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Topic:
How much does George really know?
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DarthDuckie
Registered:
Jan '04
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Date Posted:
5/26 10:09pm
Subject:
How much does George really know?
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I was watching the interview with GL on the Blue Harvest DVD the other day and the interviewer was asking him to identify pieces of music from the film as he "performed" them. George wasn't very successful and the comments he made suggested to me that in some ways he's not really all that obsessive about the minute details of the films. Obviously this was just a very tongue in cheek exercise, but it got me wondering how much he really does know definitively. Does he know the detailed answer to every SW question posed in interviews etc or by obsessed fans, or is he more a broad brush kind of a guy when it comes to telling stories and kind of flies by the seat of his pants when answering detailed questions that he hasn't really thought of the answer for?
How often would the true answer to some of these questions be, "You know what, it never occurred to me."
Thoughts?
-----signature-----
Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.
-Bodie Theone
A hero is a person who understands the responsibility
that comes with his freedom.
- Bob Dylan
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zombie
Registered:
Aug '99
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Date Posted:
5/26 10:24pm
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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My general feeling has always been: anything thats in the script, he knows at least a little bit about. Everything else, including those billion of background details that ILM artists and the like think up and then EU writers flesh out, he has no clue about nor cares.
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I'll swallow your soul! --------------------------------- If you're gonna die, die with your boots on! -------------------------------- author of The Secret History of Star Wars http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com
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battlewars
Registered:
Mar '05
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Date Posted:
5/27 1:58am
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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He obviously doesn't know his own story otherwise the prequels and the OT would match up.
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Vortigern99
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
5/27 7:09am
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
- Date Edited:
5/27 7:10am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Vortigern99
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I object to battlewars's statement, since in my observation the PT and OT match up quite well. But in general I agree with zomb that Lucas knows his own major characters and the events as depicted in the films -- as well as any of us, say -- but all the background characters and the ancient history of Sith Wars and the formation of the Republic, etc. he has no idea about. I don't even fault him for not knowing the music very well, since Williams has always scored the films after they are completed, or during the late stages of the pre-production process. Once the film has been put together and premiered, I don't think Lucas sits back and watches the completed work over and over the way most of us tend to do.
-----signature-----
"I knew from the beginning I was not doing science fiction.
I was doing a space opera, a fantasy film, a mythological piece,
a fairy tale."--George Lucas
My "Vader's Origins" thread:
http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002/8708417/p1
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DarthDuckie
Registered:
Jan '04
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Date Posted:
5/27 1:03pm
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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Yes, that's the way I see it too. He knows the main story elements really thoroughly and the themes being conveyed, but the minute detail he's happy to leave others to obsess over. I certainly don't fault him over the music either. It was just interesting.
That being the case, I guess the next question is how far his statements can be treated as SW gospel. I know some people like to see anything that he says on any SW related topic as absolutely argument stopping, but could it be that on certain more obscure topics, there would be better sources?
-----signature-----
Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.
-Bodie Theone
A hero is a person who understands the responsibility
that comes with his freedom.
- Bob Dylan
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TaradosGon
Registered:
Feb '03
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Date Posted:
5/30 1:55am
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
- Date Edited:
5/30 2:00am (2 edits total)
Edited By:
TaradosGon
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Depends. For instance, Lucas refers to lightsabers sometimes as "laser swords" when in reality the concept of a laser sword is impossible. Whereas the EU, I believe, establishes lightsabers to be "loops of plasma" i.e. plasma is emitted from the hilt, loops back on itself (forming the tip of the saber) and then reenters the hilt. According to the Star Wars Tech program, a plasma sword is theoretically possible, and they would be unable to cut through eachother - just as they couldn't in the films - due to like charges repelling one another.
Thus, I kind of suspect on some matters, such as the technology of the SW universe, Lucas might just throw something into the films that in reality would be impossible without understanding the mechanics involved, while EU writers that have more time to do research and what not, can provide more plausible explanations for the ins-and-outs of the SW universe.
So, if you asked Lucas "How come you can see the lasers fired from a laser rifle" you might get an answer along the lines of "because I wanted it that way."
Whereas an EU writer might be able to give a more sophisticated answer such as: "Well, technically they aren't 'laser rifles' they're 'blasters.' They fire bolts of plasma that are formed by superheating gas with a power cell. The bolts are fired at sublight speeds and therefore you can see them."
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Darthbane2007
Registered:
Oct '07
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Date Posted:
5/30 6:25am
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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For the general story like in the movies, George knows everything. However, things in the EU he allows to an extent, but he leaves all that up to the EU Writers and fans.
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rumsmuggler
Registered:
Aug '00
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Date Posted:
5/30 8:13am
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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George knows what he needs to know.
-----signature-----
" Conan, what's best in life?" " Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of the women."
W.W.L.D. What Would Lando Do
"Why is the rum always gone?"
Retcons = making the dumb stuff look even dumber.
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zeekveerko
Registered:
Apr '02
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Date Posted:
5/30 8:41am
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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There are many things that people might wonder about a story that a writer has never considered. This is true with every story. The writer is typically concerned with telling the story and details that are appropriate to the story, while certain observers might be wondering what Luke Skywalker ate for breakfast the morning he began his big adventure. How much does George really need to know?
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Take a seat young Skywalker.
AHBY!
