40 Star Wars Stories That Should Be Movies

Death Troopers

The Source: 2009 novel by Joe Schreiber.

The Plot: When an Imperial prison ship, transporting the scum of the Empire, breaks down, its only hope is to scavenge an abandoned Star Destroyer for parts.

But there's a reason it's abandoned: a horrific virus has turned its crew into bloodthirsty zombies, and now the survivors have a battle on their hands.

Why It'd Be Great: Star Wars does zombies. What's not to love?

The Director: George Romero

Splinter of the Mind's Eye

The Source: Alan Dean Foster's 1978 novel.

The Plot: Stranded on the swamp planet of Mimba, Luke, Leia, C-3PO and R2-D2 discover the existence of a crystal that gives its owner the power to control the Force.

The race is on to beat Darth Vader to the mysterious Temple of Pomojena.

Why It'd Be Great: It's a rare Luke/Leia story that fills in some of the unseen history between brother and sister...before they knew they were brother and sister. Potential for controversy, then.

The Director: David O. Russell.

Millennium Falcon

The Source: James Luceno's 2008 novel.

The Plot: The discovery of an alien device aboard the Falcon sets Han Solo on a fact-finding mission to discover from which of his ship's many adventures it came from.

Why It'd Be Great: A movie about the Millennium Falcon, providing plenty of excuses for flashbacks to the iconic ship's greatest hits? Bring it on.

The Director: J. J. Abrams.

Dark Forces

The Source: 1995 Playstation shooter game.

The Plot: Mercenary Kyle Katarn, while working for the Rebel Alliance, discovers a fiendish plot by the Empire to create robot soldiers.

Why It'd Be Great: A claustrophobic action flick featuring an ambiguous hero... Proof that Star Wars offers more than standard good vs evil adventure.

The Director: Michael Mann.

Jedi vs Sith

The Source: Six-part comic from 2001.

The Plot: Three young Jedi are witness to the Battle of Ruusan, an epic clash of Force and Dark Side that defined the Star Wars world's history 1000 years before the prequels.

Why It'd Be Great: The Star Wars equivalent of The Lord of the Rings ? Certainly scope for a full-on Star Wars war movie.

The Director: Peter Jackson.

Heir to the Empire

The Source: The Thrawn trilogy (1991-1993) by Timothy Zahn, which picks up where Return of the Jedi left off.

The Plot: The Rebels' uneasy victory is shattered when Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn unleashes an attack on the fledgling New Republic to seek out surviving Dark Lords.

Why It'd Be Great: Basically, this is Episodes 7, 8 and 9 in all but name. Which is something we all want, right?

The Director: Neill Blomkamp.

Pink Five

The Source: 2002 fan video directed by Trey Stokes.

The Plot: Pink Five is the call sign of Stacey, space-going Valley Girl and unlikely X-Wing Pilot. How the hell do the Rebels expect to win with her in tow?

Why It'd Be Great: A Private Benjamin -style comedy in the Star Wars universe. Sounds fun.

The Director: Amy Heckerling.

Crimson Empire

The Source: The 1997-8 Dark Horse Comic series.

The Plot: Kir Kanos, most loyal of Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guard, must ally with Rebel forces to prevent a rival's deadly coup.

Why It'd Be Great: Enigmatic, cinematic and way-cool, the red-cloaked Royal Guard would make for iconic movie protagonists.

The Director: Ang Lee.

Knights of the Old Republic

The Source: Role-playing game for the XBox, 2003.

The Plot: Thousands of years before the movies, the Jedi and Sith remained locked in their eternal battle, but Revan - a Dark Lord reprogrammed by the Jedi to fight for good - finds himself having conflicted loyalties.

Why It'd Be Great: With its untapped pre-prequel setting, and ambiguous hero, this could bring something new to the table.

The Director: Christopher Nolan.

Jedi Apprentice

The Source: Kids' novel The Rising Force (Dave Wolverton, 1999) and sequels.

The Plot: Basically, Obi-Wan Kenobi's early days as paduwan to Qui-Gon Jinn in the years before The Phantom Menace .

