Why do you hate George Lucas?

Lucas sucks. Ruined Star Wars. I loathe his involvment with Indiana Jones. The 4th one will be a campfest I am sure. He brings nothing to the table for me.

Han did shoot first.

And Spielberg has way more balls when not hanging around George. I agree, his sense of humor is juvenile with Pod Racing and Jar Jar and the entire crapfest that is the new Star Wars films.

He betrayed cinema.
 
Working for KOR / ILM isn't everything it's cracked up to be. It's not significantly more or less incredible than working for any other studio, and once you get past the secret-code-at-the-door mystic and the original Darth Vader and R2 unit in the lobby... well, okay - that is kinda cool.

It might be all peaches and cream up at the Skywalker sound facility (except I've been told that it's not), but the El Camino-mounted-camera-shooting-the-trench-sequence-for-E4-ILM we all fantasize about was more realistically realized at John Dykstra's sadly defunct Apogee in SoCal.

Apogee was the place where the "waterslide incident" took place, and on any given day, you'd find Jon Erland and many of the original ILMers puttering around the shop doing analog effects day in and day out. Oh, what's that lady doing? An eight foot wide on-glass matte painting. What's he doing over there? Calibrating the Dykstraflex motion control system. What are those? Those are the pneumatic stakes we're building for the Indiana Jones Adventure Show at Universal Florida.

foto4_01.jpg


My visit there - and the awestruck face time I got with Dykstra and Erland - set me up for a major fall when I finally went to the Deloite and Touchesque ILM facility in San Rafael to work on Daylight and Eraser.

I think Lucas is an incredible innovator, but I can't figure out what he's doing when he starts writing and directing. Yikes.

e
 
Last edited:
Yes the acting and uber digital was annoying in the last three(along with Jar Jar). But in the first three the acting was very weak, the story lines thin. But it was innovative, it was different. And it took kids like me, and I imagine most of you over the age of 30's into the magic of movies. Most of my young childhood was spent day dreaming of being in a world he created. He is a very bad director, he does not deal with actors very well, and his dialogue comes across as irrational and unreal, but so is the world that they are in. He is an innovator, and a very, very good one.
The digital slickness of the new movies I could do with out. Part of the greatness of the first three was how dirty and used things were. Mind you this is a different era in the story. But it gave it a much faker look.
Now that I have totally geeked out, I have to go kiss my wife, and pretend this did not happen.
 
Ok. Alot of mix feelings here. Some like him some don't. It seems like the main reason why some don't like him seems to be because of Episodes I II & III. I guess you do make your best work when you're hungry and struggling.

But you guys have to admit, the original Star Wars is great film making. Look past the ewoks, droids and other silly things, the storyline is timeless, the acting may not have been all that good, but overall it's great film making.

But good opinions overall, not everybody is gonna like the guy, just wanted to know why he was hated so much here.
 
i'm one of the very few people who enjoyed the new trilogy. ya i know its not the greatest filmmaking ever, and the dialogue can get pretty bad, but its Star Wars. I try to sit back and watch them to enjoy them. Not to critique them. Lucas isn't the greatest writer ever, I'm not sayin' he is, and I'm glad he chose not to direct them after A New Hope. But, to me the films are for enjoyment. And that's what I get outta them.
 
I don't hate the guy. I envy him if anything. Probably a lot of people do.

Did he screw up the trilogy? Yeah, he did. But at the same time I understand it.

He needed to tell 3 stages of anakin's life.

1. the happy, spry, naive boy.
2. the adolescant, arrogant i'm better than everybody
3. the final transformation into maniacal killer

The third episode in the series HAD to end with luke and leia's birth, so you couldn't get a full episode of him running around sacking stuff as vader... SO, what did you expect the first two to be?

I blame jarjar and midichlorians. I'm serious. As much as people talk about not liking the kid in the first one, everyone loved the pod race. Everyone loved darth maul. Everyone loved obi wan, qui gon, sam jax, yoda, almost everything else. But it just soured peoples taste right up front.

its like going to an expensive restaurant and finding a fly in your soup. Even if the bread is great and the steak is perfect you already got this "I'm not comin back to this restaurant attitude"

Watching clone wars without a bias, I think its pretty good. Sith? I liked it and didn't feel they had any misteps any larger than any of the other movies.

To those who offer:
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
and the rest of the dialog from the trilogy:

I counter offer:
"I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain. "
"you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder. "
"Laugh it up fuzzball"
"Horizontal boosters. Alluvial dampers. Ow. That's not it, bring me the Hydrospanner."
"Don't call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease. "
"Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way? "

Need I go on?
 
Why can't anyone admit to actually liking the ewoks? poo poo it...I will be the first. The ewoks have always worked for me quite well. I don't get the idea among some film guys that they ruined Jedi, or that they were written in to capture a younger market. A younger market?! :eek: WTF? The Star Wars films already had found a niche with...oh I don't know...the 3 to 103 age bracket. For poo poo's sake, I was four when I saw Empire.

Like I said, I always got on well with the idea of the primitive/low-tech ewoks defeating the technologically-superior imperials. I feel Wicket and company have been getting a bum rap for some time, and I'll proudly go to bat for those furry little buggers.

capitalP...
this mini rant was not directed at yourself, but at an admittedly widespread notion.
 
