George Lucas is Retiring

why ashamed?


: why is this same thread in the Saga forum when it should be in this one?

 

if you say so


the difference is, that many peopler forget or just completely ignore is that it's not the man they are putting down, but his actions.

If someone called Lucas a big smelly ape, then that is offensive, but to not be allowed to say we don't like his changes and so forth and call it bullying or whatever is clearly bonkers.

 

yeah, poor george lucas.

 

Because the fact that he's 69 years old clearly had nothing to do with this at all. He can blame it on Star Wars fans as much as he likes, but all it does is raise the question of why? Why if he cared what we think, at least enough to strop off into retirement, did he go on to produce two more OT special editions, or continue the prequel era longer than it needed to be with TCW? And what about his quote on The Daily Show? Paraphrasing here, but it went something like "Some people hate it, others don't. They are entitled to their opinions."

And it's not as if he's not producing any more work in the franchise either. TCW will still be going for the rest of it's run, however long that is for, and while it looks increasingly unlikely to be made the fact that Rick McCallum has recently been trying to drum up interest in the live action show would suggest that Lucas is still trying to make that happen too. The only thing that's not being done is new movies, and George wasn't doing those anyway!

 

When you have hundreds of thousands of fans who are passionate about your work, criticism is going to happen, and it should be viewed as a blessing that anyone even cares about your life's work.

When you are expanding on stuff that people have been faithfully dedicated fans of for somewhere around 25-30 years you should expect some road-bumps.

That being said...Lucas had his ups and downs, but I honestly think that much of the criticism he took could have been avoided. The constant revisions to the films were really unnecessary, it was change for the sake of change, and very little (or none) of what was changed actually improved the experience of watching the films. Episodes I, II & III weren't all that bad, most people seemed to enjoy them very much outside of a few small things (Jar Jar, Jake Lloyd and being an uninspiring Film Director)...but hey, in those films he did give us Liam Neeson as Jinn, Ewan McGregor as a young Obi-Wan, Darth Bane, Christopher Lee as Dooku as well as a few dozen other amazingly visual experiences.

It is hard to justify revising works that are in some cases considered classics, it is really just pointless to do so. Imagine if da Vinci decided to modify his painting of the Mona Lisa after 20 years because he didn't like the way her smile looked, even though it became the very thing that made it so popular.

What George Lucas created was huge, it is the base line for almost every scifi film made since. At some point it took on a life of it's own, and it became far bigger than Lucas could ever dream...and bigger than Lucas himself. To me it just seems that part of his issues, and part of the reason he keeps changing things, is in an effort to keep control or remind everyone who is in charge. Seems like a bit of ego is in a lot of what he does.

Regardless, I still like Star Wars. I buy and like the books, and I watch the films (even if I avoided purchasing the newly revised BRD). In the end I appreciate what GL created and shared with the world, and I wish him the best in his next endeavors.

 

I agree that it's kind of sad that his skin may not be as thick as many had assumed, when he says things like, ?Why would I make any more, when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?? and seems to mean it. I don't mean that he's pathetic, but that he's human and a lot of his so-called fans are very unappreciative of the fact that none of this would exist in the first place without him.

Having said that, though, I can see how some can see it as not as huge news as others are making it out to be... that he really just means he's not making any other blockbuster movies after Red Tails and his part of the next Indiana Jones movie. As far as SW movies go, as noted, we've known that since ROTS. But I see a bigger statement than that being made with this:

'?I?m retiring,? Lucas said. ?I?m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff.?

He was careful to leave himself an out clause for a fifth ?Indiana Jones? film. But otherwise, ?Red Tails? will be the last blockbuster Lucas makes. ?Once this is finished, he?s done everything he?s ever wanted to do,? says Rick McCallum, who has been producing Lucas?s films for more than 20 years. ?He will have completed his task as a man and a filmmaker.?

Lucas has decided to devote the rest of his life to what cineastes in the 1970s used to call personal films.'

He doesn't just say "big movies", he says "the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff.? That to me does indeed sound like LucasFilm and Star Wars is what he is really referring to, and the quotes from McCallum seem to support that.

So it should be interesting. I wish him luck, and I'm sure this isn't an easy thing for him to do. I think TCW will be completed as planned, and that Lucas will probably still drop by from time to time to give his opinions to Filoni. As others have said, I doubt the Live Action series has much real hope of coming to fruition. And I hope the 3D conversions and theatrical release plans for the remaining five films have enough behind them already to continue as planned.

