Dear George Lucas

Agreed.

I enjoyed Jedi Adcademy, though granted some of Luke's first recruits did seem to resemble the X-men in terms of some of their powers:

Streen: telepath that has trouble shutting off that power, can also manipulate the winds. Hm, Prof X and Storm combined.....

Gantoris: the first casualty among the students, leader of his people, immensely proud, strong and an angry man.....Magneto by chance?

Corran Horn: though not in the Academy trilogy books he was there at the time per the I, Jedi novel. His family has the specialized talent of absorbing external energy and using it to power other Force talents, mainly telekenesis. Also ability to project mental illusions of extreme detail to the point where when he first discovered this he even caught Luke by surprise. Hm, Bishop and the mutant Mastermind.

Of course later in the I, Jedi novel as Corran sets up shop on the pirate planet, he comments how pirates can be superstitious and easily frightened, has Elegos as his butler, is setup to be the pirate queens new toy and spends his time as a drunk playboy while at night he stalks the city using his powers to strike fear into the hearts of the evil and cowardly pirates. Nah......doesn't sound familiar at all......

I am VENGEANCE, I AM THE NIGHT.......I AM.....JEDI!.....

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Just try telling me Jedi Batman isn't awesome. Go on. You can't do it.

You mean like a CGI-rendered Alec Guinness doing acrobatic ninja flips?

Or... you know... There are millions of us who actually love the prequels and don't see it as anything "wrong"!!



Still.. I always think... It must suck to have been a Star Wars fan and not truly like all the Star Wars movies. I have 6 Star Wars movies I can sit and enjoy. I love them. Yahooo!

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

Why not?

Granted Ep 4 was back in 1977 and Lucas had no way of knowing what Star Wars would become, but the saber fight in Ep 4 is supposed to be basically a "grudge match" or "rematch" between Obi and Vader, and let's face it the fight between them is a bit......pale by comparison to the saber fights in Ep 5 and 6, and comparing the saber fights in the classics to the prequels is an Apples vs Oranges comparison.

Yes, I've read all of Lucas' comments that Vader's injuries have diminished his Force power by apparently 20% or so but he is still the Chosen One and his power rivals the Emperor. But his injuries and heavy armor diminish his ability to leap around like he used to as Anakin. Obi is course old or at least middle aged and allegedly his time on Tatooine has diminished his power as well (lack of use).

They could have it where Vader finds Obi Wan as he is leaving the tractor beam room and the fight starts. Obi manages to get away and is sneaking through the corridors when Vader intercepts him near the hangar again and then the fight reverts to the classic fight from Ep 4.

Also please revert the Han/Greedo scene to how it was. That is the one change to the classics that I truly disagree with.

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I have all six as well and enjoy them despite the flaws that all six have. Granted the prequels had a few more flaws then the classics, but still.....

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And from a critical stand point alot of the same issues with theprequel could and were talked about the original trilogy. But hey try telling a buncha seven year olds that their space opera with light swords and dogfighting xwings had bad acting, a patchy story and such and you get a little baby nerd rage. 30 years later you just get a full on nerd rage.

The original trilogy wasnt herald for its acting or such or even its story. We have all heard the stories about where lucas borrowed his story elements and ideas from enough to know that little of it was an original idea. But he tweaked it to his liking as many do, and basicly created a special effects movie that few had seen at that level at that time which blew away an entire generation of kids.

But the way i look at it is now those kids have grown up. And they grew up watching ILM and other effects companies grow up as well. We grew up seeing Tron, Jurassic Park, Matrix, etc. We grew up seeing entire worlds created for us in a computer, entire species animated for us that couldnt have existed before all as a result of where star wars started us off. So by the time the prequels came along i dont know what people expected. Their special effects delivered but certianly at this point it didnt seem as ground breaking as it was 30 years before. But the story and acting and such really were all about at the same level. I mean talk about forced, at the end of one movie Leia thinks Han is a sleazy opprotunist and the begining of the next she is lusting him secretly. The idea of luke having a sister was pretty much it seems just dropped in. When we needed to move along the plot we just had a ghost show up and point everyone in the right direction or give doomfull forboding to the path characters were taking. None of it was really deep story telling. It was what lucas always said he wanted to create "Modern Mythologies" and anyone that has ever read greek or roman mythology knows the stories are not deep, and rarely are the characters either. Its intended to present drama, situations of heroism and overcoming the odds etc. But its not deep character driven story telling by any means.

