George Lucas Speaks on Trilogy Changes

Warlock7 writes "Yahoo has posted an interview with George Lucas by the AP on the changes to the original trilogy from the new DVD box set. They also discuss the future of the franchise and the direction he intends to take it."

Comments

Let me be the first to say:

[Seoulstriker]

1) Han shoots first.
2) Lucas destroyed my childhood.
3) Lucas eats babies.

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[Negatyfus]

Leia: "Luke, I am your mother!"

Luke: "Nooooooo!"

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[Anonymous Coward]

This time, the Empire strikes first.

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[ackthpt]

R2D2: Beep boop wheeep zoop beeyoop! (translation: Be honest, what was I actually?)

C3PO: Oh, I'm afraid you were originaly designed as mobile trash compactor.

R2D2: Dweep! Dweep! Dweep! (translation: Noooooooo!)

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[Bjimba]

Well, even better, someone *has* converted the laserdisc versions of IV, V, and VII (pre-SD) into a DVD-R ready format, and they *are* being distributed over the usual underground channels.

You know where to go.

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[DarKnyht]

"Buy or Buy not, there is no original versions." -- Lucas

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[pulse2600]

Padme: Anakin, I am your mother...

Anakin: EWW!!! I just farked my mom!!!!!!!!!

Padme: Don't be upset, I have some great news!

Anakin: What's that?

Padme: No, I just saved a bunch of money on my speeder insurance by switching to GEICO!!!!!

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[robochan]

This isn't the trilogy you're looking for.

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[dark_panda]

Actually, in the new version of Ep 4, Alderaan shoots first. The Death Star was just acting in self defense as Lucas originally intended.

J

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[ArcticCelt]

Admiral Ackbar: Zoidberg I am your father! Dr. Zoidberg: Blb dlb blb blb blb blblbllb!!!

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[dosius]

Several people have made DVD-Rs and VIDEO_TS torrents of the original trilogy.

I might point out the petition to get the original Star Wars released in its original edition. Sign, sign, sign! XDDDDD

Moll.

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[jmole]

George Lucas: "Luke, I am your father.

Luke:"Nooooooo!"

George Lucas: "Join the darkside and together we can digitially remaster Indiana Jones with more CG."

Luke:"Nooooooo!"

Admiral Ackbar: "Luke, it's a trap!"

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[Maserati]

Ok, if we're going to go there...

A furious light sabre duel is under way. DARTH VADER is backing LUKE SKYWALKER toward the end of the gantry. A quick move by Vader, chops off Luke's hand! It goes spinning off into the ventilation shaft. Luke

looks round, but realizes there's nowhere to go but straight down.

DARTH VADER: "Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father."

LUKE: "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!"

DARTH VADER: "No! I am your father!"

LUKE: "No, that's not true! That's impossible."

DARTH VADER: "Search your feelings; you know it to be true."

LUKE: "NO!"

DARTH VADER: "Yes, it is true and you know what else? You know that queer brass droid of yours?"

LUKE: "Threepio?"

DARTH VADER: "Yes, Threepio, I built him when I was 7 years old."

LUKE: "No."

DARTH VADER: "Seven years old! And what have you done? Look at yourself, no hand, no job, and couldn't even levitate your own ship
out of the swamp."

LUKE: "I destroyed your precious Death Star!"

DARTH VADER: "When you were 20! When I was 10, I single-handedly destroyed a Trade Federation Droid Control ship!"

LUKE: "Well, it's not my fault."

DARTH VADER: "Oh, here we go. 'Poor me, my father never gave me what I

wanted for my birthday, boo hoo, my daddy's the Dark Lord of the Sith...waahhh wahhh!' You make me sick."

LUKE: "Shut up!"

DARTH VADER: "You're a slacker! By the time I was your age, I had exterminated the Jedi Knights!"

LUKE: "I used to race my T-16 through Beggar's Canyon!"

DARTH VADER: "Oh, for the love of God, 10 years old, winner of the Boonta Eve Open. Only human to ever fly a Pod Racer, right here baby!"

Luke looks down the shaft. Takes a step toward it.

DARTH VADER: "I was wrong. You're not my kid. I don't know whose you are, but you sure ain't mine. Get out of my sight, you loser!"

Luke takes a step off the platform, hesitates, then plunges down the shaft. Darth Vader looks after him.

DARTH VADER: "AND GET A HAIRCUT!"

Re:Let me be the first to say:

[pteaxwa]

Aldous Huxley wrote this in regard to a later edition of Brave New World:

To pore over the literary shortcomings of twenty years ago, to attempt to patch a faulty work into perfection it missed at its first execution, to spend one's middle age in trying to mend the artistic sins committed and bequeathed by that different person who was oneself in youth - all this is surely vain and futile. And that is why this new Brave New World is the same as the old one. Its defects as a work of art are considerable; but in order to correct them I should have to rewrite the book - and in the process of rewriting, as an older, other person, I should probably get rid not only of some of the faults of the story, but also of such merits as it originally possessed. And so, resisting temptation to wallow in artistic remorse, I prefer to leave both well and ill alone and to think about something else.

