George Lucas...

Luke Leslie Summer 2006

Ok so the film literate amongst us will know what I'm talking about just from reading this articles title. And I'd like to pre-empt those 2 words with a Seinfeld-esque "What's the deal with..." Because I just don't get this guys thinking.

I agree with the premise that when George Lucas made Star wars, he had limited resources and no CGI or computers to allow him to do the things he wanted. So 30 years later revisiting his films with modern facilities makes a whole lot of sense. But hang on a second.... I hear some people scream, "Won't he ruin the films for people who grew up watching them?" I say screw nostalgia - if you old-school critics look at star wars with the same critical eye you look at modern films - the "reality" of the film falls to pieces because lets face it - the sock puppets look like sock puppets - not space ships. You don't want him to meddle - and fair enough, but think about it - you saw those films when there was nothing to judge them by - and 30 years on - they look very dated - shoddy to say the least, perticularly when you compare them with modern films. Thus the need to update them.

My criticism is not that Lucas or Speilberg or any of the other big time directors shouldn't be allowed to meddle with their own films for they might ruin them- as Matt Stone and Trey Parker seem to think. But rather - I don't understand their pick and mix attitude of choosing to update some sections and leave others obviously shoddy and still needing a facelift.

Not to mention that the amount of times Lucas has done a re-work of Star wars. It's starting to get ridiculous. If I recall he has done at-least 2 special editions - each time changing elements of the original 3 Star wars movies. And rumors and circling that before the 6 episodes are released together he will do some subtle re-workings to all 6 films including The Phantom Menace (inserting a digital Yoda for 1 thing) And this brings me to my 2nd problem with this whole ordeal.

Re-working your own films - again - and again, lessens their credibility. It makes the film makers themselves seem paranoid, relentless and seemingly constantly unsatisfied with their own work. There becomes a time when you just have to say... "Wait a minute, we've already made this film, how about instead of making it again - I should make something new."

George Lucas created Star wars, helped create the Block buster and usher in a new era of Movies. I love Star wars - and I don't care who you are - wether you hate that movie or not. It deserves your respect for its innovation and originality and what it did for modern film making. Not to mention the strides every other film maker since then has had to take in order to try to beat Star Wars - and live up to the genre (the only thing in my mind that does this is Lord of the RIngs) I'm not talking exclusively about Sci-Fi here- because Star wars has everything, Action, Adventure, Thrills, Drama (Cough Romance) and lets not forget that it's set in a totally fictitious world. Can you honestly say the Coen Brothers are as meticulous or as creative when they create the worlds they place their quirky characters?

I didn't think so - but now that you understand my respect for these films you might understand my point a little better. I think George Lucas needs to:

1. Make some more movies - because nobody with the power and position he's in should just sit around and waste it - he should write films - or direct other peoples projects. Or do something - the one thing I hate more then David Lynches Mullholland Drive is film makers who waste their time doing nothing. He's spent his career producing, but to call himself a filmmaker he really needs to start directing projects again. Sure Georgie can't direct actors - but I think he'd get better if he made some more movies, an interesting fact is that since 1977 he has literally directed only 5 films 3 of which were Star wars. At that rate - I don't care who you are, getting your actors to talk about Love and Sand in the same sentance will ring faulse.

And 2. Georgie should know when to stop. He made the mistake of doing a special edition- I say that because since then he has essentially backed himself into a corner. And he's gonna try to escape from it for the rest of his career, because the truth of the matter is. No film is perfect - but most filmmakers adhere to the principle that once it's released - it's in the can and finished. But since Mr Lucas has broken that unspoken rule - he's found himself in a rather confusing situation. The problem he faces is "Where do I draw the line" at what stage does his updating become - changing the film - for the better or worse.

My attitude is - All or nothing. Update the original 3 films entirely to modern standards or not - simply leave them alone - that way the viewer can choose "Ok - I want to watch the 1977 version or the CGI modern Version" And you know what - I think I'd watch both - because lets face it, if I just wrote this article I'm a nerd.

And so are you if you read this far.

Side Point:

For the record I think the special editions are brilliant, Except for changing Boba Fett to sound Australian - why do that? You could have saved a lot of bother if you had made Jango and the clones sound like Storm troopers in the new films eh Georgie? I like how he's now updating the older films because of careless mistakes he made when making the new ones! Actions like this make the viewer beg the question "Didn't he have all this worked out before or did he write the script on a napkin the day before shooting..."

And one more thing to all the "Keep them the original way" Fan boys out there, look at these 2 Yoda's, can you honestly say that the puppet to the left looks better then the Yoda with a digital non Rubber face to the right? This isn't a change Georgie has made, I merely did a rough job in Photoshop too prove a point. He hasn't changed it and doesn't intend to - but from my point of view, I say change it! Keep your films uniform if you intend to update them, double standards make no sense, stick to your devices you Hippocrit or leave the films alone.

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