logo Sign In

'Merge' Article- Lucas in his own words — Page 4

Author
Time
Post link
Well, I feel simply that the only real point that Return of the Jedi succeeded on was Luke's part of the story. That's really, in my opinion, the only reason to watch it. It does that quite well. I also love the space battle, despite the fact that it's something of a rehash with "better special effects" as Gary Kurtz said. But like how Luke redeemed his father, Luke's story redeems Return of the Jedi.

It kinda follows Revenge of the Sith along those lines that I feel that only one plot point was handled well. The only difference for me is that I feel that the crap that went along with the good in Sith brought it down too much to still be good overall, while in Return of the Jedi, the lesser stuff was, for the most part, good enough to keep it from bringing down the really good stuff.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

Author
Time
Post link
One great recurring theme Lucas has now set up that works well is the fact that Palpatine thinks in ROTJ that he can get away once again with tricking a group of people into their own demise like he did in ROTS. Yet of course, his overconfidence was his weakness.

I think one of the reasons there are so many continuity errors in the films is because Lucas seems to look mostly at the big picture; he looks at it as an epic, and forgets a lot of the smaller details that he sees as less significant. It's the things like the recurring themes with Palpatine that he pays attention to.
Author
Time
Post link
I know. That's what I said. But as I said, he forgot because he was so focused on the overall scheme of things.
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: CO.

For me, I can't get into the books, and even the Clone Wars cartoons I watched once, but wasn't interested. For the TV show, even if it is good, I probably won't watch it. As much of a SW fan I am, the movies are the only thing that interest me.



Hear, hear! I'm with you in that same boat, brother.
"I am altering the movies. Pray I don't alter them any further." -Darth Lucas
Author
Time
Post link
Rhetorical puzzler of the week: After all this GL b.s. and backtalk and revisionist history (which is hard to do when a lot of the history is documented for all to read): Can someone please explain exactly how A New Hope is "Anakin's story" or "Vader's story"? Cuz it ain't. (someone other than Adam)
We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
Author
Time
Post link
Vader has about 30 minutes of screen presence on Star Wars... I belive TARKIN has more time onscreen that him.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
Author
Time
Post link
I'm from the school who believe things that are left unexplained or in mystery are more interesting. It leaves it up to your imagination. (Of course these are movies so we're supposed to see SOMETHING for sure, that's the point) I think the fall of Anakin and the legendary fight with him vs. Obi-Wan we all had heard about had more power when left unseen. You could just picture it in your mind. Same thing with the explanation of the Force. The way Obi-wan explained it was simple without a lot of detail, and it had this real PRESENCE to it the way he described it. A sense of wonder. Well, with all this midi-chlorian explanation it takes all that magic away. Not once during the prequels did I get this sense of wonder of the Force, which was usually always present when it was used in the OT.
This doesn't directly address how Star Wars (A New Hope) is supposed to be Anakin's story, but I think Vader had a much more powerful character before we knew every last detail about him. So I think if you take the PT into consideration when watching Star Wars you get so much less of Vader than the attention that was paid him in the preceding films it actually lessens the effect Lucas seems to want us to get out of the movie. Or maybe this movie is about the twins running in with the Empire, and we're not supposed to be so focused on Vader. I don't look at the OT in light of the PT because Lucas didn't have it written at the time. It's just a mess now, whether he sees it that way or not.
Author
Time
Post link
I think Mark Hamill said it best when he said (and I know I'm paraphrasing slightly), "That's the great thing about the Darth Vader character. You don't need an elaborate backstory to him. Everything that you need to know about him is right there in the original movies."

Also, I'm reading the old 1978 Star Wars book "Splinter of the Minds Eye" and in the re-issueing of the book a few years ago there is a introduction by Lucas that plainly states in his own words "That his story was too big to fit in one movie, and that he had to break it up into 3 parts. The original trilogy, the further adventures, and the back story, making a total of 9 films."

Heh, and he says that the "Sequal trilogy" is just a figment of the media's imagination. That lying basterd.
"I am altering the movies. Pray I don't alter them any further." -Darth Lucas
Author
Time
Post link
I know! In the forward to the book, he says, in his own words from around 1996: "I've always envisioned this as a series of nine films."

WTF?!?
Author
Time
Post link
Its things like this, that make me lose respect for the man, he sometimes talks utter crap and he cant just say hes changed his mind, he has to put the blame elsewhere
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: Mr Bungle
Its things like this, that make me lose respect for the man, he sometimes talks utter crap and he cant just say hes changed his mind, he has to put the blame elsewhere


Text

I agree, all Lucas has to say is , "Listen fans, back in 1977 I had this huge world for SW that may have been 12, 9, 6 movies, but you know what, I don't want to do SW all my life, things change, the way I wrote the saga changed, the technology changed, and I have probably said alot of things that may contradict myself in 2005, but I have paired it down the saga to 6 movies, and if you choose to see it as Anakins story, thats great, but I do understand older fans seeing the OT as Luke Story. Now let me get on with my life. Oh, and by the way, I am going to put out the O-OT on DVD so I can divorce myself from SW, no TV series, no merchandising, rest in peace!"

