George Lucas's Terrible Idea for Star Wars Episodes 7-9 (indiewire.com) 312
In an interview with James Cameron, George Lucas reveals what he'd planed for the final three Star Wars films:
"[The next three 'Star Wars' films] were going to get into a microbiotic world," he told Cameron. "There's this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force...." In terms of his storytelling, Lucas regarded individuals as "vehicles for the Whills to travel around in... And the conduit is the midi-chlorians. The midi-chlorians are the ones that communicate with the Whills. The Whills, in a general sense, they are the Force."
Lucas is confident that had he kept his company, the Whills-focused films "would have been done. Of course, a lot of the fans would have hated it, just like they did 'Phantom Menace' and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told."
Lucas acknowledges in the interview that "Everybody hated it in 'Phantom Menace' [when] we started talking about midi-chlorians," prompting one Ars Technica editor to add "Because it was a really dumb idea." He speculates that if the final three Star Wars movies followed Lucas's original plan, "Imagine, if you can, our heroes shrinking down like the Fantastic Voyage to go meet some midi-chlorians."
Knowing Lucas's plans for the franchise "should make every Star Wars fan send a note of gratitude to whoever at Disney decided to buy the franchise and take it away and out from under Lucas' control."
Lucas is confident that had he kept his company, the Whills-focused films "would have been done. Of course, a lot of the fans would have hated it, just like they did 'Phantom Menace' and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told."
Lucas acknowledges in the interview that "Everybody hated it in 'Phantom Menace' [when] we started talking about midi-chlorians," prompting one Ars Technica editor to add "Because it was a really dumb idea." He speculates that if the final three Star Wars movies followed Lucas's original plan, "Imagine, if you can, our heroes shrinking down like the Fantastic Voyage to go meet some midi-chlorians."
Knowing Lucas's plans for the franchise "should make every Star Wars fan send a note of gratitude to whoever at Disney decided to buy the franchise and take it away and out from under Lucas' control."
Hmmm... (Score:5, Interesting)
To be sure, it's a pretty stupid idea. But one can almost understand where he was coming from. Anything else, including the Extended Universe, would just have been variations on the pre-existing themes. New dark lord and/or war lord rises, picks up where Palpatine and Vader left off, and a ragtag band of rebels goes to war again.
You know, just like what's actually happening in the main Episode films.
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Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)
1) Making memorable characters/scenes. Face it, one of the most vivid characters of all time is Jar Jar Binks.
2) Making people happy when they leave the theater. Even the prequels, when people left the theater, they were happy.
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I was one of those people in the theatre for the first prequel.
My friend and I left the theatre so disgusted (I recall this vividly) that afterwards I had to mentally quarantine the 1977 Star Wars (which I first watched at exactly the right age) to prevent it from catching Jarbola.
I've always preferred 77 to Empire, and none of the other episodes (Ewoks, shudder) have ever been dear to me in the least.
In Phantom, it was somewhere around the su
Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
People are happy when they leave the dentist's chair.
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Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Interesting)
When writing the original Star Wars do you suppose Lucas had any real idea what the Clone Wars were other than something that sounded cool and to establish a relationship between Ben and Luke's father? Do you suppose when everyone was celebrating on Endor (or it's moon if you want to be that pedantic) that Lucas had given any thought as to the ramifications of what had just occurred to the political situation in the galaxy and what it might mean going forward? Of course he didn't, because those things were unimportant to the story being told.
However, if some time later you decide to make sequels or prequels to that story, you're beholden to offhand remarks or comments that weren't well fleshed out because you didn't sit down to write or plan out those in advance of your initial story. Tell new stories in that universe that have nothing to do with the characters or events in the original and you might be able to get something narratively satisfying. You can still drop a few references in as subtle winks to the audience if you want, but you won't be so restricted.
Look at Tolkien's work for an example of stories spanning ages and only being connected by tiny threads. You can certainly find them between the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings, but they're largely unconcerned with one and other and enjoyment of one doesn't depend on having read the other. I suspect that this is the same reason that the Hobbit movies weren't good (apart from trying to make them tonally something that the story wasn't) as they tried to tie it to Lord of the Rings more than it needed to be.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Interesting)
I like the concept behind the preqels and sequels, even if they were not always executed very well.
We see the fall of the Jedi order, the flaws in it laid bare. Then the rebels fight back and eventually defeat the empire, but with no Jedi to maintain order and only evil force users the First Order rises out of the ashes.
