From One Hand to Another

The big buzz right now is the news that the Walt Disney Company has bought Lucasfilm (you know, Star Wars) “for US$4.05 billion” (Wikipedia Main Page).

Before your head starts exploding with thoughts – good or bad – let me talk a bit more.

I first read about the deal on the Disney Wiki main page (under the “Did you Know” section). 
For some reason, Lucasfilm didn’t register with me.  I shrugged it off.

Then Roomie found the news – on Facebook I think – and I realized what had happened.

Both of us were shocked.  Especially with the news that Disney was planning to release Episodes 7, 8, and 9 in the near future.

I told her about how Disney already had some sort of deal with Lucasfilm, since the characters appear at the Parks and the Star Tours ride.  In a way, I was just waiting for them to seal the deal – excuse the cliché – but hoping it wasn’t going to happen.

As I went to bed last night, I told her that hopefully the reason Lucas was letting Disney buy his company was because he trusted them.

Today, I found the below video in an article at The Disney Blog..  In it, George Lucas and producer Kathleen Kennedy (whom Lucas is practically giving control of the company to) sit
down and talk with Lynne Hale to discuss the deal.

Good things in this video: Lucas trusts Disney with Star Wars.  He knows they are financially stable and, as Kathleen said, “Disney defines family entertainment” (dialogue from video transcribed by THE Disney Freak).  Lucas will also stay on as creative consultant, thank goodness.

Lucas also mentioned how even before the deal with Disney, he was planning on the next episodes.  So at least the original creative mind behind the saga was thinking ahead!  Good news, Roomie and I thought.

We’ll see what happens.

Video capture by THE Disney Freak.
Taken from the included video.

To kind of go off topic here, I really liked one thing Kathleen had to say: “The main thing is to protect these characters.  To make sure they still continue to live in the way you [Lucas] created them.”

That’s something I think Disney needs to work on with their own characters.