Has Star Wars become just a big toy commerical?

**stillakid** · 03-10-2005

I was shooting an interview with a well-known director today and before we got started, he tossed out his opinion that Star Wars is really just a big toy commercial now. I got to thinking about that and it certainly seems that way. Story has given way to gratuitous cameos from OT characters and flashy "stuff" that Hasbro can mold and package.

I mean, I suppose someone out there could argue against this, but isn't the mere presence and longevity of this very website proof of the suggestion? It's difficult to argue ROTS points without having seen it, but was adding something like Grevious into the storyline at this point entirely necessary? I can see the progression of Clonetroopers into Stormtroopers necessitating new designs and therefore new toys, but really, has good storytelling given way to excuses to get as much "stuff" onscreen as possible so that kids (and us) will buy it after it's made into a toy?

**Slicker** · 03-11-2005

My brother and his friend have thought this forever. That's why they always called Maul, Darth Action Figure. He was put there for no reason other than to make a neat action figure. The same can be said for Jango and now Gen. G. They do nothing for the story and the movies could do entirely without them.

**2-1B** · 03-11-2005

Who was the director ?

**Beast** · 03-11-2005

Extra Extra!! This Just In!! Astonishing News Revealed!!..

Water is actually wet!!

Seriously, the movies have always been a big toy commercial. But I don't think it's as bad as you think it is. After all, not every character has a mini-vehicle they use. And some of the ships and vehicles are too large to actually turn into toys.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

**plasticfetish** · 03-11-2005

Originally Posted by stillakid

I was shooting an interview with a well-known director today and before we got started, he tossed out his opinion that Star Wars is really just a big toy commercial now.

Now? He thinks this is a new thing? Did you just look at him and say, "DUH!" It's Star Wars, they're movies made for kids, and kids play with toys. What do you expect?

I mean... there's always Woody Allen movies if you want to get away from the toy thing I suppose.

Edit: "Water is actually wet!!" Hah! (I just read that, very nice JJB.)

**2-1B** · 03-11-2005

My first reaction was to think back to my earliest Star Wars toy memory, Christmas circa 1982, when I loaded up under the Xmas tree with a Vader case full of toys. (before ROTJ, even). I rarely watched the SW films but they were certainly successful as "commercials" since I played with the toys year round.

Before TPM came out, Hasbro spent 4 years pounding the hell out of the OT with the toy line relaunch so nothing new there, either.

So anyway, who was the director ?

**stillakid** · 03-11-2005

Originally Posted by JarJarBinks

Extra Extra!! This Just In!! Astonishing News Revealed!!..

Water is actually wet!!

Seriously, the movies have always been a big toy commercial. But I don't think it's as bad as you think it is. After all, not every character has a mini-vehicle they use. And some of the ships and vehicles are too large to actually turn into toys.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

I disagree with your flippant statement. ANH came out at a time when this kind of merchandising was unheard of. ANH and ESB certainly were about story. I think that maybe George and Kenner began to shift the paradigm in their minds by the time ROTJ was in production, but I don't think there's anyway you could argue that it was part of the plan from the get go.

But I think that the primary motivation behind his comment (the director) was aimed at the Prequels for being about selling toys instead of being about a good story first.

**Beast** · 03-11-2005

I disagree with you're disagreeing with my statement. After all, Lucas ensured he grabbed the merchandising rights for ANH when he was making it. So he'd always planned to do something toyetic with it. Especially if you read about the attempts to merchandise it before the movie opened and became a major hit. All the movies have been had very toyetic designs.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

**Rocketboy** · 03-11-2005

Star Wars has been a toy commercial since Christmas 1977.

And so has almost every other special effects action movie since.

**Droid** · 03-11-2005

I totally disagree that Star Wars has always been a toy commercial.

In fact, I was always impressed with the original trilogy that they never modified Darth Vader, C-3P0, R2-D2, Chewbacca, the Stormtroopers, or Yoda in any way that necessitated more than one action figure (I know Periscope R2 and Take Apart 3P0, but the droids never fundamentally changed).

Think about it, especially in the '70's/'80's, the primary market was kids, and selling more than one of the main characters could have meant big money. Why not have different colored armor for Vader, why not Endor disguise
C-3P0? By contrast, C-3P0 has had a few different action figures for the prequel era.

Look at Han. He pretty much wore his A New Hope outfit in Jedi. They passed on a great merchandising opportunity.

I know they added Snowtroopers and Biker Scouts, but the main trooper of the Empire remained the Stormtrooper, without modificiation. In Episode I we had battle droids, Episode II Clonetroopers, now it looks like StormCloneTroopers. The prequels haven't missed many opportunities for marketing.

But I don't hold that against the prequels. I just don't think you can look at R1-G4, Rebel Fleet Trooper, and others and think action figures was the primary motiviation in A New Hope. The films obviously became more marketing savy as time passed.