George Lucas breaks up wit Star Wars

[Lord Boron]

Yeah, but the same thing happened the last time. When TPM came out there were TONS of toys and other merchandise that just...languished. Some of that was due to disappointment about the film itself, but some of it was just oversaturation.

I think you'll see a big rush up front, and then things will sort of level out. It'll seem less oversaturated because we'll just get used to it as the status quo.

I mean, look at it this way. Are you sick of the Marvel CU? I'm not. And yet, there's a metric crapload of stuff out there for it.


A lot of this has to do with how you choose to consume Star Wars. If you're a "gotta catch 'em all" fan, yeah, you're gonna binge and get sick. If you just kind of ignore it as background noise mostly, then you can dip into it when you want, and step away when you want. That's the approach I take now.

Oh, im actually not buying any of it. I got out of the must have collecting mentality years ago (leading to much less stress and much, much more money). I just had to roll my eyes that someone thoght the world needed a lightsaber BBG tong...

 

[Bryancd]

I consume the media, the new books and comics so far. The toys I buy for fun and for my son. I actually am enjoying seeing the variety of merchandise out there. Sure some of it doesn't appeal to me but it's fun that STAR WARS has become so ubiquitous again at the retail level.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

With any luck, I suspect we'll find out in the inevitable Rinzler "Making of..." book.

Not if Lucasfilm follows the path they've been on so far. They seem content not to let any of the good authors write new stuff, fiction or not.

 

[Wolfsburg]

That's a shame. I've heard a lot of the new fiction is pretty lackluster but I hoped the non-fiction stuff would remain quality goods...

 

[batguy]

Complaining that a SW movie is over-merchandised? LOL.

That's like complaining that a Disney princess fairy tale is catering to 5yo girls too much.

 

[CessnaDriver]

It's not 1977 anymore that's for sure!

 

[Vacformedhero]

I honestly think there are a lot of aspects of the phantom trilogy that caused the failure.....top of this was the whole move to total digital production....it was pushed over any other consideration to prove ilms new digital workflow products .....again thinking of business objectives over story .
This decision over any other caused the next biggest problem.......some of the greatest actors of our time were standing in green rooms and acting against chrome spheres ........no matter how good an actor can pretend , we can see eyes not looking at characters correctly, see action sequences not lining up but critically actors worn down by not playing off anyone and burning up energy imagining their surroundings , coupled with no direction and you have lifeless performances.
Second item ........I liked a lot of the action sequences , but the story was no surprise , we all knew a small boy walked into episode 1 and Darth walked out ....but there was no real surprises or twists , great for kids but useless for us.
One reason these new sequels are going to be great for us all will be that we will have no idea of the story or the outcome and that will make a huge difference . And real actors in real locations .....gimbal falcon cockpit anyone ...no more leaning on prompt.
I did have a small concern for some of the acting when I saw some of the recent tv spots with actual cast speaking , I had phantom flashbacks seriously I did.......so let's hope that our trust in the New time is well founded .
If not this thread could get colourful

 

[Guy Cowen]

3 key things happened at the very start of all this

1 Disney didn't really like his idea and told him so

2 he reacted very immaturely by telling the media the big 3 were signed up

3 Disney then closed the door on him

His ego got the better of him, he'd not heard the word "no" for a very long time and threw his toys out of the pram.

He's been on the naughty step ever since and has tried time and time again to brush off all things TFA

 

[Jeyl]

he'd not heard the word "no" for a very long time

It's hard to refute that point when the article in question states, and I quote,

"I think they’re messing up losing Lucas–he’s a genius who takes things into new directions."​

What does that even mean? Since 1999 to the day of the Disney purchase, Lucas wouldn't let Star Wars do anything outside of the prequel era. It was so stuck in one direction that the only thing they could do different was create a dedicated spoof show out of it. A show that thankfully got canned before it's release.

I will acknowledge that Lucas did create the Star Wars franchise and for that I respect him both as an artist and as a business man. But I also acknowledge that he was the worst thing to happen to it.

 

[Brent M]

I will acknowledge that Lucas did create the Star Wars franchise and for that I respect him both as an artist and as a business man. But I also acknowledge that he was the worst thing to happen to it.

Yup, that pretty much sums it up perfectly.

