Discussion Disney Chief Alan Horn: Lucas "very, very involved on a consulting basis".

Their can't be a middle ground. That's the thing so many don't get. George Lucas created Star Wars, and he has probably protected his art. In no way, Shape, or form is the public or the fans the owner of Star Wars. It is up to us whether we will like the films or not.

 

I think he does have a final say.

 

Lucas would have never sold Star Wars if he wasn't open to other people getting involved with "his" franchise.

I also doubt that Disney would have paid what they did only to allow Lucas to dictate what they are allowed to do with Star Wars.

 

It be nice for someone to tell George that 'hey look, this simply doesn't work, we'll keep the general idea, but this needs to be fixed.' I wish someone had said that to GL during the prequels.

 

Nothing in the deals has come remotely close to saying this. You do not pay over 4 billion dollars for a franchise from the creator who can still veto anything you try and do with it.

 

I think you guys are looking at this all wrong. The question of how much say Lucas legally has is irrelevant. The fact is that he's involved, and the people who do have the final say respect him and probably desire as much of his input as they can get.

 

That's ultimately my point.

 

Forget it, some people can't stand the idea that GL created SW, knows more about it than anyone else, that the PT was hugely successful, and that GL should have anything to do with the continuation of his own story. Go figure.

 

I gotta say, if I was told that Lucas is not involved at all, even as a "consultant", I'd likely not be interested. And I'm the one who thinks that all Star Wars movies have similar flaws, not just PT, and that Star Wars works best with more collaboration. I just love what he brings to the table in terms of the ideas and I don't want that gone completely.

 

lol, this has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

I don't see why the movies can't include aspects that are very "Lucasy" and aspects that are not. The creator and owner of Star Wars is irrelevant.

No problem.

I don't think I'm misunderstanding the difference between ideas and executing them. The Chosen One prophecy, for example, is a horrible idea imo. There is no way the Chosen One prophecy could ever be any good, imo, regardless of how it's executed. "The Chosen One" idea has been used a million times and I don't think I've ever liked it. Using self-fulfilling prophecy, imo, was a terrible idea, and it's something I'm not fond of seeing in modern fiction.

One area I wouldn't mind having George involved in is visual/special effects stuff. He knows how to do that. But this news doesn't sound like he's going to be involved much in that aspect.

 

I see. Well thankfully for the rest of us Disney sees the benefit in it. Something to keep in mind though is any of the story you have enjoyed (Which I assume is a significant amount otherwise you would not be here) also came from Lucas. I understand not everyone will like Lucas being involved. To me it makes huge sense to have him involved during at least this transitional period. It is an incredibly smart business move.

 

I really didn't enjoy any of the "story" of the prequels. The story was terrible imo, the only thing keeping my interest was the "vroom vroom" of lightsabers, the "pew pew" of blasters and other shallow forms of amusement.

The OT? Love it, but that was like 30 years ago. Looking at his filmography, the last idea that Lucas had that I liked was The Last Crusade, which was about 23 years ago.

Whether or not it turns out to be a good business move depends on how well liked George's ideas are. If people like his ideas and pay to see them, then it's a good business move. If they don't and his ideas drive customers away, it was a bad business move.

Even in terms of trying to assess risk/reward, I'm not convinced keeping George on is a "no brainer".

 

It's fine you dislike the story. Still doesn't change their decision. Saying how much you hate the prequels over and over again won't get you very far.

 

What led you to believe I'm trying to change their decision? I'm simply giving my opinion of it, like everyone else.

Okay? Where, exactly, am I supposedly trying to get?

 

Fair enough sorry for upsetting. Just seemed odd to keep saying how much you disliked the prequels. I think one thing you and I can agree on is it is a good thing fans like us are not the ones making the decisions.

 

I'm not saying Lucas can do no wrong, but I'd still rather see his wrong than someone else's right when it comes to completing his story. You're absolutely right that he isn't the only one who can tell a good story in the Star Wars universe, but the Skywalker Saga is his story, and if he wasn't involved in the completion of that story then I would rather it not be made, or at least there's a very good chance I wouldn't even bother seeing it or acknowledging its existence. However once this story is complete, I will be more than happy to see anybody else's take on Star Wars (well almost anybody), whether Lucas is involved or not.

 

I think involving Lucas as a consultant is the perfect balance. It will allow others to direct and write the scripts while still retaining the spirit of his stories.

Plus, it allows Lucas to approach these films more objectively than he was able to in the past. He will now be a step or two removed and might be able to see things he couldn't when he was directing, writing, and exec. producing the prequels.

I think it's the perfect combination.

The other thing this makes me think is that his heavy involvement as a consultant on the sequel trilogy means this will be the third trilogy of the Skywalker saga and that makes me happy.

 

Excellent. Nice to see that the new films will be how The Maker envisions them.

 

QFT. The bottom line is that we're getting the best of all possible worlds with the collaboration on the ST. Everyone should be ewok dancing.

 

This is good news. I agree with the above, and also would add that rumor has it that he personally directed at least one scene in ROTJ himself: the throne room scene on the DSII with Luke, Vader, and Palpatine.

Possibly, but I doubt it. And even if she technically could, I really doubt she ever would, just based on the things she's said so far about all this.

 

I'm ewok dancing.

 

I think it's clear from the video from Lucasfilm that GL will just work around the edges, a good example would be "We've got this story that involves time travel" to which I would assume GL would shoot down. It'll be that sort of thing.

I expect he'll have a look at the character/set/costume designs and discuss things like names of planets etc. What he won't be doing is having the final say about this or that, he is a consultant after all not a Producer