Star Wars Discussion

[Professor S]

I know this was posted a long time ago, but I recently came across it again and I came to a revelation

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George Lucas needs to let go of creative control of Star Wars. If two Star Wars geeks can choreograph and shoot a more vivid and compelling jedi battle than George was able to direct in his last three films, he needs to let go.

George Lucas is a creator of the series, but after a while, all you do is hold your own creation back. You become "stuck" in a way. Zero budget short films like these and the Clone Wars animated series show what passionate and creative fans can accomplish when left to their own devices with his universe, and Lucas should trust in them.

Thoughts?

[Fox 6]

Man I wish I had a lightsaber.... that was really good.

I Really enjoy the Star Wars novels. I have read 6 so far and am in the middle of the 7th. They give insight to what the main cast and others did between films and after. There is way more info and story in novel form than in the movies and its very good. If you thought that the Imperials were finished at the end of the 6th movie you would be mistaken. They are still there and very much active up until 19 years after the Emperors death. I would Reccomend the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn for anyone who wanted to get into the books.

To get to your question I think that Lucas is slowly killing what many of us remember to be a rich and wonderful universe where we could lose ourselves and just have fun. These new films and what he has coming up ( with the exception of the Clone Wars cartoons forma little while ago) are just a money grab.

[Professor S]

Can't help it...

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[Professor S]

Man I wish I had a lightsaber.... that was really good.

I Really enjoy the Star Wars novels. I have read 6 so far and am in the middle of the 7th. They give insight to what the main cast and others did between films and after. There is way more info and story in novel form than in the movies and its very good. If you thought that the Imperials were finished at the end of the 6th movie you would be mistaken. They are still there and very much active up until 19 years after the Emperors death. I would Reccomend the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn for anyone who wanted to get into the books.

To get to your question I think that Lucas is slowly killing what many of us remember to be a rich and wonderful universe where we could lose ourselves and just have fun. These new films and what he has coming up ( with the exception of the Clone Wars cartoons forma little while ago) are just a money grab.

I'd like to give Lucas the benefit of the doubt and I think he wanted to do more with the series, but I think he made a huge mistake retaking creative control after he gave most of it up after the original 1977 film.

When you're out of practice, you're out of practice, and he slowly improved over the last two films he made, but by that point the damage had been done.

[Fox 6]

I thought that the oppurtunity to tell Anakins story was too juciy to let go, but he fouled it up as bad as he could. He relied more on cool CGI than stroy it seemed :/ . If you think about it though, had the movies come out in order then a whole lot in the calssic 4,5, and 6 would have been ruined. I.E. Dath Vader being lukes father, Ben Kenobi telling that Vader killed his father, Leia is Lukes Sister, etc.

I can still remember the amazement i felt when I saw episode 4 the first time and the ships flew overhead at the beginging. The rebel ship seemed huge, anf then the Star Destroyer came over and...wow.

There were some pretty good video games form the Star Wars univrese but I have fond memories of the DOS Tie Fighter game :P. Nothing like playing as the Imperial Navy to keep you entertained :D. Also Admiral Thrawn is in this game too, which is totally kick ass since he is a mastermind that (in the books) almost destroys the New Republic, with the Empire at 1/10th is strength.


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[Bond]

I really wish Lucas would have done Episodes VII-IX as opposed to I-III.

[DeathsHand]

The guy in blue waited literally 15 seconds with his opponent on the ground, sans hand, before making his next move...

Then again, he's the same guy who pinned the other up against something, caused him to drop his lightsaber, paused for a moment as his helpless opponent stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights... And swung 5 inches above his head...

When blue man has his face held up against their lightsabers, with his pinned underneath the other guy's in sort of a + shape, there's no way he could have escaped with the move he used without sending his hand straight through the yellow, err, blade...

The lightsabers seem to effortlessly slice right through most everything, but around 2:50 one guy's lightsaber gets forcefully slammed into the ground and it smacks off of it as if it were a baseball bat.... Or a sword.