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

He he I haven't read Darksaber in a long time. The mental imagery of giant slugs in floating cans was too horrific.

I wonder now tho if any one ever realized the collation between Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and...



Look on the bright side Insted of I, II, and III we could have had a "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" movie!

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Splinter of the Mind's Eye was and still is a fun read, but as it was written between Ep 4 and 5, long before Yoda was brought in to train Luke or any hint that Vader was Luke and Leia's father, the story must be taken with a rather large grain of salt.

In that story a PRE-Yoda trained Luke is able to face Vader and fight him in a pitched battle in which Vader wasn't holding back and Vader and Luke were basically punch drunk at the end. The only thing that saved Luke was Vader stumbling and falling into a pit. Luke then collapsed and died only to be restored by the Kaiburr Crystal which he then used to restore Leia. The only thing that makes this fight plausible that before the fight Luke stated that he was Ben Kenobi, which rattled Vader's calm for a moment. Now that this story has been shoehorned into the EU its stated that Obi Wan was in fact possessing Luke to guide him in the fight as well as help unlock his Force powers, and that the Crystal lost its powers after being taken from the planet......ugh. Splinter should remain in its own pocket universe away from the rest of the EU, its a bad fit.

The young Han Solo trilogy part 3 did make reference to the three Han Solo books, Star's End and the others but it was brief. Wise choice.

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right, the guy put together a type of movie that hadn't been seen by anyone in a while and actually treated it seriously. something no one at the time was willing to do for a special effects movie. sure, dialogue was stilted and the story was simple. but he was shooting for a straight forward, iconic story, and that's what he got with the first one. then other writers, directors, and other creative types came along and helped evolve that concept for the other two movies. they had their own themes, and they did it well. even with bringing in the ewoks (which i still have no problems with. yub nub *******!) it didn't feel like he was treating the audience like children. there are folks who were teens/adults when the first trilogy came out, and surprise, surprise, they have a lot of similar gripes when it comes to the prequels as the folks who first saw the OT when they were kids.

sure, the movies appeal to kids, but they didn't pander to them like they were idiots. then came the prequels.

ive got my gripes, by the force i've got lists of them. but im not going to be putting any of the three of them on a 'worst movie list' anytime soon. most blown and wasted potential list perhaps. to me, there's too much in the movies that just isn't entertaining, and is just jarring when you consider they're supposed to be plugged in before the original trilogy.

I can definitely agree that the prequels did some pandering to the audience, but one small thing to mention in George's defense: times have changed and rules of content and the rating system have undoubtedly changed since 1977.

How much of some of the silliness or pandering in the prequels was forced upon him by the rules of the industry? Case in point: at no time in Phantom Menace did young Anakin wield a blaster or a lightsaber as you just KNOW that the parents out there would freak out over the sight of a kid with a weapon in his hands. Yet somehow the rules allow it for Anakin to get stuck in a starfighter and manage to blow up the enemy battlestation.

An example of parent groups forcing a change to a movie due to a kid with a gun in his hands: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Last minute changes had to be made to pacify the parent groups. Luckily they released the original version later on.

Not to mention all the uproar back in the day when kiddies were all "traumatized" at watching Optimus Prime perish on the big screen, and brought back later as an undead Optimus in the series only to get allegedly destroyed at the end. Return of Optimus Prime was a huge retcon to pacify fans and parents.

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RAGE!!!

eh, most of those types of changes wouldn't be due to parents groups, but because of George himself. remember, this is the guy who changed the Cantina scene so that Greedo shot first because he didn't like the idea NOW that Han blew the green mook away. and why was Anakin so blasted young in the first place? was there seriously ANY reason that he had to be a 9 year old runt? you're right, some thing have changed, but other folks have managed to produce quality films aimed at children and at families without having to stoop to the crap George did.

