Originally posted by: see you auntieWhy did he direct all three prequels?
Because after the SE Lucas realised directing just got easier. SW was a pain in the ass, now with technology he could sit in a chair behind plasma screens with an AD yelling "Action" and "Cut" himself occasionally adding "Faster" and "More Intense". The rest he could do with computers.
An even simpler translation: Lucas realized he wouldn't have to direct at all. Didn't SW end up being so good
because it was a pain in the ass? Wasn't the OT so good because he actually got other people to work on it? I guess these things just didn't cross his mind.
Originally posted by: see you auntie
In '95 he didn't know what he was talking about. Hell, in '00 he didn't know what he was talking about. He said Episode 2 was going to be a radical departure from SW, a love story, very personal and for lack of a better word "slow". One of his visual effects guys, not Coleman, his name escapes me right now even brought it up with Lucas saying *paraphrasing* I thought you said this movie was going to be a love story and you've got us doing all these CG battles on a scope never been done before, we're really going to have our work cut out for us now, thanks.
That was John Knole talking to Lucas. It was in an Episode II web doc, the last one I think, titled "Reel 6." And wow, if anything that middle part of the movie on naboo/kamino feels like the editor is fastforwarding, not slowing down. The script was bad enough, but Lucas could've at least hired an editor.
After Episode III was released, there was this idea that Episode III was the only neccesary prequel, and to a large extent I'd agree but in a slightly different way. Lucas said he was excited about seeing Coruscant and seeing the Old Republic. That's great, but no one wanted him to spend half the damn trilogy hangin around on coruscant when there's an entire galaxy out there. He's being the same lazy writer he's been since Return of the Jedi, but even that movie had more going for it than the prequels. If Episode III was the only good prequel, that means episodes I and II needed to be completely different. They keep going back to the same damn places in all three episodes and only in epIII do they bother going to a bunch of different places and even then it's still all revolving around coruscant, flitting back and forth from one end of the galaxy to the other wheareas the OT stayed entirely away from the core worlds.
A friend of a friend of mine was telling me how much he hates Boba Fett simply because when Empire was released he was nothing more than "bounty hunter #x with a name," there was nothing more to him than that and yet everyone loves him. So yes, there is evidence for Lucas having pandered to the fans in the prequels.
Originally posted by: COEpisode III ending was made by Lucas to be watched as the last episode in the saga, not the third. He even admits in the commentary, "I didn't need to show all the exposition of where everyone goes for the next 20 years, and I almost took it out of the final cut, but I knew people wanted to see it."
He put the DeathStar, Luke/Leia being brought to their homes, and even the construction of Vader in the movie solely cause alot of SW fans who saw it in 2005 would have been pissed if it wasn't shown, but that goes against everything storytelling wise of 1-6. And there lies the problem with trying to make this backstory that should be watched after the OT into a linear story now, Lucas didn't even try to appease the new 1-6 fan, he tried to appease the 4-6,1-3 fan, yet also says at the end of ROTS commentary, "The movies are meant be watched 1-6, and only thought of as one big movie, not 6 individual movies as the 'tragedy of Darth Vader.' That is the problem SW fans face who have seen the OT first, and who see the PT first, its fucked up both ways now.