Why It'd Be Great: Kenobi never got a chance to take centre-stage; here he's firmly the hero in an old-school sci-fi adventure movie.

The Director: David Yates

Jedi Twilight

The Source: Michael Reaves' 2008 novel, first in the Coruscant Nights series.

The Plot: Set after Revenge of the Sith , this is the story of Jedi survivor Jax Pavan, eking out a career as a private investigator in the new Empire while trying to hide his secret identity.

Why It'd Be Great: Star Wars done as film noir, which effectively means Blade Runner with lightsabers. Wow.

The Director: Rian Johnson.

Apocalypse Endor

The Source: The comic strip appearing in Star Wars Tales 14 (2002).

The Plot: A retired Stormtrooper recounts grisly goings-on when the Imperial Alliance tried to subjugate the Ewoks.

Why It'd Be Great: Reclaiming the Ewoks from their much-maligned cuteness, this gory horror recasts them as violent killers.

The Director: Zack Snyder.

Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive

The Source: 2003 novel by Terry Bisson, plus its sequels.

The Plot: The story of how Boba Fett, orphaned by the death of clone-dad Jango Fett, pursues a career as a bounty hunter.

Why It'd Be Great: Boba Fett remains the coolest supporting character in the films, despite hardly having anything to do. This is his moment.

The Director: Clint Eastwood

Dark Empire

The Source: Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy's six-part comic book from 1991-2.

The Plot: The reincarnation of Palpatine, the return of Boba Fett from beyond the grave, and Luke Skywalker turning to the Dark Side.

Why It'd Be Great: Are you kidding? This is fangasm central.

The Director: Bryan Singer.

Clone Wars

The Source: Genndy Tartakovsky's 2003 anime-style cartoon series, not to be confused with the later CGI film and TV series.

The Plot: The Clone Wars, distilled to its essence - fight after fight after fight.

Why It'd Be Great: The most visually inspired treatment of Star Wars deserves a big-screen spotlight.

The Director: Tartakovsky, of course.

CG-animated series The Clone Wars Season 3 begins at 5.30pm on Saturday 23rd October on Sky Movies Premiere/HD.

Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina

The Source: The 1995 anthology book edited by Kevin J. Anderson.

The Plot: Various episodes in the lives of characters seen in the Mos Eisley cantina from Star Wars, including Greedo, the Modal Nodes and the Jawa.

Why It'd Be Great: One of the most iconic scenes in sci-fi cinema history, expanded to feature-length to show what's going on with all of those weird and wonderful characters.

The Director: Guillermo Del Toro.

Shadows of the Empire

The Source: The 1996 multi-media extraganza that told the same story via novel, comic and video game.

The Plot: Set between Eps 5 & 6, Palpatine makes a deal with criminal kingpin Prince Xisor to defeat the Rebels, while Leia goes after Boba Fett to try to free the carbonited Han Solo.

Why It'd Be Great: Famously designed to prove that you didn't need a movie to tell a major Star Wars story, here's a chance to prove that, actually, you do.

The Director: Quentin Tarantino.

Trooper

The Source: Garth Ennis' 2001 comic, from Star Wars Tales 10 .

The Plot: A Stormtrooper's story, from joining the Imperials to boarding Princess Leia's escape vehicle in the opening scenes of A New Hope .

Why It'd Be Great: Cannon fodder across the films, but who doesn't want to know what makes a fella want to be a Stormtrooper?

The Director: Kathryn Bigelow.

Legacy of the Force

The Source: Nine-book series published between 2006 and 2008.

The Plot: It's peacetime, but this being Star Wars certain planetary systems aren't happy with the way Luke and Co. are running things, leading to civil war amongst Jedi.

Why It'd Be Great: An intriguingly plausible political drama played out in Jedi robes.

The Director: Paul Haggis.

Republic Commando

The Source: The 2005 first-person shooter game for XBox.

The Plot: The experiences of Delta Squad, an elite clone commando unit during the Clone Wars.

Why It'd Be Great: A chance to live vicariously through the lives of the Star Wars bad-guys.

The Director: Paul Verhoeven

Ryan Vs Dorkman

The Source: The series of fan videos by Ryan Wieber and Michael "Dorkman" Scott.