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xx_Anakin_xx
Registered:
Jan '08
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Date Posted:
5/30 5:22pm
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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ER...um...well, see, GL can make up anything he wants, on the spot, and that IS the SW Universe. He can wipe out the entire EU with a wave of his hand or slash at bits of it with his upcoming movies and really who can do a thing about it? So if you ask him about the formation of the Sith, he may say, 'no one knows', but of course the EU has it all settled. The real answer of course is 'no one knows' because EU is like, a world of its own. Not that GL won't borrow from the EU from time to time or give it a nod... I like it that way because when EU goes somewhere I find highly un GFFA, I ignore it feeling like they have lost GL's dream...lol
-----signature-----
"Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I'll do what I must"
"You will try"
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DarthDuckie
Registered:
Jan '04
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Date Posted:
5/30 7:22pm
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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zeekveerko posted:
There are many things that people might wonder about a story that a writer has never considered. This is true with every story. The writer is typically concerned with telling the story and details that are appropriate to the story, while certain observers might be wondering what Luke Skywalker ate for breakfast the morning he began his big adventure. How much does George really need to know?
I agree with this completely. So that being the case, is it at least arguable that every utterance that he makes shouldn't be treated as absolute SW gospel truth?
-----signature-----
Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.
-Bodie Theone
A hero is a person who understands the responsibility
that comes with his freedom.
- Bob Dylan
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Sinnion
Registered:
Sep '06
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Date Posted:
5/31 3:11am
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
- Date Edited:
5/31 3:25am (6 edits total)
Edited By:
Sinnion
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zombie posted:
My general feeling has always been: anything thats in the script, he knows at least a little bit about. Everything else, including those billion of background details that ILM artists and the like think up and then EU writers flesh out, he has no clue about nor cares.
Your absolutely right. I forget what famous playwright said this, but when he was asked about a detail concerning a character in his play he said something along the lines of: If I knew, I would of wrote it in the script - implying that he doesn't know every last detail regarding his work.
Writers, actors, and artists in general would like you to think that they plan every single last detail of their product but the truth is many of the great things in the final outcome were either accidental, spontaneous, or completely oblivious to them. Not everything they do great is, but I'd say a good majority of it is.
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darth_frared
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
5/31 2:51pm
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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DarthDuckie posted:
zeekveerko posted:
There are many things that people might wonder about a story that a writer has never considered. This is true with every story. The writer is typically concerned with telling the story and details that are appropriate to the story, while certain observers might be wondering what Luke Skywalker ate for breakfast the morning he began his big adventure. How much does George really need to know?
I agree with this completely. So that being the case, is it at least arguable that every utterance that he makes shouldn't be treated as absolute SW gospel truth?
that looks like a double negative to me.
we shouldn't treat his words as gospel because the story is the gospel. it's the bottom line for me. there's nothing he can say that distracts from what he's already saying in the films. otherwise there'd be no point to the films, right?
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illegalise stupidity.
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VadersLaMent
Registered:
Apr '02
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Date Posted:
5/31 3:26pm
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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In the Making of Revenge of the Sith book an employee asks what color Yoda's blood is and GL thought for a moment and said it was blue. I think he never considered it before and just made it up on the spot. I am sure much of the Saga is like this. There is so much GL knows and thinks about when it comes to SW but he has not thought of every little thing and adresses it when it comes up.
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Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic--Arthur C. Clarke
Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God--Michael Shermer
I am officially Awesome.
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zombie
Registered:
Aug '99
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Date Posted:
5/31 3:44pm
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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VadersLaMent posted:
In the Making of Revenge of the Sith book an employee asks what color Yoda's blood is and GL thought for a moment and said it was blue. I think he never considered it before and just made it up on the spot. I am sure much of the Saga is like this. There is so much GL knows and thinks about when it comes to SW but he has not thought of every little thing and adresses it when it comes up.
Thats funny because in AOTC "Behind the Pixels" (or whatever its called) documentary, the ILM CG artists asks Lucas what color Yoda's blood is, and he thinks for a sec and goes "I'd say probably green."
-----signature-----
I'll swallow your soul! --------------------------------- If you're gonna die, die with your boots on! -------------------------------- author of The Secret History of Star Wars http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com
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DarthDuckie
Registered:
Jan '04
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Date Posted:
5/31 10:36pm
Subject:
RE: How much does George really know?
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darth_frared posted:
DarthDuckie posted:
zeekveerko posted:
There are many things that people might wonder about a story that a writer has never considered. This is true with every story. The writer is typically concerned with telling the story and details that are appropriate to the story, while certain observers might be wondering what Luke Skywalker ate for breakfast the morning he began his big adventure. How much does George really need to know?
I agree with this completely. So that being the case, is it at least arguable that every utterance that he makes shouldn't be treated as absolute SW gospel truth?
that looks like a double negative to me.
we shouldn't treat his words as gospel because the story is the gospel. it's the bottom line for me. there's nothing he can say that distracts from what he's already saying in the films. otherwise there'd be no point to the films, right?
But the whole story isn't on the screen and that's what the bulk of the discussions here are about. For everything that appears in a movie, there's potential background - expressly addressed or sometimes not addressed, or even contemplated by the film maker at all. It's his off the cuff, on the spot comments about that kind of material which I think George at times spends less time pondering than the average person on these boards. It's by no means a criticism, but I think it's reality and should be borne in mind when assessing what he says.
-----signature-----
Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.
-Bodie Theone
A hero is a person who understands the responsibility
that comes with his freedom.
- Bob Dylan
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