#astinus

Like the number of signatures on the petition, my own excitement over the idea of a television series based on the Old Republic era has grown rapidly and exponentially as the #TORonNetflix movement gathers support and recognition from all over the Internet.  Receiving mentions on popular blogs and sites such as moviepilot.com, honortheforce.com, The Independent and many, many others, the World Wide Web is abuzz with enthusiasm for this project to be made.  With its unofficial tag line of “There is always a bit of truth in legends” (an apparent reference to Disney’s reclassification of all the characters and stories that previously fell under the banner of the “Expanded Universe”), Star Wars fans from all over the world from Andorra to Venezuela are taking up the call to support this idea.

However, as I reviewed many of the comments and discussions regarding the topic, I noted that fans have wide and varied ideas of how such a project should be produced.  To that end, I put together a brief survey in an attempt to put some real data behind the ethereal notion.  With just over 1,000 respondents, here’s what we’ve found so far (along with my own commentary).

DISCLAIMER: Please remember that neither myself, Jasmine St. Philippe, Diary of a Sith Chick, nor any of the individuals involved with this petition, this survey, or any of the other online discussions relating to the possibility of this series being made are officially related to or speaking on behalf of any of the companies mentioned here.  This includes, but is not limited to The Walt Disney Company, Lucasfilm Ltd., Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Home Box Office and others, or any of their subsidiaries.  As far as we are aware, there are currently no plans to produce or release a television series for Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Names of products, services, characters and other intellectual property owned by these companies are used for reference purposes only.

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

First, let’s get some of the basic numbers out of the way.  One of the main purposes for this survey was to get a gauge of how feasible it might be to actually bring a Star Wars: The Old Republic television series to a subscription service like Netflix, but I really wanted to find out if other similar services could be viable as well.  I tried to include as many individuals as I could without getting overwhelming, and I think we have some good information to work with here.

Approximately 83% of all respondents said that they currently subscribe to Netflix, with the next highest percentage of a bit over 30.5% going to Amazon’s streaming video service.  Rounding out the top four are HBO at nearly 26%, and Hulu at 12%.  Surprisingly (at least to me) was the fact that over 14% of respondents said that they don’t currently pay for any subscription video services.

As might be guessed by the current subscription figures above, most respondents indicated that they would like the series to appear on Netflix, followed by Amazon, HBO and Hulu.  However, the disparity isn’t nearly as wide when it comes to preferred provider as it is for actual subscriptions.  The weighted averages were much closer when trying to decide which service would be a better platform for the series, ranging from 7.57 for Netflix to 4.55 for Hulu.

The good news for potential homes of an Old Republic series is that 84.75% of the respondents said that, if the show were released on a service to which they don’t currently subscribe, they’d be willing to purchase a subscription just to be able to watch it.  A more impressive number, though, is that of those that identified themselves as not having any subscription services, over 90% said that they’d subscribe to whatever service were to pick this up.  Since the current response pool is only about 1,000 individuals, extrapolating these figures out to even just the more than 110,000 supporters that have already signed the petition means that there could be a sizable potential for additional revenue for whatever service ends up getting the nod from Disney, not to mention for Disney itself.

I mean, imagine if Hulu were to have this produced as an exclusive series.  Their somewhat lackluster 12% in this survey could jump up to over 80% overnight with one well-placed announcement.  That could mean an increase of almost 75,000 subscribers based just on the numbers we have so far.  Of course, these numbers don’t even begin to scratch the surface of the Star Wars fan base, so the sky’s the limit when it comes to new subscribers.

I myself would gladly subscribe to ANY service that offered a series, mini-series, and/or movies depicting the Old Republic era of the Star Wars universe.  I’m already subscribed to nearly all of the services explicitly identified in the survey, so I feel I have my bases pretty well covered, but I’m not ruling anything out at this point.

PRODUCTION STYLE

By and large, a majority (46%) of respondents would like to see Star Wars: The Old Republic produced as a live action television series.

One specific comment regarding this style:

“A show like the CGI Star Wars that are for pre-teens that have been on TV the last few years is a bit of a blowoff. A much more realistic TOR would be very awesome.”

– Sgt. Pepper

CGI animation came in second in regards to production style at 31%.  Those that favored a CGI series seem to prefer a more realistic animation such as those produced by Blur for the popular Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG video game:

“I would like to see the style similar to the trailers for the old republic online game”

– Anonymous

“I love watching the trailers of the Old Republic, it’s about time to make a TV series of it!”

– Maddie Ibuna

“Would like to see all the TOR trailers made into something”

– Anonymous

However, some of the CGI advocates would like to see the animation done in the style of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series:

“When I say CGI animation, I mean in the same style as Clone Wars, but I would also be okay with a live-action series.”