Too bad Lucas didn't read that before engaging in the Special Edition movies.
Of course, the taste of vomit in my mouth, post Lucas abominations, has really gotten quite tolerable.

Quoth George:

[rde]

"Star Wars" fans is they're very independent-thinking people. They all think outside the box

Yeah, and then they buy it five times over the next few years.

Re:Quoth George:

[Trurl's Machine]

One scene that comes to mind is where Obi Wan goes to visit an old friend who runs a diner that looks waaay too much like a typical American roadside diner.

Well, Mos Eisley canteen also looks a bit like a bikers bar somewhere along Route-66 (in the glorious days of yore). Lucas never really tried to escape from the American pop-cultural icons. Luke Skywalker's frustration on his uncle's farm reflects George's frustration in his youth in Modesto, when he was dreaming of going to study in Los Angeles, but his dad wouldn't accept that. The pod racers from "Phantom Menace" are not really far from hot-rods that Modesto youngsters were building in their garages. The Palpatines' path to power reflects that of Richard Nixon (notice: I don't judge Nixon now, just think how a young bearded liberal California filmmaker percepted Tricky Dick in early 1970's). So - yes, the galaxy Far Far Away is actually America. Hell, they even talk English! :-)

Re:Quoth George:

[EpsCylonB]

Can't remember who said it...

"The secret of great sci fi is that it isn't commenting on the future, its commenting on the present."

Re:Quoth George:

[Anonymous Writer]

They all think outside the box

Outside the box? These are people that don't remove collectibles from their original packaging.

The Missing Question

[ackthpt]

As we all know, editors often strip out items they consider unimportant or trivial to make an artical fit, or as the saying goes, "All the news that fits, in print" Here are the missing bits:

AP: Will there be any other surprises for viewers in these episodes? Lucas: Well, I was quoted a while back as stating the whole Star Wars story is about Anakin Skywalker, his turn to the dark side and eventual rescue by his own son, but that was only half the whole truth, you see as I said a film is only half finished which ripped out of the filmmakers hands, this is really the story of Jar Jar Binks and he has been added into key rolls in all three episodes. I like the character and don't care what anyone else thinks.

Re:The Missing Question

[Graff]

I wrote for a paper once, my columns were regularly 'edited'* to fit the available page space. Read some the pedant should read some newspaper articles some time and wonder why certain things are repeated and restated in different words, the answer is because the writer has no idea what will eventually end up in print, after so many inches it's usually drivel.

A good newspaper journalist writes in an "inverted pyramid", the most important facts first and then the trivial details later on. The idea is that if an editor wants to trim the story he can just start trimming at the end of the story and then he doesn't have to pick through the article to essentially re-write it. The best article will answer all of the 5 most important questions (who, what, where, why, and how) in the first paragraph. An article that has an introductory sentence which doesn't get a start on the 5 questions is probably written by a non-professional journalist.

There are a lot of newspaper writers who obviously never took a journalism course and so they don't write in an "inverted pyramid", it's those writers who repeat and restate things because they have no clue what will get cut out. An editor going through their articles would simply have to cut the stuff that seems least important, at times just randomly cutting stuff because he's in a hurry and doesn't have the time to carefully re-do the article.

Special Editions vs. regular

[wattersa]

AP: Why not release both the originals and special editions on DVD?

Lucas: The special edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I'm not going to spend the, we're talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I'm the one who has to take responsibility for it. I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.

Lucas is going to have a lot of rocks thrown at him. As someone in an earlier post stated, Lucas is a control freak and doesn't seem to grasp that his vision today differs from his vision when he made the movies. :-/

Re:Special Editions vs. regular

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

Big deal. It's out on VHS and laserdisc.

I really thought that those words were brave, it seemed like he didn't mind alienating the fanbase in favor of his own artistic vision.

Re:Special Editions vs. regular

[milkman_matt]

Ugh, I had respect for the guy .. well, some, but it's been steadily declining, and quickly.

First, OK, so the technology wasn't available to make the movies he wanted to make. I'll buy that, the DS explosion was a lot cooler.. The fact that you can't see through the ships now is cool. He says he wants Han to talk to Jabba at the begining of EP I, OK, I'll buy that too, albeit poorly done. Is he saying that he didn't have the technology to allow greedo to fire first when he made the original EP IV? That's BS, he's rewriting it now as a 'big hollywood name' as opposed to creating a vision and running with it as he did in the first making of the movie.

