Top 5 Reasons That Star Wars Has Surpassed George Lucas
Top 10, List, Movies, Film, Star Wars, star wars, episode, The phantom menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the sith, a new hope, The empire strikes back, return of the jedi, the force awakens, the last jedi, George Lucas, Controversy, WatchMojo,
There’s no denying his impact on Star Wars, but that influence only goes so far. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today, we’re counting down our picks for the Top 5 Reasons That Star Wars Has Surpassed George Lucas.
For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the reasons the massively popular sci-fi franchise has outgrown its creator. While Lucas has had a successful career with Star Wars, we will be focusing on his filmmaking issues, bad decisions, and occasional poor choice of words.
Lucas may have created one of the best sci-fi franchises of all-time, but that doesn’t mean he did it flawlessly. When his peers were shown the original cut, the reception was dreadful. Littered with unnecessary scenes, terrible pacing, and an overload of exposition, it was clear that “Star Wars” needed some additional work. Brian De Palma would rewrite the opening crawl, while Richard Chew, Paul Hirsch, and Lucas’s wife, Marcia, would re-edit the movie. Had Lucas gone with the original version, the history of Star Wars could have gone drastically different.
It’s no secret that Lucas has been a little petty about his post-Star Wars life. His statements have come off as either extremely over-the-top or just plain passive-aggressive. For starters, he’s gone on to blame the fans on his retirement, citing how people despise the newer versions of the original trilogy. Lastly, he has come off as resentful towards the new Star Wars movies, criticizing the “retro” approach to “The Force Awakens” and going so far as to compare the Walt Disney company to “white slavers”.
While Lucas was successful as director of “A New Hope” (albeit after some fixing up with the story), he wouldn’t direct another Star Wars movie until “The Phantom Menace”. So, who directed the two best movies in the series? Irvin Kershner was chosen to by Lucas to direct “Empire Strikes Back” because he knew “everything a […] director is supposed to know”. Then, we have Richard Marquand, whose previous work on suspense films and ability to work with actors was what made Lucas hire him as director for “Return of the Jedi”.
Credit where credit is due, Lucas knows how to build a world. However, you need good writing to make your world believable. Lucas may have had the vision, but it was his partnership with Lawrence Kasdan that gave Star Wars some of its strongest story arcs, specifically in “Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”. Kasdan’s presence seems to have a subtle effect on the quality of the movies’ writing, and its evident in the reception of the prequel trilogy, which Kasdan had no part in. He wouldn’t be back to writing a Star Wars story until “Force Awakens”, which he co-wrote with J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt.
This was the first time where Lucas had absolute control over the entire production…and he blew it. As if re-editing the original trilogy with terrible CGI wasn’t enough, the prequels saw a slew of mistakes that fans just weren’t having. Many scenes were shot in front of a green screen, Hayden Christensen was cast as Anakin Skywalker, and, of course, there’s Jar Jar Binks. This trilogy of Darth Vader’s beginnings has stuck out as the pimple of the franchise, and may always be remembered as its awkward puberty.
For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the reasons the massively popular sci-fi franchise has outgrown its creator. While Lucas has had a successful career with Star Wars, we will be focusing on his filmmaking issues, bad decisions, and occasional poor choice of words.
#5: The First Cut of Star Wars Needed to be Completely Re-Edited
Lucas may have created one of the best sci-fi franchises of all-time, but that doesn’t mean he did it flawlessly. When his peers were shown the original cut, the reception was dreadful. Littered with unnecessary scenes, terrible pacing, and an overload of exposition, it was clear that “Star Wars” needed some additional work. Brian De Palma would rewrite the opening crawl, while Richard Chew, Paul Hirsch, and Lucas’s wife, Marcia, would re-edit the movie. Had Lucas gone with the original version, the history of Star Wars could have gone drastically different.
#4: His Bitterness
It’s no secret that Lucas has been a little petty about his post-Star Wars life. His statements have come off as either extremely over-the-top or just plain passive-aggressive. For starters, he’s gone on to blame the fans on his retirement, citing how people despise the newer versions of the original trilogy. Lastly, he has come off as resentful towards the new Star Wars movies, criticizing the “retro” approach to “The Force Awakens” and going so far as to compare the Walt Disney company to “white slavers”.
#3: Arguably the Two Best Films in the Series Weren’t Directed By Him
While Lucas was successful as director of “A New Hope” (albeit after some fixing up with the story), he wouldn’t direct another Star Wars movie until “The Phantom Menace”. So, who directed the two best movies in the series? Irvin Kershner was chosen to by Lucas to direct “Empire Strikes Back” because he knew “everything a […] director is supposed to know”. Then, we have Richard Marquand, whose previous work on suspense films and ability to work with actors was what made Lucas hire him as director for “Return of the Jedi”.
#2: Some of the Best Writing Was Done by Lawrence Kasdan
Credit where credit is due, Lucas knows how to build a world. However, you need good writing to make your world believable. Lucas may have had the vision, but it was his partnership with Lawrence Kasdan that gave Star Wars some of its strongest story arcs, specifically in “Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”. Kasdan’s presence seems to have a subtle effect on the quality of the movies’ writing, and its evident in the reception of the prequel trilogy, which Kasdan had no part in. He wouldn’t be back to writing a Star Wars story until “Force Awakens”, which he co-wrote with J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt.
#1: The Prequels
This was the first time where Lucas had absolute control over the entire production…and he blew it. As if re-editing the original trilogy with terrible CGI wasn’t enough, the prequels saw a slew of mistakes that fans just weren’t having. Many scenes were shot in front of a green screen, Hayden Christensen was cast as Anakin Skywalker, and, of course, there’s Jar Jar Binks. This trilogy of Darth Vader’s beginnings has stuck out as the pimple of the franchise, and may always be remembered as its awkward puberty.
Have an idea you want to see made into a WatchMojo video? Check out our suggest page and submit your idea.
Step up your quiz game by answering fun trivia questions! Love games with friends? Challenge friends and family in our leaderboard! Play Now!