5 Questions with George Lucas
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SciFiMuseum
Well-Known Member
Wow. I NEVER like to get into these Lucas debates. At all. Because everyone has their own opinion in what they like and want to see. No movie or version of anything will ever please everyone. Ever. I like Star Wars and have been there since literally week one. I collect SW stuff, my son is named Anakin. Yes it is true. I love it. I am also a professional filmmaker, I went to film school, have worked in the industry in LA for years and other places, on other people projects, seen how the business works on both sides, I directed a feature film...I like Lucas and what he has done for the world. For both the people that like to watch films and the people who make them. I know it is controversial that he has changed the films, I personally am of 2 camps about it. But in the end it is his film, his universe, his characters...and he ca do what he wants, if we don't like it we don't have to buy anything or watch the newer versions.
With all that said...WHAT!? That article was interesting to say the least. It was short and seemed to defend changing art IF he is the one changing it-years ago he wanted to stop other people from changing art after the fact. He also would like the internet put on a BIG leash to protect his Star Wars bucks coming in. Even my film is up for free on different sites and yes I get screwed out of royalties because of it. But really there is nothing to be done about it. Take away more freedom of speech and use of information on the internet...but that article. WOW. Also yes I forgot. Han shot first.
With all that said...WHAT!? That article was interesting to say the least. It was short and seemed to defend changing art IF he is the one changing it-years ago he wanted to stop other people from changing art after the fact. He also would like the internet put on a BIG leash to protect his Star Wars bucks coming in. Even my film is up for free on different sites and yes I get screwed out of royalties because of it. But really there is nothing to be done about it. Take away more freedom of speech and use of information on the internet...but that article. WOW. Also yes I forgot. Han shot first.
SciFiMuseum
Well-Known Member
Actually Alan Dean Foster wrote that, George got full credit for it.
Interesting to know! But that raises two more points:
1) If he put his name on it, I would posit that he endorsed its contents as surely as if he had written it.
2) I think it speaks to his shockingly large ego that he felt that a name like Alan Dean Foster wasn't good enough to grace the cover of his book.
SciFiMuseum
Well-Known Member
Yeah I used to think that he actually did write it but it was Foster.
Remember that this happened before the huge ego really started.
Remember that this happened before the huge ego really started.
Solo4114
Master Member
Seriously now. Was that for real?
On the Han Shot First thing, why not just come out and say "Look, folks, I changed my mind. Over the years, it just didn't sit right with me, so I changed it."
I think the thing I find most galling about all this stuff is the continued "I always intended to..." undertone.
It's crap. It's always been crap. He changed his mind. Just man up to it already.
Other than that, none of what he said surprises me. More just confirms what I already believed.
1.) Correct, generally speaking. Could be that he, you know, changed his mind later, but yeah, at least at the time, he seems to have endorsed it.
2.) Not necessarily his ego. Foster hadn't really become the name he is now in sci-fi/fantasy writing at that point, I don't think. Lucas, on the other hand, was arguably a hot new name, so it could just as easily have been a marketing thing to help sell the book.
Look, Lucas CLEARLY wanted Hayden Christensen to be a Jedi Ghost at the end of Jedi, but the technology just didn't exist yet! Similarly, they were DECADES away from the technology necessary to make Vader yell "Nooooooo!!" as he tossed the Emperor. All the changes reflect his original vision and everyone should get off his case.
Honestly, I'm much more forgiving about most of the changes to the original trilogy than a lot of people... But with the Greedo thing, he was pointing his blaster straight at Han's chest, 18 inches away.... If that guy shot first, the Empire wins. The end.
And the Hayden Christensen thing makes NO SENSE. I hate it. It doesn't bridge the trilogies, it just confuses any new viewers who watch the films in the order of release. Other than that, I'm pretty okay with changes (as long as Yoda stays a puppet).
No, my issue is with the Prequels. Objectively speaking, they're just terrible movies, by any metric you choose. Honestly, just read the opening scroll on Phantom Menace... It is the most BORING thing ever. It's about senate hearings and trade embargoes! The whole thing is like two and a half hours of CNBC with lightsabers composited in!
