MovieChat Forums > Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) Discussion > Do you wish George Lucas was still in co...

Do you wish George Lucas was still in control of Star Wars?

posted 7 years ago by PrimeMinisterX (8599)
75 replies | jump to latest

I recently rewatched the Star Wars prequels for the first time in over a decade and, I have to say, what I was most struck by was . . . just how good they actually are.

Like a lot of other people, I was initially critical of these films. But upon my rewatch, I realized just how inspired and ambitious George Lucas's vision was. Revenge of the Sith in particular is a fantastic film.

So it made me wonder, would Star Wars be in a better place if Lucas was still in control? I am of course predicating this on him actually making new Star Wars films.

So what I am asking, essentially, is if you think the Star Wars franchise would be in a better place today if George Lucas, and not Disney's minions, had written and directed the last three movies.

[–] Threadkiller (3005) 7 years ago

Yes. I knew bad things were coming the second I read about Lucas selling Star Wars to Di$ney. I fully supported the idea of Lucas letting other people direct future projects but with enough oversight to not allow the bastardization the franchise & the universe he created the way we are seeing now. The critique of the prequels has simply been exaggerated to mythic proportions over the years by a vocal subset of fanboys and bandwagon jumpers & thanks to them we've got something much worse with these current films & likely many more years to come. .

[–] Keelai (34019) 7 years ago

I recently watched an old George Lucas interview and he clearly expected Disney to use his ideas to create the latest trilogy. He is also a creative consultant so he could've maintained some oversight, too. At the time, he was 70 years old and feeling his mortality which is why he wanted to allow Disney to complete the Skywalker saga and why he sold the franchise.

But, Disney betrayed his trust and tossed him to the curb. There's a reason why he referred to them as "white slavers."

Disney really needs to work with Lucas who kept the franchise thriving for over 40 years.

[–] TandyMan (10931) 7 years ago

George handed them a completely and fully functional company complete with teams and talent that were already a well oiled machine. With a rich history and strong vision for the future complete with an array of projects already well into planning and production. I'm sure he didn't they'd turn around and toss all that in the bin. I would have rather George kept the company and just became a godfather type presence, oversight as you guys say, but not really hands on in the process any longer. I'm sure he's happier to be rid of the whole thing. Running Star Wars certainly seemed to consume his life and all he got was grief for it.

[–] Keelai (34019) 7 years ago

Lucas is a creative person: a writer and art director. He put a non-creative person in charge, Kathleen Kennedy. He needed to find another writer/artist who was also a huge Star Wars fan. That way, they'd keep the original Star Wars vision, but create new stories and visual designs instead of rehashing old ones. Right now, Kennedy appears to be a "suit".

Lucas is a perfectionist so he must be going nuts with what is going on especially with Last Jedi. I think he would've kept the company a little longer to at least finish the trilogy if the "fans" weren't so critical of the prequels. They weren't perfect, but with the exception of too much Jarjar, I liked them.

[–] grindovermatter (380) 7 years ago

Absolutely not. I also attempted a rewatch of the prequels and somehow they're even worse now than I remember.

Attack of the Clones I couldn't even finish.

[–] Quint (954) 7 years ago

Yep, some parts of the prequels were really silly (but overall, beside Ep1, I simply liked thos movies). But comparing even that horrible scenes to TLJ is an insult to the prequels.

[–] naDaht (1087) 7 years ago

Attack of the Clones is to me what sand is to Anakin.

[–] filmtenk (765) 7 years ago

[–] Threadkiller (3005) 7 years ago

Lucas definitely should have permitted others to write and direct future Star Wars projects while still having creative oversight. Can't believe how he got coerced/strong armed into selling.

[–] Hans-Wilhelm (1352) 7 years ago

After the prequels I was optimistic that someone else could do better, now after "The Last Jedi" I definitely wish Lucas was still in control of these things.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 7 years ago

The short answer would be yes.

😎

[–] TexasJack (12515) 7 years ago

Yes. I never understood why he sold in the first place. He could have continued it with as much or as little hands-on involvement as he wanted.

[–] Volley (3399) 7 years ago

Yeah, kinda. I can't help but wonder what George's vision for the sequel trilogy would have been, if we even would have ever got that far. He got a lot of hate for his prequels, but he also got a lot of love for their originality.

Also, Star Wars 1313 would have been one of the best games to come out during the Classic Trilogy era, I mean who wouldn't want to explore the deep underground Coruscant sublevels?

Then we get to the Expanded Universe, which would have likely continued to be complimented instead of totally cast aside. George didn't always show his love for the Expanded Universe though, an example being Bevel Lemelisk not being the original creator of the Death Star, but the bug-people Geonosians as we saw in Star Wars Episode II. That was a pretty sharp jab upon first seeing it, not to mention the Death Star doesn't reflect Geonosian architecture at all, not one iota.

Now we have the diminishing of Luke Skywalker's power of the force, by utilizing not a weakness in the Death Star's design--one that Palpatine punished Bevel severely for, but an ACTUAL inside-job flaw created purposely for the destruction of the Death Star. Don't get me wrong, Rogue One was pretty darn good, but I think I could have done without that on-purpose weakness implementation.

Oh well, the old Star Wars days are over, all we can do is hope that Disney does better next time for IX and Han Solo movie and Obi-Wan movie, and hopefully one day: Palpatine movie.