On Wednesday, George Lucas said that Empire Strikes Back was the worst film in the Star Wars series. Sometimes I’m not sure if Lucas is trying to be funny. In this case I really hope so. He can’t be that clueless, can he?
Entertainment blogger David Poland recalls Lucas’ comment on Wednesday at the Publicist’s Guild luncheon: “George Lucas, giving the award to Sid Ganis, who was the in-house publicist on Star Wars: Episode Five - The Empire Strikes Back, said, ‘Sid is the reason why The Empire Strikes Back is always written about as the best of the films, when it actually was the worst one.’”
Empire is considered by many to be the best film in the series. The film has a user rating os a 8.8 with almost 150,000 votes, making it the 9th best film on imdb.com.
A lot of people don’t know this but Empire was actually directed by Irvin Kershner, and not Lucas. May-be George is just jealous? He can’t be serious, Can he?
February 11th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
That has to be a joke. Either that or Lucas is in serious denial mode about the utter crappiness of the prequel trilogy and is willing to slam Empire Strikes Back to make the prequels look better. I know, I know, that makes no sense. Then again, the prequels clearly show that Lucas can’t tell a decent story anymore.
Wasn’t Lucas happy with handing the reins over to Kershner? Everything I heard about Lucas turning away from directing for two decades was that, after a negative experience on Star Wars: A new Hope, he developed a hatred of directing (maybe it was all the location shooting in Tunisia).
Either way, Lucas is irrelevant. His best days are no long behind him. ILM, of course, will continue doing their thing, for better or for worse.
February 11th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Somehow, I knew you’d post a comment on this post :P
February 11th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Ha and double ha. You know me (and my intense dislike of the SW prequel trilogy) all too well.
February 11th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Wow, he has to be completely clueless, Empire was the best.
February 12th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Leia: “I love you.”
Solo: “I know.”
Five words of dialogue in Empire unmatched in three scripts of prequels.
February 13th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Those five words weren’t in the script either, they came up with that on the set. George Lucas is (or was) a good “story architect”, but dialog was never his thing.
March 1st, 2007 at 6:48 pm
He’s wrong of course, it’s the best, but episode I and III are next, trendy prequel haters. You’ll all think you’re idiots 50 years from now when those films are recognized for their beauty and power
March 1st, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Ah, another prequel lover who can’t help but insult anyone who disagrees with him. Defensive much? Understandable, since the prequels are so blatantly, obviously awful from a storytelling sense that only the most rabid of Lucas apologists will defend them, usually by resorting to and hominem attacks. Sad to say, Mr. Cristofani, but 50 years from now, the prequels will be relegated to the garbage heap, where they belong.
March 1st, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Sure, like David Lynch and all the Italian socialist directors that Americans have no clue about?
The prequels possess the same story with the same type of dialogue, same mythological pathos, philosophical allusions and Wagnerian leitmotifs as the original trilogy. Original Trilogy supporters are only nostalgic, which is the worst form of critique.
March 14th, 2007 at 3:04 am
From what I’ve seen of Lucas, that was just an attempt at dorky humor. He really does not have a massive ego, though he should… There is no way he is that blind to the outside world’s view on his life’s work.
I personally rank Empire 2nd to A New Hope but it is just a hair behind. I give A New Hope massive credit for being able to hide, yet allude to, the secret of Darth throughout the ENTIRE movie as if it knew there was a sequel coming.
March 17th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Personally, I think Lucas’s comment about ‘ESB’ explains, finally, Episodes ‘I’-'III.’
I remain, as always…
Nico.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
I made a list of all the way that the original trilogy was better, but what’s the point. Phantom Menace is unwatchable in my opinion, and Attack of the Clones isn’t much better. Pacing is off. Many special effects sequences are at the expense of the story.
A roomful of Oscar-nominated actors over 3 movies and only Ian McDiarmid comes off sounding convincing.
I’ll give the new trilogy lovers one thing — the light saber fights are 1000% cooler, even if none approaches the drama of the father-son battle at the end of Jedi.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:40 am
If you’re truly wondering if he’s serious, read Dale Pollock’s Skywalking. It details at length his fights with everyone from Kasden to Kirshner over the adult tone they were interjecting to ruin his movie.
