George Lucas hero or Villian

[Pullo]

I just wanted to put my view accross on something. I keep reading things like, "Lucas has sold out" and "lucas is just milking the cashcow" Well I would just like to say... BOLLOCKS!!! (Thats an english word that refers to the testicles but is also useful for other exclamations. )
Before you all shout at your monitors and hurl abuse i would like to point out that I am 37 years old, I went to See ANH when it first came out. I grew up with this franchise, as a child i was almost obsessed with it. I was the first in line for the first performance when my local cinema showed return of the Jedi.
The trilogy inspired me and gave me a love of film and litrature that continues to this day. My son is turned eight last week, he loves star wars almost as much as me, when we went to see the clone wars he heard someone in the seats behind us say that "Lucas has Sold Out". I tried to explain that some people only like the origianl trilogy and not the others and he said " Thats stupid, they're all Star Wars films some are just better thats all."
my son got into Star wars when the marketing for ROTS kicked in, and he loves the original trilogy as much as the prequels. I suppose that as the franchise gets older it needs to evolve to attract new followers. If it didn't evolve would we even have the fantastic Tcss Site and replica sabers, they only seemed to surge in popularity when the prequels came out. Are we ready to become the type of people who will just say "thats wrong I will not except this version as it does not fit exactly the formula that preceded it."
I truly believe that Lucas Loves Star Wars and has the best intentions for the franchise, after all the more succesful it is the longer it can be viable.

[annon]

Pullo, you and I are on the same page my English friend
For people to complain about all the marketing and merchandise and then buy all the SW stuff they can afford seems, well, hypocritical at best.
Also the complaint that CLONE WARS is a kids movie, I say so what. If GL wants to make a kids film I don't see the problem. I grew up watching the Ewoks and DROIDS cartoons. Those didn't "destroy'' SW and this wont ether.
Have you ever heard of GL sending out a team of lawyers to stop a fan film, tare down a DIY lightsaber sight, or put and end to all the costuming sights?
No...
For those who think GL has sold out, there are lots of other things you could do with your time.

[DaJoQuim]

I was 18 years old when I first saw a new hope and I was shocked on how good a sci-fi movie could be!!I'll be 50 years old next year and I have not had any thing bad to say about the starwars movies .To me either you like them or you don't!!

[sekrogue1985]

he's a villian and i say this with all the love because if it were not for star wars, I'd probably have a much fatter wallet. More space in my closet and well over all idk. He is also my hero because if it were not for star wars I'd probably not have found my wife. However she is not an ubber star wars geek she just likes how passionate i am about it.

[Brackley]

Anyone who complains about the scripting in the newer Star Wars films needs to sit down and watch the Star Wars Holiday Special.

[sekrogue1985]

Pullo, you and I are on the same page my English friend
For people to complain about all the marketing and merchandise and then buy all the SW stuff they can afford seems, well, hypocritical at best.
Also the complaint that CLONE WARS is a kids movie, I say so what. If GL wants to make a kids film I don't see the problem. I grew up watching the Ewoks and DROIDS cartoons. Those didn't "destroy'' SW and this wont ether.
Have you ever heard of GL sending out a team of lawyers to stop a fan film, tare down a DIY lightsaber sight, or put and end to all the costuming sights?
No...
For those who think GL has sold out, there are lots of other things you could do with your time.

if i rememberr a simpsons episode i believe bill gates is the kind of man who do that. It was Homer's ummm home office business lol

[Phiily Manyaan]

Anyone who has a problem with Star Wars shant be on this forum.

SO THERE!

[Novastar]

I *HONESTLY* do not mean to be flippant or pithy or even "punny" with this comment, but...

...every person has a dark AND light side.