 

[Grey]

George Lucas has an interesting monopoly on the creative force behind Star Wars as percieved by the general public. I can recall a conversation I had once where a friend and I were talking about RoboCop and I made mention of Ivan Kershner directing ESB and then RoboCop 2, and he was confused because he thought George Lucas had directed all the Star Wars movies. I wonder how many people even realise that the original trilogy was not the product of one man's efforts but the result of an entire team of talented directors, writers, and producers.

I wonder if it is this very collaboration that has fueled the endless special edition re-releases of the original trilogy, some sort of vanity project by Lucas to prove that he was the "true" creative vision behind Star Wars rather than a team of relative strangers.

Either way, the less control he has over the future of the franchise the better.

 

[Solo4114]

George Lucas has an interesting monopoly on the creative force behind Star Wars as percieved by the general public. I can recall a conversation I had once where a friend and I were talking about RoboCop and I made mention of Ivan Kershner directing ESB and then RoboCop 2, and he was confused because he thought George Lucas had directed all the Star Wars movies. I wonder how many people even realise that the original trilogy was not the product of one man's efforts but the result of an entire team of talented directors, writers, and producers.

I wonder if it is this very collaboration that has fueled the endless special edition re-releases of the original trilogy, some sort of vanity project by Lucas to prove that he was the "true" creative vision behind Star Wars rather than a team of relative strangers.

Either way, the less control he has over the future of the franchise the better.

That's my point about the myth of Lucas as the auteur of the original films. From 1977-1999 at least, the general view was "Lucas created everything." Even if other people directed, Lucas was behind it all. And Lucas himself played into this, even as early as the "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga" documentary that aired on PBS back around, oh, '84 or '85 or so. Yes, it shows the team that works on the stuff, and yes, it shows them suggesting things, but Lucas is still made out to be the genius behind it all.

That's true...but I think it also very much minimizes the effect that working with collaborators had on him, as opposed to working with employees and contractors. I also kind of think that, at least until '99, none of the other players really bothered to or cared to refute the myth.

 

[CessnaDriver]

Gary Kurtz,, Marcia Lucas.
I think were big parts of capturing lightning in a bottle back then.

It can never be like that again.

 

[Bryancd]

It can never be like that again.

I don't agree with that.

 

[CessnaDriver]

I don't agree with that.

I've never seen anything like it since and I mean the public reaction. It
was revolutionary and caught everyone off guard. There was no months
of buid up and speculation. It just happened.
Things have changed too much since.

 

[Jeyl]

I wonder if it is this very collaboration that has fueled the endless special edition re-releases of the original trilogy, some sort of vanity project by Lucas to prove that he was the "true" creative vision behind Star Wars rather than a team of relative strangers.

That's why we were always in the prequel era. It's the one place where he could tell the audience who the 'real' heroes were and explain how the characters who were popular in the original trilogy all originated from characters he created in the prequel trilogy. Boba Fett isn't his own thing. He's a clone of Jango Fett. The stormtroopers aren't regular people who joined up. They're all clones. Luke is not the hero of the saga. It's Anakin.

And before you say anything, Lucas' plan when making Attack of the Clones was meant to establish that the Stormtroopers in the OT were in fact clones. They not only make that point in the commentaries, they also put it in the actual work. That scene where Jango bumps his head while he's entering Slave One? Rick McCallum goes all out in talking about how that one bump is what sells the fact that the Stormtroopers are still Clones. If Jango bumps his head, they all bump their heads. Want more proof? After Attack of the Clones was released, every version of ANH has had an added 'bump' noise to emphasize that one Stormtrooper that bumps his head.

 

[Bryancd]

I've never seen anything like it since and I mean the public reaction. It
was revolutionary and caught everyone off guard. There was no months
of buid up and speculation. It just happened.
Things have changed too much since.

Oh, that I agree with. And I recognize how powerful the team of George, Marcia, and Gary were but I think putting together a creative team as good today can very much happen. And I am going to content 28 days out that JJ, KK, and Lary are going to give them a run for their money in regards to crafting a great SW film.

 

[AJTaliesen]

That's my point about the myth of Lucas as the auteur of the original films. From 1977-1999 at least, the general view was "Lucas created everything." Even if other people directed, Lucas was behind it all. And Lucas himself played into this, even as early as the "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga" documentary that aired on PBS back around, oh, '84 or '85 or so. Yes, it shows the team that works on the stuff, and yes, it shows them suggesting things, but Lucas is still made out to be the genius behind it all.