May 9th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
You people are stupid. If you don’t like George Lucas, don’t watch his movies. No one is forcing your dumb ass to watch them.
May 9th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
The prequels suck and the reason is not because of the story, heck all movies have similar story lines and dialogue… so I won’t argue that.
The reason why I personally disliked the Episodes I - III are the actors.
They couldn’t act their way out of a box.
May 9th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Empire has always been my favorite Star Wars movies. It’s darker, there’s not a
great deal of time spent of introducing characters, we know them all. It ends in
spectacular fashion, we find out some hidden truths and wonder about others to
come.
I’m sure the directing had something to do with that. All we can hope for is these
new films are directed by someone else.
May 10th, 2007 at 1:33 am
hehe “trendy prequel haters”, spot on! Indeed, it seems like a trend to bash on them, with always the same arguments over and over again. Yes yes, Jar jar was annoying, but he’s quite harmless and innocuous in III, which is one of the most moving of all 6 episodes.
Empire gets a lot of praise, partly for its gloomy conclusion, but I also think that most SW fanboys love this one a little too zealously. Again, maybe because it’s trendy. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s awesome, in particular the ice planet fighting scenes are he bomb, but it’s not a clear cute choice to me. For instance it’s also so so trendy to hate on ROTJ, specifically super-duper trendy to criticize the Ewoks. Why?? Because they are furry? Are furry small life forms so hard to imagine in a galaxy far far away? If you are going to hate on Ewoks, then sand people and Jawas should not be excluded either.
May 10th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Aero, if you are calling Nathalie Portman a poor actor, then i’m afraid you don’t know what you are talking about :)
May 10th, 2007 at 2:04 am
the best line [and perhaps scene] in all the prequels comes from yoda.
‘much to learn, you still have.’
May 10th, 2007 at 4:42 am
*Natalie Portman :)
it is obvious that the sequels are beter, personally New hope is my favourite, closely followed by Empire strikes back, but then Revenge of the Sith, Then Jedi, then 2 + 1
The problems with the prequels are that they have FAR too much computer generated stuff..eg Yoda
Problems with films these days are that they are very much ‘kids generation’ films
but hey thats just my opinion
May 10th, 2007 at 6:08 am
Some guy, im in total agreeance with you (except for New Hope being #1). Its the CGI that does diminish the “wow” factor in the prequels. CGI yoga ain’t got nothing on the old school animatronic one. And what about Jedi’s Jabba? I’m sure most have seen the making of, there were something like 5 guys under there controlling just his face! Now that’s some labor of love! I dont care how well-rendered the CGI is or will get ,nothing beats the sight of actual tangible creature.
Bring animatronics back I say!
May 10th, 2007 at 7:28 am
Aero, I find that when the acting is crap, 98% of the time the fault lies with the director. The acting in the prequels was definitely bad but the actors were great. The problem was that Lucas concentrated on the SFX but couldn’t be bothered with working with the actors. Lucas has always been a brilliant art director but the human element has always been his downfall. And it is the human element that makes Empire my favorite of all the SW movies.
May 10th, 2007 at 7:58 am
I remember Portman saying it’s not easy to act in front of green screen when the whole set and the character you’re talking to is CGed later. So I tend to agree with areo
May 10th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Hi, i just found this thread surfing along the net, but wanted to give my opinion: besides i like the Empire most than any other, I do like all the 5 other ones, and I specially like Qui-Gong (Liam Neeson) character, he’s the one forcing the Jedi Council to accept Anakin, even against everyone’s opinion, he’s the only one really confident on Anakin’s destiny (and maybe he wasn’t so wrong as he’s the one who kills the Emperor, then himself, so in some way he anihilates the Siths) and maybe if he hadn’t died the kid would have grown in a better way. Sorry my english as I’m spanish, maybe i wrote something badly ;)
May 10th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
alright, from what the quote says it sounds like george could have easily been saying that the storyline, and pre-planning of empire was the worst of all 6, but because of sid it wasn’t, maybe i should of been there put that’s the impression the article gives me
May 11th, 2007 at 5:24 am
We’ll banish the prequels to the same unholy place as the Star Wars Holiday Special of the 70’s.
