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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."
1) Han shoots first.
2) Lucas destroyed my childhood.
3) Lucas eats babies.
I am defenseless. Use your button. Mod me down with all of your hatred.
"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.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
AP: Why not release both the originals and special editions on DVD?
... 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: The special edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it.
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.
Q: Where are you taking Star Wars?
A: Straight to the bank!
"I care" - Luke
Admiral Ackbar: "Luke, I am your mother!"
Luke: "AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
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
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.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Scenes from the original include..
... 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.
... 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.
...
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.
AP: Do you pay much attention to fan reactions to your choices?
Lucas: Not really. The movies are what the movies are.
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!
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).
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
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.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Jar-Jar"Noooooooooo! Thasa nasa true thasa imposseeble"
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.
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.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
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 :)
Jabba the Hutt: Luke....
Luke: - Oh, no.
You can't handle the truth.
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.
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.
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
Yeah, I saw him speak at our college commencement. His comment was : "It's just a movie. Get a life!"
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff