Lucas’ whimsy and energy (creative not physical, he barely moved the camera) worked in a team of people where he had to fight to keep his ideas and notions in the mix. Once he became the Emperor and anyone that might obstruct him was removed he had nothing to steer him on course.
Not really a valid point, since he was the “emperor” ever since ANH was finished. Even in ANH he had mostly free hands since studio didn’t seem to be particularly interested in the film. Of course he couldn’t directly fire people in ANH but he could in ESB and ROTJ. The way I see it, he had more sense and was a bit more open to outside input during OT. Still, judging from screenplay meetings transcripts from ESB and ROTJ, he pretty much rejected any suggestion he did not like. Perhaps in PT his team wasn’t giving him any suggestion at all.
It is valid. Lucas sank all his cash into ESB and when it went over budget he had to go cap in hand to Fox, something he desperately wanted to avoid doing. If he didn’t make his money back and make enough to repay Fox and still make enough profit to reinvest in his other projects his success with the first film would have been flushed away. So not quite Emperor at this point.
This and he almost had a physical and mental breakdown making the first film meant he needed to surround himself with people who could help him make the second film go as smoothly as it could. Don’t get me wrong I concede he still ghost directed much of the thing, almost totally rewrote the screenplay and was still not satisfied with the film most people love to bits.
Come ROTJ he was able to call all the shots. He didn’t need any more loans from Fox and he could get rid of whom so ever he pleased.
Well he was still essentially calling all the shots in ESB. By the time he got the loan (and deal with Fox), creatively the most important part was already done with him having absolute power. Even after that he still seemed to be in complete control, considering he fired Kurtz (producer) in the middle of principal photography.