George Lucas Blames 'Star Wars' Critics for Killing Series

[KivanSane]

I can see where he's coming from.

 

Why would he want to make more movies when people devote their lives to saying they hate him?

 

4.4 billion in the bank Georgy.

 

Screw the critics. Make another.

[adamqd]

The Original Trilogy and the Prequels were/are amazing! not a thing wrong with them IMO... The Clone Wars Cartoon? the anti-Christ franchise destroying catastrophe of death.

[Twinstorm]

They completely and utterly butchered Anakin Skywalker. He was a bumbling idiot and an emotional wreck. Thats NOT Darth Vader. Darth Vader and Anakin were smart, calm, cool and calculating.

 

If he wasn't an emotional wreck he wouldn't have turned to the dark side. All Jedi are cool calm and calculating. Thats what keeps them on the path of light. Sith are emotional, so if he was cool and calm then he wouldn't have turned to the dark side.

[RagnarokJC]

George Lucas Blames 'Star Wars' Critics for Killing Series

It feels like I just wandered back into the GD forum, since there's almost as much childish whining coming from Lucas.

[Gestahlt]

"I don't want to make something if people insult me."

 

"HEH HE'S SUCH A WHINER!"

 

He isn't your slave.

[Arkerus]

If he wasn't an emotional wreck he wouldn't have turned to the dark side. All Jedi are cool calm and calculating. Thats what keeps them on the path of light. Sith are emotional, so if he was cool and calm then he wouldn't have turned to the dark side.

 

/giant facepalm

 

No one suddenly becomes calm and calculating. Anakin always was. It was his nature. His downfall was his emotion but that was supposed to be a moment in time. A spark, if you will. All through 1, 2 & 3 he nothing but a whiney, bratty little boy.

 

 

 

Would you call the Emperor a bad sith because he's not emotional? He's the epitome of evil and he's naturally calm, cold and ruthless.

 

So your theory is totally bunk. Anakin was butchered as a character in the first 3 movies. Ask anyone who is a genuine fan what they thought Anakin was supposed to. Hell, listen to Ben talk about Anakin in episode 4. What Ben describes and what Lucas filmed were totally different.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Arkerus

[miliways]

It wasn't the critics. There's a reason EVERYBODY in the entire world loves the original trilogy of star wars, it was a phenomenon, while episodes I-III are only enjoyed by children.

 

The problem with episodes I-III? George Lucas directed.

 

Don't get me wrong, credit for creating the world goes to Lucas, he's got some great ideas. He's very creative, and he knows how to take his influences and mix them into something fresh and awesome.

 

But he cannot direct. He is not a director.

 

He is listed as Director on A New Hope, but his film college roomate who was the producer on the first film was actually the one checking camera angles, coaching actors on performance, etc. The day to day stuff aka DIRECTING. While Lucas was more behind, working on the concepts and making sure all the imagery was right, changing the script.

 

The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi were not directed by Lucas, and were arguably the best movies in the series.

 

Then, Lucas directed I, III, and III. We got Jar-Jar Binks. We got Midichlorians. We got Anakin. So much annoying, angsty Anakin. We got Mace Windu dying in 2 seconds, We got "Its over, I have the high ground!"

 

And we got "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

 

The first thing Vader says when he first becomes VADER and puts on the mask?

 

Where is my girlfriend?

 

Ugggggggh. You're killing us, Lucas.

 

The problem is that Lucas has the creativity, but he needs EDITING and DIRECTION. If you oversee him, he can make great stuff. When he became rich and ran wild, it went downhill as fast as the CG budget went uphill.

 

P.S.

If you think George Lucas is a good movie director for A New Hope, go check out how all of the fight sequences were copied from sword and sandal black and white samurai movies, and how all the space sequences were copied from WW-II movies about flying fortresses trying to bomb a dam. Literally, the planes move at the same angles during the death star run.

 

Also, in the original script Darth Vader was Grand Moff Tarkin and Luke was the son of a royal family not Vader and all kinds of things like that. Go check it out. He had to make lots of changes to get things right. But with I, II, and III, he was surrounded by success and wasn't working as hard. He was rich and comfortable and he got lazy.

Edited January 19, 2012 by miliways

[Kharnis]

You need to go back and read about some of the ideas he wanted to put into Star Wars that Fox and in particular Gary Kurtz objected to. If he had the control of Star Wars then that he has now they would have released a movie that was pretty much just a tragic parody of Flash Gordon and I doubt anyone would care about the series.

 

When he didn't get everything his own way because the producers and distributors challenged him. Or when he surrendered the director's chair and screen play responsibilities to people who actually know what they're doing the results were the best movies in the series. That isn't coincidence.

