Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII (Pre-release)
It's all going a bit off topic here,.....But,......how I see the Prequels......
- George had set up the gap for the Prequels by starting with Episode 4
- The OT were collaborative productions,....(ROTJ less so).....George couldn't fully realise his vision,....other creative people making decisions in his films
- Each film pushed the boundaries in the Special Effects industry
- George being the showman continues to top previous show,....one battle at finale of Ep 4,....two at Ep 5,.....three at the finale of Ep 6
- A huge merchandise deal,...unheard of previously,.....Lucasfilm made a LOT of money from the products
So after deciding not to continue with what had been planned with sequels,...& tying up loose ends (the 'Other' mentioned in ESB) & making Luke & Leia siblings, he gave us closure to the Star wars story.....George took a long break from Star Wars......In that time his company continued to evolve, becoming masters of digital effects (Jurassic Park)....which drew George back to the possibility of making more Star Wars films,.....the prospect of being able to make & direct these films without them being tainted by others appealed to him,....He still had disdain for the very films that had built his Empire,....he has said in interviews that he was fed up with praise for ESB,...the film he had the least directorial control over,....so he wanted to test his tools that he needed for his new films,......still wanting to push boundaries,.....he wanted to create digital characters,...which ended up being Gungans & Battledroids,.....so by experimenting on the OT, especially ANH,...he 'fixed' the things that were out of his control when the films were released
The SE films had some improvements & also some changes that disturbed the flow & logic of the films,....this was a precursor for the decisions made for the Prequels & future adjustments to the SE's
When TPM was released,....I loved it,.....yes there were some daft parts in it,...It was more STAR WARS!!!,....yeah Star Wars is back!!!,.....It had great effects, great actors, brilliant music,....not such a great story,....but we trusted George,.....we imagined how the next two films would connect,...it would be epic
AotC came out & my son was 4,......I bought him a Jango toy,....he loved it,.....Slave One followed,.....then the Jango costume:
Attack of the Clones was a bit of a disappointment,....the weak things that were apparent in TPM were the weak things in this film,....& now that you analysed it you could see the rot went back to Return of the Jedi,.....the smile & hope started to fade.....there were some cool things in the film,....the designs for the craft were amazing,....special effects were top notch,....but it was a bit too much,.....a bit of an overload
Hope that George would pull us back with the next film was fading,......what had he done with our Star Wars,.....George promised that Revenge of the Sith would be a lot darker,....darker than The Empire Strikes Back,....
RotS didn't know what it wanted to be,...there were elements of brutality right from the start Obi Wan getting crushed,....Lord Tyrannus having limbs cut off & then being decapitated,.....then having moments of out of place comedy with the droids.....it all felt wrong......why was there a landing strip in Star Wars,.....no craft needs to land on a landing strip,.....the film was chaos,.....the friendship between Anakin & Obi Wan was never there,...the love between Anakin & Padme was ludicrous, the entire film is pieced together like a model kit,...nothing flows,.....listen to Williams soundtrack.....he had an extremely hard time scoring this film
"I can do dark & serious,......watch me do dark & serious!"......yes theres loads of cool designs,...new planets,....thats the ONLY thing that keeps it Star Wars......& there are crafts that appear for milliseconds,.....everything is thrown in here,....universe building = toy bucket,......all thrown in the middle of the living room
When Star Wars was sold to Disney I had high hopes,....at least there would be real creative and energetic people making decisions,...but dread that the merchandise would be turned up to the max......LOADS of new craft, just for the sake of it,...for the merchandise,....but the complete opposite,.....Disney have dialled the whole thing back & done something I wouldnt have believed,......they have gone for strengthening the characters,....fleshing them out,...creating them first, then the tech & planets around them
The Emperor is George, he is the rot
J