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Wasn't there talk at one time of three trilogies?
LUCAS: That was created by the media, not by me.
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Lucas was asked by Leonard Maltin in 1997, about the third trilogy 7,8,9 right before shooting Episode I, Lucas said, "Whooa, let me get through this trilogy first!" Funny he didn't deny 9 episodes then, maybe cause of the backlash of the PT, and he was not god anymore?
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But can you just walk away from it all?
LUCAS: I walked away from it before, for 15 years. I thought long and hard about coming back and doing the backstory. The only reason that I did do it was because I was interested in the story, and the fact that would sort of shift the way that you look at Episodes IV, V and VI.
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Yeah, now you have newcomer to the series who watches them 1-6 in order thinks the original SW is average, and probably the worst of the six, because the are looking for Anakins struggle, a better lightsaber duel, better effects, and Yoda & The Emperor, and none of this was written in the story in 1977, they don't even know it was a standalone movie where nobody was related yet! That answer is dead on, they will look at the movies differently, but not for the better.
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Can you explain that a bit more?
LUCAS: It's really a story about Darth Vader. Luke and Leia became central figures and had a strong impact. But I knew if I gave Darth Vader his due, you would understand what a tragic story the whole thing was and it would change the way you look at the other movies. So that's why I did it.
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That is such a bunch of B.S. In the may 2005 Vanity Fair Issue, Lucas admits to not seeing the OT movies as the redemption of Darth Vader til many years after filming ROTJ. So when he was filming 4,5,6, Luke & Leia, Han were always the central figures, and Darth Vader who was just a bad guy in the original, became a secondary story to connect with Lukes in ROTJ, but even George knows it was always about Luke, but the PT propaganda wouldn't make sense if the two trilogies weren't about Anakin.
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No one gives you a hard time anymore, do they?
LUCAS: When I said I was going to do The Phantom Menace, everyone was saying, 'It's a Disney film. You're going to destroy the franchise. You can't do it. The fans will revolt.' I said, 'But this is the story. I'm telling the story and this is what I want to do.'
But I know that if I'd been at a studio, they would've just said, 'Nope, we're not doing this movie. You can have Darth Vader going around killing everyone but you can't do a film about a little boy.'
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Now I agree with Lucas, that the studios are not the ones to listen to because they are all about money, but TPM was specifically targeted to little kids, hence the only SW movie with such a kiddie tone to it, because of money & merchandising. Lucas didn't realize that the OT generation would still come in droves to the PT, if they were done well, and even though they still sucked, we still came out in droves because cause we were curious.
That is what is great about the original SW compared to TPM, it didn't cater to kids, it was made for probably teenagers, cause they were the biggest scifi fans, but kids latched on and adults, and it became a hit. But there was nothing in the original that said, "OK, here is some humor that werel sure the 5 year olds love it, but in TPM, Jar Jar.........................
And Vader running around killing people for 3 movies is insulting the OT fans, cause were smarter than that. That is Lucas's out, so he can always say he made the movies he wanted. Thats fine, but I know I didn't want suited Vader for 3 movies. But I wanted to know more about: The Clone Wars, The birth of the Rebellion, The force ghost, 3 solid movies of Anakin/Kenobi friendship, Palpatine trying to turn Anakin in AOTC, so you see a gradual turn to the darkside in which is understandable, not this 2 second, BAM, he is a bad guy! I would ask Lucas, "Was your vision for 28 years for the PT, to show Jar Jar stumbling & bumbling around for 2 hours in the first movie, and take any sense of drama out of what could have been the best of the 3 prequels?"
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You didn't direct Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi but you wrote and directed the latest three films. how come?
LUCAS: I've tried to get out of writing over and over and over again. It's the one thing that I don't want to do. It's strange: I don't think that I'm very good at it but I can do it better than most people. When I have an idea, I know how to express it. I know what needs to be done. I work with tons of writers on a lot of projects. I've turned things over to people, and I realize that I can pretty much do it as well as anyone can.
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Let see I wrote 3 new movies, and the biggest criticisms of each one is the dialogue, and acting, but he still chose to do both! Lucas is a great storyteller, the stuff he comes up with in this universe is great, and he could probably make 12 more SW movies, and I will be interested, because the PT books were really good to read.
But the execution is what killed the PT for me. The writing is not funny, it is just badly written compared to the OT. Now the OT isn't Shakespeare, but it has a seriousness that is needed, but is funny in the right places to keep it enjoyable. The PT was the opposite where the humor was written just to make the scene funny, and in every place in the prequels, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Just watch the Geonesis scene with C-3PO, every line tries to be funny, but it sticks out, cause it is the damn Clone Wars! It would be like having C-3PO cracking jokes on the trench run in the original SW as Luke tries to blow it up, and C-3PO, "Oh, my nerves!" "The suspense is killing me!"
In the original trench run, there is zero humor, becauese it didn't need it, it was a serious time, that needed tension and drama, and when you have Jar Jar & C-3PO cracking one liners that don't fit, you lose that in the first two movies.
Atleast you guys understand that Lucas has changed him mind of 28 years, because alot of newer fans think this was always his vision. Now I dont' have a problem if Lucas only wants to do 6 episodes now, I even don't blame him, I mean who wants to do SW for the rest of their life? But don't keep lying and saying everyone is lying, except himself. Just say, "you know what it was always about Luke, and in 1980, I had the hunger to do maybe 12, 9 episodes, cause I saw this huge galaxy out there, but I had to raise my kids, and I got older, and to be honest I just have the hunger to do SW for the next 20 years, so I paired it down to six movies, and just gave a backstory to the OT, focusing around Vader/Kenobi and Luke & Leis Mom, and if you want to watch it 1-6, it may work, but since it was filmed 4-6,1-3, it will probably work better that way. People change, I may have said alot of things that contradict now, but I have changed too."
I would be fine with that, cause it is atleast honest, now gives us the damn O-OT on DVD, so we don't have to read any of this crap about you hoping in one sentence you're gonna say you're releasing the originals!