– OtakuCat

While still others didn’t have a specific animation style in mind:

“I only say CGI since a live-action of TOR and KOTOR would be very difficult to pull off, given the desired looks of certain characters and the money for costumes and such which might be half-assed for live-action. CGI would be a better pick assuming the animators pick a healthy style that can compliment a more mature and dark side of Star Wars (i.e., not Rebels animation)”

– Anonymous

There were also those who said they had “No Preference” when it comes to the production style:

“For the show’s format, I have said no preference, but I am actually between live action and CGI. Reasons being that live action would appeal to a wider audience, making the show itself more feasible, but all previous canon Star Wars shows have been CGI, and I’m just a sucker for [tradition], as well as liking the stylised approach Lucasfilm animation takes towards all of its CG projects.”

– Brian Holmes

Even so, several of those who identified their preference for CGI stated that they would be just as happy with a live-action series, as long as it wasn’t done “on the cheap”.  My preference is a live-action series, but with better production value than some of the other series that Disney has produced for television (I’m looking at YOU, Once Upon A Time).  With good writing and acting, the only thing that could cause this series to fail is if the special effects aren’t up to par with the movies.  If budget and time constraints would mean that the special effects would suffer in a live-action series, I’d much rather them put the money into a high-quality CGI production.

RATING

It’s clear from the respondents to this question that fans would like to see something more “mature” than what has been produced so far for either television or cinema.  At almost 48.5%, the preference seems to be a maximum rating of R / TV-MA, but PG-13 / TV-14 was a close second with 43.25%.  Based on the results from this survey, it would seem that anything lower just doesn’t have as much appeal.

A particularly insightful comment from one of the respondents regarding the show’s rating said this:

“…I bet most people said PG-13/R when…let’s face it, no matter what it will not end up being R. But it does need to not be a ‘kids show’…would be an awesome change of pace.

“…the vast majority of fans is WAY older than 18 years old. And so many people would LOVE to see a live action series for adults.”

– arokace

Also, this respondent had this to say about the possibility of the series being produced in a more “mature” format:

“…And with the whole ‘all-age’, family friendly approach… I think it would be fantastic and super exciting to see some darker, more mature content (Empire Strikes Back) in a new series.”

– Andras Balazs

My personal preference would be for PG-13 / TV-14, mainly so that I can share it with my kids more easily.  Something with a rating of R / TV-MA, while it might be interesting, seems a bit much for telling Star Wars stories.  As one respondent put it:

“I would even accept the show being on a local network like NBC, ABC, CBS, etc… since Netflix and other streaming services tend to make all their shows Mature. But I would love to watch KoToR with my kids and nephews.”

– Anonymous

In my opinion, the show can still be dark and mature without putting itself in a similar category to shows like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead with regards to violence, language and other content.  My fear with going for a rating of R / TV-MA is that the writers and producers will TRY to put content in to reach that rating rather than just let it happen organically.  With a lower rating cap, the writers and producers will be forced to seriously consider whether that intense lightsaber battle needs to be as violent as it was filmed, or if they can let the audience simply “feel” the intensity rather than explicitly show it.  Of course, I tend to lean way to the Light Side of the Force, so my perception may be a bit skewed on this topic.

DEMOGRAPHICS

And, speaking of Force persuasions, here’s a fun fact: Most of the survey respondents seem to identify themselves as “Gray” Jedi, with a little over 41.25%.  Almost 32.5% consider themselves aligned with the Dark Side, and just over 26.25% say they lean with me towards the Light Side.

Other interesting little bits of information gathered from the survey: Only 5.25% of respondents were female.  Looks like we need to reach out to more of the Sith Chicks and Jedi Gals that we all know are there.

I must admit that I was a bit surprised to see that a majority of the respondents (35.5%) fall into the 21-29 year-old range.  As one who is a bit more advanced in years, I honestly expected the majority to be at least in the 30-39 year-old range.  Maybe the young guns just have a bit more time on their hands to take the survey.

COMMENTS

Finally, I asked respondents to include any comments they may have related to the production of this series, including such things as specific characters or story lines they would like to see.  So many people provided excellent comments, but I’ll try to summarize these as best I can.

Revan is by far the most asked for character: his story, his companions, his enemies, his battles, and his history all come up many times in the comments.  Everything from a simple retelling of his story in Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic to a more in-depth historical view of the life of this now iconic character has been requested over and over again by respondents to this survey.  Here are some of the specific comments about Revan:

“I would love to see Revan. There is so much hype about him and the Old Republic era and I’d like to find out about it all however I don’t have time and I don’t know where to start finding out about it ALL. So a series would be perfect to show loyal Star Wars fans.”

– Amaan Sajid

“Most of the characters are compelling, but Revan would be awesome to see”

– Wil

“I want to see the story include the Darth Revan era all the [way] up through the Eternal Empire (Zakuul) era. I would also like to see the main characters, Revan, Bastila, Malak, Darth Malgus, Satele, Darth Marr, Lana and Theron, Jace Malcom and more. Those are a few of the icons of the Old Republic franchise”

– Adrian

“Revan. I don’t think anyone will argue here. Explore some element of him, his life and his teachings. As a Gray Jedi, I cannot tell you how essential this would be to my fandom life.”

