Holy Bantha Poodoo! George Lucas Says He Has 50 Hours of a 'Star Wars' Live-Action TV Show Written

It's fairly safe to say that "Star Wars" fans have been waiting since, oh, let's say 1978 for a "Star Wars" live-action TV show to come along. But we all assumed that it would never happen, mostly because George Lucas was too busy making crappy prequels to write the thing.

Well, in an interview with G4's "Attack of the Show" this week, Lucas revealed that he actually has 50 hours of a live-action "Star Wars" TV show already written, just waiting to be produced. Fifty hours! He would need less than half of that to get through one season of hour-long episodes! What are we waiting for?!

According to George, cost is a factor: "Right now, it looks like the 'Star Wars' features, but we have to figure out a way of making it for about a tenth the cost of the features, because it's television," said Lucas. "And we're working toward that and we're continuing to work toward that and we will get there at some point."

I hate to say this, but George Lucas is right. "Star Wars" has set the bar very high in terms of special effects, be they the newfangled CGI/green-screen stuff or the elaborate model sets built for the original movie. To make the transition to TV, the production value will have to take a hit in terms of budget, and the last thing you want is a "Star Wars" that looks cheap.

But here's an idea: maybe you don't need elaborate, 10-minute-long fight sequences with CGI characters. Maybe you can just make a character-driven drama that happens to be set in the "Star Wars" universe, and maybe a few lightsaber duels (those are cheap).

Hey, "Firefly" made an entire show set in space, and just didn't use too many effects. If Lucas can get over his love of all things computer-generated, maybe we can get this show going. Leave the big fights and flashy action sequences to the animated "Clone Wars."

And who knows? It could end up being the best "Star Wars" project yet. At least there won't be any Jar-Jar Binks.