i don't know that it's lucas-bashers coming up with the "latest and greatest" theories on how to bash the guy--it's just that there's so much exhaustive material to use in discussing why the SW films have gone so dramatically downhill with the prequels that there's always something new to talk about.

i'm sure lucas has always gotten his way, but my read of the available materials is that kurtz would stand up to him, and that they did have something much closer to a collaboration artistically than anyone lucas has worked with since. i haven't read the new revenge of the sith making-of book, but i wouldn't call mccallum urging lucas to work on the script an exceptionally aggressive creative move. to me, the guy's still a yes-man. at the very least, my sense of his role is to handle the nuts and bolts and anything lucas doesn't want to do so that lucas can focus on the creative stuff. which is fine, except the creative stuff sucks hardcore lately.