Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
Lucas has -always- applied the most cutting edge effects to these films. Many people accuse the original Star Wars of being nothing more than a technical demo. Do you really think he wouldn't have used CG back then had it existed in as usable a way as it is now? Come on.
I would think it is likely that he would have used CG to enhance special effect shots, but beyond that light assertion of mine, you are talking about a very different man and a very different time. You have no idea if CG would have been as attractive to him then as it is now. His latest movies had so much useless CG that the emotional impact of the films is destroyed (and where the hell were the stories for that matter?). I would lose a lot of respect for the younger Lucas if his artistic sensibilities were no different at that time than they are now.
And who is saying that?
Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
He wrote the story even if he did have help polishing it (which he has actually had script polishing help on all 3 prequels too I might add). He was the primary creative force driving the bus on all 6 Star Wars films. He came up with the ideas, approved or disapproved of his artists attempt to render said vision, and he had the final say as to what stayed in and what got cut.
Lucas has -always- applied the most cutting edge effects to these films. Many people accuse the original Star Wars of being nothing more than a technical demo. Do you really think he wouldn't have used CG back then had it existed in as usable a way as it is now? Come on.
I would think it is likely that he would have used CG to enhance special effect shots, but beyond that light assertion of mine, you are talking about a very different man and a very different time. You have no idea if CG would have been as attractive to him then as it is now. His latest movies had so much useless CG that the emotional impact of the films is destroyed (and where the hell were the stories for that matter?). I would lose a lot of respect for the younger Lucas if his artistic sensibilities were no different at that time than they are now.
Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
I think it's pretty minimalistic to say the only thing Lucas really contributed to ANH and ESB was the inclination for fart jokes.
I think it's pretty minimalistic to say the only thing Lucas really contributed to ANH and ESB was the inclination for fart jokes.
And who is saying that?
Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
He wrote the story even if he did have help polishing it (which he has actually had script polishing help on all 3 prequels too I might add). He was the primary creative force driving the bus on all 6 Star Wars films. He came up with the ideas, approved or disapproved of his artists attempt to render said vision, and he had the final say as to what stayed in and what got cut.
Lucas was not the primary creative force on Star Wars. He was the primary organizational force. When it came to the artistic creativity of that initial movie, I would argue that many of the people working for Lucas input more value into the films than even he did. That is not to say that Lucas did not achieve a lot on the artistic end himself, but that it was far more of a group effort than some singular work of a mastermind. If you wish to argue this point I can provide you with many exhaustive reasons for what I say.
In Jedi and the prequels Lucas took more creative control for himself and began surrounding himself with cowards that wouldn't contradict him, all for the sake of making more money, and his films suffered as a result. His logically cold, simple, and very generic concepts were left to stand on their own. George Lucas is not any kind of artistic genius. He has good initial ideas but beyond that he doesn’t know when to quit.
As for his ability to make good artistic-management decisions, that may have worked for one or two films, but as the number of films grew, it should become very clear that Lucas does not have the mental capacity to properly manage a mammoth-scaled work of art. His conceptual focus for the supposed "saga" became too contradictory, hypocritical, and laughably ridiculous. This is objective fact, and not subjective opinion. The prequel trilogy is a set of mediocre and horrible films. And of course, as you like to say, George can believe otherwise as their creator, but then of course he would be very wrong.