What was George Lucas's worst decision with the Star Wars franchise? — Page 6

imperialscum said:

DominicCobb said:

imperialscum said:

Lord Haseo said:

imperialscum said:

Lord Haseo said:

generalfrevious said:

Kurtz was fired because of Lucas’s ego, and the budget issues on ESB were just an excuse. Lucas could not stand someone else making a better SW movie than him, one that put story first and merchandising second. If Kurtz worked on Jedi it would have blown Empire out of the water.

The ending would have been way better but as it pertains to the totality of ROTJ it is uncertain. Surely things like Luke skipping the end of his training and the Ewoks being so focal wouldn’t have been written into the script but Kurtz’s version of ROTJ would need to do more than fixing the mistakes of the original ROTJ to be legitimately better.

The ending would have been the same. In ESB, Kurtz was not even involved in story creation to begin with. As Kasdan stated about the draft Lucas written “The structure of the story was all there”. If Lucas wanted it to end that way, Kurtz could do absolutely nothing about it.

From what I heard Kurtz’s ending was bittersweet with Luke going into exile and Han dying. Though the latter could have reportedly happened earlier in the film.

It is completely irrelevant since he had no control over the story.

Well clearly because it didn’t go his way, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have input.

It does not mean he had any either.

Let’s not be silly now.

DominicCobb said:

imperialscum said:

DominicCobb said:

imperialscum said:

Lord Haseo said:

imperialscum said:

Lord Haseo said:

generalfrevious said:

Kurtz was fired because of Lucas’s ego, and the budget issues on ESB were just an excuse. Lucas could not stand someone else making a better SW movie than him, one that put story first and merchandising second. If Kurtz worked on Jedi it would have blown Empire out of the water.

The ending would have been way better but as it pertains to the totality of ROTJ it is uncertain. Surely things like Luke skipping the end of his training and the Ewoks being so focal wouldn’t have been written into the script but Kurtz’s version of ROTJ would need to do more than fixing the mistakes of the original ROTJ to be legitimately better.

The ending would have been the same. In ESB, Kurtz was not even involved in story creation to begin with. As Kasdan stated about the draft Lucas written “The structure of the story was all there”. If Lucas wanted it to end that way, Kurtz could do absolutely nothing about it.

From what I heard Kurtz’s ending was bittersweet with Luke going into exile and Han dying. Though the latter could have reportedly happened earlier in the film.

It is completely irrelevant since he had no control over the story.

Well clearly because it didn’t go his way, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have input.

It does not mean he had any either.

Let’s not be silly now.

Why stop now?

Does that side provide cookies and refreshments?

I think GL selling was the best thing he could have done after butchering his masterpieces and destroying everything he did by creating those 'other’films. Disney murdering Star Wars is inevitable and expected, the PT was a huge shock! The Han solo car crash is coming, tfa was crap and Rogue One was a good film trying to break out. I wish they’d spent a bit more time on R1 and maybe it could have been accepted. I await a plethora of shite films.

Burying the originals is obviously George’s worst decision, but at a close second I would say his decision to shoot AotC and RotS on measly 2/3" digital cameras long before that technology was ready (it’s only in the last four or five years that we’ve gotten digital cameras that even come close to replicating the look of actual 35mm cinemascope) and his obsession with green screen and cgi in general.

I also want to say “directing the prequels himself,” but it’s hard to blame him for that when he offered the job to his friends (Howard, Zemeckis, et al) and they all turned it down saying George should do it. I guess it’s all their fault!

Then there’s the creation of the Special Edition, which ultimately should never have happened, but a world where the SE never happened kind of goes hand in hand with a world where George successfully handed over the PT to other directors (or at least directed it himself without going digital crazy).

Fang Zei said:

Burying the originals is obviously George’s worst decision, but at a close second I would say his decision to shoot AotC and RotS on measly 2/3" digital cameras long before that technology was ready (it’s only in the last four or five years that we’ve gotten digital cameras that even come close to replicating the look of actual 35mm cinemascope) and his obsession with green screen and cgi in general.

Just ignoring the prequels does wonders for these concerns.

Then there’s the creation of the Special Edition, which ultimately should never have happened

Why? Who cares?

There was nothing wrong with George doing a special edition.

Attempting to erase the originals from history…that’s a completely different matter though.

IP55 said:

I think GL selling was the best thing he could have done after butchering his masterpieces and destroying everything he did by creating those 'other’films. Disney murdering Star Wars is inevitable and expected, the PT was a huge shock! The Han solo car crash is coming, tfa was crap and Rogue One was a good film trying to break out. I wish they’d spent a bit more time on R1 and maybe it could have been accepted. I await a plethora of shite films.

Damn, how good does a movie have to be for you to “accept” it? Whatever that means.

Alderaan said:

There was nothing wrong with George doing a special edition.

Attempting to erase the originals from history…that’s a completely different matter though.

Exactly, what he should have done is like what James Cameron did with Aliens on DVD and Blu Ray. There should be an option to watch either version.

“Erase” may be hyperbole but he did try to cover the OUT with a foot of manure with the hopes no one would notice.

moviefreakedmind said:

Alderaan said:

Attempting to erase the originals from history…that’s a completely different matter though.

That’s simply not true. Never did he attempt to erase them from history. For a while he might have attempted to erase them from the free market, but not history. Empire of Dreams is essentially about the making of the OOT, he released them in 2006, and he included some old, classic documentaries on the making of the OOT as special features.

Empire of Dreams was released in 2004 and is pretty bad when it comes to revisionist history actually (though not really in regards to SE stuff).

And the classic docs didn’t show up until '11.

ray_afraid said:

I dunno if it’s been mentioned, but not taking a year off after ESB to spend with his wife (as he had promised) was the beginning of the end in many ways. I might list that as the #1.

This might be the first time I’ve heard that story.

We never would’ve gotten Raiders, though. Speaking of which, Indy came along and kind of stole the focus that should’ve been kept on Jedi. At least, I’ve always thought so.

I believe the original script had Anakin suspecting a Padme and Obi affair more explicitly. There’s still hints of it in the final film.

Anakin’s story shouldn’t have been a soap opera. It should have been more like Macbeth. He becomes corrupted by power. Instead you can tell Lucas has a perverse understanding of the world, or came to develop one, since he made Anakin’s perceived feebleness his weakness, whereas he should have been undone by his own strength.

The entire prequel trilogy is whiny and childish because it represents a whiny and childish view of the world: that even bad people are good, and there are plenty of excuses that justify or explain their actions. And then comes the Saga, where all you have to do is save your son’s life and you’re suddenly forgiven for all of your sins.

The prequels are an abomination because they are nothing more than a 3-movie long excuse for why a really evil person wasn’t so bad after all.