PT Should Lucas Have Done More to Ensure TPM Didn't Disappoint Some Fans?

This is why I believe it is a mistake to structure one's story, movie or television series in order to please the fans. It's strange how the media made a big deal over how people didn't like Snyder's DC films. Yet, the backlash over 2017's "Justice League" proved that Snyder's films actually had a large fan base. I've noticed it is the same with both the Prequel and Sequel Trilogies. The media had pushed the idea that no one really liked those films - especially the Prequel movies. Yet, both trilogies have a large number of fans that are always ignored by the media.

 

Bottom Line: No. Here's why....

If Lucas started second guessing himself, and makes changes based on what he thinks "fans want" , this still wouldn't guarantee that fans won't be disappointed. As you can clearly glean from looking around these very forums, fans will complain about almost any and everything.

Therefore, Lucas (artists) should follow his/their muse and should consider his/their audience, only in a general sense, while doing so.

 

Lucas made the movie that Lucas wanted to make. Good on the man for following his vision. I will however always think ill of the man for going back and making substantial changes to the OT long after finishing them. (Yes, he finished them. He released them and made money off of them. They were finished.)

Now, would it have maybe been in his best interest to listen to the creative minds around him more? Maybe.

 

I could see wanting to "clean up" effects here and there. I'm all for that. Yet, without a doubt Lucas used the OT as a testing ground for the new technology he was about to utilize in the PT.

An easy solution:

Revise the OT to his heart's content. Special Edition the hell out of them every 5 years or so. Call these the official canon versions.

Yet, also....Clean up, preserve, honor, and release the originals from '77, '80, 'and '83 as well.

I'd easily pay twice as much for both versions.

 

I was ten years old in 1995 when the "one last time" vhs tapes were released. That was the first time I had ever seen the OT. I know by the time AOTC had been released Lucas had already dropped the "special edition" moniker from those versions and essentially gotten rid of the original theatrical versions. That was when I lost respect for Lucas. He had essentially performed BAIT AND SWITCH on me.

I now have the despecialized editions of the OT, but those were put together in spite of Lucas, not because of him. The more I learn about Lucas, the more petty and passive aggressive I find him to be.

 

Hello there.

Having grown up with the prequels and whose dad was essentially a Star Wars nerd, I'll give my two cents.

Are the prequels perfect? No. TPM though to me is awesome. I loved it as a kid. Saw it twice in theaters. I remember it fondly. (AOTC to me is the one I'll skip if I must say)

But I think a lot of people put huge expectations on it and were confused why it all started there with Vader as a kid. Plus Jar Jar people hated. (I might one of the few who actually loved him. We loved that he was funny.)

I mean Star Wars was the biggest movie series in the world. Even with Titanic being out a couple years prior to TPM being out. I mean would you rather watch Star Wars or that? I'll take Star Wars anyway. (Except the sequels...)

But the biggest issue from what I can tell with Lucas is that he didn't surround himself with the right people making it. The OT he did mostly. But he had dudes who wouldn't say "this isn't a good idea" so that hurt what things could of been better planned out. It's only through years of media that we see a story of what was being told despite the messiness.

 

Pictured: Finished CGI from a finished movie

Interesting idea. I wonder if Lucas ever thought of this.

 

What is the point of you posting this? Did the director of MUMMY RETURNS change this movie and then try to keep the public from seeing the original? What is the correlation I'm supposed to be drawing from this? You do realize that you don't need to respond to every post I make, right?

 

Uh I have no idea who you are.

e: Oh okay. Not sure what to say to this, though.

 

You don't need to say anything. We can leave this conversation where it's at.

 

He should’ve done more to ensure fans would be even more annoyed.

 

George did the right thing in making the movie he wanted to make and trying to second-guess what the audience wants is never a good thing. However, from a script-writing point of view, I was disappointed by TPM because I believed George could do better. It's like when you see your favourite sports team lose to an inferior side. He didn't seem to be match fit and made some silly mistakes. I feel the script needed another pass or two and perhaps given the once-over by someone who actually likes writing (because George admittedly hates that part). I was concerned about the next two movies. However, he came back and knocked them out of the park thankfully.