Twice when black man gets his lightsaber knocked out of his hand, it immediately shuts itself off (as it's supposed to)... But at 5:38, when blue man whacks black man's saber so hard that it flips out of his hand for a second, it stayed on 100%...

Vivid and compelling? Maybe... But these guys are the Obama of homebrew Star Wars clips...

Though I'm all for George Lucas allowing the Star Wars FILM series to continue in some way (maybe unrelated to the original six episodes) with other, perhaps more competent folks at the helm... At least I think that was my position a couple years back when the topic was brought up and I actually cared...

[Typhoid]

I would like to point out what most of you actually no-doubt know.

A parsec is a fucking measurement of distance. Not time.
So the Millennium Falcon could not have completed the kessel run in 15 parsecs.

That's like saying "Man, Steve's car got us to the store in 8 feet!"


Fucking Lucas.

[Yoda9864]

Back to the original topic, should Lucas give up creative control? Why should he? Star Wars is his IP and he can do whatever he wants with it. Yes, I thought that Episode 1 sucked balls. (I did like 2 and 3 though). But so what?

I'm not saying we should force him to give up control, but he should for the sake of his product since those creating the really good Star Wars mythios are doing so without his guidance. Thats why I say he "should" give up control, and not "he must".

I know this is a really loose analogy, but Ford has made many crappy cars, should they open up the Ford name to anyone who wants to try and make a better car?

Well, if they can make better cars for you, why not?

To a degree, Lucas has already given up creative control on Star Wars, at least on the extended universe (books) side. At last count, I've read just about 50 of the extended universe novels. A lot of them are fantastic, some of them are just average and some not so good. Lucas doesn't control every little detail of these books. He might loosely guide the storyline about what should generally happen, but the main bulk of the books and the details are created by the authors.

Lets be honest, outside of the truly hardcore no one gives a hate-me jizz about the books. Its the movies and TV that people care about, and Lucas should let other, fresher creative talents work on those areas. If any of the new movies were half as good as the Clone Wars cartoon, no one would be complaining about shit right now.

So in my opinion, Lucas can do whatever he wants with the films and the TV series coming out.

I don't disaggree. Of course he can, he just should NOT if he wants his universe to produce the best creative product it can.

EDIT:
OH SHIT! I EDITED YOU POST INSTEAD OF QUOTING IT. SORRY!!

[Professor S]

The guy in blue waited literally 15 seconds with his opponent on the ground, sans hand, before making his next move...

Then again, he's the same guy who pinned the other up against something, caused him to drop his lightsaber, paused for a moment as his helpless opponent stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights... And swung 5 inches above his head...

When blue man has his face held up against their lightsabers, with his pinned underneath the other guy's in sort of a + shape, there's no way he could have escaped with the move he used without sending his hand straight through the yellow, err, blade...

The lightsabers seem to effortlessly slice right through most everything, but around 2:50 one guy's lightsaber gets forcefully slammed into the ground and it smacks off of it as if it were a baseball bat.... Or a sword.

Twice when black man gets his lightsaber knocked out of his hand, it immediately shuts itself off (as it's supposed to)... But at 5:38, when blue man whacks black man's saber so hard that it flips out of his hand for a second, it stayed on 100%...

Vivid and compelling? Maybe... But these guys are the Obama of homebrew Star Wars clips...


Wow... that is the most nitpicky review of a homemade lightsaber battle I've ever read, especially since it is by far the best homemade lightaber battle out there (at least on YouTube). Did you seriously point out faults citing specific minutes and seconds and complain about minor inconsistencies?? Those two told a real story (and the hesitation was to show gloating, animosity and pleasure in the kill) with no words said, which is more than can said for about 99% of all lightsaber battle homebrews out there. Aslo, unlike most lightsaber battles, even in the films, they showed ingenuitive integration of the force.