Now it looks like they are going to conclude with how the rebellion and the good guys can survive in a post-Jedi universe, where the Force is unbound by the old religious dogma. Obviously there will be a showdown between Ray and Kylo Ren, echoing Return of the Jedi but surely with a different outcome.
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but with no Jedi to maintain order and only evil force users the First Order rises out of the ashes
This would actually have been an interesting story. Who is Snoke and how did he gain power? Who paid for Starkiller Base (ugh, that name)? Why did the Rebellion continue to be such a tiny, continually underfunded activity after the fall of the Empire, instead of becoming a new secular version of the Jedi Knights? Why did the First Order rise to power in preference to the Rebellion in the immediate afterma
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The novel Star Wars: Bloodline (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Bloodline) apparently deals with the time period right before Force Awakens and sets up The First Order, the new Resistance, etc.
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or it's moon if you want to be that pedantic
It's "its moon" if you want to be that pedantic.
Not so sure about "anything else"... (Score:3)
To be sure, it's a pretty stupid idea. But one can almost understand where he was coming from. Anything else, including the Extended Universe, would just have been variations on the pre-existing themes.
I dunno about the "anything else" part.
I read a story somewhere about a hypothetical origin of the Sith, being a temple on a long-abandoned planet somewhere that still held a sort of sentient psychic malevolence. A story revolving around finding this out (the origins of the Sith), tracking down the planet, and the subsequent battle to destroy it might be pretty interesting. The original Sith don't need to be even remotely human, and could make for some creative backstory.
Part of good storytelling is creativ
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The original Sith don't need to be even remotely human, and could make for some creative backstory.
[Scene: a laboratory on an ancient world]
"Hey Bob, come look at this."
[camera pans down into a microscope]
"Huh, that's strange. Never seen black midichlorians before."
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Different (Score:2)
I read his comments a few days ago and thought that, while it sounded goofy, at least it would be different.
The whole point of science fiction is you can do anything you want. A main character can be a cloud of gas, or a planet. What they you do? Another fascistic bad guy who has magic powers and uses a giant gun to blow up planets. AGAIN. As awful as the prequels were, at least they tried to do some new things.
I didn't care that much for Rogue One as a whole, but at least it was different.
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The whole point of science fiction is you can do anything you want
No, that's science fantasy. Science fiction should be self consistent. Sure you can have some new science that is indistinguishable from magic, but it should be consistent, not do anything you want. No changing the rules just because.
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The whole point of science fiction is you can do anything you want.
Not really, as was already explained in another reply. Also, Star Wars is not science fiction.
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The whole point of science fiction is you can do anything you want.
Not really, as was already explained in another reply. Also, Star Wars is not science fiction.
I think Science Fiction is a broad enough category that Star Wars fits in, even if it has elements of fantasy, and the main plot driver isn't society being effected by technology.
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It's more accurate to call it Space Opera [wikipedia.org]. But Space Opera is a sub-genre of Science Fiction.
Re: BZZZ. Lucas's ex-wife wrote the outline (Score:2, Insightful)
Which is why after they separate everything Star Wars goes to shit. Lucas is a hack, an needed someone to control him and give him direction. Without it what you get is Jedi onward: garbage.
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social justice would actually be infinitely preferable to the totally fake disney generation bullshit that is in control of the televisors these days.
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Oh dear. And here you are, all out of tissue. Not to worry, I'm sure they can patch you up in your next cognitive therapy session.
I dunno - It really is a different tack, with Disney expounding on Lando's pansexuality. i mean, whatever two consenting adults do is cool, but I really can't get into a character that wants too have sex with my little girl or my mailbox or my lawnmower.
Disney trying to branch off into where characters want to stick their pecker or fig is an annoying and irrelevant side trip that wrecks their story line.
Mostly because it turns the movies into clumsy propaganda pieces. "The Last Jedi" was exactly that A
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Trump fag?
I came here looking for some intelligent conversation, but I got you.
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You have no idea what "pansexual" means, do you?
Well now in todays world of an infinite number of genders it's someone who is perfectly happy to fuck anything. The reason that the writer smugly announce Lando's pansexuality is because he was insinuated to be fucking the woman robot, who was in no way shape or form humanoid, but the equivalent of fucking R2D2, a porg, od the tailpi[pe on your mamma's car. Across the spectrum, anything is a fine thing to stick your dick in.
