I’ve read with great interest the long discussion between various users and Stardust1138. I would like to express my own views on George Lucas, the Prequel Trilogy, the revised history of Star Wars, etc, from a Prequel loving prospective. Well, I have a very simple and effective philosophy with which to approach the whole George Lucas and revisited history problem. My philosophy Is the following:
When I watch the original 6 films I can see a coherent story, from The Phantom Menace to Return of the Jedi. To me, the original 6 films created by George Lucas work as an hexology. Now, can I be honest? I don’t give a shit if this was planned from the beginning or if It was a process that took place film by film. What I care about is that it works for me. The same applies to the existence of the Prequel Trilogy. Was it planned all along? Was it planned only later? Can I be honest? I don’t give a shit. What really matters is that it works for me. And if I wanted, I could apply this argument to every single thing in the films! For example, was the love story of Anakin and Padmé well planned when Attack of the Clones was written? Was it not well planned and botched at the last moment? Can I be honest? I don’t care. To me it works, and it’s the only thing that really matters.
If there are people for whom the original 6 films don’t work as a single story then I can’t do anything about it, but at the same time I can’t even pretend that for me they don’t work as one story. I see consistency in the original 6 films, but I don’t care if this consistency is due to the fact that the story was planned from the beginning or if it’s just a coincidence. To me what really matters is that I can see consistency, and if others can’t see this consistency I can’t help but respect their opinion, but without agreeing. In my opinion, the original 6 films work as “The Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker”. I don’t care if the Saga was planned from the beginning to be the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker or if this is a retcon that was made later, what I care about is that TO ME the 6 original films, if taken as such, work as the story of the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, regardless of whether they were planned from the beginning to be so, or not.
So, I think it’s totally pointless to argue about what really happened and what the real history of the Star Wars franchise is. I think it’s much more useful to focus on our personal opinions and our personal tastes, on what we personally are able to capture from the films. Everything else is secondary.