Also, What the hell is this "It's my movie, It's going to be how I want it, if you guys want the original it's on VHS!" attitude? He's like a spoiled kid, only he's 'rich and powerful' so he's even worse. Don't alienate the people who got you to where you are, it's poor business practice. VHS copies of Star Wars (original edition) are about 10+ years old now and probably don't even play well. Not many people (as said before) are going to buy a LD player in order to play the LD editions, and lucas knows it. He can do what he wants I guess, but it could have been said a lot better. He basically told everybody who wants the original versions of SW to f'off. He's trying to drown the original out of existence, and force people to buy the new versions even though there's a major demand for the originals. They're what made him. Now that I think about it, it surprises me that with his greed (releasing and rereleasing the same thing in a different box to make a buck) that he won't release the originals, people are asking for it, he'd make a mint off of slashdot alone ;) and he refuses to do it..

F' him, I wouldn't buy the trilogy now even if he DID include the originals because he's already butchered it to a point where you don't know WHAT point he's trying to get across. Is it the original? second edition? third? tenth!? Seriously, this movie has been released and edited and rerelased so many f'ing times it's ridiculous. Make up your f'ing mind, take a stance and stand by it.

I swear to god it reminds me of Spielberg's role in Goldmember...

Austin: "That being said I do have a few suggestions"
Lucas (pointing at his emmy): "Really? My friend here thinks it's fine just the way it is."

Lucas has gotten too big and cocky, and his attitude is terrible. He changes these movies to make everything more of what people want (making Han a good guy from the start instead of growing a scoundrel into one through heroism) while telling people he's not going to give them what they want (an original version for the sentamentalists and hardcore fans).... Pick a friggin' side.

-matt

Re:Special Editions vs. regular

[DA_MAN_DA_MYTH]

Lucas (pointing at his emmy):

It's an Oscar or Academy Award, emmy's are for television. Next, really I think it's bullshit every single one of you. If it's not one person selling out, it's another thing of neglecting the fanbase.

Look Star Wars maybe all of ours, but it's not, it's George Lucas's, he's the artist with the vision. After awhile creating the special edition is what he wanted the original edition to be but was limited to 1970's technology. This was the work he wanted to finish. His work, not yours.

The only parallel I can picture:

It's like me screaming at someone's open source project after them adding or changing an API, I can't believe you made that change, you suck. Leave Lucas alone, if you don't like it, it is your right as a consumer and don't buy it.

(By the way Han shooting first sucked, but I'm still buying the SE's on DVD)

Re:Special Editions vs. regular

[Viking Coder]

So, the phrase "the customer is always right" has no meaning?

And on the open source project, that's when projects fork. When the creator and the users disagree so much.

It's like the DRM being added to Windows. In the mind of Bill Gates, it's fixing a flaw in Windows. To you, me, and the other guy (some AC, probably), that really cuts back on the legitimate uses of Windows. But since there's no real alternative (for most of us), we'll all just use it and complain.

There's no alternative. I can't buy a DVD of the originals. Lucas' claim that it would "cost millions" is nuts. First, because he couldn't have produced the special editions, without cleaning up the originals first. Second, because he knows that he would more than earn back any investment.

He's being a selfish child. It'd be like if Monet went back and painted a cow taking a giant turd on every one of his masterpieces, and then lectured us about how this was his vision all along.

No. The originals were one piece of art, and you can argue that the special editions are a different piece of art. The fact that he won't sell the old ones on DVD merely goes to show that he doesn't care what other people think - which, admitedly, is his right. That doesn't make it suck any less.

Any privately owned company can decide to stop selling their product at any point, no matter how much harm is caused. Think about it, if Microsoft were private, they could literally just stop selling Windows tomorrow, and there would be nothing we could do to stop them.

Now, sure, Star Wars isn't a OS that millions of people depend on, but I would just like to highlight the importance of things losing their copyright in a timely manner. =)

To SW fans, from Lucas.

[Kenja]

"F-ck you all, I never wanted to make star wars in the first place. The special additions are as close as I can now get to what I realy wanted. I wont release the originals because the millions of fans that want to buy them wouldn't (or so the force tells me). Just buy my crap and shut the hell up."

While the above is paraphrased, its more or less whats in the interview.

Re:To SW fans, from Lucas.

[deathcloset]

there is no formula for success, but there is one for failure: try to please everyone.

Article in Brief - Luca$ Direction

[dbretton]

Q: Where are you taking Star Wars?
A: Straight to the bank!

ironic hilarity

[boarder]

Here is a story on IMDb about Lucas and his thoughts on Hollywood:
post at IMDb

Choice quote from the master of looks over substance: (Hollywood is) "making hugely inefficient movies for great amounts of money and they aren't creatively very interesting."

I wonder if the people who say one thing and do another (like Lucas and the Douchebag of Liberty, Robert Novak) realize they are doing it or if they truly think they are special and doing the right thing.