Bullshit. Disney is just as horrible. (Score:5, Insightful)
The first two were made with passion. The rest are chasing dollars and it shows.
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I agree with you about the first two being the only two REALLY good ones.
But you should look up a video about Star Wars being saved in the edit. After watching that, I am fully convinced that Lucas has very little talent when it comes to movie making. Remember this - he said in interviews that the first two movies were NOT his vision. Even with this story, about where he wanted to take the storyline, illustrates this.
I think he's just a hack who got lucky by having good casting and good people working on
Re:Bullshit. Disney is just as horrible. (Score:5, Insightful)
Ehh, the kamikaze scene sure is impressive in visuals and audio, but the scene is ruined within minutes(!) as Rose prevents a main character from doing it again, even though the kamikaze was the single most helpful act in the film.
Plot woes also arise because X-wings are faster-than-light capable, making jihad a tactically obvious option for the Rebels. I prefer it when the universe's physics demands 16th century battleship tactics to be the optimal solution.
Re:Bullshit. Disney is just as horrible. (Score:5, Insightful)
Still, all of this is still a sight better than Lucas’ pitch for the 3rd trilogy. I mean, it might conceivably result in halfway decent movies, but would it still be Star Wars? Ideally you’d want these trilogies tied together by the universe and a long story arc, with some overlap in characters. Not set in a completely different environment, with the only tie-in being the characters and some plot points the got shoehorned in. At least that’s what his pitch sounded like.
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...it invalidated pretty much everything we have learned about space battle tactics and strategy from the other movies.
Heh.
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Re:Bullshit. Disney is just as horrible. (Score:4, Interesting)
The point of that scene was that if everyone dies saving the others then you end up with no one left. The heroic suicide attack is heroic but not a winning strategy.
As for light speed ramming, keep in mind that was the biggest ship the rebels ever had. If anything didn't make sense it was the space bombers, but it's Star Wars so scientific accuracy isn't really a thing in that universe.
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Plot woes also arise because X-wings are faster-than-light capable, making jihad a tactically obvious option for the Rebels
Particularly when they can be piloted by droids. Cut out all the life support and space for a human, turn them into guided missiles, win.
disney is worse (Score:2)
you seriously don't understand how the warp shenigans in tfa and tlj break up 100% of all point in the plots in 4,5,6 and even rogue one?
1) warp drives can be engaged into capital ships as weapons.
2) you can bypass planetary shields with warp drives.
3) planet masses no longer matter.
also i gather that they break large parts of the plot in solo too...
the new stuff is actually worse than lucas's terrible ideas. they break contuinity. it's like if you put a device in star trek that let you teleport people in 0
Call me crazy... (Score:5, Interesting)
Call me crazy, but I have a (morbid?) fascination of giving George Lucas a budget, isolating him from the fan community and press, and simply leaving him to his own devices to produce the Star Wars movies he visions.
Judging by the changes he's made to them already, I wouldn't expect them to be good, but nonetheless, it would certainly be interesting to see.
Re:Call me crazy... (Score:5, Funny)
Call me crazy, but I have a (morbid?) fascination of giving George Lucas a budget, isolating him from the fan community and press, and simply leaving him to his own devices to produce the Star Wars movies he visions.
Call me crazy, but I have a (morbid?) fascination of giving George Lucas a budget, isolating him from the fan community and press, and simply leaving him to his own devices to produce the THX 1138 movies he visions.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Episodes 1-3 were terrible... but they were a really good story. Let me pitch this prequel trilogy to you.
The Jedi are an ancient order but after thousands of years they've become corrupt and disconnected from the lives of ordinary people. The galaxy is in decay. If you live outside of the core worlds you are vulnerable to child trafficking and slavery. Worlds are owned and run by crime lords, while the decadent core worlds turn a blind eye and squabble over tariffs and trade disputes.
Anakin Skywalker is
planed for the final three Star Wars films (Score:5, Insightful)
subtle dig at the boring natural of the new movies, or just bad editing...
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Ahem natural == nature
Prequels (Score:2)
Jar Jar Power! [Re:Prequels] (Score:4, Funny)
Sorry, but I'm a Jar Jar fan. The Force channels power through his clumsiness. That's rare in cinema. (Scooby Doo & Shaggy don't count because not backed by supernatural powers.)
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Scooby Doo & Shaggy don't count because not backed by supernatural powers.