The Plot: The rivalry between two Star Wars geeks takes a savage turn when they develop their own lightsabers and bring Jedi fighting into real life.

Why It'd Be Great: The original shorts are showcases for their creators' FX wizardry. The film would be a comedy pondering what would happen if this shit got real.

The Director: Edgar Wright.

The Paradise Snare

The Source: First of Ann C. Crispin's pre-Ep 4 "Han Solo Trilogy," published between 1997 and 1998.

The Plot: Teenage Han, a street urchin, tries to fulfil his dreams of becoming an Imperial pilot...but it's hard to escape his criminal past.

Why It'd Be Great: Where did Han Solo come from? There's scope here for an ongoing spin-off saga concentrating on the guy who shot Greedo first.

The Director: Joss Whedon.

X-Wing: Rogue Squadron

The Source: The series of novels written by Michael A. Stackpole between 1996 and 1997.

The Plot: The Empire has been defeated, but there are still Imperial elements at large. So Wedge Antilles puts together a new Rogue Squadron to hunt down the war criminals.

Why It'd Be Great: Essentially a space-faring Dam Busters , this offers the scope for great action and heroics, plus the ambiguity of the post- Return of the Jedi world.

The Director: Duncan Jones.

Darth Bane

The Source: Drew Karpyshyn's novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (2006), and its sequels.

The Plot: The story of Darth Bane, the original Sith Lord who developed the rules of allegiance to the Dark Side of the Force, before being ousted by his apprentice, femme fatale Darth Zannah.

Why It'd Be Great: While filling in the bad guys' backstory, this is essentially a twisted character study set against a backdrop of intergalactic war and pervy master-and-apprentice subtexts.

The Director: Darren Aronofsky.

The Bounty Hunter Wars

The Source: Trilogy of novels by K. W. Jeter in 1998.

The Plot: Boba Fett's adventures trying to get by in the New Republic after Return of the Jedi .

Why It'd Be Great: Fett survived the Sarlaac? The coolest character in Star Wars deserves his own show.

The Director: Paul Thomas Anderson.

The Great Heep

The Source: The two-part story from mid-80s TV animation, Droids .

The Plot: C-3PO and R2-D2's battle against a gigantic droid, The Great Heep, who has devastated a planet.

Why It'd Be Great: The epic story of the deadpan duo, this is a chance for the comic sidekicks to take centre-stage.

The Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

The Force Unleashed

The Source: 2008 multi-media frenzy, featuring an interlinked video game, novel, comic and toys.

The Plot: Set between the movie trilogies, this charts Darth Vader's conspiracy to assassinate Emperor Palpatine with the help of secret apprentice Starkiller.

Why It'd Be Great: Effectively Episode 3.5, this carries the unusual distinction of putting Vader upfront to remind us why he's the saga's defining character.

The Director: Oliver Stone.

Jedi Academy

The Source: The trilogy of novels by Kevin J. Anderson, published in 1994.

The Plot: Luke Skywalker establishes a Jedi Academy to rebuild following the events of the film, but he soon faces a common problem: what happens if one of the students turns to the Dark Side?

Why It'd Be Great: Yeah, it sounds like The X Factor, but this has the potential to kickstart a whole new cinematic mythology for the Star Wars universe.

The Director: Baz Luhrmann.

I, Jedi

The Source: Michael A. Stackpole's 1998 novel.

The Plot: Fighter pilot Corran Horn signs up as an apprentice Jedi so he can track down his kidnapped wife.

Why It'd Be Great: A re-telling of events from Jedi Academy , this one might actually make a better stand-alone film, providing a fresh focus for lightsaber action centred on an entirely new character.

The Director: Martin Scorsese.

Troops

The Source: Kevin Rubio's 10-minute fan film, released in 1997.

The Plot: A mockumentary spoof of COPS , as Stormtroopers go about their business on Tatooine.

Why It'd Be Great: Driven by an affectionate but acute sense of humour that gets the need to find Star Wars funny, this is the ideal antidote to Lucas' earnestness.

The Director: Christopher Guest.

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter

The Source: Michael Reaves's 1999 spin-off novel.

