hmm, i know wikipedia is far from concrete truth, but it says this on gary kurtz and lucas
George Lucas clashed over how to progress the Star Wars series. Kurtz recalled after Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Lucas became convinced that audiences no longer cared about the story; they were simply there for thrills and entertainment, and he began to deviate from the original nine-episode bible starting with Return of the Jedi, at which point Kurtz quit the series.
sounds familiar?
im no expert on lucas/star wars relationship, but how much of its success is rightfully attributed to him? the more control this guy gets the worse the output seems to be. the impression i get is that he is kind of like Stan Lee, who isn't such a great writer or artist, but a better people person who puts the right people in the right places to produce something good.
either way, id love to steal gary kurtz's manuscripts, or maybe just xerox them.