 

Likewise The X-Wing series, Dark Forces 1 & 2, as well as Kotor 1 are the best things to take place in the SW universe since Empire precisely because GL had nothing to do with them. (Not to detract from the work of the many skilled people involved in creating those games.)

 

And you need to go back and re-read what was said. He wanted to put some ideas in, and someone told him, "That's not going to work." At no point did anyone say to him, "No. You can't do that and I won't let you." Fox had zero input into what he would or would not put into his movies, and Gary Kurtz had zero power over what could and what could not be put in. Lucas was his boss. If Kurtz had any influence over Lucas, he wouldn't have quit because Lucas went in a different direction with Return of the Jedi than Kurtz thought they should.

 

Fox had even less input into what was going to go into the movies as Lucas paid for the production costs of all the movies himself. All Fox did was distribute the movies and raked in the money they were entitled to as the distributor.

 

Quite frankly, all this "Lucas just surrounds himself by yes men, and that's why the movies sucked" bellowing from the so-called fans is laughable. He created and runs several multi-million dollar companies that are now the go-to companies for Hollywood films, a multi-million dollar film studio, a multi-million dollar game company, and a now-independant film studio that is the new standard for animated films (Pixar). He created arguably the most successful film franchise in the world, and when he released the movie series on blu-ray it beat all sales records in just the first week.

 

Either Lucas has always listened to people throughout the years to help contribute to his phenomenal success, or he has no need to listen to people because he clearly knows more than most people do about what will and what will not work. In fact, had Lucas listened more to the people around him, Star Wars would probably never have been done, because no one thought it would be successful. Not the actors, not the crew, not even his fellow directors who were his friends.

[Drallbait]

Well, I can understand that. It seems Americans are amazing at whining about other people's failures on the internet, but don't actually create anything new of their own these days.

 

Nevertheless, Episodes 1-3 just weren't as good as 4-6. If your whole life revovles around Star Wars, that could be a big deal, for me I was glad he finally made them, but I wish they were better - End of Story.

[Kharnis]

Nevertheless, Episodes 1-3 just weren't as good as 4-6. If your whole life revovles around Star Wars, that could be a big deal, for me I was glad he finally made them, but I wish they were better - End of Story.

 

And people say there is no wisdom to be found on the internet.

[schwartzpedro]

Well,he did authorized the New Mandalorians and screwed up a lot of stuff Karen Traviss did.Also Midichlorians.

[Arkerus]

It wasn't the critics. There's a reason EVERYBODY in the entire world loves the original trilogy of star wars, it was a phenomenon, while episodes I-III are only enjoyed by children.

 

The problem with episodes I-III? George Lucas directed.

 

Don't get me wrong, credit for creating the world goes to Lucas, he's got some great ideas. He's very creative, and he knows how to take his influences and mix them into something fresh and awesome.

 

But he cannot direct. He is not a director.

 

He is listed as Director on A New Hope, but his film college roomate who was the producer on the first film was actually the one checking camera angles, coaching actors on performance, etc. The day to day stuff aka DIRECTING. While Lucas was more behind, working on the concepts and making sure all the imagery was right, changing the script.

 

The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi were not directed by Lucas, and were arguably the best movies in the series.

 

Then, Lucas directed I, III, and III. We got Jar-Jar Binks. We got Midichlorians. We got Anakin. So much annoying, angsty Anakin. We got Mace Windu dying in 2 seconds, We got "Its over, I have the high ground!"

 

And we got "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

 

The first thing Vader says when he first becomes VADER and puts on the mask?

 

Where is my girlfriend?

 

Ugggggggh. You're killing us, Lucas.

 

The problem is that Lucas has the creativity, but he needs EDITING and DIRECTION. If you oversee him, he can make great stuff. When he became rich and ran wild, it went downhill as fast as the CG budget went uphill.

 

P.S.

If you think George Lucas is a good movie director for A New Hope, go check out how all of the fight sequences were copied from sword and sandal black and white samurai movies, and how all the space sequences were copied from WW-II movies about flying fortresses trying to bomb a dam. Literally, the planes move at the same angles during the death star run.

 

Also, in the original script Darth Vader was Grand Moff Tarkin and Luke was the son of a royal family not Vader and all kinds of things like that. Go check it out. He had to make lots of changes to get things right. But with I, II, and III, he was surrounded by success and wasn't working as hard. He was rich and comfortable and he got lazy.

 

Truth. You speak it well. Many people don't know these things.

[Darth-Malice]

I guess he watched Red Letter Media and felt sad.

[Donnicton]

I guess he watched Red Letter Media and felt sad.

