Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
The reason I say the people who didn't agree with him didn't matter is because despite critics and -some- fans crucifying Lucas and TPM over Jar-Jar, it went on to claim 2nd highest worldwide box office gross (at the time). So even with that ridiculous amount of hate, no matter how hard the critics tried to kill TPM at the box office (remember the ones that broke their word to wait until opening day to publish their reviews?), they couldn't do it. TPM not only survived, but it was the 2nd highest success at the box office up until that point.
The reason I say the people who didn't agree with him didn't matter is because despite critics and -some- fans crucifying Lucas and TPM over Jar-Jar, it went on to claim 2nd highest worldwide box office gross (at the time). So even with that ridiculous amount of hate, no matter how hard the critics tried to kill TPM at the box office (remember the ones that broke their word to wait until opening day to publish their reviews?), they couldn't do it. TPM not only survived, but it was the 2nd highest success at the box office up until that point.
And why was it so succesful? Oh yeah, three wildly succesive films came out twenty years earlier and Star Wars was firmly in the public's mind as an excellent film, and people wanted to see more. That's why people saw it. You act like TPM fought a great battle or something. It was a sequel, and if the original(s) are good, people will flock to the sequel, no matter what the review. People who thought it would be bad would go see it out of curiosity. You know, that mentality of "How could Lucas make a bad film?" People wanted to see how he could, and they did. The film was not succesful because people liked it.
The original films were good because Lucas had some creative criticism, no matter how much he denies it in interviews. Gary Kurtz, his directors, his screenwriters, his cinamatographers, his actors, etc. He actually had a crew. The prequels were all Lucas, some blue screens, crappy actors and some computers. If people on the set really disliked Jar-Jar, they would have gotten thier point across. If the crew in the eighties had disliked Jar-Jar, jar-jar probably wouldn't be in the film. That's the way it would have been. Good films are the result of good collaborations, which is exactly what the originals were. I know you want to believe the Lucas does everything himself Go-Mer, but a bad filmmaker is the one that does everything themself. A good filmmaker takes imput from everyone, and then really considers it and takes it to heart. Full credit was given to Peter Jackson on The LOTR trilogy, and while he should get lots of credit, it was a huge, massive collaboration that made three excellent films. Everyone involved had input. Even actors had suggestions that changed scenes for the better. All the filmmakers involved on that project ackknowledge what a great collaboration it was, which is great. Lucas could never admit that, because he feels so vastly insecure about himself that he needs to make sure everyone thinks the films are his own and no one elses, but that just makes him look like a bad filmmaker.