The Plot: Set in the build-up to The Phantom Menace , this is the story of Darth Maul's mission to prevent evidence of Darth Sidious' wrongdoing reaching Jedi hands.

Why It'd Be Great: By common consent, the one good thing about Episode 1, this is Darth Maul in his element: an assassin who will let nothing stand in his way.

The Director: Matthew Vaughan.

Vector Prime

The Source: The opening novel of the New Jedi Order storyline, written by R. A. Salvatore and published in 1999.

The Plot: Set after the defeat of the Empire, Luke, Leia and Han find the peace shattered by a brand new threat, the Yuuzhan Vong.

Why It'd Be Great: The arrival of new baddies is a sure-fire way of distinguishing the new from the old, especially as - SPOILER - a major Star Wars character dies.

The Director: Ridley Scott.

Tag and Bink Are Dead

The Source: Kevin Rubio's satirical comic strips.

The Plot: Tag and Bink are members of the Rebel Alliance, but not very good ones. Somehow, though, as they cross paths with the major Star Wars characters, they influence events to a surprising degree.

Why It'd Be Great: A Rosencrantz and Guildenstern -style take on Star Wars , retelling famous events through the eyes of anonymous bystanders, is ripe with comedic potential.

The Director: Kevin Smith.

Battlefront

The Source: 2005 video game shoot-em-up.

The Plot: To be fair, there isn't one. Choose your side, pick a planet, invade it.

Why It'd Be Great: Have all sides descend on the same world and unleash an all-out space brawl. Pure fanboy excitement.

The Director: Michael Bay.

Broken

The Source: First of the Star Wars: Legacy comics, from 2006.

The Plot: Over 100 years after Return of the Jedi , a new Sith plot threatens to disrupt peace again. Bring on a new generation of Jedi to stop 'em.

Why It'd Be Great: Another opportunity for a complete universe reboot: new characters, but the same mythic conflict.

The Director: Matt Reeves.

Lady Luck

The Source: The 2000 comic-strip, although also borrowing from the 1980s novelisations about Lando Calrissian by L. Neil Smith.

The Plot: The story of how smuggler and rogue Lando, owner of the Millennium Falcon, eventually becomes Administrator of Cloud City.

Why It'd Be Great: Although he never got beyond second-fiddle on-screen, Lando's a fascinating character who symbolises the moral ambiguity so often ignored in the movies.

The Director: Spike Lee

The Dark Redemption

The Source: 1999 fan-vid directed by Peter Mether.

The Plot: Mara Jade, a rebel agent working to uncover plans for the Death Star (in the build-up to A New Hope ) turns rogue after succumbing to the Dark Side.

Why It'd Be Great: A chance to show a darker, more complex take on the event - the theft of the plans - that started it all.

The Director: Brian De Palma

Dark Nest

The Source: 2005 trilogy of novels by Troy Denning.

The Plot: The Empire is long gone, a new generation of Jedi has nobody to fight... and warlike insects the Killik are happy to oblige.

Why It'd Be Great: Star Wars without the Sith is an intriguing concept, if only to see the Jedi go for it against a new foe.

The Director: David Cronenberg.

Galaxy of Fear

The Source: The series of "Young readers" novels written by John Whitman from 1997 to 1998.

The Plot: Zak and Tash, orphaned by the destruction of Alderaan, have to stop Project Starscream, the Emperor's biological weapons programme.

Why It'd Be Great: Making Star Wars for the kids isn't just about floppy-eared CGI aliens, George. This could be the ideal spin-off to capture younger generation's attention without being childish.

The Director: Danny Boyle.

Jedi Hunter

The Source: John E. Hudgens' 2002 fan vid.

The Plot: A mockumentary following Boba Fett (and his wife Teri) as they go about the business of hunting Jedi for cash.

Why It'd Be Great: The original Steve Irwin piss-take might not play now the poor fella's dead, but the basic premise is durable enough to create a sci-fi Midnight Run.

The Director: Sasha-Baron Cohen.

CG-animated series The Clone Wars Season 3 begins at 5.30pm on Saturday 23rd October on Sky Movies Premiere/HD.