ST Should a George Lucas story always be preferred?

Here it is, the new poll.

When it comes to Star Wars, is a George Lucas story to be preferred a priori? In other words, is a story by Lucas inherently, intrinsically superior because of his status as the creator of the universe? Is he the only person with access to the true story of Star Wars? Or is it more important that the story simply be good?

Edit: Ignore the grammatical error in the poll. Duh.

 

I was under the impression over the years that people didn't really think lucas was all that great. At least with everything that's come out over the years.
With that said, I'm glad he happily sold star wars
Cause other wise, I don't care how much you love the movies, jacking a creation from someone just because you legally can isn't ever right.

 

can't really know since we don't know if Lucas's story was good or not, seems that JJ wanted to tell his own story which KK allowed him to do.

 

I am very happy with where they are going with TFA... I think George Lucas is one of (if not THE) best ideas guy ever. That being said I hated the story line from the PT - but he still came up with some cracker ideas!

I'm 50/50 on this.

 

I love the six films GL gave us, and I'm overjoyed that there are others that have decided to continue this great Saga that GL created. And I'll always hold him in high esteem for that gift. But in my opinion Star Wars is bigger than any one person, and it will continue to survive and thrive as long as those in charge put out quality stories. And I'll be there all the way to my grave.

 

George Lucas effectively answered this himself by allowing stories by others to be told in his universe from the very start (even allowing for the vagueness about what was canon)

You could argue that, say, a divergence from source material in a Lord Of The Rings adaptation, or the creation of stories such as Shadow Of Mordor, are invalid as JRR Tolken never sanctioned others to play in his universe as such, but Lucas always has done; he knew he'd created a playground as well as a story.

 

Are we talking in general or in regards to episodic films only? Not saying the difference matters to me, necessarily, but wondering about groundrules for this debate. Either way...here's where the fun begins.

 

I'd say most artists have a limited store of creativity. Rare is the artistic genius who can produce an endless stream of creative masterworks over an extended period of time. Lucas had his most creative period between 1971-1980. After that his business was able to continue to push the technology of visual effects into new territory for another 20 years.

Other young artists may be able to use the GFFA to tell interesting stories. I'm sorry that upcoming Star Wars movies are still so closely tied to the original stories. That is a serious limitation on the creativity of new artists coming to the franchise.

 

Well, this is the TFA forum, so I guess episodic films are the specific focus.

 

My way of thinking about this has changed over the years.
At first, my thought was that if it's not Lucas's story, it's basically just fan-fiction, and while it could be good fan-fiction, perhaps even better than the "real" story, it's still just fan-fiction, and that somehow makes it less interesting.
But now, I just want a good, compelling story. If some of Lucas' ideas are incorporated and they work well, that would be fantastic. If not, that's okay too.
Still, I do kind of hope we eventually learn what Lucas' story was. I'd also like to hear Lucas' honest thoughts about the films we're getting, though I suspect he may choose not to say too much.

 

I'm not even sure what you are asking.

Is a story intrinsically superior?

No, because you have to make the movie. A movie is not just a story.

A dozen other film-makers could have done a follow-up to ANH. Do I think that any of them would likely have made a movie as great as Lucas did? No.

If he gave them the story then they used that for a movie would they make it as great as he did?

Very likely not.

Would anyone have ever been able to make ANY of the 5 sequels he did after ANH as great and brilliant as he did?

I doubt it.

Could they have made good movies?

Very possibly.

The specific story that he wanted to tell is the intrinsically superior story because no one else was going to tell that story. Obviously his version of Star Wars is the "most true" because it's his galaxy. Everyone else is simply playing in his sandbox.

 

George Lucas's name does not have to be in the writer credits. His name is all over the first six movies. A person who wants to know who created Star Wars would not watch TFA for that answer. Ralph McQuarrie should continue getting credit for designs John Williams should forever get musical credit. George Lucas's influence will always be on the movies and other Star Wars connected projects.

 

IMO, Lucas' opinions on the Star Wars universe changed from "Holy Authority" to "original creative force, but not the end-all, be-all" when he:
1) monkeyed around with the OT by making the SEs (and later changes) and
2) changed his mind on various general story points, especially nudging the narrative from a bigger saga to "Star Wars = Anakin's 6-part story arc."

In some ways, I might even argue that we are getting a Star Wars that is closer to GL's original vision by departing from his most recent opinions.

And of course, from a legal standpoint, by selling the company, it's all up to Disney, now, anyway...

 

I think this is a largely loaded poll, so it's difficult to give a straight forward answer... as it's not so black and white. Of course I want the best Star Wars film regardless of who wrote it, but I also think the best combination would have been: 'Story by Lucas. Screenplay by X, Y or Z. Directed by Abrams'. I also don't believe the binning of Lucas' treatment automatically means it was demonstrably inferior... I think it was more probably to do with differing views on which direction sequels should take. If there were differences, I think it would have been good to allow Lucas to develop those ideas... if Lucas was unwilling to develop those ideas, then I can understand why Disney/Lucasfilm would want to try something else.

 

I think "fan fiction" is a very misleading term. Is a Lawrence Kasdan script idea that George Lucas approved "fan fiction"? Why not? Because George accepted it at the time?
But by that definition, by accepting that other people could make further episodes, and without being absolutely clear that his stories and scripts were the only saga episodes that could be made, he essentially approved stories pre-emptively. He decided that others could tell THE, not A, Star Wars story.
So calling future Star Wars "fanfiction" is like calling post-Abrams Lost "fan fiction", or a soap opera episode written by a newly hired writer under a new show runner as fan fiction.

For fan fiction to be a useful term, it has to be used accurately; it has to be amateur fiction, or written for fun, and not official.
What people are doing by calling TFA fan fiction, is either deliberately or accidentally tarring it with the negative connotations of fan fiction.

 

Wait, isn't that what very nearly happened with ESB? He wrote the early drafts out of necessity.

 

Qui-Riv-Brid, I mean this seriously, but have you tried reading back over your posts and remembering that you're talking to a person? If you kept your posts non-combative and sometimes a bit shorter so they're easier to respond to conversationally, it'd be a lot easier for people to engage with you. What you say is often interesting and well researched, but very exhausting to engage with.

 

Ivy take on it is this - latter day George hasn't exactly shown the Midas touch anyway and having willingly sold the rights, if TPTB felt his ideas were not the best way forwards, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. While the film may disappoint, on everything I've seen and heard to date, I'm happy with the direction things appear to be going, and I'll be very surprised if none of George's ideas filtered through anyway. Regardless, all that matters is whether or not the film itself is "good".

 

In before close. This thread just screams PT v OT bait.

 

Darth PJ, the poll is set up as a dichotomy because that's how the debate has been framed in the other thread: i.e., should Lucas' story be used no matter what?

 

Couldn't agree more (and there's no shame in that for George - most people can only dream of scaling the early heights he reached).

 

I used to say jumping to conclusions was the only exercise some of us get around here. I think we have a new sport.

 

22 to 0! DERP!

 

That is the way it has to be.