Channel72 said:
snip
Great post.
I’m giving it another read through soon. I’d mainly forgot about Kaminski’s great work on unearthing and ordering the backstories for his early drafts of Star Wars and Empire. The backstories that became The Prequels when Lucas decided he needed more money in the early 1990’s. I wish we’d have got to see more of those early backstories onscreen as the Prequels, instead of what we actually got from 1999-2005. Or even a comic release for those backstories with Ben, Annikin, and Vader; 3 separate characters, like we got with “The Star Wars” comics release in 2014, based on George’s 1974 draft script. Maybe even a fan version comic like the one for Trevorrow & Connolly’s Episode IX film script: ‘Duel of the Fates’?
It would be really good to see a “Star Wars II by Leigh Brackett” version comic; either official or fan made.
I do like that some people at Lucasfilm are willing to to acknowledge that part of early Star Wars history, even if it contradicts George’s claims. This probably happens more since since Kaminski TSHoSW book and Rinzler’s Making Of books have been released, and more facts and evidence have become more well known. The images below are from Rinzler’s Making Of books.
https://twitter.com/PhilSzostak/status/1161026961444990976 / https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1157776507533582336.html:
‘In the August 1975 third draft of “The Star Wars”, Kenobi explains to Luke Starkiller that his father Annikin was killed at the “Battle of Condawn”.’:
‘The backstory to Lucas’ January 1976 fourth draft is “about Ben & Luke’s father & Vader, when they are young Jedi Knights”.’:
‘In August 1977, after the release of Star Wars, Lucas stated that Vader massacred the Jedi but Kenobi and Luke’s father Annikin survived.’:
‘Darth Vader wasn’t Luke’s father until the second draft of Empire Strikes Back in April 1978.’:
Using the same two images as above from Rinzler’s “Making Of” book, here is another take from Phil Szostak, the Lucasfilm Creative Art Manager & author, 2019 “Star Wars Mythbusting” twitter thread:
https://twitter.com/PhilSzostak/status/1157776519923552256 (when debunking George’s “Darth Vader = Dark Father” claim)
‘Darth Vader is not Luke Skywalker’s father until the April 1, 1978 second draft of Empire Strikes Back.’:
There are some illuminating articles on this at Michael Kaminski’s website for his The Secret History Of Star Wars book:
Thoughts on J.W. Rinzler’s The Making of Star Wars
The Turn: A History of the Evolution of Anakin’s Downfall
The Birth of Father Skywalker
Beyond George Lucas: Writers of the Star Wars Saga - in the “Leigh Brackett” section.
The “Marcia Lucas” section of the above article, and the full article at TSHoSW website on her is also very interesting.
I think Kaminski mentioned the old Starlog interview with George From July 1981 too in TSHoSW? I will look it up soon:
In case the above image does not show properly:
Kerri O’ Quinn: “Is there going to be character continuity among all three trilogies?”
George Lucas: “No—possibly the robots, but there weren’t originally designed to go through the whole…nobody was designed to go through all three. I’d like to see the robots go through them, but I don’t know whether they will.”
Kerri O’ Quinn: “What will provide the continuity then?”
George Lucas: "Well, the next trilogy—the first one—since it’s about Ben Kenobi as a young man, is the same character, just a different actor. And it’s the same thing with all the characters. Luke ends up in the third film of the first trilogy just three-and-a-half years old. There is continuity with the characters in other words, but not with the actors—and the look of the films will be different.”
“Forgotten Films - The Original Draft of The Empire Strikes Back”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTE1RoebkKA - a 2 minute YouTube video from Den Of Geek
