# Seems Lucas didn't only screw up the prequels... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2010, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134 "2010-08-13T08:02:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/41 "2010-08-13T20:53:50Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > I’d read somewhere that it was originally going to take place around the Wookie planet, but George Lucas opted for the Ewoks for merchandising. I’m not sure if it’s true, or just someone wishing it was true, but I think it would have helped a lot. The “Ewoks were created for merchandising” theory appears to be just that, a theory. A little cursory googling doesn’t bring up any quote by Lucas stating as much, but it does bring up a quote where he said he rejected Wookiees because Chewbacca was a technological whiz. Thus making any “the primitive tribe killed the empire” allegory moot. So Ewoks it was. Back to the OP, I think the problems with the prequels is that Lucas came so _close_ to getting it right. A nip here, a tuck there and they become really great movies. As it is, I still think they’re good and I chalk most of the hate up to fanboys who would have hated anything Lucas did. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/42 "2010-08-13T21:49:07Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > My main problem with VI was the Ewoks, a blatant merchandising ploy and irredeemable plot failure. Killing off Han would not have fixed that. I wouldn’t have minded seeing Luke die near the end, in an echo of Obi-Wan’s sacrifice, especially if that helped turn Vader. Mentally re-work the film, so the Ewoks are short lil Reptile Men. And the film works fine. The Sleestak/Ewoks come across good. So the problem ain’t with the script, you just want a different look for the aliens. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/43 "2010-08-13T23:26:59Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The best ending: The rebels discover that Ewok blood corrodes critical components of the Empire’s hardware, and so to defeat the empire they have to round up all the Ewoks and fire them at the Empire ships. Totally unnecessary. > **[IGN Tech: Electronics, Gadgets, TVs, Video Game Hardware - IGN](https://www.ign.com/tech)** > > IGN Tech is the ultimate resource for product reviews, news and how-tos, focusing on the latest electronics, gadgets and gaming hardware [http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=1869322&blogId=216576352](http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=1869322&blogId=216576352) The Ewoks were doomed from the start. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/44 "2010-08-14T00:29:25Z")
> [@snoopygal](#): > > I also find the hatred for Lucas a nauseatingly adolescent trend. Yep. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > As a 13 year old when ROTJ was released, I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed your preferred version very much. You seem to want to turn what is essentially a modern fairy tale, into **a dystopian Blade Runner-esque misery-fest**. Sounds pretty dire. > [@Sablicious](#): > > If one wasn’t brought up on the films in question and they didn’t [invariably] influence you in your formative years, or you simply do not care (or align yourself with the Trekkie Side!), it’s understandable that you would think this kind of seeming infantile ire directed at the movie-maker in question confounding. I grew up with the movies and I find the infantile ire confounding. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/45 "2010-08-14T01:25:52Z")
Grew up on the movies myself, and I’m siding with **Sablicious** here. Don’t you people realize that George Lucas has single-handedly _destroyed_ Star Wars… _forever?_ Why, by making these so-called prequel movies, he’s reached back in time and RAPED THE ORIGINAL MOVIES SO WE CAN NO LONGER ENJOY THEM AGAIN! Did you know that George Lucas is the leading cause of major hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis? It’s true! I read it in a book! Frankly, I just don’t understand why you people can’t tell that this is _ **SERIOUS BIZNESS!!!** _ Harumph! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/46 "2010-08-14T01:51:27Z")
I think they should’ve kept the incest in. ---
**Author:** ![Sablicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Sablicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sablicious)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/47 "2010-08-14T02:02:11Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > […]I’m stating the guy has had a larger impact on more people than anyone in this thread that’s bitching about his raping their childhood. > > If you look at the bottom line: Whether you like what he’s done or not, you can’t debate that he’s done a lot with it. > > And my 7 year old kids really dug their McDonald’s Happy Meal with Lego Star Wars droids collectibles in them. > > Condemn society if you’d like, it doesn’t change what is. So give up, stop posting in forums, continue facing in the Lucas ranch direction when you pray 5 times per diem and keep stuffing your kids with junk food, and we’ll live our separate lives. (Don’t fret, I’ll say only the obligatory nice things at your funeral, irrespective of truthfulness. 🙂 ) > [@cmkeller](#): > > […]all three prequel films got “fresh” ratings from reviewers, as per “Rotten Tomatoes.” (62% for Ep I, 66 % for Ep 2, 80% for Ep 3) > > They’re only crappy to those who feel it doesn’t live up to or fit in with the orginials. Taken on their own, they’re at least passable. If a surgeon only knew 62% of the required pre-operational hygiene practices, 66% knowledge of the instruments he’s to use and 80% of human anatomy, I’d be booking my vas deferens libation in with Dr Nic! \<80% = straight-to-video with much inebriation advised. Anything below is about as “fresh” a 3am hooker! > [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > I’d read somewhere that it was originally going to take place around the Wookie planet, but George Lucas opted for the Ewoks for merchandising. This is actually the only point I’m trying to make - _ **Lucas whored the series once Kurtz departed.** _ A whoring that just got worse, egregiously so, with the prequels. This isn’t about whether Han should be dead per se - that’s a matter of taste and the willingness to make a sacrifice of certain ‘parts’ in order to improve the ‘sum’. This ‘rant’ is about whether the Star Wars films suffered at the hands of Lucas’ unbridled control. As an extension of this, whether the successful aspects of the series can truly be attributed to Lucas, and thus, whether his wealth and the reverence he demands is in fact warranted. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > For what it’s worth, **Miller** , I read this comment as referring to Lucas’ infantilization of the story arc in every movie since _The Empire Strikes Back_ - i.e., the teddy bear jamboree and Jar Jar Binks. Finally! I’ve been hanging on to this cookie for what seems like an eternity… \*_hands prize to perspicacious poster_ \* 🙂 > [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Gotcha. You can’t get some easy facts straight (like you know–the _ **year** _ a movie was released), and your defense is ad hominem attacks. Good to know who we’re dealing with here. Gotcha. You’re a pedant who believes putting someone to the grindstone regarding frivolous statistical information - information you yourself could easily procure - is an effective way to detract from the mediocrity of the films and movie director in question. Explains the _ **Archive** Guy_ user handle, if nothing else. :rolleyes: I’ve already made mention of the fact that this ‘overdose’ of CG is a circumstantial and tenuous way to qualify the prequels’ craptasticity given the three most prominent entries in this genre - the SW prequels, The Matrix trilogy and LotR - all came about around the same time. 2003 was the latest any of these films surfaced, save for SW:RotS (2005). So arguing that this final installment’s true quality is diminished by those that came before it (despite the fact it’s actually the better of the three in question), doesn’t hold water. You’d be laughed out of a kangaroo court with assertions like that. Your defense may as well be “_ **I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything’s soft… and smooth…** _”! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/48 "2010-08-14T02:08:34Z")
Wow…just…wow. When did **Comic Book Guy** start posting here? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/49 "2010-08-14T02:16:55Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wow…just…wow. When did **Comic Book Guy** start posting here? This place is lousy with Comic Book Guys. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/50 "2010-08-14T06:14:58Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > [@Guinastasia](#): > > > > Wow…just…wow. When did **Comic Book Guy** start posting here? > > This place is lousy with Comic Book Guys. Worst. Comeback. _Ever._😃 ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/51 "2010-08-14T12:36:36Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > **Which** _Star Treks_ are you talking about? All of them. Yes, _all_ of them. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > If you’re talking about the series-within-a-series of II, III, & IV, I agree. But TMP is ponderous, VI is incredibly stupid, and VI deeply flawed (for all its ambition). And I write that as someone who adores TREK but is so-so on SW. I tend to prefer the **Trek** films to SW probably mostly because I’ve not seen them as often as I’ve seen the **Star Wars** trilogy (which I’ve most likely watched hundreds of times). Also, the acting, overall, is better in the **Star Trek** movies. And at this stage of my life, I get much more enjoyment out of the easy rapport the original cast had (on screen, yes; not necessarily off screen, granted) with each other than I do out of watching actors being badly directed, and reciting lines of (sometimes) wooden dialogue. I know these views aren’t popular, but I have never courted popularity. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/52 "2010-08-14T12:46:27Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Why, by making these so-called prequel movies, he’s reached back in time and RAPED THE ORIGINAL MOVIES SO WE CAN NO LONGER ENJOY THEM AGAIN! Except he kinda has with the original movies. It’s one thing to be able to ignore the prequels. It’s another thing when the only way to see the original movies is to go buy the DVDs that have a second disc that has a laserdisc transfer as bonus material and watch only the “bonus” disc. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/53 "2010-08-14T13:44:36Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@snoopygal](#): > > > > I also find the hatred for Lucas a nauseatingly adolescent trend. > > Only when it comes to the original three movies. And fitting, since the original films were an adolescent-level fantasy delivered to adolescents. And adolescents— including arrested adolescents like myself— want nothing so much as to be distinguished from the “little kids.” Give us Dora the Explorer and we’re going to scoff and roll our eyes. It’s an obligation. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/54 "2010-08-14T21:05:55Z")
I dunno… _Dora the Explorer Visits the Fleshpots of Thailand_ was pretty advanced. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/55 "2010-08-14T23:56:23Z")
I would not like Han dying ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/56 "2010-08-15T00:04:28Z")
They already CGI’d in the initial shot… might as well just have Greedo kill him. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/57 "2010-08-15T00:31:14Z")
Speaking of **Jedi** , has anyone seen [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkeYIGR6O_o&sns=fb) yet? (Watch it fast, before Herr Lucas takes it down.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/58 "2010-08-15T01:36:38Z")
[Next year you can watch your childhood get raped on Blu ray!](http://www.thehdroom.com/news/George-Lucas-Confirms-Star-Wars-Blu-ray-Release-Date-in-2011/7285) Finally,I’ll be able to delete the HD version of ESB off my PVR. That fucker’s hogging 22% of the hard drive… ---
**Author:** ![Sablicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Sablicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sablicious)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/59 "2010-08-15T02:32:09Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wow…just…wow. When did **Comic Book Guy** start posting here? I’m guilty of having the full set of Flare '94 Marvel trading cards due to a ‘phase’ I went through - granted :o… but comic books?! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134/60 "2010-08-15T02:45:38Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Generally speaking, I do not understand the Star Wars fans who hate Lucas. Yeah, he lost his touch with the newest films, and produced some spectacularly crappy movies because of it. It’s aggravating to look at them and think of what they could have been. This isn’t against you **Miller** , but I’m just dying of curiosity. I see this “specrapular” and “what they could/should have been” meme all of the time. What exactly SHOULD the plot, characters, endings have been in order to quell all this hatred and satisfy people? I’m not saying I was totally happy with the last three, there were things I would have liked to have seen done differently also, but I didn’t see them as these total ruination/MST3K wannabes that others seem to. Would someone please take at least one (preferably a few) scene that was SOOOO crappy, and what it should have been instead? I mean, all I ever see is vague and angry “they sucked” comments, and never a specific concrete example of “and here’s why”. Thanks in advance for helping satisfy my curiosity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seems-lucas-didnt-only-screw-up-the-prequels/550134.md?page=4)