# 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:** 3\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/181 "2012-02-12T04:35:23Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Here’s three “magical boarding schools” I could find in a few minutes of Googling: > > The Worst Witch (1974) - “Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches” > A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) - “Roke Island” > Witch Week (1982) - “Larwood House” > > Maybe we can find seven more pre-Potter ones. > > Can we include the Jedi Academy, since that would be on-topic? Also Anthony Horowitz’s Groosham Grange, which many have said has a lot of similarities to Harry Potter. It kinda does in some ways, but they’re just using the same tropes. Groosham Grange is also so badly written it makes Rowling seem like Shakespeare (who did reuse a lot of storylines from other sources, but had a wonderful turn of phrase). And Diana Wynn Jones’ Witch Week. Xavier’s Academy in the X-Men is a magic boarding school in all but name. Boarding school stories were a mainstay of English children’s fiction until the 60s or so, not just in books but in comics (some of the characters in Bunty, for example) and stories. Kids entering puberty and discovering they’re really magic also has a centuries-old history. Multiple authors combining the two is not surprising. I actually kinda like that a thread about George Lucas is mostly not about him. He’s taking his ball and going home and everyone else has already moved on to an entirely different game. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/182 "2012-02-12T04:41:31Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Also Anthony Horowitz’s Groosham Grange, which many have said has a lot of similarities to Harry Potter. It kinda does in some ways, but they’re just using the same tropes. Groosham Grange is also so badly written it makes Rowling seem like Shakespeare (who did reuse a lot of storylines from other sources, but had a wonderful turn of phrase). > > And Diana Wynn Jones’ Witch Week. > > Xavier’s Academy in the X-Men is a magic boarding school in all but name. > > Boarding school stories were a mainstay of English children’s fiction until the 60s or so, not just in books but in comics (some of the characters in Bunty, for example) and stories. Kids entering puberty and discovering they’re really magic also has a centuries-old history. Multiple authors combining the two is not surprising. > > I actually kinda like that a thread about George Lucas is mostly not about him. He’s taking his ball and going home and everyone else has already moved on to an entirely different game. The video game Lunar on the old Sega CD featured a wizard high school, and a Japanese only side story sequel was called Magical School Lunar. This is such an old trope. And after watching another amazingly good episode of Clone Wars on Friday I will tell you guys for the last time I promise that if you love classic Star Wars and its dirty galaxy full of seedy cantinas you’ll love the show. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008/183 "2012-02-12T10:21:56Z")
> [@SeamusMcCool](#): > > Oh, Lord. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Welcome to the Straight Dope, Seamus. I hope you stick around. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-lucas-is-taking-his-ball-and-going-home/610008.md?page=9)