Juicy and stupid quote

[Gogl]

"Lucas: The special edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I'm not going to spend the, we're talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I'm the one who has to take responsibility for it. I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished."

Yeah. Suuuure. You're an artiste, and you must complete your work! That must be it. Nevermind that to most artists, integrity means keeping their original work untainted. And nevermind how your tweaks and changes, well, are largely either stupid glitz or just plain stupid. Han shoots first, damnit.

Please please please, don't reward Lucas's shenanigans by buying the DVDs.

Re:Juicy and stupid quote

[gamble]

Don't be silly, there are plenty of famous artists who are unhappy with pieces and continue to work them over until they are happy with them. Picasso did this plenty of times, reformatting a piece painting over large sections with new work. In general, this is something that critic/historians get very excited about. It's a chance to see the artist's mind at work -- to see the thought process. Musicians do this all the time as well, most music fans would say "If it sounds the same live, then the band lacks musicianship."

Alright, that said, movies are an artform where the artist cannot afford to sit on the project until it's finished. It would certainly seem odd if Michalangelo decided recently to amend David, saying "I never liked this hair. It's got an odd wave to it from this one particular angle."

Anyway, I don't want Lucas directly compared to Michalangelo, it just seems unfair to blanketly define artist integrity and artist idiological desire as such.

Talking about others' take on the SW universe

[Tebriel]

Some of it "might be good" George?

Some of it is DAMN good and much better than anything you'd ever come up with. Come on, George, give credit to people who've already taken your universe and made it better.

Re:Anybody cares?

[deathcloset]

"I care" - Luke

Response

[Anonymous Coward]

My response to Lucas is a quote from the Foreward of "Brave New World", by Aldous Huxley, in regard to "changing things" after the fact.

Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.

Art also has its morality, and many of the rules of this morality are the same as, or at least analogous to, the rules of ordinary ethics. Remorse, for example, is as undesirable in relation to our bad art as it is in relation to our bad behavior. The badness should be hunted out, acknowledged and, if possible, avoided in the future. To pore over the literary shortcomings of twenty years ago, to attempt to patch a faulty work into the perfection it missed at its first execution, to spend one's middle age in trying to mend the artistic sins committed and bequeathed by that different person who was oneself in youth-all this is surely vain and futile. And that is why this new Brave New World is the same as the old one. Its defects as a work of art are considerable; but in order to correct them I should have to rewrite the book-and in the process of rewriting, as an older, other person, I should probably get rid not only of some of the faults of the story, but also of such merits as it originally possessed. And so, resisting the temptation to wallow in artistic remorse, I prefer to leave both well and ill alone and to think about something else.

Leave it alone, Lucas.

Re:Response

[Paolomania]

I absolutely agree. "Star Wars" was not a success because people liked Lucas, Lucas was a success because people liked "Star Wars". Audiences responded to the actual movie that was released, not to the ideas that George had in his head. Assuming that audiences liking a movie is the ultimate measure of how good a movie is, who is George to say that his new version is "better" than the one that people actually loved. All he is doing is asserting that "better" means that HE thinks its better - which IMO is a bit self-centered and not at all a good measure to go by.

IMO this is also where the Wachowski Bros. went wrong: they assumed that it was the creative vision behind their movie that people loved, and not the movie itself. So by that assumption, producing two movies that adhere to their creative whims will result in movies that people love - which is evidently false.

Even worse:

[Megaweapon]

Admiral Ackbar: "Luke, I am your mother!"

Luke: "AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"

Re:Even worse:

[Zorilla]

Admiral Ackbar: "It's not really a trap!"

That one would be sure to piss off some fark.com photoshoppers.

Re:Even worse:

[Gentoo Fan]

Greedo: "Han, I am your mother!"

Han: *BANG*

Re:Even worse:

[Gudlyf]

Wait, isn't that:

Han: *BANG*
Greedo: "Han, I am your...uhhh..."

Re:The future...

[BHearsum]

I think you mean Alderaan.

Your geek license has been revoked.

Revisionist BS artist

[StefanJ]

Man, I'm really coming to dispise this guy.

Read the unauthorized bio, Sky Walking, to get an idea of the changes that _Star Wars_ went through during its conception. No, the whole thing didn't occur to him in a flash with only technology holding him back from implementing it.

Like pretty much everybody, he made it up as he went along.

Even more pathetic: Why hasn't he done anything elese? Speilberg, love him or hate him, has gone beyond his kiddie-film origins, branched out and done lots of different sorts of films. He's grown up. He doesn't deal in comfortable bullshit any more.

Lucas, he's put a clothespin on his nose, settled in a bed of comfortable bullshit, and thinks he's doing us a favor by inviting us in.

Stefan

Re:Revisionist BS artist

[jcenters]

Yeah, and if you read the original drafts for "The Star Wars," you'll realize that without a ton of revision and doctoring, it would have probably been one of the worst films ever, right up there with "Manos: The Hand of Fate."