And please don't say the one with the two asian guys in the woods dressed like the Matrix is better, because the only thing that battle has in common with Star Wars is the special effects... thats it. Other than lightsabers that thing is pure kung-fu movie.

[Yoda9864]

Also, unlike most lightsaber battles, even in the films, they showed ingenuitive integration of the force.

This is one thing I completely agree with about the movies. It is my major gripe about lightsaber battles in the movies. The force is supposed to be major aid in combat, yet they use it so stupidly and in awkward places that it breaks the flow of combat and turns it more into a little add-on gimmick. It could have been used soooo much better in the films.

[Professor S]

This is one thing I completely agree with about the movies. It is my major gripe about lightsaber battles in the movies. The force is supposed to be major aid in combat, yet they use it so stupidly and in awkward places that it breaks the flow of combat and turns it more into a little add-on gimmick. It could have been used soooo much better in the films.

I think thats the main reason that I enjoyed the RvD films so much. They seemed to develop an integrated "combat force power" fighting style that is unique to them.

[DeathsHand]

Did you seriously point out faults citing specific minutes and seconds and complain about minor inconsistencies??

Yeah, for the sake of being a nitpicky asshole.
But anywho, this is the only home made lightsaber fight (or home made Star Wars film of any kind) I've seen... I guess I'm more of a casual Star Wars fan...
One that was never actually big into lightsaber fights in the first place...

[Professor S]

Yeah, for the sake of being a nitpicky asshole.
But anywho, this is the only home made lightsaber fight (or home made Star Wars film of any kind) I've seen... I guess I'm more of a casual Star Wars fan...
One that was never actually big into lightsaber fights in the first place...


I give them a little bit of leighway consider one of the stars was sporting a bad teenage mustache. The only way that could have been awesomer is if his opponent had a mullet.

[Typhoid]

Yoda, I didn't post that.
Just pointing it out.
You mixed up who-said-what.

[Professor S]

Yoda, I didn't post that.
Just pointing it out.
You mixed up who-said-what.

Actually that was a clusterfuck of my doing. Somehow I ended up editing his post instead of quoting him, and your name got in there somehow.

[Yoda9864]

Wow, you really mangled my post. Oh well.

Lets be honest, outside of the truly hardcore no one gives a hate-me jizz about the books. Its the movies and TV that people care about
It's been my experience, and I'm sure that this doesn't apply to everyone, that if someone isn't interested in reading a Star Wars book, they don't care enough about the movies to complain.

[Professor S]

Wow, you really mangled my post. Oh well.

Yeah, sorry about that. I don't know how to fix it and it obviously wasn;t intentional.

It's been my experience, and I'm sure that this doesn't apply to everyone, that if someone isn't interested in reading a Star Wars book, they don't care enough about the movies to complain.

Well thats a very convenient, and honestly deluded, opinion to have of Star Wars fans in general. It smacks me more as an attempt to feel superior to people rather than a reflection of being a true fan.

And obviously, I do care enough to complain, along with MOST STAR WARS FANS WHO HAVE SEEN THE LAST 3 MOVIES LUCAS MADE. Movies should be held up on their own merits, and honestly, if you can't enjoy them fully unless you've read a multitude of books means Lucas failed completely as a film maker.

To dismiss someone's opinion because they didn't some book no one in the general fanbase has really read is to automatically dismiss pretty much anyone else's opinion who doesn't agree with you. Thats just lazy.

Argue the quality of the movies if you wish to defend them. The books are irrelevant.

[GameMaster]

I've read numerous articles stating how light-sabers could never exist in real life. And the truth is, guns just seem so much easier and effective for killing people. But I believe one day scientists will figure out how to make them.

[Swan]

Yeah, when I get bored I take time and ponder out ways that a lightsabre could actually work. You would have to find a way of reflecting the light back or else it would just carry on forever

[Angrist]

And the truth is, guns just seem so much easier and effective for killing people.But not lasers, which take seconds to hit a target!!

I want to do a Star Wars marathon soon. 1-6 with a bunch of fans.