– Gavin Wilson

“Mainly, I would like to see a story set in Revan’s life. Would love to see what Disney could do with a character like Revan.”

– Matt Wright

One interesting storytelling suggestion that I found in the comments was this:

“Could it be Revan’s story told through the holocron in possession of Bane, while also telling the story of Bane’s era? Uniting both eras in a single series? And also some episodes where the plot revolves around the same place, but different time…”

– Revan the revanchist

As for other characters to include in the series, the Mandalorians, Bane, Exar Kun, HK-47, and Vitiate/Valkorian’s names came up quite a bit.  There are so many characters to which we’ve been introduced through games and novels that there’s really no limit to the number of stories that could be told in this era.

Which leads us to potential story lines to be used for this series.  Again, Revan’s name ranks at the top of the list.  Unsurprisingly, many respondents refer back to the BioWare games as a basis for the stories they would like to see.  Whether it’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, or the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG, BioWare’s storytelling has left an indelible impression on Star Wars fans everywhere.  Most fans would love to see these story lines produced into a high-quality series to be enjoyed for years and decades to come.

It seems that some respondents have already given a great deal of thought to the possibility of this series:

“an interesting idea on how the seasons should go:

Season 1: all about The first Dark Jedi being banished from the order and the enslavement of the Sith species.

Season 2: Jump a few centuries to the times of the first great Sith Lords like Naga Sadal and the first wars with the republic

Season 3: possibly the longest season revolving around the first Knights of the old Republic games And Revan.

Season 4,5,6: i think most of the Major plot points of The Old Republic would fit into here.

Season 7: all the events revolving around Darth Bane and the creation of his infamous Rule of Two.

Season 8: jumping ahead a 1000 years we come to the events of Darth Plageuis killing his master and taking a young Sheiv Palpatine as his apprentice. The series ending in his death and leading into the events of Episode 1 the Phantom Menace.”

– Anonymous

Not to mention those who are so excited about the possibility that they’re willing to jump right in and get started on it:

“I teach writing at the university level and I have a PhD in cognitive science. I would absolutely give up the high salary I make right now in exchange for a crappy living wage if some network brought me on as a writer for the show. So, you know, if you’re ever in a position to pitch this to them, you can say you’ve got people interested in watching it AND making it.”

– Jake

And, on a related note, this respondent chimed in with some suggestions on the writing:

“Rebels is a brilliantly written show and if the writers took the same care writing the Old Republic and added some of the main Sith and Jedi it would be outstanding.”

– Jamie Peake

EDITOR’S OPINION

Just to throw my own opinion into the mix, I’d personally like to see a series for Star Wars: The Old Republic make mention of Revan, and perhaps even have him show up every once in a while, but I’d rather the series spread out rather than focus specifically on one character, or even a single group of characters.  I feel the series would do better to take on characters like Nico Okarr, Carth Onasi, Darth Nihilus, Gnost-Dural, Darth Malgus, Shae Vizla and so many others.

I’d love to see an “origin” story of sorts that delves into the Tho Yor Arrival, events on Tython with Ashla and Bogan, the Dai Bendu monks and the creation of the Je’Daii Order, and the schism that resulted in what would become the Sith and Jedi Orders – The Force Wars.  We’re talking approximately 36,450-25,750 BBY here, but I think much of that could be done in one or two seasons at most.  One season would probably be enough for most fans, but I wouldn’t mind if they spread it out across two seasons.

Eventually, though, regardless of how many seasons it takes to get there, I think it would be great for the series to end up in the same basic time frame as the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG.  While there very well may be a season or two that occur during the same time as the events in Knights of the Old Republic, I still stand by my previous statement that I believe it would be better to keep Revan as more of a “cameo” character than the main focus.

While Revan is by far one of my favorite characters in the Star Wars universe, and so many of the stories from the Old Republic era seem to intertwine with his, I feel like his story would be better told in a full-length movie, or (dare I say) a series of movies devoted fully to his journey.  Starting with his rise through the Jedi Order, all the way through his fall from and redemption to the Light, then his search for his memories of exactly what happened to him, Revan’s tale is so rich and full that I think trying to do it in a weekly series would dilute it too much.  Tell the story of Malachor V, as well as his first visit to Nathema along with many of his other journeys.  Show Revan’s relationships and conflicts with Meetra, Bastila, Canderous, Vitiate, Scourge and so many others.

CONCLUSION

Firstly, I’d like to say a huge “Thank You!” to everyone that has already participated in the survey.  I’m glad we got this information together, if for no other reason than to possibly get everyone on the same page to some extent.  I believe the data collected here provides a good “jumping off” point for anyone that has the influence to make the Star Wars: The Old Republic television series a reality.  Perhaps I’ll do another survey down the road, but I must say that I’m pretty encouraged by the turnout we’ve already seen.