Absolutely. I don't believe Lucas panders to that or any group (Including the raging anti-Lucas people who claim that the prequels suck). He's the biggest independent film maker... well, ever. He doesn't pander to SAG or anyone and he takes the fines for it (No actor credits in the beginning of the movie... FINE... among other things).
While he may or may not try and be mindful of such things, I don't believe for a second that he altered his story for those purposes.

Truth!
Sort of.
My personal opinion is that that change is ridiculous, sucks, looks terrible and that the reasoning given is a load of bantha poodoo. There's nothing wrong with Han blasting Greedo and even if there were, so be it.
HOWEVER...
I often wonder how many people actually know/remember how that scene actually played out originally.
It is a bit weird... and it makes me think that Lucas always had some sort of issue with that scene.
You don't see anyone "shooting first".
It's done a bit oddly, in that there's just a burst of smoke and flashing light and Greedo is dead.
Just something that I find funny and interesting.
We all know Han shot first... But... it wasn't even really shown that way.
Kinda funny.


Why does anything have to be any way that it is in other people's stories?
Lucas doesn't need any defending at all and certainly not about this.
There's nothing wrong with it and I could name a few things that make it important for the story for him to be around that age, but... like I said... when it comes to someone's creation... the only answer that is needed is "because".

I didn't see any stooping, nor crap.
Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean it was crap.
And just because I like it doesn't mean it is gold.
And just because both you and I liked the originals doesn't mean anything either.

Stating your opinions as facts don't make them so.

Lucas made what he wanted. It didn't appeal to you.

Read those great books and watch other fantastic movies that are all so much better and get over it

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

I beg to differ.

First off I think Georges problem with greedo was that the way the film was shot didnt in his opinion make it an obvious case of self defense. Now i think it was, Greedo had clearly said in the subtitles that he intended to kill him, but perhaps George was a afraid that a smaller child that didnt read that quickly wouldnt pick up on the text fast enough to make that distinction. I dont know, but its the one change i really wish they would change back, or at minimum do alot better job in putting together then they did.

Anakin was young because they wanted to demonstrate that he had a natural level of force ability long before any training came around. Again not depicted well in the movie, but the book makes a point of saying that humans didnt have the reflexes for pod racing and no one understood how anakin could do it. And at the end he just had a "Feeling" about firing the torpedeos into a dark area of the hanger that ended up being the main generator. So like a force push in the right direction kinda thing. This didnt end up being clear in the movie it seems more like luck. Also being that a big part of his initial fall to the dark side is being removed from his mother, i think also you needed to have that happen at an age when it really would have affected a child, rather then a young adult or teenager.

As for other movies, i really cant think of one that in some way doesnt pander to its audience in order to get the rating it wants to appeal to. The prequels essentially did this by limiting most carnage to robots. Figuring pg13 wasnt around yet when RotJ came out i would have think if it was that jedi might also have hit pg13 for the ewok carnage in the final fight.

But look back at movies and TV, cobra soldiers jumping from planes before they are blown up, Turtles fighting with swords that never draw blood and half the time are not really used as weapons. Heck even this summer the Last Airbender IMO did alot of fire, ice etc with no real consequences to the use of the power. I didnt see one person in that movie i can think of get lit on fire, or stabbed with an ice knife or anything that really put consequences to the action on the screen.

It happens and its the reality of modern film making and peoples in ability to tell their childern a movie is or isnt appropriate for them. And of the studios wanting to appeal to the largest possible audience they can. Hence how many PG13 horror movies are released now only to have a special DVD unrated release later on.

i could care less as well. i could also care a lot more.

What i'd like to see is the Star Wars movies remade with a good writer redoing the scripts to improve the dialogue, pacing and structure; preferably with even more extensive rewrites for I to III. (So that if you watch the episodes in order you aren't left going "Huh? Why is this supposed to be a dramatic reveal?" several times. ) Obviously this will have to wait until after George dies, so it may be a while.

My main point is how many of George's silliness in the prequels were due to changing times or his own ideas?

As to Han vs. Greedo, some of my relatives are lawyers and some of them are old Star Wars fans. They laugh at George's stated reason of making it look more like self defense.

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what about those of us who were considerably older than seven year old when the first SW came out? if we see it, can we be seven years old again too?

but you can still be seven years old again anyway! in fact you're going to seven years old and like it dammit!