Typical line from the early drafts: "LUKE STARKILLER slashes through the IMPERIAL BAD-GUY with his LAZER-SWORD. IMPERIAL BAD-GUY SCREAMS TO A VIOLENT DEATH."

Well, you get the idea. But if you do read them, you'll discover why the prequels are so awful. This is George Lucas's true talent right here folks, and after seeing it, you understand why he doesn't do anything else these days.

On a side note, Lucas can cram all that CGI right up his ass. A lot of the best special effects in the original trilogy were the simplest. Remember how everyone was wowed by Vader's force-telekinesis at the end of Empire? Yeah, a couple of guys throwing boxes at Mark Hamill, but cool on screen nonetheless.

I think a lot of filmmakers are forgetting one of the principles of SFX: If the audience notices them, then they've failed to do their job. For instance, in the original Star Wars SE, it's pretty obvious that Jabba the Hutt is a poorly rendered CGI blob. I notice this right off the bat, and it destroys the illusion. On the other hand, if I watch RotJ, released in the dark ages of the 1980s, Jabba's merely a "primitive" puppet, but damnit he seems real.

Lucas originally created a universe that all of felt we could visit, if we had a light-speed ship and maybe a time machine. The prequels feel more like an example of why LSD and children's breakfast cereal don't mix.

What a clueless assclown

[stratjakt]

AP: Why did you change your mind and decide to put the original three movies out on DVD now?

Lucas: Just because the market has shifted so dramatically. A lot of people are getting very worried about piracy. That has really eaten dramatically into the sales. It really just came down to, there may not be a market when I wanted to bring it out, which was like, three years from now. So rather than just sit by and watch the whole thing fall apart, better to bring it out early and get it over with.

No, George, there may very well not be a market for this in three years. And not because of piracy. Because Star Wars is dead. 20 years ago I was into Star Wars as a kid, I bought the toys and had light saber duels in the playground with the other kids.

20 years later, and my kids really don't give a shit about Star Wars. This time around, you lost their interest to such notable franchises as "Spy Kids".

I'm not kidding. I tried to take my boy to Star Wars when it was re-released in theatres. He was bored, and couldn't sit through it's dated effects and cheesy dialog. I know Jar-Jar was supposed to suck the little kids into the Star Wars world, but he didn't. My kids thought him as annoying as I did.

There will be no market for Star Wars in 3 years, simply because it's uncompelling poorly written and over-marketted crap.

Much like Star Wars, it's original hardcore fanbase is growing up and dying off. The new stuff is not attracting new fans.

There's no market for a sequel to Citizen Kane either.

But of course, this idiot is inable to comprehend the writing on the wall, and follows the industry standard of blaming it all on piracy.

Make a good movie, and I'll pay to watch it.

Re:What a clueless assclown

[Chordonblue]

"AP: Why did you change your mind and decide to put the original three movies out on DVD now?

Lucas: Just because the market has shifted so dramatically. A lot of people are getting very worried about piracy. That has really eaten dramatically into the sales. "

Oh man, my bullshit-0-meter just went off the scale. Time to use 'Lucasian' calibration...

The first time I saw Star Wars at home was when a certain relative of mine showed his in-theatre shot Beta version of it - that was in 1980. It's not like piracy is some new phenomenon - it's been around in various forms since media became available.

He's releasing it now because it's the perfect time to do so. With the THX-1138 remake and the 'Sith' movie around the corner, this is the ultimate 'hype' time. Well, at least until the HD versions appear...

buy, Buy, BUY CONSUMER!

Lucas Interview Special Edition (Orig. rereleased)

[Jakhel]

Scenes from the original include..

AP: Why not release both the originals and special editions on DVD?

Lucas: The special edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I'm not going to spend the, we're talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I'm the one who has to take responsibility for it. I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.

AP: Do you pay much attention to fan reactions to your choices?

Lucas: Not really. The movies are what the movies are. ... The thing about science-fiction fans and "Star Wars" fans is they're very independent-thinking people. They all think outside the box, but they all have very strong ideas about what should happen, and they think it should be their way. Which is fine, except I'm making the movies, so I should have it my way.


Special edition scenes..

AP: Why not release both the originals and special editions on DVD?

Lucas: I'm George Lucas, bitch!

AP: Do you pay much attention to fan reactions to your choices?

Lucas: Yes, in fact I have a joke for the fans. What did the five fingers say to the face?

AP: Uhh..

Lucas smacks AP

Lucas: SLAP!

AP: ...

Lucas: I'm George Lucas, bitch!

A Job Half-Done ??

[dbretton]

"You know, it's too bad you need to get kind of half a job done and never get to finish it."

George, do us all a favor:

Envision Star Wars, exactly the way you would want it:
Then go on a drug-induced bender of unprecedented proportions while making it.