The prequels were pure rubbish, unless you were only 5 or 6 when you saw them, anyone that saw the Original Trilogy were surely saddened by the “prequels”. They were so bad, that I, who was once one of the greatest Star Wars Fans, can no longer claim that any longer. Heck I even sold my Light saber collection that took me years and hundreds of dollars to aquire….
May 11th, 2007 at 6:10 am
When I first read this I was like WTF!!??? But now thinking about it, it clearly has to be a joke. Empire was the best - but I’m not a trendy prequel hater. There were elements of The Phantom menance that were good and of Episode 3. Ultimately they they showed so much promise but focused way too much on the pretty painted backgrounds which as a result caused the films to loose their realism. Lucas could have told so many good stories - which is what was disapointing. Instead of 3 sequential films one could have focused on how Anakin became darth vader, once could have focused Han Solo’s background and another on how the empire came into being. Many great characters were also killed off - General grevious - Darth Maul - when the one that should have been killed off remained alive - sickening!
May 11th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
I hated Maul. He’s a wimp. Grievous I liked though. Personally I only like episode 3 and 5. I didn’t really like the others too much.
May 13th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Okay, let me start off by saying … enough of the prequel bashing!!! You’d think that you never saw the originals. I am of the age that was able to see the originals in the theatre prior to their special edition re-release, but seriously look at this from a rational perspective.
Episode IV only remains the high water mark in cinema history because it was really the first film of it’s type. It’s slow plodding pace was unnoticed back then because the audience had no idea what was going on and no preconceived ideas about the universe it’s set in so it just feels faster than actually it is. Don’t get me wrong I love the movie, but even more now that Episode III adds more depth to it’s characters and story.
Episode V is definately superior dramatically. The darkness of it and scope of it’s story far surpasses it’s predecessor.
Episode VI is the lamest of the entire six part story. Jabba’s palace is like the muppet show on acid, Ewoks and a platoon of rebel soldiers defeat “…an entire legion” of the empire’s best troops, and the duel was laughable when compared to Episode V. Luke runs away the entire fight, Vader taunts him to get him mad and then a dozen or so clumsey swings later Vader is defeated. The only shining point was the space battle. The only reason the movie works at all today is because the story has more perspective due to Episode III.
If you look at these films with the same critical eye you apply to the prequels they would come up equally short. The only reason they don’t, is you saw them as a child and most of us had 20 years of other effects movies inspired by them to become more jaded. Now I think it’s safe to say that we all wanted Episode I to be Episode III, but that film would not have had near as much dramatic impact without the perspective of Episode I and II’s story coming first.
Okay, Episode I, well we all were annoyed by Jar jar. I admit it, and though I like Episode I and genuinely find him funny once or twice, I think we all can agree we would have liked less of him in the film. He was there to keep the kids awake during the dialogue scenes, which admittadely were kinda dull. George even admits that. Except for the Pod race sequence and the lightsaber duel, the movie is pretty dry. But had the technology existed and we were given this film in 1977, we would be worshipping it as a classic instead. Don’t even think about denying it!
Episode II, I really don’t get why everbody hates this movie aside from leftover hate from Episode I. Okay, Hayden Christensen’s acting could have been better but so could the script. Was this any worse than Mark Hamill’s “But I was going to Tosche station to pick up some power converters.” (Imagine whiney tone here.) I think not. Personally as soon as I saw clone troopers and Jango Fett, I was in love with this movie and thinking; “Oh yeah, now this is the Star wars I remember!” Was it slow at the beginning? Yes. Was the love story a bit forced and awkward? Yes. Any more so than “you like me because I’m a scoundrel, there aren’t enough scoundrels in your life.”? Not by much. and that finale was classic Star Wars. The clone troopers mustering on the parade grounds, boarding vessels obviously meant to make us recall star destroyers. Awesome!
