SW SE & THE HOBBIT

"And I've seen a lot more SW "fans" be of the opinion that Lucas could've died in 1980, or even in 1978, and this would not have been a bad thing at all. I've seen nonstop vicious trashing of him since I joined online fandom in 2001, and I know it's been going on far longer. Some people are so filled with hate for him that they actually invent stuff to trash him for, and some even attack his children, calling his daughters "ugly pigs" and so forth. "

And I've seen "gushers" trash "bashers" quite bit as well, having whole sites just to attack those that dare offer complaints about the SW films. I have seen SW-fans throw out very unflattering things about the LOTR-fans, the books, the films, the author and some LOTR-fans have done similar things.
I have not read much of the attacks against Stephen King but they would be quite severe if the author himself comments about them in his book.
But all this is irrelevant, as it would just try to find out which set of fans are "worse" or which moviemaker or author gets attacked the most.
"Well King just got 115 personal insults but Lucas got 234 so he is in the lead" and so on.
Bottomline is that both went back and altered their old work and both got complaints from their fanbase.
So the notion that many author/moviemakers go back and alter their old work but only Lucas gets critisism for it is not accurate.

"Why would Lucas alter old version of his scripts to reflect how the scenes were shot?

The ESB scripts were altered to accommodate "I know." "

But quite a lot of the ANH script was not changed, ex. in the novel Vader drinks something at the DS meeting, it is Tarkin who says "This station is now the ultimate power.." and Vader scolds Tarkin with "do not be to proud..". So there does not seem to be an attempt to make the ANH novel or scripts fit to the movie after it had been released.

"and he almost certainly read the script.

Would he? Not even the actors read the entire script. "

A producer is quite different from an actor, the actor only needs to deal with his or her scenes, a producer deals with the entire film.

"The novels are based on the script. They do not take the script word for word. Otherwise, it'd be...well, a script instead of a novel. And anyway, the novel doesn't say Han shot first either. "

A script is not just dialogue it is also stage direction, what the scene looks like, what happens, who goes where, how far etc. So if Greedo had to clearly shoot first then that would have been noted in the script.
From the novel it seems to me like only Han fired as there is no mention of Han dodging a blast or shooting in self defense. In the Jabba scene, if Han only shot in self defense why did he not say that when Jabba asked why he fried Greedo? Also the ANH comic, which also is based on the script, have Han shooting Greedo while Greedo is still talking and there is no indication that Greedo even got of a shot.

"Suddenly the slimy alien disappears in a blinding flash of light. Han pulls his smoking gun from beneath the table as the other patron look on in bemused amazement."

If Greedo had fired first and Han only shot in response to that then there would have been two flashes and not just one.

Regards
Nordom

 

And in the movie itself, it's cut in such a way that you don't see who fires first. Han says, "Yes, I'll bet you have" and there's a very abrupt cut, a flash of light, the sound of blaster-fire, and Greedo slumps over.

Correct. The original cut of the film left the sequence of events ambiguous. Lucas simply added clarification with later edits. It's nothing to get worked up over.

 

And I've seen "gushers" trash "bashers" quite bit as well, having whole sites just to attack those that dare offer complaints about the SW films.

What is wrong with that?

RB