none said:
*EDIT* Makes sense that the Holiday Special might have been the deciding factor which convinced Lucas to stop allowing others work in the SW universe. But each step along the way Lucas clamps down a bit more.
Conversely, an example of loosening up would be Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars cartoon.
I believe that it *was* the Holiday Special that made Lucas clamp down completely on his universe (at least in film & video form), so much so that eventually he would no longer even accept any differing opinions or ideas about his baby. ESB was probably the final nail in the coffin, after he decided he was done with Irvin Kershner & Gary Kurtz's interference with his vision. After that, only those who would not disagree with him would be able to work for him.
The Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars cartoon was the first real example of Lucas loosening up a little, sort of a test run to see how things went. That was a big success, so Lucas opened up more to the idea of letting other people play in his sandbox again. Robot Chicken came next, with Lucas giving the official nod to the show and even featuring in a promo spot for it talking to a psychiatrist about how much he hated the Holiday Special, and how he regretted giving letting other people do Star Wars (how much of that was completely true-to-life?). And now with the Clone Wars...even though it's in-house, Lucas is giving much more creative control to others (or so I have read). Next up: the new animated SW comedy show, with Seth Green & Co. once again at the helm. Robot Chicken was pretty funny; I am optimistic about the prospects of the new show.
Where does it go from here? Hopefully towards further relaxation about creative control. There's a fine line between quality control and absolute dictatorship...or something like that.
--SKot