Depends, does being so high they can actually fly all the way to orbit count as a superpower?
I wish Star Wars ended after original trilogy (Score:5, Insightful)
Everything since then has been total crap.
Re: I wish Star Wars ended after original trilogy (Score:2)
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I disagree, but I am curious why you think that as it's a somewhat rare opinion that's seldom expanded upon. A New Hope and Empire together were acclaimed for both their technical and storytelling work in the fantasy and science fiction genre.
Return of the Jedi though I find to have some serious issues:
* The first 30 minutes is spent on a bizarrely roundabout plan to rescue Han, and ultimately serves no purpose as Han has nothing to do for the entire movie besides standing outside of a door during the thir
Re: I wish Star Wars ended after original trilogy (Score:2)
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Luke had piloted spacecraft before, and used to hunt small flying prey in them. You can argue that shouldn't have been enough, but he was apparently a pilot with some experience.
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Now, Anakin in the prequel, *that* was just ridiculous.
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Luke had piloted spacecraft before, and used to hunt small flying prey in them
A speeder that floats two feet off the ground is a spacecraft, is it? Tell me more.
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No, not his speeder. He sometimes flew a T-65, a small one-seater that was actually related to the X-wing. We never saw him actually fly one, but it was referred to in dialog.
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The first 30 minutes is spent on a bizarrely roundabout plan to rescue Han, and ultimately serves no purpose as Han has nothing to do for the entire movie besides standing outside of a door during the third act
Lando gathered intelligence. Plan A was Leia. Plan B was Luke. Plan C was fight their way out. Fits perfectly with the strategy used so far. The purpose was primarily adventure. Entertainment. The purpose of Han was a friend and a temporary mcguffin, something to adventure for. The sequence showed the barbarity of the outer-rim and really is a standout piece with the cantina scene in the first, and ice planet in the second to present to the audience an alien setting.
I agree with you that the whole rescue sequence by itself does great world-building, and it's entertaining to watch plans go wrong, and seeing a Jedi solve problems without a light saber. But the ensuing "plan C" relied on so much contrived convenience that it seemed like it was meant to be "plan A." Did the gang ever expect to get their droids back from the exchange? What if R2D2's drink tray would have blocked the light saber dispenser, or not all of Luke's friends were there to help him on the barge, or
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The original series was crap, too. "Luke, I am your father.". Really?
Got to agree there. I've found them unwatchable since I ceased to be 8 years old.
Re:I wish Star Wars ended after original trilogy (Score:5, Interesting)
Just like there was only a singnle Matrix and Men in Black movie. Anybody who says differently is just a evil heretic trying to deceive you and needs to drink much more than they already have.
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Q: How many Highlander movies are there?
A: There can be only one!
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I get the matrix, but mib? Who cares? The first one was cute, they continued to be cute. But that's all. It's not great Cinema.
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The problem is that they wrote Tommy Lee Jones' character out at the end of the first movie. A touching scene that was very well done if you asked me. Then they realized for the sequel they wanted the Will Smith / Tommy Lee Jones duo back, and therefore spent the entire first act of MIB2 undoing the ending of the first movie. The stupid part is they had already set up for a sequel, but ended up completely scrapping that in an attempt remake the first movie again.
Never did see the third movie.
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So just to be clear, it would be preferable in your mind that they release 3 good movies in the series and then stop, rather than 3 good ones and 6-8 bad ones. even if you only watch the first 3?
I don't get it. Does the mere existence of bad sequels have a backwards-in-time effect that worsen the original?
We get it that you thought the sequels were bad, but this just doesn't make any sense.
Yeah - it's dumb. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's dumb in the same way the ending to Mass Effect 3 was dumb - introducing new elements into the storyline, right at the end, and shoehorning them in as some great answer to the conflict you created, without actually resolving the conflicts themselves - just dissolving them behind this lame new scrappy-do thought you just had.
The question is though... why did they commit the same error several times over with the NEW sequels also? Turning the tables upside down over and over, never actually explaining the philosophies, but just shaming any previous understanding and flippantly killing characters for drama. The premadonna Mary Sue character suddenly inventing lightspeed warfare, out of all the galaxy. Malus ex machina at every turn.
Listen - I understand that Star Wars isn't high cinema. I know it comes inspired from cheesy serial films, and pulpy hammy sci-fi hero stories. But for a film series worth THAT many billions of dollars, you'd think they'd at least want to hold to the odd integrity of the characters at least a little.