Episode III, okay anybody who didn’t feel this film totally redeemed the first two, well, I said this in another post but it still rings true, I’m sorry your inner child died. The only fault I had with the film was that it had too much story to tell and not enough time to do it. It was longest of all six films but I could have sat there another hour without noticing. Yes, parts of it felt rushed, but it was still really great and to me is every bit as good as Episode V. (Empire Strikes Back.) I’ve shown all six movies to people who had never really been Star Wars Fans and or had never seen any of them and they all think Episode III is the best.
In closing, these movies are not great literary works, nor were they meant to be. These films were meant to be an homage to two things. Firstly, to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers comic book and pulp serials of the 1930’s, and secondly to iconic heroic archetypes of mythology and fairytales. They were intented to entertain children and to this day they succeed very well at doing that. The only difference is those of us who were kids back in the late 70’s and early 80’s only had usually one new all encompassing fad/interest to hurl our imaginations into every couple years. The children of today get something new every couple months so they forget about Star Wars or Spider-man or Pokemon rather quickly in favor of the next new thing. The thing that stumps me is why all you “old trilogy” purists say that the prequels were stupid when in fact the plot was much more intricate and the classics were pretty simplistic by today’s standards.
As for why George said he thought “Empire strikes back” was the worst one, well there are a number of explanations. Firstly, not having read the article this was quoted from, I can only speculate. He was either mis-quoted or his comment was taken entirely out of context which happens when internet reporters post these headlines in hopes of stirring up stupid debates like these. If he said it at all, which I doubt, he was probably referring to the story structure and how he thought, at the time it was the hardest part to tell based on his original notes. Let’s face it, on it’s own, the movie doesn’t work. The story has no beginning, ends on a down note with no real resolution and the middle is dependent on a rubber puppet character George was worried would be as well received as Jar jar Binks was ironically, that was added to the story only because George had killed off Obi-wan earlier than originally conceived. Without the movie that comes before and the movie that comes after Episode V just would’nt work. Lastly, I find it hard to believe that George would go to the trouble of; A) recruiting a director he respected, B) getting him back to do commentary on the dvd, and C) Paying Irvin Kerchener’s fines with the director’s guild and subsequently quitting the director and writer guilds all over a movie he didn’t like. Like I said though, this is merely speculation. The only difference between them is mine is actually based on informed opinion. Hey either like Star Wars as a whole or don’t, if you don’t you never really got the concept to begin with. Find something better to do with your time than eagerly looking for posts or articles of a negative nature that allows you to blast something you don’t really care about anyway. Find something you love and defend it with your last breath instead, like I have done.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Return of the Jedi was the worst. Empire second. A New Hope is the best of the series followed by Revenge of the Sith then Attack of the Clones followed by The Phantom Menace which I enjoyed. Empire was good but it did not have the Star Wars “feel” like the others did…maybe it’s because of the different director….Too many cooks at the broth?
June 5th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Millions of people, including myself, have elected Empire Strikes
Back as the best film. It’s hard to deny. Even with the hokey and
unrealistic Millenium Falcon on the back of the star destroyer scene, it
was still the best!
My least favorite was Return of the Jedi, Death Star Mark 2? Gosh, I
wonder what happens at the end of this film?!
June 5th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
George Lucas has sure been talking weird.First he say’s Spider-Man 3 was silly now he say’s Empire strike’s back was the worst star wars ever.In my opinion Empire Strikes Back was the second best Star Wars film.I don’t understand why everyone seems to think that Return of the Jedi was the worst one.I loved Return of the Jedi,it resolved so many issues from the first two.And Darth Vader sacrificed himself for Luke.And the Empire was defeated.
October 7th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I watched Empire when I was about 10 years old … it was a rainy day and the poster ( which is shown here ) was on display . I will never forget the feeling … the whole experience was like magic . Some people say we are just nostalgic … even then I knew what was unique and imaginative . There is no way CGI ,cheesy dialogue and cheesy plot can beat real models and an epic story based on mythological archetypes . Sometimes I wonder if Lucas had anything to do with Episode iv and v because the prequels lack any intelligence whatsoever .
