Roy may have some issues, but then so do 99% of Star Wars fans. So maybe Roy is not the one with issues. Maybe it’s George Lucas who has issues. Why else would he come out with so many versions of the same movie? Or maybe it’s just OCD.
In a general sense, the creative artist is never fully satisfied with the work. It’s always less than what the vision promised. But most creators learn to let it go. Once the work has been offered for public consumption, it is, for that intent and purpose, done. Lucas has never accepted that. The stories are still his, and he will never stop wanting to adjust and tweak them, long after the public has embraced them and accepted them as they were first delivered. In short, the dude can’t leave well enough alone.
I thought the first and second Star Wars movies issued were brilliant. But I lost all interest as of the third when George Lucas changed Darth Vader — the greatest villain since Ming the Merciless — into a Good Guy just because Lucas had father issues growing up.
The next three movies just multiplied that moral abomination by making the surly adolescent future Darth Vader the centerpiece of the saga. And it all started so wonderfully.
“The Empire Strikes Back” is still my favorite. “A New Hope” is a lame title, tacked on years after the movie first appeared, to shoe-horn the film into the saga. But, for whatever faults Lucas thinks that film has, it still beats the pants off the prequels.
I feel your pain Roy! I doubt we shall ever see the final third of the triple trilogy. Oh well, we can’t have everything in life, good looks, money, and a warm place to defecate!
In recent years, Lucas said that there won’t be a final three movies, because ‘Return Of The Jedi’ covered everything that would have made up those three. But that sounds to me like more revisionism. Even when ROTJ came out, he was still talking nine movies. He just never likes to come out and say that he’s been making it up as he goes along.
I don’t understand the Han shot first controversy, and why it’s so important. That’s one of the few changes where I can see what Lucas was thinking. Han was one of his beloved, franchisable heroes, and he didn’t want him to be a murderer. Yet everyone seems so intently focused on that. Why? Why can’t people get past it? The big mistake, for me, in the first movie, was adding the Jabba scene. For many reasons: a) Jabba doesn’t look right. b) It was more effective when he made his first appearance in ROTJ. c) I’m not sure I believe that he cut the scene because of the special effects limitations. Something tells me the guy in the costume who was covered by the CGI Jabba WAS, at the time, Jabba. The idea to make him a giant slug probably came later. d) Possibly the real reason the scene was cut: it’s unnecessary and redundant. Han repeats lines he just said in the Greedo scene.
Revisionism isn’t limited to movies. C.S. Lewis prescribed a new reading order for the Narnia books several years after they were all published. It remains controversial among readers. He may have made some minor changes to the text, as well. And Tolkien changed ‘The Hobbit’ years after the first edition, in order to make it consistent with ‘Lord Of The Rings." He even found a clever way to explain the changed, laying it all on Bilbo for recounting his experience with Gollum falsely. I have yet to hear Lucas say that Han was responsible for the discrepancy in the overblown ’who shot first’ debate.
llong65 about 13 years ago
nah that’s his wife and she understands him
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
Roy and Kathy aren’t married- not yet anyway- but she does stay with him because she’s a geek herself. She’s better able to come for air, though.
Dwilesjr about 13 years ago
I feel you Roy I allways say I’m not going to do anything Lucas again and I still do, even after he changes everything
georgelanigan about 13 years ago
Roy may have some issues, but then so do 99% of Star Wars fans. So maybe Roy is not the one with issues. Maybe it’s George Lucas who has issues. Why else would he come out with so many versions of the same movie? Or maybe it’s just OCD.
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
In a general sense, the creative artist is never fully satisfied with the work. It’s always less than what the vision promised. But most creators learn to let it go. Once the work has been offered for public consumption, it is, for that intent and purpose, done. Lucas has never accepted that. The stories are still his, and he will never stop wanting to adjust and tweak them, long after the public has embraced them and accepted them as they were first delivered. In short, the dude can’t leave well enough alone.
pschearer Premium Member about 13 years ago
I thought the first and second Star Wars movies issued were brilliant. But I lost all interest as of the third when George Lucas changed Darth Vader — the greatest villain since Ming the Merciless — into a Good Guy just because Lucas had father issues growing up.
The next three movies just multiplied that moral abomination by making the surly adolescent future Darth Vader the centerpiece of the saga. And it all started so wonderfully.
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
“The Empire Strikes Back” is still my favorite. “A New Hope” is a lame title, tacked on years after the movie first appeared, to shoe-horn the film into the saga. But, for whatever faults Lucas thinks that film has, it still beats the pants off the prequels.
thbigtull863 about 13 years ago
I feel your pain Roy! I doubt we shall ever see the final third of the triple trilogy. Oh well, we can’t have everything in life, good looks, money, and a warm place to defecate!
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
In recent years, Lucas said that there won’t be a final three movies, because ‘Return Of The Jedi’ covered everything that would have made up those three. But that sounds to me like more revisionism. Even when ROTJ came out, he was still talking nine movies. He just never likes to come out and say that he’s been making it up as he goes along.
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
Somebody just take the keys away from Lucas.
trekkermint about 13 years ago
clone wars is a tv seriesdo all the changes and redos come out to being 9 ? :)
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
I don’t understand the Han shot first controversy, and why it’s so important. That’s one of the few changes where I can see what Lucas was thinking. Han was one of his beloved, franchisable heroes, and he didn’t want him to be a murderer. Yet everyone seems so intently focused on that. Why? Why can’t people get past it? The big mistake, for me, in the first movie, was adding the Jabba scene. For many reasons: a) Jabba doesn’t look right. b) It was more effective when he made his first appearance in ROTJ. c) I’m not sure I believe that he cut the scene because of the special effects limitations. Something tells me the guy in the costume who was covered by the CGI Jabba WAS, at the time, Jabba. The idea to make him a giant slug probably came later. d) Possibly the real reason the scene was cut: it’s unnecessary and redundant. Han repeats lines he just said in the Greedo scene.
ecboston about 13 years ago
the answer to all these different versions is simple. Money money & more money which we keep giving him.if we didn’t buy it he wouldn’t do it
Michelle Morris about 13 years ago
Doesn’t “Clone Wars” count?
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
@ Blackwolff9 From what I gather, a lot of fans would say, ‘No, it doesn’t.’
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
Revisionism isn’t limited to movies. C.S. Lewis prescribed a new reading order for the Narnia books several years after they were all published. It remains controversial among readers. He may have made some minor changes to the text, as well. And Tolkien changed ‘The Hobbit’ years after the first edition, in order to make it consistent with ‘Lord Of The Rings." He even found a clever way to explain the changed, laying it all on Bilbo for recounting his experience with Gollum falsely. I have yet to hear Lucas say that Han was responsible for the discrepancy in the overblown ’who shot first’ debate.
scottartist creator about 13 years ago
And the typos in my previous post are a good example of why some authors go back and make little changes.