The end result: Half of a half-assed attempt at putting together the film in your visions, and possibly the greatest achievement of your career.

Lucas sucks.

[valkraider]

What an asshole. He basically said: "I know all the hard working and loyal fans want the originals but they can all go suck themselves off because I own the crap and I am god. But it's all OK because they'll bend over and take it anyway."

And the worst part is that, based on the way he opened the interview, if we all decide to *not* buy this crap, they will blame the poor sales on PIRACY - not the fact that he is making a high priced product that people don't REALLY want (again).

where does the line start?

[putch]

I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.

where does the line to throw rocks at him start? do i need a ticket?

what a pompous ass

Re:In fairness ....

[wattersa]

Good points-- my biggest problem with the special editions was the new effects being unnecessary or integrating poorly with the originals. The Jabba the Hutt in the first special edition was really poorly done, he looked all blurry and was a different shade of color than the Jedi Jabba the Hutt. I admit that the sand pit in Jedi did look way too much like a really nasty vagina until Lucas put in the appendage with the beak, so that's fixed.

Here's a clue to Lucas, from a non-SW fan...

[Denyer]

The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I'm not going to spend the, we're talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore

...fans of film in general don't care if the footage is refurbished. They just want a copy of the film as it was initially released in a format resistant to physical degradation.

Re:Extra-Special Director's Cut III

[Reziac]

A little OT, but Troy surprised the hell out of me by being a very good movie that focuses on the personal interactions that caused the events depicted. And its CGI (despite taking a correctly back seat to the very well-managed plot and character development) is probably the most seamless I've seen to date. If you take it as historical fantasy, and don't expect a literal retelling of The Iliad, you'll like it. If you want The Iliad pristine and correct, read Homer. :)

That said, I want the original Star Wars back, the first release from 1977 without any mucking with the plotline, the visuals, or the soundtrack (which was pretty well fucked up by the re-release in 1978 -- if you didn't see it 1977, you've never heard the original soundtrack). I'm not interested in CGI "updates". I don't care if there's a tennis shoe and a potato floating in deep space. I'm not shocked that one of the Good Guys[tm] shoots first. But I *don't* want the flow of the movie interrupted by George's notions of how to "perfect" it.

Bah, sometimes people get things right the first time and just don't realise it. As Orson Scott Card said (and proceeds to violate regularly himself), the most important part of writing is knowing when to STOP.

Re:Trilogy Changes

[ackthpt]

Actually, I don't think he mentions any changes to the trilogy, other than they are the Special Edition versions.

in the 90's they added a sequence of Han Solo talking to Jaba the Hutt at the space port. Jaba was added through computer animation, but the live shot of Harrison Ford was from the original filming. Upon reflection it added nothing to the story or the film that wasn't already apparently clear.

Not seeing Jaba gave the impression of something menacing. The CG Jaba looked small and rendered on a sheet of Saran Wrap which seemed to shift in the breeze and looked terrible.

in 3 years from now, no more DVDs?

[WormholeFiend]

Lucas: Just because the market has shifted so dramatically. A lot of people are getting very worried about piracy. That has really eaten dramatically into the sales. It really just came down to, there may not be a market when I wanted to bring it out, which was like, three years from now. So rather than just sit by and watch the whole thing fall apart, better to bring it out early and get it over with.

My bold. I wonder what the MPAA's take is on this...

sorry, can't help it

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

Luke: "Jar-Jar, I am your father"

Jar-Jar"Noooooooooo! Thasa nasa true thasa imposseeble"

Who read to the bottom of the article?

[Wampus Aurelius]

AP: After "Episode III," will you ever revisit "Star Wars"?

Lucas: Ultimately, I'm going to probably move it into television and let other people take it. I'm sort of preserving the feature film part for what has happened and never go there again, but I can go off into various offshoots and things. You know, I've got offshoot novels, I've got offshoot comics. So it's very easy to say, "Well, OK, that's that genre, and I'll find a really talented person to take it and create it." Just like the comic books and the novels are somebody else's way of doing it. I don't mind that. Some of it might turn out to be pretty good. If I get the right people involved, it could be interesting.

The Clone Wars cartoons on Cartoon Network are really good; here's hoping that more product like that comes out in the future.

How Lucas Respects His Fans...

[Cheesewhiz]

AP: "Do you pay much attention to fan reactions to your choices?"
Lucas: "Not really."

Boy, I just feel all warm-and-fuzzy when I think of Lucas now... and I sure am looking forward to seeing "lava surfing" in "Revenge of the Sithians from Outer Space".

Lucas is no genius!

[gosand]

It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it.

So basically what he says is, he got lucky with Star Wars. Because what he wanted to make was garbage. Look at the prequels - he had much more control over these, and comparatively they sucked. They are tripe on their own, without using the original three as a crutch.

