How 'Star Wars' ruined sci-fi

The cast of "Star Wars: Episode VII" unites well-known "Star Wars" names with some up-and-coming actors. At least one cast member, Daisy Ridley, is so new she has just a few acting credits to her name. You can see her in the back right of this cast photo, wearing a necklace and talking to "Star Wars" veteran Carrie Fisher. Here's who she'll star with:

Although director J.J. Abrams and the rest of the creative team have been quiet about character details, we now know who will make up the cast of the 2015 film. One is John Boyega, pictured. Best known for the 2011 sci-fi action comedy "Attack the Block," Boyega has been one of the actors rumored to be a top choice for the lead role.

Adam Driver is a diverse actor who'll presumably get to show more of his range in "Star Wars: Episode VII." While he's best known for playing a quirky love interest on "Girls," Driver has also appeared in feature films "J. Edgar," "Lincoln," "Frances Ha" and "Inside Llewyn Davis."

Oscar Isaac had a breakthrough role in 2013 as the cranky singer-songwriter Llewyn Davis in the drama "Inside Llewyn Davis." We can't imagine his work in "Star Wars: Episode VII" will require him to sing, but it would be awesome if it did; Isaac has proved he's got a great set of pipes.

Andy Serkis is setting himself up to have a busy few years. The celebrated actor will next appear in this summer's "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," which will be followed by "Star Wars: Episode VII" next year. After that, he's expected to appear in another "Tintin" movie, "The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun."

Does the name Domhnall Gleeson sound familiar? That might be because you remember him as Bill Weasley in the last two movies of the "Harry Potter" franchise. But Gleeson has established himself with a host of other projects, including 2010's "Never Let Me Go" and 2013's "About Time." Suffice to say that if you don't know Gleeson by now, you will after "Star Wars: Episode VII."

When we learned that "Episode VII" is supposed to take place 30 years after "Return of the Jedi" and feature a trio of newbies alongside some familiar faces, we were ready to bet the house that Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker would be one of the recognizable stars. It was an easy guess to make, though; Hamill has long been considered an unspoken done deal.

Carrie Fisher was one of the original "Star Wars" cast members who initially said she was on board the new movie, only for her rep to backtrack and say the actress was kidding. But Abrams' announcement is no joke: the former Princess Leia has returned.

After playing coy with the press for months, Harrison Ford has officially been announced as a part of the "Star Wars: Episode VII" cast. The actor is expected to reprise his role of Han Solo.

We can't be the only ones who are supremely relieved to see that Anthony Daniels, the voice of C-3PO, will be back in action.

Obviously, you can't have Daniels' C-3PO without Kenny Baker's R2-D2. Just the thought of splitting up the droids is heartbreaking!

Peter Mayhew is probably somewhere warming up his voice for that famous Chewbacca roar. The actor was rumored to be reprising the character in "Star Wars: Episode VII," but it wasn't official until Abrams' announcement.

Max von Sydow is one of the veteran actors joining the upcoming "Star Wars" movie. It isn't clear what the wide-ranging thespian will do in Abrams' picture, but we can rest assured that he'll bring his respected acting chops to the part.

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• Lewis Beale: People thrilled about seventh "Star Wars movie" don't get it's bad sci-fi


• He loved first installments, but franchise evolved into worst thing ever for rich literary genre


• Hollywood only wants CGI-ready sc-fi plots, skips complex greats like Butler, Asimov


• Beale: Few real sci-fi movies made. New "Star Wars" promises to be empty of ideas.

Editor's note: Lewis Beale writes about culture and film for the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and other publications.The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- Now that the cast of the seventh "Star Wars" movie has been announced, you can imagine the anticipation among the millions of fans of the film franchise. And why not? The six "Star Wars" films have been enormous successes: they have grossed over $2 billion domestically at the box office, spawned scores of books, comic books and merchandise (how many kids have their own light saber?) and made household names of characters like Darth Vader, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

They've also been the worst thing ever for the science fiction genre.

I say this as someone who has been a devoted sci-fi reader since childhood. I was so blown away by the first "Star Wars" film when I saw it in 1977, I went back two more times the same week to wallow in its space age fantasy. But here's the thing: George Lucas' creation, basically a blown-up Flash Gordon adventure with better special effects, has left all too many people thinking science fiction is some computer graphics-laden space opera/western filled with shootouts, territorial disputes, evil patriarchs and trusty mounts (like the Millennium Falcon).

"Star Wars" has corrupted people's notion of a literary genre full of ideas, turning it into a Saturday afternoon serial. And that's more than a shame -- it's an obscenity.

Science fiction is in fact one of the most creative literary genres around. The best of sci-fi is filled with meditations on what's "out there," what makes us human, how technology is used and how it is changing us. It takes up issues of race, sexuality and quite literally everything else under the sun. It is essentially about ideas, not action, and that's the problem, as far as Hollywood is concerned.

There are, for example, no light sabers, spaceships or Death Stars in the 1979 novel "Kindred," by Octavia Butler, who won the Hugo and Nebula, sci-fi's top awards, and was also awarded a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.

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Butler's main themes are race and sex, and in "Kindred" she wrote about a modern black woman who travels back in time to the antebellum South, where she is enslaved. The novel is regularly taught in classrooms and has made at least one list of "Great Books By Women."

But Hollywood has yet to adapt it for the screen. Maybe if the lead character had a Wookie by her side...

Many of the great works of sci-fi have not been made into films -- The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov, Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War," William Gibson's "Neuromancer," among others -- partially because they are too smart, too dense and too thoughtful.

Sure, some classics have made the transition, but the track record is spotty: David Lynch's "Dune" was a disaster, for example, and the recent "Ender's Game" was a mixed bag that was not successful at the box office. Francois Truffaut's "Fahrenheit 451," although stylish and intellectual, was a bit too frigid for a mass audience.

Which means that Hollywood studios, not known for thinking outside the box, opt for the "Star Wars" template -- lots of whiz bang, plenty of quirky alien characters, CGI to the max, plenty of explosions and little thought of any kind.

To be sure, the first "Star Wars" was a breath of fresh air, a fun flick for sci-fi geeks. But the series quickly ossified, a victim of its own success. Only two of the films -- "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back" -- show any originality. The rest tread water, give the hardcore fans the same old, same old. I mean, how many light sabre duels can you sit through before you're bored out of your skull? How many outer space dogfights? How many seemingly profound Yoda-esque thoughts?

Me, I'm giving up on the whole thing. I don't care that J.J. Abrams, a director with talent, is helming the new flick. He's hemmed in by audience expectations -- like casting the stars of the original in this film -- and recycling stale material. I'll pass.

Instead, I'll queue up "The Matrix," and enjoy the most original sci-fi movie of the past 25 years. I recommend "Star Wars" fans do the same. They need to be reminded what real creativity is all about.

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