October 12th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Empire is the best for many reasons - it has the best acting of all the films(minus McDiarmid in Sith), the introduction of Fett, Yoda, Lando, the Solo/Leia romance, and of course the revelation of Luke’s heritage. Come on! Need I say more?
The prequels pale in comparison for many reasons - and one of them, maybe the biggest, is too many plot points, compared to the original trilogy. Anakin, plus Padme, plus the Trade Fed and Sidious/Palpatine…not that all of this is too hard to follow, it’s just that in comparison to the OT, it’s a lot of gray. In the OT, we had good/evil, AND we had the hero’s journey of Luke Skywalker, a classic hero archetype who we experienced the film THROUGH…Luke IS the audience. We cheer when he succeeds. In the prequels we have…who? Yoda? Certainly not Anakin. Although I thought Sith was very, very good, the best of the Preq’s, we all still knew what was going to happen, even HOW it was going to happen.
Come on, when Han, Chewie, and Leia walk into the dining room with Lando and Vader and Fett are there, that’s some cool shit!!
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:19 am
Lucas is just a Trolling wash up.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
From Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/02/lucas_qanda200802
Vanity Fair:
(During our conversation, he made sure to point out that Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace, something of a flop with critics in 1997, is the highest grossing of all his movies.)
. . .
George Lucas:
I notice that people only remember all the good reviews. The only one that got better reviews than that and moved the needle slightly toward good reviews was Empire. That was the least successful of the movies.
Vanity Fair:
In box office?
George Lucas:
Yes. The most successful, in terms of worldwide box office, was Phantom Menace. So that’s the number one. [Laughs.]
. . .
I put all of the money I had, all the money I made on American Graffiti, all the money I made on Star Wars, and I put it up against doing The Empire Strikes Back. So that was everything I owned—my house, everything was put into Empire Strikes Back. That was about the same time we were gonna do Indiana Jones, and, if I had more money, I would have financed both of them, but I couldn’t possibly do that. I mean, I almost lost everything on Empire, because it went over budget.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:59 am
Just a comment on Lucas and his thinking on CGI - I’ve heard him say, in defense of it, that “everything’s fake. A CGI Jabba (for instance) is no less ‘fake’ than a big rubber puppet Jabba.”
What he fails to understand is the difference for the audience - we all know the rubber puppet isn’t any more “real” than the CGI - but in this day and age, our eyes know how to pick up CG, and as cool as some of it may look, the eye and brain just feel more…satisfied, I think, when we see Jabba actually “on the set”…it’s that simple. CG is great for a lot of stuff, but Lucas really overdid it with the prequels (though I think Sith had a near perfect balance). For a movie with an excellent blend of real characters and sets plus some subtle but effective CG in the service of the story, watch ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’.
February 15th, 2008 at 11:22 am
“The Empire Strikes Back” has been, is now, and always will be the best film in the series. “Star Wars” was a benchmark in sc-fi film history, no question. But TESB raised the stakes on everything from the first film, and hit us with some superb dramatic darkness. ROTJ lost the vibrancy of the second film due its washed out cinematography, and the Ewoks were such an obvious sellout, especially since I learned that an earlier idea was to have the planet populated by Wookies. Chewbacca could’ve had some much needed character development!
I’ve long held the notion that George just can’t stomach the fact that TESB is most fans’ favorite since he didn’t write the screenplay or direct. I’ll bet that knowledge has been a thorn in his side for years. I couldn’t guess whether he’s just jealous or a narcissist, but it seems pretty clear that George has an unquenchable desire to be seen as the only source for everything Star Wars. It’s weird because I don’t think any fan would argue that he’s not “the guy” when it comes to who is solely responsible for the Empire which now surrounds him.
However, the poor quality of the new films (on several levels) are excellent examples of how many creative ventures that succeed are often the product of many ideas from many people. Anyone who’s seen the Genndy Tartakovsky 2-D animated Clone Wars series will understand how totally awesome a fantasy story can become when you bring in fresh eyes, minds and talent. I think they’re the best thing to happen to the series since TESB. I’m definitely going to buy them soon.
My guess is we’ll have to wait until George passes before another decent film will be made. He seems too much of a control freak to involve anyone on a significant level with future Star Wars projects.
