A single script

In an interview with Leonard Maltin in the final VHS box set of the Star Wars trilogy in its original format, Lucas said he made one script, but it was way too big to make into a movie. So he took the first acts, expanded on it a nd [layed around with it, and made it into the movie we know today. Now, I don't think it's just me who thinks that if in a single movie, the Death Star was destroyed in the first act, and then a second one in the third. It's a guess of mine that in the full script, the first act ended when they secaped from a ship instead of the death Star, and the climax of the movie wasthe destruction of the Death Star, and then when he took the first act, he needed a conclusion, of course, and so put the Death Star in that one, and put a second, incompleted one in ROTJ for a plot in that. I also heard somewhere that Chewie was not the co-pilot(Was there another co-pilot, or no co-pilot) and that the tiny Ewoks on Endor were actully supposed to be big wookies, but still technologically challenged and worshipped Threepio. But when he cut out the final two acts, he loved the Wookies so much, he made one the co-pilot Chewbacca, and for the wookies on Endor, he cut them in half and called them Ewoks. It also says in the starwars.com databank that there were many diffent versions of Luke, like a girl or a 60-year-old war hero, all named Annikin Starkiller, until he became Luke Starkiller, and in the fourth draft, Luke Skywalker. Weas this fourth draft still the big movie, or A New Hope? And Leia was goin to be a spoiled fourteen year old. And Han was going to be an alien. Does anyone know whow to sort out all the different scripts? Wouldn't it be cool to read them all?

 

Lucas is just a crazy old man. Now I want you to forget about this "Single script"

 

I'm surprised yodaschum didn't take the line one step further:

"Star Wars belongs to US now."



Anyway... I tend not to believe a lot of Lucas' chit-chat about how he had all of SW planned, scripted, whatever, in advance. There is too much evidence both in the films and from secondary sources (even GL quotes!) that prove that he's been making crap up as he goes along. He can't even decide if he originally planned SW as 9 or 12 movies.

I think he had rough outlines for the saga as a whole. Nothing more.

The "fourth draft" you refer to was ANH. There were four major drafts of the ANH we all know and love. Only the third and fourth even resemble the movie we have today.

You can check out SW scripts here. Warning: Reading these may ruin SW for you forever. Seriously, the first draft of ANH is so God-awful it may make you cry...


Rick McCallum loves you!

 

AdamBertocci: "He can't even decide if he originally planned SW as 9 or 12 movies.---
I think he had rough outlines for the saga as a whole. Nothing more."

Perhaps you should say exactly why this is the case.

 

He had a story treatment and a conglomeration of notes (collected in his red notebook) for the overall saga, but like any other creative endavour, it's remained fluid to this very day. J. Michael Straczynski had an entire, 200-page, triple-encrypted file outlining the entire Babylon 5 saga's story arc...but even *he* tossed portions of it out the window as he went along, and made wholesale changes to his original intentions.

It's simply the nature of the beast.

 

I think that first, single script he's talking about has very few similarities to what the story turned out to be.

 

As Adam has posted, the first script of ANH is just way out there. Mind you, you may find out the mysterious origins of Mace Windu

 

The point is that Lucas said he never had a story "for the later ones" - he never had stories for the events after the destruction of the emperor. He did, however, expand Episode VI into an extra trilogy but it never developed beyond a few notes. This happened at the time of writing ESB; these notes were not developed into a storyline. However, the intention to make another trilogy was there for this short while. So Lucas has not lied about this at all.