127 replies to this topic

[Johnny Henning]

http://io9.com/58772...star-wars-movie

Because you dissed the Star Wars prequels, George Lucas has sworn he won't ever make another movie about that faraway galaxy. He says, "Why would I make any more, when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?"
In an interview with the New York Times, he also seemed stung by criticism that he changed the original Star Wars trilogy too much for the various re-releases:

On the internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie. I'm saying: 'Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.'

..And Lucas claimed that the "nuke the fridge" scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was his idea, even though Steven Spielberg took the blame for it in an interview a while back. Spielberg was "just trying to protect me," said Lucas. But he also said that scene was totally fine, and "the odds of surviving that refrigerator – from a lot of scientists – are about 50-50."

Surviving... unharmed?

Seriously, I give the Star Wars prequels a lot of crap, but they really had the same flaws that the original films did and a lot of people loved them, anyway.

For me, the biggest disappointment pretty much stems from the expectations of what the prequels would've been like based on what we know of the original series. The big gulf between the ages of Obi Wan and Anakin as well as the fact that for most of the prequels, it seems like they don't see much of each other, ran contrary to the basic thread in the first film - that Luke's dad and Obi Wan were best friends.

Really, I think it should've been a kind of buddy picture focused on adult Anakin and Obi-Wan basically saving the galaxy, fighting in the clone wars and then Anakin, sick to death of all the chaos, decides the only way to really protect the galaxy is to rule it with an iron fist.

[Will Carper]

I've heard that the prequel have the same flaws as the originals argument. But I don't see the original movies trying (and failing) to tackle things like political intrigue or complex human emotion. They're simple, mythic stories with a lot of charm and humor. The prequels tried to be something far out of Lucas' abilities as a writer and director.

Changing it so Darth Vader screams "No!" when throwing the Emperor into the pit, as if that makes for some kind of tragic statement on the character's transformation over the films, says it all really. Lucas, the filmmaker, just doesn't have it in him to be profound.

Edited by Will Carper, 19 January 2012 - 12:48 AM.

[Chris D]

I've heard that the prequel have the same flaws as the originals argument. But I don't see the original movies trying (and failing) to tackle things like political intrigue or complex human emotion. They're simple, mythic stories with a lot of charm and humor. The prequels tried to be something far out of Lucas' abilities as a writer and director.

Yeah, I'm with you. I think the prequels and originals share some of the same flaws, but where the originals are charming, fun adventures the prequels are overwrought, lifeless, dull wannabe political dramas. Lucas just didn't have the skill as a writer/storyteller to tell those kinds of stories.

[craggy]

thats fine George, now, will you let someone else make some Star Wars films instead?

[garjones]

I like Attack of the Clones.

[Will Carper]

I like Phantom Menace mostly, in spite of Jar Jar, Annie, and the Trade Federation/Senate stuff. Clones and Sith have some great fights, but I think the prequels get worse as they go on, to the point where nothing in Sith carries any gravitas, not even the final fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan that fans had been waiting for for decades.

[David Meadows]

For me, the biggest disappointment pretty much stems from the expectations of what the prequels would've been like based on what we know of the original series. The big gulf between the ages of Obi Wan and Anakin as well as the fact that for most of the prequels, it seems like they don't see much of each other, ran contrary to the basic thread in the first film - that Luke's dad and Obi Wan were best friends.

Really, I think it should've been a kind of buddy picture focused on adult Anakin and Obi-Wan basically saving the galaxy, fighting in the clone wars and then Anakin, sick to death of all the chaos, decides the only way to really protect the galaxy is to rule it with an iron fist.

The Clone Wars cartoon series fills that need. They give Anakin enough history for us to believe he's the amazing Jedi that Revenge of the Sith needs him to be and the good friend that Obi-Wan is supposed to have. Anakin in the cartoon is a thousand times more real than Anakin in any of the prequels.

thats fine George, now, will you let someone else make some Star Wars films instead?

Michael Bay!

[steveuk]

thats fine George, now, will you let someone else make some Star Wars films instead?

It'll happen eventually.

I wish the man no ill at all when I say I'm interested in where the SW universe will go post-Lucas.

There are still fan films being made right? He's been letting those go on for years now, how many have been any good? Most of them are just Lightsabre fights but some were more ambitious.

[Brendan Rowland]

Did you not get the overall picture of good v evil and how evil can slowly gain power and strangle over everyone rights. The prequels were about Evil rising and good falling.
The original Star Wars was about evil falling with a small band of warriors
I loved all of the Star Wars films and wanted to see did Luke build the Jedi Knights again. So George Lucas make more Star Wars films keep them coming.

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[steveuk]

We got the message, what we're complaining about was the way it was delivered; which is badly.

Good intentions do not guarantee a good film.

[GordonM]

If only he'd made this promised a decade ago he would've spared cinema goers a lot of pain and kept the dreams alive of millions of Star Wars fanboys.

[Arjan Dirkse]

Lucas is just not a very good writer, plain and simple. And the plan of showing Anakin's descent from a nice young feller to galactic Hitler in three summer blockbusters demands a brilliant writer...and even then I think it's still nigh impossible. I mean the idea to be emulated is Michael Corleone. And Michael Corleone was never a Jedi knight, he was an arrogant ambitious bastard right from the start.

If they'd started out with Anakin as a damaged kid right from the start in Phantom Menace, it might have worked. Forget about portraying him as the hero - he is a problem to be solved by Obi-Wan, first and foremost. It should have been about the Jedi's hubris - they want to use Anakin to save the universe, even though they know he is unfit. But somehow Lucas tried to keep him as the noble warrior right until way into Revenge of the Sith, two or three scenes before he suddenly becomes evil and slaughters a bunch of children, which is crazy.

