What if Lucas made the entire ST in '90s?

It never occurred to me till I came across images of Harrison and Carrie of the days how awesome it would be if Lucas decided to make ST much earlier than PT, say, in the early to mid-90s (ST taking place 10 yy after ROTJ). Although, the following sounds as pure utopia, nevertheless, if we ignore technology (raw imperfect CGI) and money factors and think idealistically in terms of pure art, then he could just film live scenes with actors, then wait till 2000's (up to the time of Avatar) and add CGI graphic and action where needed. Of course the script and directing should match the path he chose doing Episodes5&6 (guest-directing and guest-writing). Imagine, what stunning result potentially could be born. Although I disagree with the viewpoint that there wasn't sense in doing PT, but I'd rather watch the continuation of adventures of the beloved and familiar heroes  instead of new unemotional set of faces that could't evoke a sympathy on my part anyway.  What do you of ST coming up in 1995 instead of 2015?

I was expecting the PT to be made in through the eighties and the ST to be made in the nineties so it would have fitted into my expected time frame for the original cast to look much like that.

but you know George...pffffffff

If George had made the ST in the nineties it would have been just as bad as the PT except more infuriating because it would star our favorite characters.

If George hadn't directed them and had gathered a team like the OT they might have been okay.

If he had stuck to his original ideas (what he had of them) for the PT and the ST ROTJ might not have been as crap as it turned out too (if there were three more films to their would be no need to kill off all the OT bad guys in one very silly film for one thing).

A Lucas written-and-directed ST would have probably sucked almost as much as the PT. The only difference is that there wouldn't have been a lot of shitty CGI thrown all over the place.

The fact that the actors would be younger is really the only thing it has going for it. But I think it will be interesting to see them older, and it may work better for 'passing the torch' (whether or not are new characters will be decent is another matter - who knows at this point).

So, unless it was an alternate timeline where Lucas sold it two plus decades earlier, or somehow magically had it stripped from him by force (I like the sound of this timeline), I think we're better off.

DuracellEnergizer said:

A Lucas written-and-directed ST would have probably sucked almost as much as the PT. 

 That's why I added "guest-directing" and "guest-writing" (read more closely) from a third director/writer :)

But I talked not about alternative story (original story with three additional episodes about Luke carrying on the quest of his twin-sister Nellith), but the story as it had crystallized by the time of finishing episode 6. To my mind it would be cool to watch our heroes after the death of the Emperor as the struggle to rebuilt the New Republic (but without Thrawn crap).

I like the Thrawn crap :-(

Zombie probably answered this question in his book, but I'm too lazy to look it up so I'll ask it here:

Was the original plan (circa 1980) to just keep going and make 6, 7, 8, 9, etc, or was George already planning on doing the PT before the ST?

I remember seeing a tv news story on youtube from, I think, the time of Empire's production/release where they're interviewing Hamill on set and he says "I can't wait to see the earlier trilogy, the one I'm not in."

Fang Zei said:

Zombie probably answered this question in his book, but I'm too lazy to look it up so I'll ask it here:

Was the original plan (circa 1980) to just keep going and make 6, 7, 8, 9, etc, or was George already planning on doing the PT before the ST?

I remember seeing a tv news story on youtube from, I think, the time of Empire's production/release where they're interviewing Hamill on set and he says "I can't wait to see the earlier trilogy, the one I'm not in."

 Zombie recently posted a masterful & authoritative article on secrethistoryofstarwars.com answering every question on this issue that can possibly be answered.

Fang Zei said:

Was the original plan (circa 1980) to just keep going and make 6, 7, 8, 9, etc, or was George already planning on doing the PT before the ST?