So the movies that people loved, and built his "empire" (so to speak) were not his true vision. We have seen his vision, and it isn't that great. So I think it is time to stop giving Lucas any credit for the first three movies. He doesn't want it, and he apparently doesn't deserve it. Actually, the more control he had, the worse the movies got. It was kind of obvious to me that he had more control with ROTJ, because of the Ewoks and some of the direction the story took. I am almost looking forward to EPIII - not to see it, but just to see how bad it is.

Even worse...

[artemis67]

Jar Jar Binks: "Luke, meesa is your father!"

Luke: (turning lightsaber onto himself) "Nooooooo!"

Re:Even worse...

[roman_mir]

Jabba the Hutt: Luke....

Luke: - Oh, no.

Re:Even worse...

[Dan D.]

Man ... with all these "Luke, I am your father" posts, it would appear Amidala really got around. Did they have paternity tests in "Long ago" and "Far, far away?"

I'm sure there's a naked and petrified somewhere in there... but I refuse, I tell you!

Re:Even worse...

[FauxPasIII]

Who is Luke's Father?

Is it... Darth Vader ?
... Officer Barbrady ?
... The 1987 Denver Broncos ?

Re:Even worse...

[Citizen of Earth]

Luke: - Oh, no.

Translated into Star Wars canonical form, that would be:

Luke: I've got a bad feeling about this...

no WMD on Death Star

[SethJohnson]

If Lucas has updated the original films for timeliness, he'd have the Rebel Alliance blow up the death star and all of its inhabitants, then afterwards find out that in fact there were no weapons of mass distruction on board. Additionally, Luke would revisit Tantooine and find that his Aunt and Uncle as well as the Jawas were actually all killed by some irate sand people, with no connection to the Empire.

Re:An artist's work is never done?

[mblase]

I don't recall any stories about Picasso sneaking into museums with a paintbrush to touch up his old work....

No, but I do recall an article recently about how Edvard Munch's The Scream actually exists as six or eight different, broadly identical paintings, all of which are by his hand. Or how George Seurat made changes to Sunday on the Island of La Grand Jatte, most noticably adding the pointillist frame around the canvas, long after he'd completed the actual work. Or how Renaissance painters routinely created multiple copies of their works on demand, and they were often created by students of the original artist's studio but signed by the artist himself.

The statement "An artist's work is never done" is even more true in the world of painting than in most other media, historically speaking.

Zahn Trilogy

[niola]

I been re-reading the Zahn trilogy and I tell you, I would LOVE to see that turned into a film with someone else directing it. Let Lucas be exec producer with Timothy Zahn, but let's get some fresh blood in to direct. Let someone like Peter Jackson try his had at it :)

Too much whining

[ramk13]

There's way too much whining in this thread. I don't like the changes, but honestly its his movie, not yours. It doesn't matter if you had some life changing experience or epiphany when you saw it. You don't own the story. If he wants to release a new version where Jar-Jar makes a cameo during the "I'm your father" scene, then so be it. You still have your movie and your moment. He can't take that away from you. Just enjoy it instead of calling him stupid (or other unoriginal insult) because you disagree with his changes.

The fact that you can still see the original movie if you want is what takes my sympathy away from the whiners. It's not as if Leonardo was painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. At worst it's like Leonardo using new technology to make a Mona Lisa II with a mustache and then selling it. Who cares. The original is still the original.

If you are that desparate for DVD, find the best available source (laserdisc, old print) and pay for the transfer yourself. Why does he have to subsidize the transfer for you?

(End rant. Willing to take a karma hit to get a clean swipe at the whiners.)

Everyone needs to pipe down...

[Zaranne]

They're his movies, he can do with them what he wants to.

If Picasso decided he didn't like the finished product of one of his paintings, he can take the thing, paint over it, and hang it back up. It's his choice.

I have never understood the "purist" standpoint that everyone else has, when everyone else didn't start this thing in the first place. Granted, it would be nice to have the original VHS movies available on DVD, but hell, even those aren't the original THEATRICAL releases.

Anyone who thinks Lucas sucks, needs to go get a life. Start complaining about how JK Rowling messes up Harry in her next book. Sheesh...

Re:direction he intends to take it...

[phyruxus]

I don't need Lucas to tell me where he's taking Star Wars, I know a handbasket when I see one. :)

Episodes 7-9

[TiggertheMad]

First off, my feeling is that there shouldn't be any episodes 7-9, simply because the story is told and finished at the end of the furry midget fest, er RTOJ. However there has been a lot of buzz about the possibility of more SW films.

From the interview:
Lucas: Ultimately, I'm going to probably move it into television and let other people take it. I'm sort of preserving the feature film part for what has happened and never go there again, but I can go off into various offshoots and things. You know, I've got offshoot novels, I've got offshoot comics. So it's very easy to say, "Well, OK, that's that genre, and I'll find a really talented person to take it and create it." Just like the comic books and the novels are somebody else's way of doing it. I don't mind that. Some of it might turn out to be pretty good. If I get the right people involved, it could be interesting.