 

There was nothing Lucas could do to calm expectations of fans in 1999, as Star Wars was a phenomenon nobody could explain. It's no different than if Eddie Murphy decided to come out of retirement and do his first stand up since 1987. There would be so many fans with these crazy expectations that they would see the same 25 year old Eddie not realizing he is almost 60 years old now and would be doing something different. The only thing Lucas has on his side is time, context and ironically the Sequel Trilogy. Time gives people perspective. Context gives a person a different scope so they look at the PT as part of the OT story now. The Sequel Trilogy gives people a new appreciation of what Star Wars is without Lucas. That's why the Prequels are gaining after all these years.

 

Lucas didn't surround himself with the right people? I don't understand this argument. There were a good number of mistakes in the OT, just as there were mistakes in the PT. The OT had its own share of "messiness", so neither trilogy was perfect to me. I just don't see why Lucas had to surround himself with "the right people" for the PT.

 

This is a myth that, while widespread, is not based on any facts.

 

He did exactly the right thing in making a story that he wanted to tell. You can't fault that.

The fact that I think he came up with something too far removed from the feel of the OT, with weak dialogue, some weak acting, too much slapstick, poor character development, some contradictory story elements and a story I struggled to get in to is entirely subjective and is on me not Lucas.

 

That doesn't really counter the point that was being made though. You feeling one way or the other has next to no impact on the "public opinion", outside of you being one of the many voices of said opinion. The prequels were very divisive, and by most forms of gauging public opinion - as open to interpretation as those methods may be - they don't really come out ahead of the ST or the other Disney movies.

Going from that, it seems pretty likely that people wouldn't suddenly have been fully on board again with things Lucas would have done, making the statement that a ST done by Lucas would have been as "hated" a very likely option.

Hatred of things generally does get overblown, making a minority - even if somewhat sizeable - appearing much larger than it actually is. But one cannot deny that both the PT and the ST have its fair share of detractors. Judging by all available forms to measure this, it seems the prequels get hit a bit worse than the ST. However, this gets countered a bit due a a bunch of reasons, namely:
a) the internet is way bigger now than it was back then, and any backlash will feel bigger to those who are very active on the internet these days
b) the ST is recent memory, the PT has been over for 15+ years. People are always more likely to remember the recent past, and forget about things that are further back
c) the PT ended on a high note, with ROTS being generally considered to be the best of them, while the ST went the other way, ending on a divisive note

This can give an impression that doesn't necerssarily match the actual data.

 

Cant argue with any of this. The key takeaway for me is how you correctly pointed out that the prequels ended with a very strong effort & got better as they went along. The sequels, IMO went the other way. Despite Last Jedi being my favorite ST film, ROS killed the trilogy for me in a way and hence ended on a total bummer of a movie.

 

But if you have issues with the acting and the writing then how is that not on Lucas? He was the writer and director so if you felt that these elements were lacking then that is very much on Lucas.

Lucas told the story he wanted to tell, he should do that and mostly he did so good on him for that.
People can find flaws with that story or how it was told. Just because you tell your story does not make you immune from criticism.

I also think the idea that Lucas does not listen to critics, the audience or his co-workers and peers not all that likely. Lucas does listen, he still does what he thinks is best but I do think he listens.
Lucas is not a fool, he butted heads with Kershner on ESB and tried to make his own cut. That didn't work and he calmed down and saw that Kershners cut was better. If someone has a valid point, Lucas would not refuse it just because.

I think that reaction to TPM did have an impact on Lucas. And he did some things differently with AotC. And I think he did some things differently with RotS.
Suppose that Lucas had done ep I, II and III all in one go. Would they have been the same as what we got?
I doubt it.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

I feel like Lucas could have done more to make sure the marketing of the film made it clear that TPM was for a young age group and not for the older fans of the OT. A lot of adults went into the theater expecting something aimed at them and realized that TPM was meant for a much younger crowd, arguably even younger than any of the OT films were aimed at.

I do feel like that falls on Lucas for not clarifying and thus led to theater goers feeling tricked into going and seeing a kids movie.

Lucas himself says he's not much for writing or directing actors and I feel like a lot of fans of his grade those aspects of filmmaking on "the Lucas curve".

Yeah, being an auteur doesn't mean you're free from criticisms.

 

The answer to the first post is an unequivocal YES.

 

What?

TPM was for all fans, regardless of age, whether you liked the movie or not. ANH seemed more like a story for kids than TPM. Certain fans keep claiming how Lucas had "raped their childhood" anyway.

 

As someone who was 13 when TPM came out, I felt like ANH was aimed at people my age and TPM was aimed at kids much younger than myself.