Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[phobicsquirrel]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

Didn’t Lucas ask other directors to direct some or all the PT films? I thought I read somewhere that he asked Spielberg to direct TPM and Spielberg told Lucas that he should direct them himself.

I didn't know that about TPM but I know he helped with rots.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Lucas has always been an innovator; even in AOTC, he used digital cinematography, non-linear editing, digital intermediates, etc. as they were coming up. It’s as a storyteller where he needs a little help.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

Lucas has always been an innovator; even in AOTC, he used digital cinematography, non-linear editing, digital intermediates, etc. as they were coming up. It’s as a storyteller where he needs a little help.

non-linear editing was a thing for several years before AOTC, but as Lucas himself helped to usher in that era e.g. EditDroid (though the genesis of the idea came from some editing gear that Coppola showed to Lucas) then I'll allow it.

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by shinobipopcorn

Anyone else remember when Owen Lars was Obi-wan's brother?

I do. It was in the script and the novel, I believe it was filmed too, but cut.

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Just like the time Boba and Vader were brothers.

This was never a thing.
I do remember people speculating that Kitster was going to become Boba.

[Arawn]

Boba and Vader make an interesting pair because one had no mother and the other had no father.

[bobbyh64]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

People say "it's because he'll owe Marcia millions!" or something like that but I think that's bullshit. Not the money thing, maybe Lucas did restructure the participation points out of spite when they renewed the film in 1997 (I'm no lawyer), but for me it's mainly because Lucas has always been flat-out embarrassed by the OT, particularly the first one, and it's eaten him up for years that people went bananas for a film that represented maybe 30 or 40% of what his 'vision' was supposed to be.

So he's tinkered with it, and tinkered with it, and tinkered with it some more, defacing one of the greatest pop-culture milestones there will ever be in the name of producing a 'vision' that he can abide. It's his name above the door and he wants the movie to live or die by that, and all it entails, while he's still alive to answer for it (see also: the prequels).

But once he's gone his legacy is no longer his to personally answer for, history will be the ultimate judge so if LFL/Disney want to release the UOT then they will be free to do so. I still don't think there's any steadfast contractual impediment to doing so now, it's simply that they're honouring the wishes of the creator.

I simply can’t underatand why he’s embarrassed by the unaltered OT but not the special editions. If we look at the differences between the UOT and special editions, there’s not much of a difference to make someone think they’re vastly different. In Ep. IV you have a brachiosaur take up the whole screen, a bunch of procompsognathids scurry about, and Han Solo’s Force Head Tilt. The only thing I can think of that he wanted all along is the Jabba scene since that was actually filmed back then. It just boggles the mind that he was embarrassed by them, but is fine with the special editions, when many of the changes he made are cringeworthy.

[shinobipopcorn]

Originally Posted by Gold Ranger

I do. It was in the script and the novel, I believe it was filmed too, but cut.

The reason I ask is because I saw a post about it on another site, and the poster says it was in a previous edition of an encyclopedia with a write-up that made far more sense than what we ended up with in the prequels. I mean, the one of the first places I would look if I suspected a baby survived would be the step-brother...

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

I simply can’t underatand why he’s embarrassed by the unaltered OT but not the special editions. If we look at the differences between the UOT and special editions, there’s not much of a difference to make someone think they’re vastly different. In Ep. IV you have a brachiosaur take up the whole screen, a bunch of procompsognathids scurry about, and Han Solo’s Force Head Tilt. The only thing I can think of that he wanted all along is the Jabba scene since that was actually filmed back then. It just boggles the mind that he was embarrassed by them, but is fine with the special editions, when many of the changes he made are cringeworthy.

There are dozens of fixes in the first SW aside from the main additions that everyone knows about. Now I ain't saying Lucas got his 'vision' up to 100% but he got into such a state making the film (chest pains etc) that it crushed him that it only represented a fraction of what he intended, so he really does feel happier about what the SEs represent than what the original cuts do...although he did later say that if he knew the ruckus that Greedo shooting first would cause then he would never have done it

[bobbyh64]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

There are dozens of fixes in the first SW aside from the main additions that everyone knows about. Now I ain't saying Lucas got his 'vision' up to 100% but he got into such a state making the film (chest pains etc) that it crushed him that it only represented a fraction of what he intended, so he really does feel happier about what the SEs represent than what the original cuts do...although he did later say that if he knew the ruckus that Greedo shooting first would cause then he would never have done it

Damn, that man is all over the place. Spending decades making changes, regretting certain changes because of fan ruckus, not regretting other changes that resulted in fan ruckus, etc. I don’t think the dude ever really knew what he wanted.