Translation: I want to be the only one who gets to make cannon (movies), but I might let others spin off side stuff. I don't think this is a bad thing, as it might delay SW becomming the steaming pile of poop that Star Trek has become.

Here's my prediction: GL dies in another 10-20 years of a heart attack or something. GL's daughter wastes all the republic credits on fast cars and blow, and then in a effort to scrape up some more money, sells off the rights to a studio to make more films, merchandise, etc. One way or another, more SW WILL be made. It's just a question of when and by who.

The real horror of this is...

[Skyshadow]

The real horror of this is that we are potentially facing an *extinction* of the real films. These "special editions" are already becoming the versions you see on TV and they're the only versions you can really buy anywhere. The original might exist someplace, but if you can't see it, it might as well not.

Back when I was in college, I got the letterbox VHS versions (this is right before the first "special editions" were reissued) and my college ACM chapter had a fund-raiser where we showed the films on a big-screen TV with a big sound system and pizza and whatever.

To my surprise, the main people who showed weren't students, but parents who were bringing their little kids to watch Star Wars for the first time. It was really cool to watch someone's first reaction to this stuff that a lot of us knew by heart.

I have to wonder: Will my kids be able to see the real version of the films, or are they going to be stuck with these inferior versions? How long can my VHS versions last? I watched 'em again last month -- they're already showing wear.

It's a cultural loss on the same level as if Wells had burned "Citizen Kane" after it got a few bad reviews. These are *the* defining movies of that generation.

Re:The real horror of this is...

[Gulik]

I have to wonder: Will my kids be able to see the real version of the films, or are they going to be stuck with these inferior versions?

That's one of the larger complaints I have about the refurbished Star Wars movies: in some sense, they're historical documents. They were revolutionary when they came out, and spawned a whole new direction in what a science fiction movie could look like.

I of course have my own stylistic objections to Han not shooting first, and I might even be willing to float an argument that Lucas, by receiving a copyright on the movies, has likewise agreed to allow it to pass into the public domain some day (some day long after I'm dead by the look of things, but that's a whole 'nuther argument), and he shouldn't be doing his level best to make sure that the original movies are not available to anyone ever. But further, how about historians in the future? Film and art students? Anthropologists from the year 2525? Isn't it kind of sad that they'll never be able to see the actual film that caused a revolution in filmmaking?

Re:The real horror of this is...

[jedidiah]

Star Wars was a significant cultural phenomenon. It was also a significant turning point in the history of motion pictures. For those reasons alone, the ORIGINAL needs to be preserved for future academic study. Nevermind anything else.

Culture provides the context of history.

Re:What Does "Han Shoots First" Mean?

[Anonymous Coward]

In the Cantina scene, in the original version, Han Solo whacks the dumbass bounty hunter Greedo with a pre-emptive shot from beneath the table, thus cementing in everyones eyes his total badassness.

In the "enhanced" version, Greedo shoots first, apparently unable to hit a target at absurdly close range, and Han "returns fire" killing him in "self-defense", and cementing him in our minds as a dumbass, though an insanely lucky one, who was apparantly smart enough to have his hand on his blaster, but dumb enough not to use it proactively against an obvious treacherous slimeball.

Harrison's Opinion

[uberdave]

Lately I've been wondering what Harrison Ford's opinion on this whole Han/Greedo shoots first controversy is. Anybody know?

Re:Harrison's Opinion

[Thud457]

Yeah, I saw him speak at our college commencement. His comment was : "It's just a movie. Get a life!"

Re:What Does "Han Shoots First" Mean?

[Wandering Wombat]

I read the thread because I love Star Wars. Because I love Star Wars, I haven't seen the Special Edition. Because I haven't seen the Special Edition, this comment made no sense to me. Because this comment made no sense to me, I posted for clarification. Because I posted for clarification, you feel the need to belittle me because I know less than you. Congratulations.

No, no, no

[M.C. Hampster]

Actually, in the new version of Ep 4, Alderaan shoots first. The Death Star was just acting in self defense as Lucas originally intended.

In the new version of Episode 4, the Death Star's beam has been changed into a giant walkie-talkie.

Colorization hypocrisy

[Anonymous Writer]

Ironically, it was people like George Lucas and Steven Speilberg who protested against the modification of existing classic movies when black and white movies were being colorized. In fact, they both testified before Congress against the practice of colorizatioin and other forms of alteration. I can vaguely recall that one of the arguments was that technology could reach a level in which people would do alterations like replace actor's faces with those of newer actors. Yet, they are the first to alter their own classics. Spielberg replaced guns with walkie-talkies in ET, and now Lucas is changing his movies as well. This is exactly the kind of alteration they testified against.