# George Lucas is taking his ball and going home **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008 "2012-01-19T14:30:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/1 "2012-01-19T14:30:38Z")
[George Lucas Blames ‘Star Wars’ Critics for Killing Series](http://movies.msn.com/paralleluniverse/george-lucas-talks-star-wars-critics/story/feature/) > [@](#): > > “Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?” he tells The New York Times. Hey, the man has a right to make or not make any movies he wants. I thought he’d said a long time ago that he wouldn’t be doing any more \*Star Wars \*films anyway, so this isn’t exactly earth-shattering news. The tone of this and other quotes just seems a bit petulant and whiny to me. Though I recongnize they might not be in context as presented. For the record, I don’t think Episodes I-III are the worst crimes ever perpetrated upon filmdom. I just wish they’d been better. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/2 "2012-01-19T14:50:01Z")
Not long ago Lucas said he was done making SW movies anyway, that he was going to concentrate on TV now with The Clone Wars and the upcoming live action show set between ep3 and 4. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/3 "2012-01-19T14:54:02Z")
Good. He should have done that right after ESB came out. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/4 "2012-01-19T14:57:49Z")
He can do whatever he wants. However, hopefully he actually bothered to _listen_ to the criticisms, the constructive ones at least, and learn something. Like maybe hire someone else to write dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/5 "2012-01-19T15:00:29Z")
He’s definitely whining. And that’s impressive, for a man worth $3.2 billion. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/6 "2012-01-19T15:01:23Z")
OK, so making movies inside the ‘Star Wars’ universe ISN’T making other ‘Star Wars’ movies? Clone Wars is inside the extended universe, and heck, so is anything written between Ep 3 and Ep 4. Lucas is still invested in his creation. So are an amazingly large number of fans. The cartoon, Clone Wars, is actually pretty dang good. Good characterizations, not a bad plot. I have only watched 3 shows so perhaps it turns out to be hackneyed. The franchise will be around much longer than any of us expect. As a Star Trek fan (and not, originally, a Star Wars fan) it seems to me that both might make it for a while, but Star Wars has a more directly mythic content, and myths resonate more deeply than other fictions. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/7 "2012-01-19T15:03:22Z")
> [@](#): > > “On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie,” Lucas says. “I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.’” In Michael Curtiz’s ‘enhanced’ version of _Casablanca_, Rick shoots Lazlo in the back as he walk toward the plane, then hijacks it with Ilsa and Renault to live in a ménage à trois. It’s the way Curtiz really wanted to end it. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/8 "2012-01-19T15:12:10Z")
“Formerly decent director blames everyone else for his latest films being crap” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/9 "2012-01-19T15:29:02Z")
Is he under some impression that we want him to create more Star Wars, especially if he’s going to keep messing it up? ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/10 "2012-01-19T15:36:10Z")
Great, **BigT** , now you have gone and made George cry. Are you happy, now? ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/11 "2012-01-19T15:37:01Z")
Can someone else make them instead without Lucas’ involvement? If so, how is it protected? Are the characters trademarked? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/12 "2012-01-19T15:44:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > In Michael Curtiz’s ‘enhanced’ version of _Casablanca_, Rick shoots Lazlo in the back as he walk toward the plane, then hijacks it with Ilsa and Renault to live in a ménage à trois. It’s the way Curtiz really wanted to end it. That’s unfair. You know full well that, twenty years later, Curtiz went back and re-filmed it so Laszlo shot first. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/13 "2012-01-19T15:57:41Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > The cartoon, Clone Wars, is actually pretty dang good. > Good characterizations, not a bad plot. > I have only watched 3 shows so perhaps it turns out to be hackneyed. > > . I made a topic about this because I see absolutely no attention paid to the show and I felt old school SW fans like me were missing out. Most people who posted were really negative, I realized Lucas has so traumatized the fans most HATE Star Wars now. Sure the start of the show was horrible, and there are silly bunk episodes(one followed R2 and C3PO adventures with aliens :rolleyes:) but there are some amazing episodes that surpass the damn prequels. There are so many moments that make me smile and laugh like seeing Anakin becoming friends with a young captain Tarkin or the many many moments that pay tribute to the original trilogy. Its clear that the people at the helm of the show like SW as much as the fans. There are some great shock moments too where they set up Anakin as the hero and then he does something non-heroic, I loved when he talks the senator who was in love with Padme into helping and then at the end kicks him out of the ship to his certain death, hah! Or that episode when we find out a bit character from ROTJ is actually a criminal(great twist ending). ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/14 "2012-01-19T16:06:56Z")
I just wish he would move on. He has for years said he wants to concentrate on smaller films and other projects yet he continually goes back to Star Wars. It reminds of of Al Bundy constantly talking about how he scored 4 touchdowns in a single game in high school. That was a long time ago…move on. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/15 "2012-01-19T16:07:26Z")
Are you talking about the 2003 _Clone Wars_ shorts or the more recent series? I’ve not seen any of the recent ones but I remember the shorts being spectacular (and fantastically frustrating to watch, as they were just 3 minutes long). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/16 "2012-01-19T16:24:25Z")
I swear that whenever this guy feels ignored or underappreciated, he starts talking about how he had these even bigger plans for Star Wars. It’s kind of pathetic, but he’s trying to manipulate other people, so it’s contemptible in a way. > [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > Can someone else make them instead without Lucas’ involvement? No, absolutely not. He owns the characters and the trademarks, which is part of why he is extremely rich. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/17 "2012-01-19T16:42:07Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Are you talking about the 2003 _Clone Wars_ shorts or the more recent series? I’ve not seen any of the recent ones but I remember the shorts being spectacular (and fantastically frustrating to watch, as they were just 3 minutes long). I was talking about the more recent one, but I’m not the type to scream murder if they feature a young Tarkin as long as they get his character right. Its probably not for the religious types of fans but its fun and I watch it with my son so win win. The 2003 series was good but they made the jedi too overpowered, it was insane. Jedi are not Kryptonians. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/18 "2012-01-19T16:58:00Z")
The guy must be incredibly paranoid and protective of his baby. It must kill him everytime someone says Empire Strikes Back was the best film and it was directed by Irvin Kershner. George, you got the money, you’re the creator. Now release your stubborn grasp and let some other writers, screen writers and directors make your creations great again. Even J.K.Rowling knew better than try to adapt and direct her own Potter films. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/19 "2012-01-19T19:04:19Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > \ Like maybe hire someone else to write dialogue. We can only dream. I didn’t hate the last three Star Wars movies, but the clunky, stilted, unnatural dialogue - oy, vey. You’d never know that Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman were actually talented actors. > [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > “Formerly decent director blames everyone else for his latest films being crap” Nailed it. I suppose George Lucas is a victim of his own success like so many people - he’s lived in Lucasland for so long now, he’s completely out of touch. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/20 "2012-01-19T19:07:35Z")
Am I supposed to believe that George gives a shit what critics think after Indy 4? Really?! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008.md?page=2)