As far as I'm aware the original plan of Lucas was 12 episodes with 9 episodes following each other in a chronological order plus 3 "tangential" ones. At some moment which I can't tell precisely, he reduced his vision to 3 trilogies and that was the number that circulated in his, various cast and crew members interviews all the time through making OT and even AFTER. The plans to film ST and PT were mentioned by several independent sources, for example Marquand in his ROTJ interview right after the release was outspeaking in the sense that the outline of PT storyline had been worked out, while regarding ST Lucas mentioned some sketch ideas on a more raw level.Things began to change when he sanctioned T.Zahn Thrawn Trilogy and several other authors thus giving them the rights to fill the void in the ST timeline. In '90 he somehow talked on the subject less frequently till changing the tune that he never intended to shoot ST, and all the talks were nothing but misinterpretations by the media. Go figure. 

imperialscum said:

Bingowings said:

If he had stuck to his original ideas (what he had of them) for the PT and the ST ROTJ might not have been as crap as it turned out too (if there were three more films to their would be no need to kill off all the OT bad guys in one very silly film for one thing).

I am completely repulsed by the idea of having 4 films addressing the subject that is now being addressed by ROTJ. The Luke-Vader-Emperor story had to be concluded in the third film of the trilogy. Otherwise we would get four more boring films instead of a great film as ROTJ is.

New trilogy, new subject. That is how it should be and that is how it ended up.

That wasn't what was being proposed from what I can make out.

An attempt to rescue Han would still have to be made. Vader would still fall but the Emperor and the Empire (being suitably protected) would be harder nut to crack.

Luke would have seek out and train his sister and they would have face the Emperor while the Alliance would grow in strength to successfully take on a galactic Empire. Rather than just bumping everyone off because the Empire is just a handful of men in a room with a big death pit in it.

The plot of Return of the Jedi is ridiculously convenient for our heroes which cheapens the whole trilogy from my point of view.

^As you can probably imagine I'm not convinced but I'm happy you are :-D

Bingowings said:

^As you can probably imagine I'm not convinced but I'm happy you are :-D

 Imperialscum, never try to convince believers: believers are gonna believe one faith, non-believers  believe several faiths and look from as may POVs as it's possible.

BTW, considering Nellith I always (since I became aware of this unrealized arc) felt that had George gone with this version it would've been boring to watch 3 movies Luke searching for his sister, WHILE CONFRONTING THE EMPEROR ONLY IN EPISODE 9 and having the Grand Spacebattle ALSO ONLY IN THE LAST INSTALLMENT. Though all this may sound like a futile theorizing, if you have rich imagination, writing and directing skills, you can extract everything possible from potential possibilities, treasured in a story, after all; so every way of interpreting and realizing is appropriate - with or without Nellith. It's just the fanboys that always act like kids, playing more monarchistic behavior than the monarch himself does :-)

It's an opinion not a faith.

I doubt if he could convince me (ergo my polite resignation of such) but he might do which is the point of discussion.

It just seems more plausible to me that a Galactic Empire of the scale seen in the first film would take more than one very easy to swing battle to bring down, which is the implication of the celebration at the end.

For me Return of the Jedi is a contractual obligation piece made because George was having a domestic breakdown and fell out of love with the series but I appreciate that other opinions exist and that it's a beloved film for a variety of perfectly valid reasons.

imperialscum said:

The great Emperor being thrown down the shaft of unfinished death star at the ass-end of galaxy. No usual "epic final battle in the centre of everything" bullshit.

Exactly!

Even the death of Boba Fett is great. It reminds me of Old West gunfighter legend Wild Bill being shot in the back by a drunk while plying cards. Crude, ironic and natural.

 It's very possible they indeed drew inspiration from Old School westerns stylistics.

Mavericks said:

Bingowings said:

^As you can probably imagine I'm not convinced but I'm happy you are :-D

 Imperialscum, never try to convince believers: believers are gonna believe one faith, non-believers  believe several faiths and look from as may POVs as it's possible.

This post seems to apply more to you than to Bingo right now, y'know. 

Mavericks said:

 non-believers  believe several faiths

 I guess those pesky Atheists are believers then.

^LOL

Who'd have thought that the makers of RotJ deliberately set out to make an underwhelming film? I'm learning all sorts today.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Mavericks said:

Bingowings said:

^As you can probably imagine I'm not convinced but I'm happy you are :-D

 non-believers  believe several faiths and look from as may POVs as it's possible.

This post seems to apply more to you than to Bingo right now, y'know. 

 Sure. Did I say something different?

I guess those pesky Atheists..

I'm a gnostic, BTW ))