some of us like to visit from time to time. Or, if want a little tighter pairing between our Disney and Star Wars needs, it’s not too late to plan for Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which begin May 21. StudiosCentral has all the info you need, including a planning chat this coming weekend.

While we’re at StudiosCentral, we could refresh our memories about the timeline for Star Tours 2, since no doubt we’re obsessive enough fans that this isn’t news.

And finally, especially if we’re feeling down and out, we could enjoy Crackerjack Junction’s rendition of the Ewok celebration song. (Hat tip: BoingBoing) And no, I haven’t a clue where the translation comes from, but let’s just go with it shall we?