Dave S.
March 18th, 2008 at 3:33 am
more confirmation that the fat bullfrog look-alike has lost the plot (literally if you see the latest trilogy!!!)
Empire was clearly the best- and no bloody teddy bears in it either!!!!
April 13th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
George Lucas loves The Empire Strikes Back. Fans have meticulously tried to rewrite history by claiming that he was unhappy with the film and jealous of those involved other than himself. Bullshit! The one comment he made was nothing more than his usual play on irreverent humor. Every other comment he has ever made about the film, including the DVD commentary, is of nothing but praise. His only sour opinion had to do with the practical hardships of over seeing the production of both the film and his other various enterprises of that time.
Over the many years of nostalgic hindsight, fans have come to regard The Empire Strikes Back as a work of high pedigree; part Serpico, part Neil Simon play. But I assure you… it’s not. Compared to the standards of anything non-Star Wars, Empire is inherently juvenile in its approach. Of course this is not criticism of Empire. I’m ecstatic over that film. I think Episode V is nothing short of a goddamn masterpiece. But that’s how I feel about all six of the Star Wars movies.
There is nothing uber-sophisticated about the writing and acting from The Empire Strikes Back. It’s all done well and straight forward. What defines Empire, what defines any one Star Wars movie, is that it takes place in a certain part of the overall story - one that is in many ways, unique onto its own. Yes, Lawrence Kasdan and Irvin Kershner did a fantastic job with that film, yet not because they broke away from George Lucas’ B-movie/Pure Cinema mentality by creating something not-Star Wars. Kasdan and Kershner didn’t “create” anything of that scale. The reason they did an awesome job is particularly because they kept it within the parameters and stayed true to the material that Lucas gave them: a detailed story and at least two drafts of the screenplay. And as for the comedy, do you really think that Jar Jar stepping in “Icky icky goo,” is any more low-brow than a tool box falling on Han Solo’s head? It’s all relatively slapstick.
April 13th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
In response to Glenn’s post -
Good points made, sir. I agree that George’s comment about Empire was probably intended as irreverent humor, and then taken out of context.
Still, apart from the obvious assertion that Empire is no Serpico (and I seriously doubt that any SW fans would make that comparison), I think the reasons Empire succeeds are, as you pointed out, adherence by cast and crew to the source material, but also the sustained tone of the film, which I believe was provided by Kirshner. Solo’s “I know”, for instance, was not in the script, and Kirshner encouraged Ford to improvise, resulting in one of the best lines in all of the films. I wonder if Lucas would have allowed Ford, or anyone else, to go off the page like that.
Sure, there are some sort of slapsticky moments, but they never feel at the expense of the overall tone of the film. And with all due respect, I think that comparing a tool box falling on Solo’s head (which at least served the story - the “feel” of the blast that tipped the toolbox alerted Solo to the fact that something other than a laser had hit the ship) to just about ANYTHING concerning Jar-Jar is really stretching it. The last third of Phantom Menace is a friggin’ Bugs Bunny cartoon, and a bad one at that.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:48 am
I think what George Lucas was meaning is that The Empire Strikes Back is the worst film, as in the worst things happen in the film, you know, the good guys don’t win. He was just making a joke. :)
April 17th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Or maybe this gives a little insight into one of the main reasons why the new ones sucked.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Leave George Lucas alone!
*End Chris Crocker impersonation.
Lucas should have left the directing to someone else, especially in the prequels. I didn’t care for ROTJ either. Lucas wanted to make kids movies. He failed to remember that the kids that grew up with Star Wars in the “70’s and ’80’s grew up and wanted the series to grow up with them.
Hopefully, if (when?), Lucas decides to make a sequel to the original sequels, and with him, one never knows, he will remember that fact.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Episode 5 was ok.
I thought Episode 1 was pretty great! I remember seeing it 5 times in theatres. I could not get over. It was a really put together story! We’ll I’m young and the prequels were more my time. I wasn’t even alive when those films were made but I think New Hope and ROTJ were my 2nd and 3rd then the Clone Wars!