 

Does that mean he should be above critique? That is part of the business, he has known that since before Star Wars. In the interview at one point he says ?If the movie doesn?t work,? he vowed, ?it?s going to be my fault.? , yet when he gets negative feedback he puts his head in the sand and says ?I?m saying: ?Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.? ? .

As he continued to re-edit the films over and over again the criticism got louder and louder, Lucas made a conscious decision to ignore the feedback of the Star Wars fans...the ones that helped Lucas make billions...and they didn't just sit around with their mouths closed.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy Star Wars a lot and very rarely critique it negatively and many times tend to defend actions (such as in the deaths of Chewbacca and Mara). I still support SW financially through purchases of games, books, etc. But I don't feel bad for Lucas really, critics are a part of the business....and fans are the lifeblood of your business. Ignore them and you risk backlash, Lucas decided to do what he wanted to do...which is fine...but then you have no right to really come back and complain about some of the backlash when the fans have been very clear and upfront about not liking the changes from the very first time he did it.

Not saying that personal verbal attacks against GL are justified, they aren't, but if you are going to be releasing something for public consumption and then constantly changing it down the road you shouldn't be surprised when fans who invested time and money into that disagree with it and are verbal about it.

 

1. Greedy: hmmm debatable

2. hack? never heard anyone call him that whatever that is

3. Crazy: he;s definately not that

4. doesn't deserve to have anymore input in his films: these people are ridiculous


well TO ME being called a big smelly ape would hurt a lot more than someone not liking a film I've made, I've done a mini movie, some people absolutely hated it, some liked it, did it bother me? no, because people have the right to their opinion.


lets look at facts:


according to the article it said he makes movies for himself, they are his movies etc, "Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.? ?

yet when presented an award (AFI) he finishes his speeches with "if there wasn't anyone there to enjoy them, watch them (movies) there wouldn't be any point"





so what is it then? he makes movies for himself..

or for people to enjoy them?


any piece of art is going to be critised, which is fair,

saying you dislike the work is ok to me, the person himself is not

 

It sounds like Lucas is still going to make movies, just not blockbuster stuff, so how is he "retiring"?

So lots of people criticize him, including many people here, and now (understandably) he seems angry and discouraged because of it. I'm sure his choices have made many fans (understandably) angry and discouraged about SW. But he's not quitting, just taking his vision elsewhere. And that's fine. Good luck to him.

 

I would guess this poster is quite young, to even suggest such a thing as a darth maul or Jango Fett movie *cringe*


it winds me up too when people say let other people tell HIS story, which is one of the 3 gripes I have with the man


1. thats exactly what he has done, to me he has let people like Filoni ruin his universe

2. his interview seemed bitter to anyone who doesn't praise him, not everyone makes fan edits, and not everyone is redlttermedia.

3. I don't like his attitude of "if they don't like my films, **** them then", which it seemed to me he was doing. (Though an article that misread could have been)
I MUST STRESS THOUGH I DON'T HATE LUCAS

 

It's not about criticizing his work, it's when they get personal and start insulting him (like calling him a serial rapist or something to that effect) that it goes too far. These people (not gonna mention anyone specific) need to grow up IMO.

I still see "Luca$" here.

 

The only thing that's new in this interview is Lucas admitting he's had it with the hateboys and their media enablers. I'd had it with them since the '90s, so Lucas has far more patience than I do. As the article mentions, Lucas went from having a bunch of studio suits telling him how to make movies to having a bunch of basement dwellers telling him how to make movies. With fans like the ones who berate Lucas for doing the Special Editions and then turn around with their own "edits" or the ones who treat the Red Letter Media mouthbreather like he's Jesus Christ, who needs enemies? Too many Star Wars fans are nerdier versions of Annie Wilkes from "Misery." I've been embarrassed and ashamed for years of how these people behave and it makes me furious how too often too many pander to them.

Like anakinfangirlsince1983, I wish he'd taken more of the praise and appreciation to heart, but let's face it...the media and the internet geek culture don't give a crap about those of us who have enjoyed the ride all along. I also wish he hadn't put it the way he did in this interview because it comes across as, "Okay, man, you win. I'm done." We've known for years he wasn't going to make any more Star Wars films anyway.

But I don't blame Lucas at all. I've read people call him fat, stupid, greedy, and retarded. I'm sure he gets hate mail and death threats on a regular basis. I even saw a pic online of some guy who had a tattoo done of someone cutting Lucas's head off. The media gleefully reports on Rage Du Jour, as though Lucas is a cruel man who abuses his loyal fans like a man beating his wife. Katie Lucas regularly gets hate Tweets from "fans" and once she recounted a time when some d*uches at a table near her in a restaurant started loudly trashing the prequels just because she was there.

