The Prequel Trilogy showcases George Lucas at the height of his filmmaking talents, and successfully add more depth, pathos, and other improvements to the Original Trilogy. They’re wonderful movies that are unfortunately almost top to bottom misunderstood by illiterate critics, especially the story being told and the style in which the movies are made.
The issues older fans have with the prequels are put to rest by watching and understanding the movies in their intended order, 1-6.
The Special Editions were necessary to link the PT to the OT in narrative, feel, and design, provided needed updates to the VFX, and in fact created more powerful/symmetrical moments than before.
George has every right to alter his own works, as he’s the sole artist. This is not hypocritical in light of his comments on film preservation and protecting artists. And his refusal to restore and re-release the UOT is not malicious by any stretch.
Gary Kurtz’ major contributions to Star Wars involve almost tanking the production of ANH and TESB by going overbudget, and then making a career out of bashing Lucas for media exposure for the remainder of his life. Some contributions. Meanwhile Lucas has never spoken ill of him and even gave him a second chance at being producer. The fact that Kurtz fancied himself a creative kind who kept Lucas on a leash is laughable.
Marcia on the other hand made important contributions to the films, but they have been overexaggerated. She didn’t “save” anything that George wasn’t going to otherwise. She wasn’t the “heart” of Star Wars… this is something she herself has spoken out against. I have no ill will toward Marcia, but the clickbait that’s been written about her these past few years at the expense of George is in bad faith.
George is not a snake or a deceiver, but his offhand comments and soundbites have been overanalyzed and taken out of context by “fans” who have a bone to pick with him, hungry for “gotchas” for some reason. They also seem to have trouble decoding his dry sense of humor.
George brought out the best in his collaborators, not the other way around. Evidence shows that he was the one keeping Kurtz and Kasdan at bay, not the other way around. Kasdan, for example, had such a critical misunderstanding of Star Wars at its core that he believed Luke should go dark and kill the Emperor at the end of ROTJ. Lucas also was able to bait him into believing that another good ending would be Vader getting his cape stuck in a door and Luke subsequently going dark and becoming Vader. The script for TFA is what you get with Kasdan and no Lucas. Poorly aged and derivative.
The tired “yes man” argument made against George is one of the most uninformed lies perpetrated about him, if you’ve read anything on either trilogy, you would know he approached the productions in the same way: work closely with artists and collaborators, and finalize every decision himself. Nothing had changed. Not to mention, the very job of those people WAS to be “yes men”, that’s what a film production is… but George collaborated with them anyway.
George was playing with the ideas of a redeemed villain, a father/son story, and other plot threads that are ambiguous in ANH and properly established in TESB/ROTJ while he was writing the original drafts, but chose not to commit to these ideas, for practical reasons (possibility of ANH tanking) and creative reasons, while still leaving outs for himself such as Obi-Wan’s/Owen’s comments about Luke’s father and Vader’s survival.
Had Lucas not sold, I think his ST would have been revolutionary and would have again improved upon the preceding 6 movies. His ideas on the Whills and the “power vacuum” taking place after ROTJ are fascinating, and it’s a damn shame Disney has tried to pass off their films as a continuation of his story. Just glad most people don’t see them that way.
These are not really unpopular opinions among some of the more rabid pro-George or pro-Prequel fans.
Or some trolls and pro-George zealots who appear on here to repeat these views, while ignoring previous discussions and evidence presented on this forum to them.
Like your post in the “George Lucas: Star Wars Creator, Unreliable Narrator & Time Travelling Revisionist” thread. It is not in good faith. Or looking to have a civil discussion:
George Lucas made Star Wars, and the guys on originaltrilogy.com made a post about how Lucas some times makes offhand comments about his films. Great job!
But the facts and evidence in there and in other threads on this forum really do bother a lot of you pro-George or Pro-Prequel fans. The truth does hurt sometimes.
As others have said on here: “Facts don’t cease to exist because they are ignored.” However inconvenient the facts are.
Posts such as yours are unfortunate, because there are many fans on here who like or love George Lucas. The Prequels as well. Most people on here are fans of Star Wars too. But they do not reject the truth or factual history of Star Wars. Or reject evidence where George has “fallen short” sometimes.
Or look to deride the contributions of many others in helping to make Star Was films. Even if they no longer feature, or their roles are downplayed, in George Lucas’ re-written and retconned official history.
They are civil, have respect, empathy and understanding. And talk in good faith, even if we disagree sometimes. Values as a Christian (and as a family man, this is displayed in your signature) that I am sure you are familiar with, even if you do not display them on this forum so far.
Edit: These are four OT threads provide many pieces of relevant information to some of the claims made in your post (others on here may have more for you to read):
An OriginalTrilogy.com Timeline | a history of the site | the why & how it came to be
Some useful OT.com threads re the non-release of the theatrical Original Trilogy
George Lucas: Star Wars Creator, Unreliable Narrator & Time Travelling Revisionist
Maybe reading them with a more open mind will help you see and appreciate the views of many people on here? And then engaging in a civil discussion?
That is up to you, of course.