But for some reason, every writer that picks up the series wants to mind-swap the characters with some passion play for their favorite philosophical idea - make Luke and Han REALLY be talking about economic theory, or transcendence or whatever.
I definitely empathize with Mark Hamill leaving the role in open disgust. There were an endless number of ways any of this could have played out - it's just annoying to never see any sense of the original characters playing out, just their image used as crude tools to give a feeling, then switch message.
That's kind of how things roll out in big business though. Those that best posturing about being able to produce a thing are usually going to outmaneuver those that have a better plan, but are posturing less.
That's show business.
Ryan Fenton
Seconded on ME3 (Score:2)
The inevaduhble organics/synthetics concept was shot when you had the chance to make peace between the Geth and the Quarians. If I were to ever win a large Powerball, I'll commission Netflix to make a Mass Effect series. First to make sure Femshep makes lots of little blue children, and the second is to come up with a real ending to the series.
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Luls premadonna
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>It's dumb in the same way the ending to Mass Effect 3 was dumb
Maybe that's because the entire series was ripped off of Star Control 2 so they didn't know what they were doing.
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Becauae JJ Abrams is an idiot who has public said many times that he thinks that's good storytelling. And every project he's ever worked on has had the same errors.
George Lucas..... (Score:2)
A guy that directed two good movies (THX and SW Ep 4)....and sold toys up the wazoo...
"a lot of the fans would have hated it" (Score:2)
When you consider that aliens living in your digestive tract are able to manipulate our hormones, make us hungry, control our immune system and more ... is it so hard to think that similar entities are a component of the 'force'?
Yes, it is. We want to live in a superhero world surrounded by cinema magic and sexy women and there is no room here for stupid tiny microbes. How could infinitesimal biojunk stimulate our fantasies in the way that our pea brains require?
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It's the switch that's impossible. If there had been microscopic bits of cells the whole time, it's fine.
Original Titles, Episodes 7 through 9 (Score:5, Funny)
Episode VII: The Whills To Power
Episode VIII: Triumph of the Whills
Episode IX: The Last Whills and Testaments
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and the Gungan side story with perhaps unsavory ethnic stereotypes about a chubby little Whills who says, "what chu talkin bout, Whillis?"
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The real question is Whills he or wonts he?
If he do, it might be more like Last Whills and Testicles.
Maybe a Star Trek crossover fantasy where they rescue tiny Force whales, "Free Whillsy".
Starring Whills Wheaton.
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Followed shortly by Episode X: Where There's a Whill There's a Way (to make more movies.)
I forget who (Score:2)
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why Lucas needs to be controlled (Score:3)
The guy comes up with some great ideas and should be paid to create storyboards - the concept of the pod race on Tatooine (stressing concept here, not necessary what was in TPM), the sabre duel between Kenobi/Jinn and Maul.
But - those ideas should be handed over to a competent writer to be used or discarded as need be. So midiclorians would have been nipped in the bud, and the Ewoks would have been limited to being the cuddly native teddy bears of Endor. Said screenwriter could have then gone with the first idea for VI, where it was escaped Wookie slaves that defeated "an entire legion" of the Emperor's best troops.
Same goes for Peter Jackson, who's Lucas complex metastasized after the LOTR trilogy. Every time I hear Guillermo del Toro's name I cry inside that he wasn't able to direct The Hobbit, instead of PJ.
Clone Wars (Score:2)
It's never just the leaders, it's also about the people around him. I'm sure if Lucas did get around to making 7-9, he'd have had people like Dave Filoni assisting him.
OH MY God... (Score:2)
this is the best idea ever. This is immediately better than SW 7/8. I'm not even trolling. Those were terrible. I want to see this. I want to see Annihilation, StarWars style.
why ? (Score:2, Interesting)
Knowing Lucas's plans for the franchise "should make every Star Wars fan send a note of gratitude to whoever at Disney decided to buy the franchise and take it away and out from under Lucas' control."
Why?
Granted, his last works don't exactly give me much confidence, but those movies they made instead, let's just cut the crap and agree that they were bad. Really, really bad. They were so bad that the one thing they were good at was being material for CinemaSins.
Most movie outlines, when given in elevator-pitch format, sounds either silly or trivial.
