So after owning them since each was first released, I’ve finally committed to sitting down and reading the Rinzler “Making of” books for the original trilogy.

I’m only to chapter two of the first book, but already there is some fascinating info I’ve never seen or heard before.

In chapter one I came across this direct quote from Lucas himself that I think perfectly sums up the single greatest flaw that has resulted in his pigheaded determination to keep the original cuts suppressed, made the PT far lesser films than they could’ve been (the PT we got is some really neat ideas but with incredibly poor execution, imo)

And there you have it. To anyone who asks the question “why aren’t the originals available?” or “why did the prequels turn out the way they did?” look no further than those two paragraphs.

I realize the concept is not particularly new, especially to longtime members of this site. But to see it so plainly and succinctly summed up by Lucas himself was kind of a revelation.

It’s truly a double edged sword in a way. Without his stubborn determination we probably wouldn’t even have these films we love so much. But at the same time it is this quality that has caused some tremendous frustration at times. And in the case of the OT it is robbing us of a significant piece of our culture, art, and history.