About Yoda, First Star Wars Spin-Off Film Is?

You watch The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of Jedi and marvel at Frank Oz. His portrayal of Yoda, the puppetry and voice, is the signature work of his career. It's hard to describe but you watch those two films and never think Yoda is a puppet. He is real.

Oz and George Lucas weren't able to subsequently recapture that magic. They had their heads in the right place for The Phantom Menace going the puppet route again. But once Yoda went CG, forget about it. It was gone. To his credit Lucas never once digitally-enhanced Yoda from Empire or Jedi. As much grief as he got for his tinkering (and re-tinkering... and re-re-tinkering), he was smart enough to leave that alone.

AICN reports the first of those promised Star Wars spin-offs will center on the 800 year old Jedi Master. Details are sparse beyond that. The priority is making sure J.J. Abrams doesn't fumble the ball on Episode VII and delivers an old-fashioned, space-opera adventure harkening back to the original trilogy.

Will this transpire? It's hard to imagine, I gotta be honest. Kathleen Kennedy is hearing every Star Wars pitch under the sun (Remember the Zack Snyder Seven Samurai with Jedis? You know that was real with his people immediately cried foul). Then again, Lucas selling off his company to Disney is equally hard to imagine and here we are.