[Fang Zei]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

Didn’t Lucas ask other directors to direct some or all the PT films? I thought I read somewhere that he asked Spielberg to direct TPM and Spielberg told Lucas that he should direct them himself.

Ron Howard and Robert Zemeckis have said George asked them to direct Episode I and they both turned him down because they thought he should just direct it himself. Frank Darabont was the frontrunner, and it’s worth noting that the PT’s DP David Tattersall also shot The Green Mile.

It’s possible Spielberg was asked. I know Kathleen Kennedy asked him to direct Episode VII and he turned it down and recommended Abrams.

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Spike Jonze allegedly was close with "Attack of The Clones" but I can't find any evidence besides some random IMDB trivia.

This might be the first I’ve heard of this, but it makes sense. Wasn’t he with Sofia Coppola at the time?

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

Damn, that man is all over the place. Spending decades making changes, regretting certain changes because of fan ruckus, not regretting other changes that resulted in fan ruckus, etc. I don’t think the dude ever really knew what he wanted.

I think some of Spielberg's self-mythologizing rubbed off on Lucas. There may be things in Star Wars that he had to include in order for it to make sense that he would rather the audience never got to see, purely on the basis of how he imagined it would be realised on screen when he was writing it.

But on the other hand, he was forced to re-cut, or cut out entirely, stuff that he obviously imagined would need to be realised on screen the way he did realise them (otherwise he wouldn't have written and shot them).

So for every thing that Lucas rued not meeting his original vision and found himself having to compromise it or let it go, there's at least one aspect of his original vision that wound up left in the garbage, and for which the movie is arguably much better off on a storytelling level. (Virtually every change that Lucas has made has had little impact on the storytelling except in a negative sense . e.g. We go from "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.We must be cautious." to this -

[Show spoiler]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Eddie Valiant leaves the studio - YouTube

Most directors that are worth their salt recognize and accept that they only get 50% of what they imagined, on a good day. Lucas would have had us believe that it was worth spending time, lots of money and the audience's patience trying to claw back 5-10% of his "original" vision. (The truth is that he got Fox to pay for pre-pre-production for the PT).

[NWOWWE]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

The only thing I can think of that he wanted all along is the Jabba scene since that was actually filmed back then.

That's debatable, the Jabba scene literally repeats dialogue word for word from the Greedo scene. It's completely redundant.

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by NWOWWE

That's debatable, the Jabba scene literally repeats dialogue word for word from the Greedo scene. It's completely redundant.

People often point out that the Greedo scene was only dubbed with dialogue from the intended Jabba scene after it was decided Jabba was going to be cut. So that's why the dialogue was repeated.

But that begs the question. Why wasn't Greedo's scene re-dubbed with the dialogue that Lucas originally intended?

[Nicolawicz]

Originally Posted by NWOWWE

That's debatable, the Jabba scene literally repeats dialogue word for word from the Greedo scene. It's completely redundant.

It also ruins the presentation of the Falcon later. Just another example of Lucas' stupidity.

[Gold Ranger]

What were Greedo's original lines?

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by Gold Ranger

What were Greedo's original lines?

Judging from this video nothing really. Still mostly the same although as mentioned they incorporated the dialogue from the Jabba scene later on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8sD...ature=youtu.be

[Gold Ranger]

Oh, I thought the whole thing was redubbed and reshot

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by Gold Ranger

Oh, I thought the whole thing was redubbed and reshot

I think basically Greedo’s closeups were reshot. As you can see none of those Greedo closeups except the Greedo dummy being shot are what you see in the film.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by koberulz

If there isn't a 9-UHD set when Episode IX hits home media, I'll be surprised.

Waiting for the days of THX-certified broadband connections.

[Bobbyjoe766]

The Jabba reveal in STAR WARS SE is superfluous.

Greedo, having already provided the (same) exposition in an earlier, more effective scene, in which Greedo almost executed Solo on the spot.