After the huge disappointment that we call the prequels, many fans are troubled by the news of Disney taking on the new sequel trilogy. For many of us, Star Wars was a culture but in today’s world, it has now become pop culture. Everyone can relate to the characters and their struggles. So the concern for many is, as in the words of Eric Botler from the end of Fanboys is, “What if it sucks?” Many are expecting Disney to fail us, thinking that they are rushing too much into it. At Star Wars Celebration Europe Executive Producer Kathleen Kennedy revealed where they are at on Star Wars Episode VII. Since filming has not begun, what are they working on at the moment? Between working at ILM and Bad Robot talking story, Kennedy revealed this,

“The story and characters are all we’re talking about right now,” said Kennedy. “We have an amazing team at ILM, who can create fantastic effects, but if we don’t have a great story and characters, the effects mean nothing.”

We agree, Star Wars should not be another Michael Bay film. It should be story driven with great character development, not to mention a brand new set of actors that can bring the story to life.

“I do think making huge popular culture – and I’ve had the good fortune to be a part of a lot it – is really hard to do and get right. And if you don’t spend the time you need on developing characters, and finding stories, complicated stories, the audience gets tired because they think they’re seeing the same thing again and again.”

She further went on to explain that they are looking at using a balance between CG effects and using traditional effects, which JJ Abrams agrees on. Many have thought that the prequels were overwhelmed with CGI, with the blu ray release the Yoda puppet in Episode I was replaced with a CGI version.

“There’s nothing more exciting than to be involved in that kind of technological innovation,” said Kennedy. “When the story ideas you’re working on contribute to pushing the technology, I really think that’s what’s so exciting about our business. It’s when the imagination drives innovation and new design.”

She continued during the panel, “It’s a conversation we’re having all the time in the development of Episode VII. Looking at all the Star Wars movies and getting a feel for what even some of the early films did, combining real locations and special effects – that’s something we’re looking very seriously at.”

After much applause from the audience she went to say:

“So we’re going to find some very cool locations that we’re going to use in support of Episode VII,” promised Kennedy. “And I think we’re probably going to end up using every single tool in the toolbox to create the look of these movies.”

“It’s using model makers; it’s using real droids; it’s taking advantage of artwork that you actually can touch and feel. And we want to do that in combination with CG effects. We figure that’s what will make it real.”

We here at The Hoth Spot agree and are excited by this news. The new Star Wars will have a lot of real locations, real models, and much thought into the story and character development, not to mention John Williams coming back to score the films.