"We don't want to make movies. We're about to get into television. As far as Lucasfilm is concerned, we've moved away from the feature film thing because it's too expensive and it's too risky.No mention of quality, unfortunately, but then what did you expect? Sigh.
"I think the secret to the future is quantity," Lucas said.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Attack of the Quantity.
George Lucas is getting out of the movie business and into TV. Which would be good news if only he was getting out of script writing as well. In an interview on Variety.com, Lucas outlines his reasons:
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Frankly I think he's one of the worst film makers of recent times.
ReplyDeleteHe is like theeccentric uncle who was cool when you were grtowing up, but now you are grown up you see that he is simply a lunatic.
ReplyDeleteGlory! Unload!
ReplyDeleteThere'll always be a little room for Uncle George in my heart because, while he may have urinated all over the Star Wars franchise, he's still the force behind my favourite movie of all time, and that counts for a lot.
For me, he summed himself up when he once described himself as a "visual filmmaker". It shows where his priorities are, and where his real talent lies. (Although I wish he'd practise a little restraint from time to time. Not every interior needs expansive windows that reveal a dazzling, panoramic landscape stretching out in glorious wonder to infinity.) Why, though, if he knows he's a visual filmamker, he won't just put the bloody pen down, is a mystery to me.
Star Wars fanatics are an odd sort; the only Religion that hates and whinges of their God, while still faithfully bringing sacrifices whenever required.
ReplyDeleteAt least Trekkies still like the franchise; most old-school Warsies (yeah, I did that) seem to think that George Lucas was the abusive step-father of their childhood. And they keep on buying!
Wasn’t there a time, before the Internet, before the new Battlestar Galactica, before Firefly: when the Ewoks were cute and funny? When the site of an obliterating Death Star left you ecstatic?
Let us never mention the countless children who absolutely adore the old and new franchise.
Me? I seem to have loved every New Episode at first viewing. Second and third viewing? Not so much.
-dagradon-
Ewoks are cute and funny. They're also one of the worst things about Return of the Jedi. I thought so then, and I think so now.
ReplyDeleteCute and funny have their place, but that place is probably not in a story originally written for 7-foot tall kick-arse Wookiees.
They should have been created for and stayed within the restrictions of 'The Caravan of Courage'!
ReplyDelete...the only Religion that hates and whinges of their God, while still faithfully bringing sacrifices whenever required.
ReplyDeleteThe only other one I can think of is Apple. A lot Apple zealots can't stand Steve Jobs. Although that's mostly because of who he is; they still love what he produces.
...And they keep on buying!
Not me! But that's a whole other post. Coming to your galaxy soon!
Wasn’t there a time ... when the Ewoks were cute and funny?
I seem to recall liking them when I first saw Jedi, and it was only when I grew older that the ridiculousness of their victory over the Imperial troops really began to grate. Which I don't think means I'm missing the point and that I'm no longer the intended audience. Star Wars is not 'Just for Kids' like The Teletubbies are, and a story can be both fantasy and realistic. As Jedi would have been if those Ewoks had been slaughtered in an instant.
Triple J, as one of only three fans of Jar Jar Stinks the world over: you, Comic Book Guy and George Lucas, I'm not sure you can throw stones at Ewoks. Although, on second thoughts, go right ahead! :-)
ReplyDeleteDagradon, did I ever tell you of when JJ, Ahab and I went to see the SEs at the cinema, and when the AT-ST blasted those two Ewoks in ROTJ, we all cheered and high-fived, only to get shushed and booed by those in the row behind us! We were stunned! We expected the whole cinema to erupt in applause. Really made me wonder if SW fans were as cool as I'd always imagined, you know? Hehe.
And yes, JJ, dream the dream. Imagine ROTJ with wookies instead of ewoks. Chewie and the wookies were so disappointing in ROTS, but ROTJ with the same story, only with wookies, would have been brilliant.
ReplyDeleteYub, yub.
At least Trekkies still like the franchise;
ReplyDeleteWell, except for the very large (and/or vocal) subset that were continually pissed off by Enterprise, of course. Now there was a show that, if you listened to the fans, could do nothing right.
Since when was merely refusing to join the regularly scheduled two-minute hate against Jar Jar enough to qualify one as a fan of his?
ReplyDeleteAll I have ever done is point out that most of the criticisms of his character could be just as easily levelled against Threepio.
There are some really, really big problems with the prequel trilogy, but Jar Jar is not one of them. In fact, The Phantom Menace which features Maximum Jar-Jar Action nevertheless manages to be easily the best film of the three.
It's not the not hating, Triple J, it's your Jar Jar keyring that makes me think you're a fan. :-)
ReplyDeleteThreepio might have had an annoying voice, forgotten obvious and crucial things, and fallen over a lot, but he still retained a sense of dignity while doing so. And he never stepped in "doo-doo". The humour just worked better with Threepio. Maybe the script let Jar Jar down, but imagine it was he who walked in on Han and Leia's embrace in Empire, and try to imagine it as being as funny. I can't.
JJ: MEESA ISOLATED REVERSA POWER THINGY MR CAPITAIN SOLO SIR!
HS: (sarcastically) Thank you. Thank you very much.
JJ: YOUSA WELCOME!
Shudder.
Hmm, Jar Jar = JJ. Interesting. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's not the not hating, Triple J, it's your Jar Jar keyring that makes me think you're a fan. :-)
ReplyDeleteHeehee. I do miss that particular gift from Future Spouse, but it eventually succumbed to natural wear and tear, and I'm not sure a one-legged Jar Jar conveys the same message.
Nevertheless, I would contend that the keyring was just another manifestation of me rallying to support Jar Jar against what I perceive as unjustified attacks.
[C3PO]...retained a sense of dignity while doing so.
Both Jar Jar and Threepio have a sense of dignity. That's what makes their pratfalls funny.
They also both tend to lose their sense of dignity in a crisis, which is also funny; or would you say it was dignified when Threepio makes a pathetic (in every sense of the word) attempt to hide behind Luke's skyhopper when Artoo does a runner?
And he never stepped in "doo-doo".
No, he just fell over and came up with some green bodily fluid smeared on his face. Much classier.
The humour just worked better with Threepio...
Inevitably, if you see a film as an eight year old, the humour pitched at eight year olds will work for you. If you see the same humour when you are twenty-five years old, then it might not.
And, for me at least, the tone of your little vignette seems to be a dead-on match with the actual scene in The Empire Strikes Back.