 

This. Anyone who has not watched the Red Letter Media reviews should watch them.

 

They aren't simply the same old parroted points that everyone else makes, the reviewer breaks down every scene of the movie point by point and lists exactly what George did wrong with them.

 

I've even had people who originally liked the movies come back to me later in pure shock at the fundamental problems that they never even paid attention to until it was pointed out to them.

[Elear]

Make 3 movies -> leave yourself a lot of space to be able to make another 3 -> give it some time -> fans filled empty space on their own -> make those new 3 movies way you want -> it's not what fans did on their own -> you've ruined whole series.

 

 

No wonder guy had enought.

[ptwonline]

I think it was more the plethora of personal insults sent to him over the web than the criticism.

 

If he doesn't like the downside that comes with the fame, he can give back the upside too. Namely his hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

Can't have it both ways, Georgie Boy.

[Cadrigger]

I agree, it is the critics that ruined the franchise, i loved every single movie, they all fit well, and i even love the animated series, george did a good job, it's everyone else that's an arrogant little sod nowadays, you can't go out your front door without having someone tell you that you're exiting your house wrong.

 

I completely disagree. If Lucas hadn't have begun shooting Episode 1:TPM after only writing a rough draft, maybe it wouldn't have been so harshly criticized. The best film in the series wasn't even directed by George Lucas. It was directed by Irvin Kershner. IMO he should have had a different director for each of the prequels with himself overseeing the project.

[Prawll]

Atleast he gave us Star Wars in the first place. Be thankful for that. I for one enjoy all the movies.

[ptwonline]

I completely disagree. If Lucas hadn't have begun shooting Episode 1:TPM after only writing a rough draft, maybe it wouldn't have been so harshly criticized. The best film in the series wasn't even directed by George Lucas. It was directed by Irvin Kershner. IMO he should have had a different director for each of the prequels with himself overseeing the project.

 

It wasn't just the directing that made ESB so good. It was very well-written. It was more of an adult drama that still had kiddie elements to appeal to the younger crowd.

 

ROTJ and all the prequels became much more kiddie than the fans wanted. Fans take Star Wars waaaaaay too seriously for their own good, but as a result they wanted serious movies too.

[Ladnerg]

Well, I can understand that. It seems Americans are amazing at whining about other people's failures on the internet, but don't actually create anything new of their own these days.

 

That is a decidedly modern HUMAN trait, not only American.

[BrandonSM]

Finally? Star Wars is always better when George Lucas doesn't have full control over it (or preferably is not involved at all). He cannot direct, he cannot write a screenplay and the sooner he accepts that the sooner we can have another Empire Strikes Back.

 

But when he has no control, it fals apart.

 

 

 

We probably won't ever see another movie if GL keeps like this. He definately won't let somebody else do it.

[Seisaan]

It wasn't just the directing that made ESB so good. It was very well-written. It was more of an adult drama that still had kiddie elements to appeal to the younger crowd.

 

ROTJ and all the prequels became much more kiddie than the fans wanted. Fans take Star Wars waaaaaay too seriously for their own good, but as a result they wanted serious movies too.

 

I should also point out, ESB wasnt written by George either. Still proves that Star Wars movies are better when George plays more of an advisory role.

[Arkerus]

This. Anyone who has not watched the Red Letter Media reviews should watch them.

 

They aren't simply the same old parroted points that everyone else makes, the reviewer breaks down every scene of the movie point by point and lists exactly what George did wrong with them.

 

I've even had people who originally liked the movies come back to me later in pure shock at the fundamental problems that they never even paid attention to until it was pointed out to them.

 

For the people in here who insist on backing the prequels as decent.

 

I challenge you to watch these and come back here with the same feeling.

 

I'm not telling you, I'm asking you to give these an honest try. It details each and every point people in here have been trying to make, but in a very articulate and exact manner. He even breaks down scenes that have no place being in any movie.

 

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/

Edited January 19, 2012 by Arkerus

[WaveRun]

lol at people saying how bad the movies are yet playing a Star Wars game.

[Rehneu]

The reason the movies are now being re-released in 3D format is to fund the next series of movies of which he announced about 2 years ago. In that announcement, he stated that the next three movies will have nothing to do with the current story lines and be set many years after ROTJ. He decided to go this route due to all of the negative feedback that was dished at him.

 

I don't blame him and I know I will be supporting this venture by taking my son, whom is now 10, to see all of the films ( one per year) in the theater.

 

Let's also not forget that he will never be done with the franchise. He maybe taking a much further seat away while turning things over to others for the most part, but this franchise is his life. TV series anyone?