That's true...but I think it also very much minimizes the effect that working with collaborators had on him, as opposed to working with employees and contractors. I also kind of think that, at least until '99, none of the other players really bothered to or cared to refute the myth.

As an artist, that kind of thing gets right up my nose. I expect it's the same for many of you.

I can't even count the number of times someone I work for has given me a request for something that was vague/meaningless/impossible and I've had to be the one to make Chicken Salad out of Chicken ****. Every artist does that pretty much every day and a movie like Star Wars has hundreds of them. Most of them are world class and no one has ever heard of them. Most of the time, if you're lucky, the boss will say something like "I don't know make it cool...play on the theme of Honor...and the color blue...but don't use blue...because I don't like blue...I'll know it when I see it." and you've got to take that instruction and come back with a space station...which he will then take full credit for as his brain child (after all it was his idea...you just did the grunt work...he WAS the one to suggest that it be shaped like the concept of the color blue).

Bottom line is
A: it's a collaboration of hundreds of great artists, and...
B: the people actually physically creating the things you love probably get paid very little and you've never heard of them. The guy in charge...sometimes it WAS their idea, and sometimes their idea was vague, or stupid, and only distantly related to what the artists they hired made for them.

The boss does still deserve credit: you brought this circus together, you get to wear the big hat...but don't pretend you personally built all of the elephants and clowns yourself out of clay.

Lucas isn't even the worst for this. He's actually not even close to being the worst. I've seen him give occasional credit to his team in making of videos, unlike other directors who will stand in a 100 million dollar movie and claim that they did everything but make the donuts...and the donuts were made using their recipe.

 

[YenChih Lin]

Not quite accurate, but somehow prophetic - art by the Illustrator and nerd Kevin Brocksmith. (His Wordpress stated TPM was then SW 4)

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

That's why we were always in the prequel era. It's the one place where he could tell the audience who the 'real' heroes were and explain how the characters who were popular in the original trilogy all originated from characters he created in the prequel trilogy. Boba Fett isn't his own thing. He's a clone of Jango Fett. The stormtroopers aren't regular people who joined up. They're all clones. Luke is not the hero of the saga. It's Anakin.

And before you say anything, Lucas' plan when making Attack of the Clones was meant to establish that the Stormtroopers in the OT were in fact clones. They not only make that point in the commentaries, they also put it in the actual work. That scene where Jango bumps his head while he's entering Slave One? Rick McCallum goes all out in talking about how that one bump is what sells the fact that the Stormtroopers are still Clones. If Jango bumps his head, they all bump their heads. Want more proof? After Attack of the Clones was released, every version of ANH has had an added 'bump' noise to emphasize that one Stormtrooper that bumps his head.

More irritating is how Lucas himself has reversed himself over and over on the whole Stormtroopers = clones thing over the decades. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a one-eighty in every interview, but he really ought to keep transcripts of his interviews and DVD commentary so he can keep his story straight. :rolleyes

That's my point about the myth of Lucas as the auteur of the original films. From 1977-1999 at least, the general view was "Lucas created everything." Even if other people directed, Lucas was behind it all. And Lucas himself played into this, even as early as the "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga" documentary that aired on PBS back around, oh, '84 or '85 or so. Yes, it shows the team that works on the stuff, and yes, it shows them suggesting things, but Lucas is still made out to be the genius behind it all.

That's true...but I think it also very much minimizes the effect that working with collaborators had on him, as opposed to working with employees and contractors. I also kind of think that, at least until '99, none of the other players really bothered to or cared to refute the myth.

That's why I love all the story sessions transcribed in Rinzler's books. I have devoured those pages of him bashing out the story with Gary and Larry and Richard. Partly because I can see their earlier ideas that I feel were better than what they eventually settled on (and which I've used for inspiration in my own writing-exercise rewrites), partly because I see him actually asking other people what they think and occasionally deferring to someone else on a story point. Given how he's mentioned more than once in interviews and DVD commentary that he doesn't think he's good at writing or directing and doesn't like doing either, It gets a raised eyebrow from me, then, that he'd rather do that than collaborate on the creative process.

Also... *pushes up nerd glasses* ... that comic ish inaccuratesh. George writesh hish scriptsh by hand on yellow notepadsh, then transhcribesh them. [/nerd]

--Jonah