An apt description of George Lucas

[CorranHorn]

As I sit here at the office reading the September issue of Wired magazine, I came across an article about the THX-1138 redux. Amongst the description of the movie itself and how it's central theme is the focal point of every Lucas movie there was a great line about the movie and it's creator...

"... THX was the battle cry of a subversive 26-year old visionary before he suffocated under the burden of his own mythology."

Never have truer words been spoken about George Lucas. The desire for a worthy prequel follow up to the Original Trilogy along with giving his perceived finishing touches to the OT have indeed been a burden to Lucas. But I think they are an unfulfilled (the PT) and unnecessary (OT SE's) burden that Lucas has placed upon himself.

I wonder if the prequels and the special editions were as much a need by Lucas to take back his universe from those who played in it in novels, comics, games, etc as they were a need by Lucas to see his "true" vision come to be.

As we get closer to the release date for the OT DVD which is in essence the Original Star Wars Trilogy version 3, I wonder what the rest of you think about the prequels and special editions in relation to the Original Star Wars trilogy that most of us grew up with. Have the new additions and changes adversely affected the way you look back on that far,  far away galaxy or are they for the better. And what of Lucas, where do you stand on what he has or has not accomplished with the additions/changes in his own mythology?

[Sprry75]

Interesting...

I would have to agree that Lucas's goals for the prequel trilogy have gone unfulfilled.  While I don't mind the general backstory, the movies themselves pale in comparison not only with the OT, but with pretty much every other movie out ther.

For so long, Star Wars has stood apart as one of the greatest film sagas of all time.  The introduction of the prequels has dilluted that.  Jar-Jar?   

I don't fault Lucas, however, for his efforts at preserving the OT with digital transfers and whatnot.  I could take or leave the spiced-up effects, but the substantive changes were egregiously wrong-headed.  So while I don't mind the subtle enhancements of, say, the opaque cockpits in the Battle of Hoth, the whole Greedo shooting first thing is a travesty.

The Prequels have to be the greatest missed opportunity in all of cinema.  To have a built in audience, and access to the coolest alternate reality ever captured on celluloid, and then to come up with some pissant ******bag kid who can't even make dynamic lines like "Wizard!" sound emotive, throw in some poo and fart gags, and then kill off the coolest part in the movie before the audience (who knows they're in store for two more movies) has a chance to give a rat's ass about him....

It drives me nuts.

I wish McCallum would get crucified, and then Lucas could say, "Aw, ****.  I really did **** these up, didn't I?"  Call a Mulligan, and start all over, doing it the same way he did the classics of the OT: devise the story, let others who are more capable revise and rewrite it, supervise the effects, but hire a director who would not allow style to overwhelm substance.

Don't show Yoda onscreen, trash the little snot-nosed Anakin/Mommy/Midichlorian/Immaculate Conception crap, and obliterate any reference to Gungans, and that's a start.

Now I'm all pissed.  I hate the Phantom Menace   

[JediMAC]

Good quote there Jas, and good points Sprry.  All of 'em.

For so long, Star Wars has stood apart as one of the greatest film sagas of all time.  The introduction of the prequels has dilluted that.

Basically, I keep them completely separate in my mind.  I have to.  The OT still stands alone to me, and the original OT, at that.

Blown opportunities, and missed chances indeed.  For both the Prequels, and the revisions to the OT.  I wouldn't have minded either, in fact, I was looking forward to both, but the execution turned out to be quite terrible in far too many places in both respects.  An absolute shame and travesty.

I'll take this a step further, and draw on one further comparison.  I've said many times, that the LOTR trilogy was everything I had hoped that the Prequels would be (and could've been).  Of course, they didn't even come close.  Not in a million years.  Peter Jackson's respect for and devotion to his film saga, the story, and his fans, absolutely blows that of the modern day Lucas away.  Hell, based on movie running times and DVD extended editions alone, Jackson's proved how much he wants to show, tell and do for his franchise.  It's like night and day between these two guys.  Lucas, to me, is now nothing more than a kid's story teller, drunk on his love and devotion for special effects, and little else.

I could go on and on and on here, but I won't.  I've probably made more than enough complaints in the OT and Prequel forums here already.  Let's just say I'm not expecting anything more than some real cool lightsaber battles out of Episode 3, unfortunately.

[CorranHorn]

I agree with both Matt and Sprry, it's truly the horrible execution of the OT Special Editions and the Prequels which have hurt the Star Wars Saga.

For the SE's, the digital transferring and some of the improved special effects such as the Battle of Yavin  were quite good, they didn't hurt the flow of the story whatsoever. But using special effects to change the story is what has made the SE's a hindrance to me more than anything else. Greedo didn't shoot first, the Sarlaac doesn't have a beak, and Luke didn't make such a ***** scream as he fell down the Cloud City shaft.

As for the Prequels, Sprry hit it home exactly with the weak characters, out of left field storytelling, and poor dialogue. If Lucas had produced the PT as he did the OT, we would have a story that flows better, doesn't conflict with the OT and for many of use just more enjoyable movies.

But some sort of psychosis hit Lucas in the mid 90's and we are the ones suffering for it. Much like Matt, I have low expectations for Episode 3, I'm more interested in seeing the end result of how Anakin turns, the Jedi die, etc than the crap that Lucas will most likely use as filler...