To this day, I constantly get my fair share of:

- you're too old to mess with toy sabers
+ wow, how did you make those amazing sabers!
- for a martial arts team... you guys suck pretty hard
+ for being a bunch of volunteers, wow you guys looked great. who did the backflip?
- I can do a backflip way better than that
+ I could never do a backflip, especially with a big sword prop in my hands!
- your shows are bad, poor fighting, slow moves, lame dialogue
+ your shows are INCREDIBLE, great choreography, pretty fast moves for Force FX props, and the stories really move along and draw you in for such short performances
- it took you a year to put together each one??
+ can't wait for the next one! Sorry to hear BOP III is delayed...
- not as good as sideswipe
+ better than sideswipe--not b/c of the flips, but wow, staging, plot, sound, dialogue??! whoa!
- how come the 2nd one didn't have more saber fights? it's not as good as the 1st one
+ I thought the 1st was good, then I saw the 2nd... WOW--you guys really bumped things up a notch for a live show!
- you're a bunch of nerds
+ best SW fan film I've ever seen... I still can't believe it was live??!
- should be rotoscoped--doesn't belong online without it
+ were those rotoscoped at all? it looks like they were just not real bright
- this is a bad film, you should do better lighting and editing
+ wow, for a live performance... it almost looks like a film!

Re: sabers, CF, sound

- what's the big deal with your "crystal focus" sabers? I have a force fx saber too, it makes sound, big whoop.
+ omigosh, this blows those force fx sabers away!
- sounds the same as a force fx
+ sounds WAAAY better than a force fx!! how do you get so many sounds?
- doesn't sound like the movie sabers at all
+ sounds exactly like the movie sabers!!
- you have stupid moves, anybody could do that
+ whoa I've never seen anyone spin a saber like that
- doesn't look very bright
+ super bright! almost looks as good as rotoscoping although you're in the dark

and finally:

+ & - will you make me one, I want a blue--the brightest you got, and with all the sounds

...and the list goes on. And btw, those are *ALL* REAL COMMENTS that I have received in one form or another, and I basically picked the ones I hear the most often, pretty much combining them for this post.

SO what the hell is my point? Well the point is... even at my teeny-tiny little spot in the SW world:

I'm accosted AND complimented... on the very SAME SUBJECT or concept!! Sometimes justly, sometimes not. Sometimes with good reasoning behind the comment... sometimes not.

But it APPEARS that the overall response--is positive. Overall, the masses aren't saying: "please... just go away. Leave all of this to person X or person Y--they do it much better, and you're just in the way, muddying it all up."

The same goes for George Lucas in my opinion. After all... if HE hadn't put the entire SW stuff together... who would have? And even if it WAS someone else named Bob Smith or whomever... I think they would be accosted/praised just the same.

Ultimately, the popularity of SW within the world tells the story. If it truly is a "dying" thing at present... well... then I can only imagine what it would be like if the SW world was THRIVING... lol

Anyhow--if you're not catching what I'm saying... GL can only make (for example) 50% happy at once... with the other 50% not so thrilled.

...And maybe the next day it will be reversed. Can't please 'em all... ALL of the time.

[Draconis Magnus]

I give props to Lucas for giving us Star Wars. But he has lost it in recent years... I think it all started when he wanted to change the ghost image of Anakin at the end of RotJ. That I thought was very dumb and didn't make sense only to introduce the prequel movies... or it could of started when he made the special editions and made Han shoot second.. also not a good edit. The list goes on... but all in all.. he gave us a genre in itself and that I applaud him.

[Novastar]

Drac, that's exactly the point... for every move he makes--he pisses off group X, and placates group Y. And yes, in some cases... it makes nearly EVERYone upset (such as the Han 1st thing).

It's also of importance to remember that the films are (now) only a small part of the SW world at this point in time. Books, memorabilia, toys, electronics (as we know), costumes, film techniques, ILM & special effects, Skywalker Sound & THX, giant full 360 deg. greenscreen rooms, the ranch, the Lucas foundations for children, Lucasarts (the games), and so forth.

It's natural that only so much of this stuff is going to be "all aces" with all of the people.