Okay, I'll admit it: It might've been the singing that killed the Ewok thing for me. There was a musical number, right?

e
 
How were the Ewoks (or, "Earwacks," as Cracked Magazine called them) any different from the Jawas, except they were braver? They even made the same noises.

I would have preferred that it be the Wookiee planet, though.
 
I agree with all the criticism of the various Star Wars films. They are all that, and more (or less, depending on your perspective). And I LOVE them. Star Wars gets a special pass--a lifetime double coupon for suspension-of-disbelief from me.

Every time I watch one, I am no longer an adult with discernment--I am a child watching magic.
 
I don't hate Lucas ... much. :) Seriously, I admire him for what he's built and for all the technology that he has created/spearheaded/helped bring about, but as an audience member I find him frustrating.

For one I don't feel like he's totally being honest with me. If you watch or read interviews from 1977 - 1983 you get a person who (with the help of some very good writers) is crafting a trilogy of movies. If you watch or read interviews from 1999 - current then you get this story of "this is how I've always seen the trilogy, it's always been like this, I've had the scripts for Episode I, II, and III in my closet for the last thirty years." That's a slight exaggeration, but I don't believe for a second that when Lucas was shooting Episode IV he was thinking "man, I can't wait to shoot that pod race from Episode I." I don't mind that I, II, and III were developed later, I mind Lucas trying to sell me this story about him having it all planned out since before the earth was created. And if he's trying to sell me this story about Star Wars being kid films, then why was Ep. III rated PG-13? Doesn't sound very kid friendly to me.

The other thing that bugs me about Lucas is his complete disregard for history. I should be able to see any of his films WITHOUT digital enhancements if for no other reason than to preserve the history of film. The fact that he adamantly refuses to acknowledge that he, at one time, didn't have all of the tools he wanted at his disposal gets under my skin, and if I ever meet the man I'll be sure to bring it up to him ... right after I finish grovelling at his feet. :laugh:

And another thing: Can we do something besides Star Wars? Now there's a TV series in development. The nails are already in the coffin, stop already.
 
I find it amusing that nothing brings out stronger senses of loyalty and betrayl than a Star Wars discussion on the net. People will rip them apart, and you know they have the special editions in their home.

I'm personally under the impression that with the theatre experience I would have paid my $10 to see "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." and been happy. I enjoyed the new films because it was Star Wars, a staple of my youth. It gets a free pass on critism for the most part because it's like me critiquing "Where The Wild Things Are", somethings from your childhood are sacred (like Don Mattingly, the greatest first baseman of all time).

That all being said, Lucas, I respect that he gave me tons of memories, created an empire of Star Wars, and can't write to save his life, but that doesn't cheapen the experience for me.

Finally, the Han no longer shooting first? Well, Spielberg made it so the FBI is holding flashlights instead of guns, so let's not pretend that certain things just might not sit well with filmmakers years after they make a film and they want to change it. Digital has allowed them to do it. Big deal. When I make my blockbuster every six weeks I'm going to release a new version of it...

You know what would have made the new Star Wars truly incredible? You could have had Rob Zombie direct a script written by Tarintino... That would have done it for me...

-Jeremy
 
I do not like SW--> I do not like GL. there are several better or at least as good as him director, so why should I like him?
 
krestofre said:
And if he's trying to sell me this story about Star Wars being kid films, then why was Ep. III rated PG-13? Doesn't sound very kid friendly to me.
.
Click to expand...

You cannot guage that based on anything whatsoever. Back when the original trilogy came out they didn't have a PG 13 rating. Only PG and R.

For cryin out loud JAWS was PG and it had BAAAARELY concealed full nudity, severed bodies, spurting blood, severed limbs, etc.

The original star wars had severed limbs with blood (alien in mos eisely bar), a ton of smokin blaster holes, charred skeletal bodies, etc. I garuntee at least one of the original trilogy woulda netted a pg13 in todays society. So if anything, he made ep 1 and 2 too TAME compared to the OT.

My 4 cents.
 
TheYankee said:
Finally, the Han no longer shooting first? Well, Spielberg made it so the FBI is holding flashlights instead of guns, so let's not pretend that certain things just might not sit well with filmmakers years after they make a film and they want to change it.
Click to expand...

But at least he still released the original un-altered version of ET on DVD. I'm not asking Filmmakers not to touch up their work. I'm just asking for both versions to still exist.

lucidz said:
The original star wars had severed limbs with blood (alien in mos eisely bar), a ton of smokin blaster holes, charred skeletal bodies, etc. I garuntee at least one of the original trilogy woulda netted a pg13 in todays society. So if anything, he made ep 1 and 2 too TAME compared to the OT.
Click to expand...

I think you're missing part of my point. I don't personally believe that the Star Wars movies are kid films, but Lucas keeps singing that song. I just don't understand the contradiction, or how Lucas is seeing things.
 
rook said:
I hate Lucas.

That's right. Hate him.

I'm sure he's a swell dude and all but he's the man that ruined star wars for me.

I'll never forget "episode two".

never.

-rook
Click to expand...

Yes, well he's also the man who created it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top