Phantom Menace #1
New Hope #2
ROTJ #3
Clone Wars #4
Empire Strikes Back #5
ROTS #6
April 19th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
This essay “Revenge Of The George Lucas” explains why.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
So is the NEW Startwars movie going to be cartoon or computer made or real ppl???
June 11th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
This from the guy that felt Episode(s) I, II and III were worth making. What a moron…He should have stopped after Return of the Jedi.
June 11th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
He should have made a better series of prequels, or handed over the reigns to someone who could.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:25 am
I was recently on the Star Wars message board of IMDb (the Internet Movie Database). There was a thread about Darth Sidious defeating the Jedi, and a friend of mine had this to say:
“What’s really interesting is how people rag on and on about how the prequels had no story, no grand ideas - about how all the political stuff was unnecessary and useless to the films.
And yet here we are, discussing some of the most integral aspects of the political and sociological elements that Lucas played with through out the prequel trilogy.
I think that one of the biggest in-house Star Wars taboos that Lucas proposed was that the Jedi order was not the perfect all knowing league of good guys that fans had, for so long, built them up to be. It was a curve ball, plain and simple. My interpretation was that even the best most noble intentions are not immune to corruption. In the case of the Jedi, it wasn’t necessarily power that corrupted them, but a complete devotion to the never changing establishment that was the Jedi Order. What made Darth Sidious a truly sinister villain wasn’t because everything he told Anakin was a lie, but because he ever so deceptively mixed truth with persuasion and one-on-one propaganda. When he refers to the Jedi as being dogmatic he is actually making a valid point.
In many ways, the Jedi were blind-sided by their own rules. And as a result, they were just as easily caught up in the political fever and confusion as everyone else. Without being the wiser, they got conned into playing Sidious’ dirty games by selecting Anakin as a spy (which, it turn, created mistrust between the two) and further making decisions on their own to overthrow the Chancellor. Sidious WANTED them to come and arrest him. It was all preplanned like a game of chess. He knew that Anakin had the potential to become great and to make a difference; he knew the Jedi would never allow Anakin to marry and have a family and so he used these rules to his advantage. Yes, he manipulated Anakin, but he did so by incorporating the flaws that were already inherent in the order in which Anakin served.
But it was more than just rules; it was much of the philosophy of the Jedi that ultimately put them at a disadvantage. Consider the mentality that both Obi-Wan and Yoda carry with them into the latter films when training Luke. They keep telling Luke that Vader is pure evil and that he is beyond redemption. They assume that because Anakin fell to the dark side, there was no possible way he could ever be brought back. And they assumed this because it had been the Jedi mentality for so many ages. Luke didn’t succeed in the end because he did exactly what he was told, rather instead, because he broke away from conventional Jedi wisdom and chose compassion and complete self sacrifice in order to save his father, or at least to show his father that the dark side of the force was not all consuming. It wasn’t easy of course, but he still pulled it off.
Up until the very end Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi served the old Jedi way, the way of the Jedi before the fall of the Republic. Had this been the “true” ideal then either one of them could have perhaps made certain choices that would have given the Jedi the upper hand and prevented the rise of the Empire. They were still both heroic characters who definitely made a difference - just like Han, Leia, Lando, Padmé and yes… even Jar Jar. Anakin too had come close to stopping the Sith in their tracks but, as we all know, he had weaknesses of his own that were used against him by Sidious. Luke, on the other hand, was born free from any pre-existing order. Luke was like a “Freestyle” Jedi who, by keeping a more opened mind than any Jedi before him and by learning from the mistakes that his father made, discovered the true understanding of the force - The “Balance” so to speak.
That was one of the neat things about the prequel trilogy; is that it gave all of these ideas so much more significance. We had to see how and why things first went to shit before they could be reconstructed in a better fashion. This means that Lucas could not just play nice by keeping both the Jedi Order, and the Republic in which it served, all super-duper and on top of things. He had to push some ideas and perspectives that were, within the Star Wars universe, a bit controversial. Even to the degree that Yoda was perhaps not the greatest Jedi of them all and could still be defeated.