Probably, Lucas' change there would have ruined it, especially as it came from nowhere (watched in chronological order, these midi-chlorians are mentioned wha
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Granted, his last works don't exactly give me much confidence, but those movies they made instead, let's just cut the crap and agree that they were bad.
No, I'm not going to agree by reason of I disagree. Ep 7 was a complete retread of Ep 4, but it was a stylishly done retread. It certainly wasn't perfect: if didn't need another even bigger death star, but it was pretty fun and I enjoyed it.
Ep 1 however was an utter heap of crap. Really boring annoying crap with incredibly annoying characters, a boring story
I'm still glad Disney bought Star Wars (Score:3)
The Force Awakens showed that Disney has the ability to make a movie that looks and feels like a Star Wars movie ought to. Its plot wasn't the best, but I cut them a lot of slack, figuring that movie had a crushing load to carry (it had to not fail, and it had to not have all the fans hate it) so it made sense that the plot was loaded up with things that we'd seen before.
I was looking forward to the next one... and then it was The Last Jedi which is just a bleak mess. Oh well.
Disney can manage the look and the feel. They just need to get a good story and let it play out properly on screen and we could yet get watchable Star Wars movies.
So now we find out that George Lucas's big vision was to do a new trilogy about mystical creatures being the power source for The Force? He still thinks midichlorians was a good idea, and he wants to use that for the new trilogy? That actually sounds worse than The Last Jedi to me.
George Lucas seems to be getting worse over time. I thought ewoks were kind of annoying... then, Jar Jar Binks... now "Whills"? I'm glad that didn't happen.
The original Star Wars movie was actually pretty terrible in its rough cut. Deft editing saved it, and Lucas had three people helping him sort out the edit. Then Empire Strikes Back he handed off script and directing to other people, who did a great job. Then in the prequel trilogy, he wrote and directed and what we got was exactly what he intended... and it wasn't great. He needed other people pushing back on his bad ideas and helping him in the areas where he is weak, and he didn't get that. His first idea went straight to screen and he was never forced to rework and improve. Lazy directing went straight to the screen. Nobody had the power to say "no" to him. Too bad.
P.S. If you haven't seen this, and you're a Star Wars fan, this is totally worth 20 minutes of your time: How Star Wars Was Saved in the Edit [youtube.com]
P.P.S. Oh wow, "Journal of the Whills" was part of George Lucas's original name for the movie! If you watch that video linked above, you can spot it on the picture of the first page of the script.
But even if George Lucas insists that this Whills/midiclorians thing was his original plan, I don't buy it. He was making things up as he went along. I'm certain that the plot point of Luke and Leia being siblings wasn't invented in time for the first movie, or else they would have probably skipped her giving him a peck on the cheek for luck; original concept art had everyone armed with glowing swords, not just a few characters; etc. A lot of what we love was added during the process of making the movies, and much of it came from creative contributions from people who were not George Lucas.
Would have been cool (Score:2)
I'm curious where Lucas could have taken this. More curious than I am about anything else in the Star Wars universe.
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Seriously! He would have taken Star Wars and fuckin' "hard sci'd" the shit out of it.
I would have stood up and applauded that because it would have wrecked the previous movies without any sense shame.
THE BALLS on this guy.
Stop Knocking the Idea Itself (Score:5, Insightful)
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Noooo, people cannot handle something existing that they don't feel 100% comfortable with. That's why every film these days has to go by dozens focus groups to remove every bit of originality and we cannot have original stories anymore, only derivatives.
Lucas continues to prove... (Score:2)
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Or you know, you could just not watch those movies.
Star Wars (Score:3)
Is it just me that find Star Wars tedious, badly-written shite?
I mean, I wasn't around when the first came out. Maybe I missed the cult-train on that, but it was never anything more than a poor sci-fi movie to me. Not even "comparing the technology", it still had tons more CGI etc. in it than anything else for years afterwards, but I never found anything about the movie compelling. The "classic" sequels were just more of the same dross. People in teddy-bear costumes. It was like a very bad episode of Star Trek, after the budget had run out, but then tacked on with expensive CGI.
Then a lapse in time, in which possibly the "best parts" of the whole thing came out - the video games. The old DOS X-Wing / Tie-Fighter games were great. Because it was the cool bit of the films put into your hands with the sound effects.
I literally haven't even seen any of the "prequels" all the way through. I couldn't stand them. It was more of the same but with some decent-quality camera work and costuming, but stuck alongside the old dross.