I could write a 600 page book on the awfulness of those prequels, but I'll summarize: George Lucas spent so many years cashing royalty checks that he forgot what Star Wars was about and what he produced, for me, soiled the franchise as a whole.
It's been a while since I watched the original trilogy and I THINK I would still enjoy it... But I'm just not 100% sure.
Sluis Van Shipyards
Master Member
I don't know why he insists that fans want Han Solo to be a cold blooded killer. That's not it. The way it came off, even to me as a 3 year old in 1980, is that this is a harsh place and Han Solo was smart and killed the bad guy before the bad guy could get him. I remember that like yesterday. Our point is that Han came off as a guy with "street smarts" that could survive in a bad environment. Now he just looks like a lucky idiot.
I really had no problems at all with the SEs, (except the Jabba palace dance-a-thon...) and while I generally liked the Prequels, I also see their flaws. I haven't seen the Blu-Ray versions, but the thing I don't like is the Vader "Noooooo" that is supposedly in there. That's my only complaint. Apparently from this, we will only get the Blu-Ray versions in theaters.
I really had no problems at all with the SEs, (except the Jabba palace dance-a-thon...) and while I generally liked the Prequels, I also see their flaws. I haven't seen the Blu-Ray versions, but the thing I don't like is the Vader "Noooooo" that is supposedly in there. That's my only complaint. Apparently from this, we will only get the Blu-Ray versions in theaters.
WarPig
Sr Member
It's ironic that he mentioned Blade Runner - as someone pointed out in another thread, when the "ultimate" edition was released, you get *all* versions. A lot of complaints people have is that the original SW films cannot be had.
George could make a lot of people happy just by taking the first theatrical cut and putting it out on DVD/Blu-Ray
George could make a lot of people happy just by taking the first theatrical cut and putting it out on DVD/Blu-Ray
CB2001
Master Member
I KNOW Han shot first. I'm not confused about that.
Lutso
Sr Member
This blows my mind. It's truly unbelievable how out of touch this guy is with his fan base - and with reality.
Honestly I kept checking at the bottom of the page for some sort of April Fool's Day mention or College Humor tag. But alas.
The fact that he mentioned Blade Runner is almost too big a coincidence. BR has been mentioned countless times here, and everywhere else, when discussing the SW Blu-Rays. Pretty much everyone says "Do it like Blade Runner was done". Blade Runner is like the golden standard of home releases for fans. Everyone loves it.
And now he sits here and talks about it sarcastically, like it's a bad thing. And he comes out front and says we will never do anything like that because it's stupid.
"There is one version of Star Wars that gets improved every time."
My. Ass.
Honestly I kept checking at the bottom of the page for some sort of April Fool's Day mention or College Humor tag. But alas.
The fact that he mentioned Blade Runner is almost too big a coincidence. BR has been mentioned countless times here, and everywhere else, when discussing the SW Blu-Rays. Pretty much everyone says "Do it like Blade Runner was done". Blade Runner is like the golden standard of home releases for fans. Everyone loves it.
And now he sits here and talks about it sarcastically, like it's a bad thing. And he comes out front and says we will never do anything like that because it's stupid.
"There is one version of Star Wars that gets improved every time."
My. Ass.
ChaoBreeder
Active Member
I think you guys are blowing this out of proportions. I think you're calling the wrong person crazy.
cayman shen
Master Member
Jedi2016
Sr Member
Someone needs to dig up the quotes of him saying otherwise from years ago. I distinctly remember him stating that Han shot Greedo in cold blood because that's the kind of character he was at that point in the film, and that his turn to full "hero" by the end was a major point of the story.
You know what he sounds like? A spoiled kid. A kid who never got told "no" when he wanted to do something. He probably doesn't have a clue what the outrage is about over the films because none of his staff have the balls to actually explain it to him. They just all work to make George right in everything that he does, which only makes the problem worse.
You know what he sounds like? A spoiled kid. A kid who never got told "no" when he wanted to do something. He probably doesn't have a clue what the outrage is about over the films because none of his staff have the balls to actually explain it to him. They just all work to make George right in everything that he does, which only makes the problem worse.