Here's a sample of those wonderful fans just from yesterday on the official Star Wars Facebook page:

"They need to take him off of the Star Wars reins if they ever make more. SWESB was the best because he didn't write or direct. SWROTJ was bad because he took over the directing after the actual director wasn't doing it properly. or at least in George's eyes he wasn't."

"Its (Red Tails) going to be bad, its by George Lucas."

"Stop destroying the star wars movies you crazy old man!"

"He should hand over star wars to a new director. Someone young and not in the Hollywood system."

"George you suck now... Just accept it"

"Well, at least this means he'll probably stop raping star wars once the 3D releases are done."

"I'm glad he isn't working on 7, 8, 9... otherwise the entire SW saga would be like a sandwich with really crappy bread."

"I'm glad he's retiring. Now maybe someone with actual talent can finish the Star Wars franchise for him."

"You won't be missed Lucas."

"You ruined star wars. Rot in hell GL!"

Not every comment was like that but a lot were.

--MissPadme

 

I've never seen someone actually accuse Lucas of raping thier childhood in these parts, let alone of being an actual serial rapist. I'd love to know where on Earth you got that from.

Anyway here is the thing. Spielberg retracted his changes to ET, everybody was fine. It's a forgotten blip in the film's history. Ridley Scott still releases his changes to Blade Runner, but all versions were made available to purchase, no rage ensued. George Lucas on the other hand has ignored pleas to release the unaltered versions of the OT, as is his right to do. This caused a small number of raging fan boys to grow into something much, much bigger as time passed by. I'm not saying that calling Lucas petty names is right, it's not, but the fact that he dislikes the backlash when it's something that he should have expected after deciding he doesn't want to re-release the "classic" OT just strikes me as odd, especially given his well documented history of him saying that he doesn't care what other people think.

In my opinion this announcement of "reirement" (Which it isn't, it's semi-retirement. Which we knew he was going into since 2005. This is just the official statement.) is just a handy reason to turn around and go "Yeah? Well **** you!"

Not that I care what he has to say anyway.

 

Oh, they're out there.

 

MissPADME: THIS IS MY POSITION ON STAR WARS AS A WHOLE:


- love 4 of the 6 films

- was angry that the SyfoDyas mystery wasn't answered, despite claims from Lucas it would be answered in EP 3, what we got instead was a boring battle in space, and an introduction to the worst character in the PT: GG

- hate TCW, to me Ahsoka Tano doesn't exist

- never called Lucas the man a horrible name

- never said anyone else should direct the movies


so to you, do you place me with the batch that hate Lucas? ie the bashers?

 

Sorry, I'm tired so I must not be getting my points across properly. I was trying to build off the back of this point by pointing out that back in 1997 the number of people with a reasonable dislike of the alterations to the saga was much larger. But when these people were not just being ignored by Lucas, but actively denied what they wanted by him, the inevitable happened. Understandably more people got angry, and the already vocally angry got even louder.

I'm not saying throwing around harsh insults is right. Don't get me wrong there. And Lucas does have the right to withhold any version of his films that he pleases. But the backlash that happened because of this was inevitable, and the fact that he has taken all of what this vocal minority has to say to heart just strikes me as odd.

Also just to quickly point out, the general consensus that I seem to be finding since this announcement (I use the term loosely because, again, we already knew this was coming since 2005) is that people don't have a problem with the prequels because they can ignore them. They tend to be angry at Lucas because he actively denies them the product they want, the unaltered OT.

 

What business do grown people have with personal attacks on a stranger because they didn't get what they want, i.e. a movie without a few minor changes they didn't like? Why would the hate campaign have lasted all of these years and get so vehement? Moreover, why are so many of these people not only determined to take Lucas down, they also want to make sure they destroy any kind of enjoyment other fans might get out of Star Wars? Sorry, I don't like hostage takers.

If Star Wars doesn't make you happy anymore, go find something else to do with your life. An educated, mature, sane human being wouldn't act like a jilted psycho girlfriend over a damn ronto or Han shooting second and make it the center of his life for the next 15 years.

--MissPadme

 

was that at anyone specific?

 

I have never noticed an organized hate campaign, nor have I seen anyone admit to having an agenda to take Lucas down or try to ruin anybody's enjoyment of Star Wars.

Seems like the people who are frustrated just want to express their opinion, even if sometimes they do it in the wrong way and throw around unneeded insults.

If you have specific examples of hate campaigns and personal agenda's to bring down Lucas please tell.