George Lucas' opinion of TFA

Phil

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That was the lightsaber Anakin Skywalker had when he was a Jedi Knight, it stuck with him even when he became Darth Vader before he lost it. When Luke acquired it, even Vader noticed something about it(In the comics). The fact it kept ending up in Force User hands was not a coincidence, and saying it didn't call to her when you literally hear it calling to her and no one else is just... well, no offense, ignorant.

How else would explain it?
 

Thump

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I said it didn't call to Luke or Anakin. They said it called to Anakin and it called to Luke. Not so much perhaps my fingers out ran my brain for a second in my previous post but the intent was clear.

Please if you're going to debate me on a subject at least read and comprehend the words that are strung together in my posts.
 

Phil

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Still not a coincidence that Anakin's Lightsaber made it's way through so many force user's hands. Maybe you just shouldn't take the words of someone who never met either Anakin or possibly Luke so literal.
 

Brandon Rhea

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They said it called to Anakin and it called to Luke.

No they didn't.

"That lightsaber was Luke's. And his father's before him, and now it calls to you."

That was the line.
 

Halcyon

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George Lucas only criticized the movie because he was resentful with J.J. Abrams and Disney for completely ignoring his suggestions for it. I believe he's just throwing tantrums, like when he decided to canonize Moraband instead of Korriban. To me, that's just him saying "I came up with the idea, you guys improved it beyond my wildest dreams, but it's still my idea so I'll change the name just to prove a point".

I mean, I love Star Wars, and I congratulate George for coming up with this amazing concept and world. But we all how the prequels went, we all know about Jar Jar, Boba Fett, the whole
Darth Vader killing Luke's father Vs being his father ordeal,
and the list goes on...

Like it or not, Star Wars was made amazing by the work of people who contributed with Lucas, and not by Lucas alone. In fact, George Lucas almost murdered the franchise several times.

Furthermore, it's seriously hypocritical to accuse Disney of only thinking of profit, after everything he did and not to mention selling his company for 4 Billion. Of course he had to retract his statements. People - we - are not as dumb as Lucas might think.

I get it, I can relate as to how possessive an author can get regarding his intelectual property. But then, why sell it? It's not his property anymore.

P.S.: Despite all of its - minor - flaws, a real lack of substancial character development - though a certain degree of it was present - and the piggyback ride from previous installments, I think Episode VII was simply amazing!

Mostly, I think people criticized the prequels (and I'm guessing will criticize the sequels) out of misplaced nostalgia.

The original trilogy wasn't all that great to begin with -- Do not lynch me!!!
 

Brandon Rhea

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I'm not a fan of the prequels. I was 10 years old when Episode I came out. I liked the prequels a lot when I was younger, but as I got older I didn't like them anymore.

I think the whole "people criticize it because of nostalgia" thing is overhyped and ignores the major, fundamental flaws in the prequel trilogy.
 

Tristyn

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Knowing George, of course he's gonna be a dick about it.
 

Halcyon

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@Brandon Rhea I did not ignore any major issue, I simply omitted them - for the most part.
I did reference that George almost murdered the franchise; also, I wrote and I quote "But we all how the prequels went" - which I meant to write "we all know how the prequels went", but I won't edit it now.

I felt that the post was already big enough without me getting into much detail about that, but I'll gladly enter a debate - as in, a sharing of opinions - with you and/or anyone else regarding everything that went wrong with the prequels if you're interested. I dunno about your personal experiences, and I was about your age when I saw Episode I also; although I first watched Episode IV on TV when I was five or six, so there's that...

I thought I made myself clear; apparently I was wrong, and I apologize.

So, allow me to reiterate: IMO, while far from being as good as Episodes IV through VI, people make the prequels to be far worse than what they really are.
Furthermore, nostalgia can also refer to the longing for a situation in the past without having to do with an individual's actual past life. For example, I wasn't alive in 69, but seeing videos of woodstock fills me with nostalgia.
 

Brandon Rhea

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People can certainly have their opinions based on nostalgia but I can tell you that most peoples' opinions about it are based on the amateurish direction, bland over the shoulder cinematography, poor writing, bad dialogue, poor and uninspired characters, an overabundance of special effects at the expense of the story, fan service, a misunderstanding of what made Star Wars work to begin with, etc.
 

Halcyon

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First of all, what you wrote mostly pertain to Episode I, which some supporters of the Machete Order even suggest should be removed from the series.

Then, you can pretty much bundle bad dialogue and uninspired characters into the bad writing/screen-playing category. While you're at it put fan service - a big part of the original trilogy; I mean, Boba Fett; anyone? - and effects at the expense of storytelling with it.
And basically that's what you get. Bad writing, worse screenplay. Why? Because it was entirely written by George Lucas. Which was my original point to begin with.

The only reason Star Wars, before it was even called Star Wars Episode IV, was any good, was because of its fairy-tale allegory - the good vs evil. It had something that blockbusters lacked at the time, depth. Lucas wasn't after an easy buck with that movie, and that's what made it good (in reference to the plot). Episodes V and VI were also very good story-wise and we have Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Bracket to thank for that.

Lastly, I was only talking in terms of plot and screenwriting, but by all means let us bring overall direction and cinematography into the discussion.
I'll put it simply: List of directors: Episode IV - (a humble) George Lucas; Episode V - Irvin Kershner; Episode VI - Richard Marquand; Episodes I-II-III - George Lucas (with dollar signs over his eyes).

So yeah, like I said the movies were bad, mainly because of Lucas. My original point exactly, and why I praised J.J. Abrams TFA and Disney for not going with what Lucas wanted for the sequels. My post was never about the prequels Vs the originals Vs the sequels; I mentioned it in passing only. My point was about how bad a story teller George Lucas actually is - since this was the actual point of the thread, I guess?

Anyway, and like I said on my first post, the originals weren't all that good to begin with. People remember them to be better than what they really are - hence my misplaced nostalgia reference. In comparison, the (already very bad) prequels seem even worse.

But hey, let's agree to disagree.
 
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Brandon Rhea

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I actually regard Episode I as the best of the prequels. What I said does apply to Episode I but, for me, applies to Episode II and Episode III even more.

I know your post wasn't a VS thing but I resent when people try to paint legitimate prequel criticism as the loathings of people wearing rose-colored glasses. There's a segment of fandom that was really condescending to prequel fans for a long time, and unfortunately - for whatever reason - there seems to be a new trend of prequel fans (or, at the very least, people who aren't as critical of them) turning that condescension around on those who are critical of the prequels.

"Agree to disagree," which you ended with, is a much better way of going about it than trying to read into peoples' motives for criticism or praise.
 

Halcyon

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I think I know what you mean. For example, I don't get why people criticize TFA for creating a series of analogies - or references if you'd prefer - to ANH, when that was deliberately (and might I add splendidly well) done.

Also, Episode I had Darth Maul, and Duel of the Fates! XP
 

Brandon Rhea

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I do hope that future Star Wars films don't rely so heavily on tropes from past films, but I didn't mind the way TFA did it. I agree with the idea that they had to go backwards in order to go forward. A soft reboot, without actually rebooting the franchise, was a good approach.
 

Halcyon

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Totally agree on that.
Hopefully I didn't come off as overly headstrong back there. I like debating. I think arguing is half the fun! The other half is always being right! XD
 
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