[HowardAshton]

The original trilogy was space opera, I think the prequels were George Lucas trying to make an actual opera. Although, I did somewhat enjoy the Phantom Menace when I saw it as an 8 year-old, the scenes where I sat and wondered "what the fuck is the plot of this film" were overridden by the scenes where I sat and thought "this lightsaber fight is possibly the best thing I have ever seen". I left the cinema with memories of podracing and Battle Droids and starfighters and R2-D2 fixing the ship while being shot at from all angles (still one of my favourite scenes out of all the films), and when I watched Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith, the cool stuff largely made up for the crap acting and daft writing. The prequel films also opened up a massive world of Expanded Universe stuff, there's some excellent stuff in there, and it owes a lot to the good the Lucas put into the films, maybe his execution was a little bit shit, but the ideas and overall story really weren't bad. So I'm pretty pleased we got the prequel trilogy, I'm still glad Lucas is leaving though, means he can't digitally alter the original films so that Yoda's ghost in Return Of The Jedi is played by Justin Beiber, or Darth Vader shouts "Take that, bitch!" when he kills Obi-Wan.

[Christian U]

Lucas is just not a very good writer, plain and simple.

Or director.


I also don't see that the movies had the same flaws, not at all. Will said some of it, but the other thing is that Episode IV is a perfectly fine fantasy coming-of-age story. The teenage boy peasant, slightly naive idiot but with talents, turns out to be the magical heir to whatnot and goes on a quest. The important thing being that he has room and potential to grow. In Episode I, Anakin is a little kid, but he is able to do absolutely everything and anything, there's no room for identification. And his only flaw seems to be that he is full of fear, as everybody keeps telling him, when everything we see him doing wildly contradicts that (like racing cars like the most fearless kid you've ever seen, for example).

Uh, but I shouldn't get into the details of the films, I've been trying to suppress the memories.

[craggy]

I think they could have easily made Anakin turning to Vader a tragic thing...in the more flattering way that could be said. I didn't need to know or care that his dad wasn't just Bob Skywalker and all that guff about him being space Jesus. I'd have been good with an Episode 1 with him and Obi-Wan having some adventures and meeting Natalie Portman and everything being all ooh-and-aah! Then 2 we could have the war. Like, the actual war, in a film, not just "oh yeah. there's going to be a Clone War." then "oh, this is the end of the Clone Wars" at the start of the next film. Episode 3 would have been basically the same, I suppose.

Gotta say though, despite all their flaws, I still quite like the prequels, and am enjoying the various Clone Wars Expanded Universes, from the original micro-series, the comics and the current 3D-animated one.

edit: My favourite official Star Wars films are definitely the 2 Lucas didn't direct.

[Arjan Dirkse]

Well I don't hate the prequel movies or anything, I did enjoy parts of each one of them. So if I had to choose between having the prequels we got, or no Star Wars movies beyond the OT, I'd choose the former.

I think it would be unfortunate if no more Star Wars movies we to be made now. I hope GL gives the rights to do more movies, probably set in the post ROTJ era, to someone else. A Ridley Scott Star Wars movie, that I'd watch.

[Jim Ohara]

Folks forget just how awesome the Phantom Menace trailer was. It had people camped outside cinemas for weeks. Folks flew to America just to see the movie. I don't think there's ever been a movie like it since.

I think Lucas was only let down on casting. Make Anikin Skywalker a John Connor type 12 year old (rather than a Disney reject) and give a different voice to Jar Jar and Phantom Menace would have been a fine movie. The dialogue and plot are no stronger or weaker than the first Star Wars movie.

Attack of the Clones suffered from the same thing - a cast who couldn't work with Lucas. Portman and Christensen were both awful, neither had the charisma or screen presence to carry a sci-fi movie.

[craggy]

Natalie Portman in that ripped white outfit, in the black leather dress and the lakeside gown (with her shoulders out!!!) in AOTC make up for every "Yiiippeeeeeee!" moment. Just about.

edit: i never forget how good the Phantom Menace trailer was. it was AMAZING!

[Chris D]

Folks forget just how awesome the Phantom Menace trailer was. It had people camped outside cinemas for weeks. Folks flew to America just to see the movie. I don't think there's ever been a movie like it since.

I think Lucas was only let down on casting. Make Anikin Skywalker a John Connor type 12 year old (rather than a Disney reject) and give a different voice to Jar Jar and Phantom Menace would have been a fine movie. The dialogue and plot are no stronger or weaker than the first Star Wars movie.

Attack of the Clones suffered from the same thing - a cast who couldn't work with Lucas. Portman and Christensen were both awful, neither had the charisma or screen presence to carry a sci-fi movie.

I haven't forgotten how cool the trailer was. The trailers for all 3 were cool, but when expaned from 2 minutes to 2 1/2 hours the product was boring. The trailer being so great only added to the ultimate disappointment of the movie. And I don't think Lucas was let down by casting, I think the cast was let down by a writer whose dialogue was wooden at best and a director who didn't know how to direct actors. Especially with all that green screen. The performances, mostly, reflected the environment they were acting in, i.e. they were detached and void of emotion. A better director could have found a way to get the performances he needed out of those actors. Or wouldn't have casted those people to begin with.

[Johnny Henning]

I haven't forgotten how cool the trailer was. The trailers for all 3 were cool, but when expaned from 2 minutes to 2 1/2 hours the product was boring.

Boring? But what about the trade negotiations?!