The reason the fandom is fractured as you say AxiaEuxine is because of Lucas. I mean really it is his fault he had made it into a generational conflict by Denying the existance of the originals and not putting out a qualtiy dvd release of them. If he did that nobody would have to take sides to like the special editions or hate them because We would have what we want and be happy. Instead he trys making everyone watch the 2004 bastardization. I want my childhood the way i remember it not replaced with bad fake cgi.
To me as a movie buff and buyer of many dvds the Gout was a slap in the face, it was like you love these movies go fuck yourself. Watch 1993 laserdisc transfers in 2006. I mean really do you think this is a normal business practice and not just a dude with a major ego? Ridley Scott. Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola have no problem releasing restored Anamorphic theatrical versions of their movies.
What Lucas has done grows even more absurd when you realize his stance on the colorization of old black and white movies and film preservation. That a so called film presevationist Cut up the original camera negative to create the 1997 version is criminal at least to me. Not only that he had gathered up all remaining film prints allegedly and had them destroyed so the 1977, 1980, and 1983 oot can never be released again.
Yeah because i am not an 8 year old kid in 2008 and i am 30 years old i have a particular bias towards the oot, but at least the majority of film critics and book writers on the subject back me up on this.
I recent years i have begun to reexamine is lucas was ever the genius filmaker that cultural myth makes him out to be, that maybe he was i guy with a few good ideas that was just in the right place at the right time and got lucky. He had great collaborators. He never was a good writer some of the dialogue in that 1974 script is as bad as the prequels. But at least back then he hired competant screenwriters to write the scripts. Starting with Return of the Jedi he all but wrote the scripts himself and and chose the direction the film would go in himself.
Supposedly on jedi all Kasden did was a final draft rewrite. It was not the collaboration of empire strikes back or star wars.
Same thing with Attack of the Clones Jonathan Hales did a basic rewrite and it is a Lucas script. Same thing with Indiana Jones IV Lucas wrote the script and had Koepp do a single rewrite.
This guy should never be allowed to write another movie all on his own. He should write the treatment and come up with a general outline or first couple script drafts and hand it off to a real writer.
They never allowed Frank Darabount To go to stage 2 on his script which would be another draft or 2. He could have delivered something brilliant, too bad all we got were cgi gophers and monkeeys and a temple that transforms into an alien ship.
If star wars and Indiana Jones are to continue they need young blood to take over. The best thing that ever happended to star trek was when they handed off to the young Nick Meyer to shake things up a bit. They are probably doing just as good a thing with having jj abrams reboot. Even bond and batman have been reborn while star wars stays stale and predictable.
Lucas has connections to a lot of great artists and writers he will not allow to take over because he does not want his vision muddied. Probably bad for the franchise that he keeps sole rights to the series. The better star trek movies for example would not have happened if roddenberry was able to keep the rights to trek and have an iron clad rule over the series.
Lucas had a vision all right it is tunnelvision of the mediocre, the predictable and overly cgi kind.
Here is a Billionaire who continues to make the safe movies that will make money no matter what. and continues to talk up those small experimental pictures. He sure has the cash to make a few wacky and wild movies that could be original, god knows he can afford it. He should make another movie Like THX 1138 that is original and not made to make a zilliion dollars.
In the last couple of years There was a dvd released that had his student films that was released to little or no fanfare since he did not pay to advertise it. Yet those LIttle films are better than his clone wars crap could ever be.
Then again there are 2 unsung heroes between THX 1138 and American Graffiti. They are Walter Murch, and Haskel Wexler and lucas takes all the credit. Not to mention Lucas would have never ever gotten the opportunity to direct or get to make those films if not for Francis Ford Coppola.
If you want to drink up the Lucas kool aide Never read Skywalking in that book he comes off as an ungratefiul douchebag.
