The "myth-making" and all-classic-action-scenes-rolled-into-one aspects of Star Wars aside, Lucas may get too much credit for the Star Wars trilogy. This is just a theory, but I think it may be safe to say that much of the film franchise's success lies with the studio that took a chance on a film in a genre, sci-fi, that was believed by the industry to be a loser.

Lucas didn't like to write scripts, and it took him a year to write only 13 pages of an original draft. The script was waaay out there; if it hadn't been toned down, SW wouldn't exist as we now know the original 1977 film. From the details in the introduction of the official film script published in 1994 by O.S.P. Publishing, Inc., it probably would've been more like a fantasy film than a sci-fi film.

Now, you say, "Wait a minute... Star Wars isn't really sci-fi; it's deeper than that. It's cinema." To which I reply, "Indeed it is cinema, but I think that the studio had more to do with that than the pomp and circumstance of Hollywood legend may lead us to be believe."

For instance, Han was, at one point, to be a green-skinned reptilian-type alien (ala Greedo, perhaps?). Why the change to a human character? Maybe the studio wasn't ready to bet that a Reptilian/Wookie duo would play convincingly with humans Luke and Leia.

I remember reading or hearing somewhere that Lucas only ended up writing 30% of the dialogue for Star Wars (if someone can confirm this and tell me what the source is, I might finally be able to stop feeling like I'm taking crazy pills). If the studio really was concerned that this film wouldn't make much money, and they probably were a little concerned since the decision to allow Lucas to make his film followed on the heels of one of the worst first fiscal quarters of Fox's history, then it makes sense if they asked him to work with some other writers.

Up until SW: Episode I, his main-stream, commercial writing history was largely confined to creating the stories for things. He wasn't a script writer for any of the Indiana Jones films, and he co-wrote ROTJ with Lawrence Kasdan. He wasn't a script writer on ESB, but this was due to the fact that he had his hands full building the business of Lucas Film. In addition, the prequels are great evidence of Lucas's inadequacies in the dialogue writing department.

Just some thoughts that have been percolating in the grey matter in my skull as I've tried to come to grips with how much the Star Wars universe of my youth has been put in the blender and chopped, minced and pureed.

Anyone have any other really good, creditable sources of info on Lucas or Star Wars, whether officially licensed by Lucas Film or not?