I would be a Lucas gusher again, if he was this honest!
Author
Time
Post link

I agree, but he wont he will carry on blaming the fans, the media or whoever, for anything that doesnt go his way or whatever, and if hes covering up his contradictions, when it is so simple, the fans or the media or whoever wont care and will be happy if he says something like that, and he is honest and would prefer to all these lies and whatever he comes out with.
Author
Time
Post link
I wonder what would have happened if one of the fans at the Q & A at Celebration III last April would have confronted him with a copy of Splinter of the Mind's Eye with his forward in it, and told him that in his own words he was going to make nine films. I wonder how he would have reacted to that!
Author
Time
Post link
if lucas was a little more truthful it would make a world of difference in his character from my viewpoint. i dont think he has to say the critics hated the first ones, or that he never intended 9 films. i mean who is he hurting by not being a little more honest about things. everyone obviously see through his lies anyways, whats the big deal?
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: Adamwankenobi
I wonder what would have happened if one of the fans at the Q & A at Celebration III last April would have confronted him with a copy of Splinter of the Mind's Eye with his forward in it, and told him that in his own words he was going to make nine films. I wonder how he would have reacted to that!


"I don't have time to write the forwards for all my books. I never actually said that. I gave my publicist a rough outline for him to write it for me, and he decided to make up all this stuff about nine films, not me. I've since sued him for starting this rumor contrary to my vision, and my next re-release of the book should have it closer to my original vision."

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Originally posted by: Adamwankenobi
I wonder what would have happened if one of the fans at the Q & A at Celebration III last April would have confronted him with a copy of Splinter of the Mind's Eye with his forward in it, and told him that in his own words he was going to make nine films. I wonder how he would have reacted to that!


"I don't have time to write the forwards for all my books. I never actually said that. I gave my publicist a rough outline for him to write it for me, and he decided to make up all this stuff about nine films, not me. I've since sued him for starting this rumor contrary to my vision, and my next re-release of the book should have it closer to my original vision."


LOL!
Author
Time
Post link
What bothers me is the fact that he is aware and has admitted to (in his own damn words!) "becoming the very thing that he fought so hard against." He hated corporate film studios and desperately tried to avoid them as much as he could. And yet, now he is the head of a corporate film studio.
He's turned to the dark side, and he knows this plainly, and yet he doesn't seem to care. He's turned "evil," is well aware of it, and sits back and laughs anyway.

And that scares me.
"I am altering the movies. Pray I don't alter them any further." -Darth Lucas
Author
Time
Post link
You know, I was just thinking about this...

What if he's telling us his original vision is only 6 movies to throw us off track? Maybe he's secretly working on Ep. 7-9 to film right in a row a la LOTR. Granted, it won't happen for a few years...

Or maybe with enough pressure..he'll work on it. When SW popularity starts to wane...

Hell, who knows. Lots of what if's.

Either way, in Lucas' current condition, I don't want him to touch ANYTHING. Unless he's willing get some writing/directing help.
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: Invader Jenny
What bothers me is the fact that he is aware and has admitted to (in his own damn words!) "becoming the very thing that he fought so hard against." He hated corporate film studios and desperately tried to avoid them as much as he could. And yet, now he is the head of a corporate film studio.
He's turned to the dark side, and he knows this plainly, and yet he doesn't seem to care. He's turned "evil," is well aware of it, and sits back and laughs anyway.

And that scares me.


Well, just to clarify, I wouldn't call him evil simply because he has his own studio now and is the head of a major corporation. I mean, that's simply success. It's just the way he abuses it and hordes his products. Compare him to Joss Whedon, who constantly called Serenity "our" movie, referring to himself and the fans as a collective group. He considers himself a fan and considers his fans as part of the collaborative process. He's making for us. George just clings tightly to his movies like a rabid dog with a piece of meat. "GRR! Mine! Don't touch it! Leave me alone!"

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

Author
Time
Post link
Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but back in the day it never appeared he'd even make the prequel trilogy, even though anybody who called themself a fan knew there was a basic framework of three stories about Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. They were not fleshed out in any way. I read EVERYTHING on Star Wars when I was kid in the 80s, and there was NEVER ANY inclination anyone intended to make three prequel films EVER. It was a nice idea that was a what if, pie in the sky thing. No one ever thought he'd do it for real. I believe he was tired of Star Wars then. In the early 90s when rumors started flying about I was totally shocked at first, surprised, and quickly became delighted until it all went to HELL, lol.
But yeah, he just needs to admit that he changes his mind over time. It's completely understandable. I'd forgive him somewhat. Everyone changes their mind on some things over time.