Unfortunately, many of the fans (whether they acknowledge it or not) expected the same exact bare-bones WWII “Rebels Vs. Empire” type plot lines from the original trilogy. So when the prequels got ambitious and busted out with all of the additional political intrigue which naturally, and as a result, introduced new kinds of plot elements - fans made a big stinky in their pants because they weren’t treated to the same exact material as they got the first time around. Nobody was willing to accept a broader view of the Star Wars universe. Everyone just wanted to see the same three movies over again.”
June 29th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Glenn,
Not really worth the time to compose a careful response to your message as they’re your friend’s thoughts and not your own.
I’ll simply say this: all the intellectual masturbation in the world doesn’t address the fact that the prequels are dramatic failures. Viewers don’t give two *hits about grand sociological comments about organized religion when the essential story of Anakin’s rise and fall is unsympathetic, his relationship to Obi-Wan consists of whiny adolescent protestations, and his romance with Padme is wooden and awkward. If you want to give yourself a pat on the back for figuring out Lucas’s subtext, go right ahead. The rest of us, who don’t need to compensate for cognitive dissonance, will call these prequels exactly what they are: bad written films.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Alright then, it’s back my own thoughts:
I simply disagree with you about Anakin’s character. And not in any real way that can be argued - just a difference in interpretation. I thought Anakin was a sympathetic character, particularly from what was established in the first film, and I thought the romance between him and Padmé was simplistic, yes, but equally sincere. Of course I didn’t expect, nor did I even really desire, to see the same kind of love-story interaction from the original trilogy so that may or may not have something to do with it. The same can be said for his relationship with Obi-Wan. I understood the two characters and their place in the setting, and I understood each of their points of view. But I never got the sense that Anakin just didn’t care about Obi-Wan or vice-versa. There are plenty moments in Episodes II and III where they show good will towards one another. But again, that’s just my take.
In Episodes II & III, the feelings and vulnerabilities between Anakin and Padmé are meant to be taken at face value. Their dialogue is just a reflection of that. “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere.” - “I’m haunted by the kiss you should never have given me”. Of course it’s awkward, awkward is the point. Anakin is just a kid talking to a pretty girl; he’s not suppose to be smooth like Han or Lando, he’s uncomfortable, he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing… or saying. It’s a doomed-to-fail high school romance that has been injected into a B-movie space opera: Those are the conditions - that’s the aesthetic.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:24 am
Dude, you’re just copying and pasting MovieV’s comments from imdb. Sad. But somehow it seems fitting that an advocate for Lucas would try to pass off someone else’s comments as their own.
Seems like Lucas’s condescending opinion of his fans is well deserved. He understands the fanbase only too well. Popcorn and circuses “have always ruled”. Indeed.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Okay. I think half the world is in denial, because they are angry that their little classic was changed, altered, opened up more, added to, ect ect. their little three part classic was being damaged by something new that they could not accept. you know, i’m a long time fan as well, I grew up with star wars, hell I LOVE star wars so much it’s kind of sad. So I can see where you are all coming from. But I don’t think george made a mistake by making the other films. he mentioned in an interview once that his world, the fans world, and the world created by the books are all different. He can’t satisfy every single one of them. Also, though the original story is from a book, the films he created were from him, they were his vision and what he created. He did what he could to make everyone happy. and he did, the millions of people left wondering about the details before 4, 5, 6 got what they wanted, ad the ones who didn’t want that, can keep their three part trilogy and leave it at that. but in the end all that mattered was his vision. What HE wanted. Remember the man who gave you 4, 5, and 6, also gave 1, 2, and 3. Notice he also named the classics 4, 5, and 6 not 1, 2, and 3. there was more in his vision. he honestly didn’t believe he would get to show it but he did. and it still made millions happy. and I bet every one of you, for ALL 3 prequals, were there in line with pre bought tickets, just waiting to see those yellow letters scrolling up the screen. you were probly talking to all your friends about how it will probly suck, but inside you were still excited for the continuation of your favorite series….anyway…sorry….also, about the Empire strikes back, he probly just thought that it wasn’t the best it could be. that’s all.
okay, lol i’m done rambling. have a nice day :)