I honestly can't fathom what's interesting about the storyline at all. It's a Star-Trek episode at best, in terms of concept. The early films remind me of poor 80's things like Flash Gordon. Fabulous and cultish but if you watch with anything approaching a modern critical eye, they are utter trash with a soundtrack
And it died off. In the 90's, Star Wars died and was just history, and became unpopular. Then it revamped and everyone went mad for it again.
I'm a geek and I'm often assumed to be both a Trekkie and a Star Wars guy and I honestly can't stand either. I can suffer watching an episode but I'm smirking to myself the whole time (and Patrick Stewart face-palming too).
I honestly don't get why. The acting is poor. The CGI is ruined by the crap (whether that's CGI characters or the complete lack of consistency by using CGI and bear-suits in the same scene). The storyline is quite literally "good versus evil". The dialogue is either twee or literally so dull I switch off (reminds me of parts of the Matrix sequels).
I don't get what's there to make a multi-million-dollar franchise. I certainly don't get what's in the plotline to actually get upset about.
I would honestly rather watch Spaceballs on loop.
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"I mean, I wasn't around when the first came out. Maybe I missed the cult-train on that, but it was never anything more than a poor sci-fi movie to me. Not even "comparing the technology", it still had tons more CGI etc. in it than anything else for years afterwards, but I never found anything about the movie compelling. The "classic" sequels were just more of the same dross. People in teddy-bear costumes. It was like a very bad episode of Star Trek, after the budget had run out, but then tacked on with exp
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> I mean, I wasn't around when the first came out.
Before the first Star Wars movie came along, Sci Fi moviemaking was in the doldrums, the norm had become standard B movie fare, men in cheesy rubber monster suits and "special" effects so cheap that they didn't even bother hiding the strings. The plot was inevitably at best a simple variant of "monster kidnaps cute girl, hero scours the galaxy to find and kill monster, so saves a now grateful and in-love girl."
The effect the original Star Wars movie's tr
Would never have worked (Score:2)
Rachel Welch is too old.
Nah (Score:2)
Knowing Lucas's plans for the franchise "should make every Star Wars fan send a note of gratitude to whoever at Disney decided to buy the franchise and take it away and out from under Lucas' control."
Disney is way worse.
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The difference with George is... there's actual new ideas.
Whereas all Disney can do apparently, is repackage old ones in different ways and by the end of the movie you don't feel like you've see anything new.
George, as batshit insane at it sounds, is still... creative.
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This is exactly what I've been saying to my friends. You know George is coming from an honest place. Disney just wants to extract the cash from our wallets.
We've already had the best of Star Wars. (Score:2)
I agree that Lucas's vision sounds awful but the franchise is not in safe hands with Disney either. They are also clearly going down the "lets fuck the whole thing up" road.
I mean look at Solo. What a turd that was. Even I, a longtime Star Wars fan actually fell asleep in the theater and couldn't wait for the movie to finally end, it really was that insipid and BORING.
Pick a side. (Score:3)
"New Star wars are too similar" vs "Prequels aren't similar enough"
Friggin' pick one already.
And if you think there's a third route, "make them just similar enough", enjoy another twenty Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
If you think you can write a better Star Wars, hurry up and do it already.
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Did you just make an argument centered around The Phantom Menace having a coherent story line?
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Did you just make an argument centered around The Phantom Menace having a coherent story line?
It had. Jar Jar Bink was supposed to be revealed to be Darth Plagueis in the following movies, and the "phantom menace" of the title, hidden in plain sight. It would have worked weren't for Jar Jar having been written in such an exaggerated goofy way, with his Sith powers so subtly shown (you can actually notice them if you pay extreme attention to minor details of his acting, such as him moving his mouth and speaking the phrases of other mind-tricked characters a split second before they actually speak), t
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did Lucas (or someone else in the know) state this was the original intent?
Almost. Jar Jar's voice actor hinted strongly that the story was moving in that direction, see here: Star Wars: The Darth Jar Jar Binks theory is partially true, says actor [independent.co.uk].
Re: Reality surpassed sci-fi long ago! (Score:5, Interesting)
Science Fiction was badly damaged by the space cowboy shit that Lucas and his gang brought. The new wave SF of the 70s was awesome: Ellison, Pohl, Ballard, Sturgeon, LeGuin, etc.
The Star Wars crap sucked the oxygen out of the SF subculture. It took decades to recover (Meiville, Vandermeer, etc.)