see you auntie said:
6 Pop Culture Visionaries Who Get Too Much Credit
Of course George is going to land on that list but only at number 5.
any such list should have lucas at number 1 and its not even close. the list should be like the 1973 belmont with lucas as secretariat.
I like how the list sets the record straight by debunking the talking point that lucas simply 'lost it'. I like how it provides examples of even things like C3P0. The list still gives too much credit to gary kurtz. really, the success of OT was just that lucas was surrounded by a hall-of-fame cast and crew that went far above and beyond the call of duty, the likes of which we may never see again. give credit for lucas approaching john williams to create a symphonic score as opposed to an electronic synthesized score; but what john williams ended up created was something no one could have ever imagined - lets not kid ourselves. another example is ralph mcquarrie and the darth vader costume. it was mcquarrie first that created the breathing mask based on his own assumptions of the character.
Im not going list out more examples because I think we know all the anecdotes, but I will say that I continue to be surprised that even after 30 years I see more evidence of this. I have been reading the thread regarding Yoda's speech OT vs PT. I remember being annoyed at the clumsiness of yoda's dialog, but given the acute problems of the PT, it was way down there (i was more annoyed with the fact that yoda - like every other PT character - was dumber than a bag of rocks). Based on what Im reading, Kasdan came up with the idea of yoda's dialect and was pretty careful in designing it. It seems like for the PT, lucas just said 'ok, just cut his sentences in half and switch it around'.
Yoda was always the one character that lucas never seem to provide much of a background and at the same time used him as a cheap gimmick in the PT more than any other character. so i now believe that in 1979, lucas just thought of yoda as simply 'a really small creature' and nothing more. and it was kasdan and stuart freeborn that really carried the bulk of the creation.
and now there are reports that even lucas' story of chewbacca (i hit a wookie on the road) being bogus :(