Saga Unpopular Star Wars opinions!

Anakin knows that Palpatine resisted arrest in the final film. The other Jedi aren't there. He cannot feel their presences in the Force and he's seen evidence of a Lightsaber fight. Anakin made his choice in both versions when he sees Palpatine and Mace deadlocked in their fight, before Mace goes for the kill.

The novelization for TPM has Obi-wan realize that what Anakin told him about his participation in the space battle was such that it started to change his mind about Anakin. That maybe Qui-gon was right about him and in turn, by telling the Council and having proof that it was a Sith Lord that was involved, the Council decided to induct Anakin, with Yoda apparently being the only dissenting voice.

 

Anakin and Padmè?
No chemistry my ass.

 

the snow battle in ESB is boring

there I said it

 

It kind of is. I also don't care much for the Han/Leia story, even though ESB is one of my favorites if has dull moments.

I'd rather if focus on Luke's story more and was longer.

 

Ah, another

Nute Gunray is the second most evil character in the saga

He seems to have no qualms with the presumed genocide of the Gungan race nor any moral issue with enslaving and killing the Naboo en masse. All for money and power

 

Yeah, exactly, what else to call that?

 

Trying too hard.

 

I never saw Hayden and Natalie's interactions as trying too hard--with the exception of Natalie in TPM. I felt her attempts to 'bond' for young Anakin were...artifice. I don't blame the script for that, I blame her facial expressions during those scenes in the Nubian ship & in Tatooine. I could not buy her 'connection' then. But I was overall satisfied with her acting in AOTC and ROTS.

 

Glad some are. I simply don't buy any PT or OT 'romance' it's all false.

 

Well although I am mostly fine with both romances, I think one problem in the execution is that there are too many 'jumps'. First time I watched ESB I was really surprised to see Leia suddenly fall for Han. I don't feel like I really saw her transitioning from seeing him as an insufferable friend to a love interest. With Padmé and Anakin, I'd have like some sort of established friendship like regular penpals or 'skype' comlinks friends from TPM to AOTC to explain why they meant that much to each other after so many years.

 

There's no feasibility or actual romance in either to me. Instead both showcase what *not* to look for in a relationship.

 

The Anakin/Padme romance is done perfectly in my opinion, however the Han/Leia seems a little.... sudden. It's certainly not helped by the fact that Luke was not her brother when the love triangle was written

To me, chemistry is the study of composition of matter lol, so I don't see how the term can be applied, though I'll try my best (I'm awful at colloquialisms)

The chemistry between Anakin and Padme is developed in a rather esoteric manner as opposed to the romantic tension between Han and Leia. Anakin DOES come across as sort of obsessive when he first sees her after a decade; but who can blame him? He thought of her every day since they first met and being in her presence again was "intoxicating." It's enough to drive any person crazy.

Now, as for Han and Leia.... it seems mostly everything that led up to their romantic development was offscreen between ANH and TESB. I'm not an EU expert, so I've got no idea what happened in that time period.

Don't get me wrong, I adore both romances stories, especially Anakin and Padme. I'm a sucker for love stories in general though

 

Concerning what not to look for in a relationship...If someone IRL tried to press us forcefully against the wall to kiss us the way Han did to Leia without no real consent (happened to me twice unfortunately), or confessed their mass murder weeks(or was it days?) after courting us the way Anakin did Padmé, well, I think most of us would just GTFO. But, speaking for myself, because we see both couples infatuated and in an abuse-free relationship afterwards(well prior to Anakin's fall), it's easier to overlook.

As far as love stories are concerned...Romance usually bores me to death. I like to have it as little as possible in movies or books. Some of it to be realistic, but not a lot. So the 'one romance per trilogy' pattern worked for me. I am hoping this continues in the ST. The two main leads(Ridley and Boyega) can have a romance that does not take much screen time or something but me wants nada else.

 

Romance usually bores me to death as well, but the first romance I was introduced to was the first romance from the television aspect of Star Wars; so I'm strangely OK with that one.

 

It amuses me that most people adore romance stories yet detest the Star Wars ones whereas I loathe most romances yet adore the Star Wars ones

**Ends hipster bows**

 

Romance -- it's a difficult subject.

I happen to like both sets of romances in the existing Star Wars trilogies (but the Anakin/Padme romance is, to me, much more profound than the Han/Leia hook-up).

Though, in a way, the "ultimate" sort of romance is between Anakin and Obi-Wan, or Anakin and Palpatine; which are both, of course, PT romances.

And, of course, Star Wars is a pretty "romantic" creation, operating more according to the premises of fantasy than reality.



This other topic that sprung up........

HevyDevy, darth-sinister, and Empress Shatterpoint, that was a great discussion you guys had!

Just zoning in on a few things.........

Excellent post. I have to agree -- now that you went and laid it out so clearly -- that it seems George did shift the balance a little from the political to the personal.

I suspect he might have thought initially, when he set to work on ROTS, that it would have an emotional second-half, naturally arising from everything set into motion -- the alternatively dry and intense material delivered -- in the first-half. He was confident it would bloom out correctly; and he's not one for making excessively "emotional" movies. But then, based on a rough cut screening, and perhaps some personal misgivings that led up to it, he saw that some people were lost and thought it wiser to emphasize the emotional aspects of the first-half; so that what was happening in the second-half didn't seem to come out of nowhere or leave people high and dry as to why Anakin was so desperately chasing power and prepared to do some pretty dark stuff.

Ultimately, you could look upon the finished version as a bit of a compromise, between painting a tense situation between Anakin, the Jedi, and Palpatine, with seeds of distrust also falling between Anakin and Padme and Anakin and Obi-Wan, and then the more rawly tragic, personal fears and frustrations that Anakin is slowly falling prey to. The more purely "political" material ends up more as subtext or pushed to the fringes; so that the main story of how a promising young Jedi (and saviour-hero figure) gets in over his head and gives into his baser desires takes the spotlight. It's a good trade, in my opinion; though I certainly wouldn't have minded a little more time spent on portraying how weary and suspicious everyone is of each other. That could have made the dark centre of ROTS even darker. If George gave himself twenty minutes more....

I've pulled this bit out because it's very interesting and highlights something I'd missed all this time. Catty intuition, yes. Manipulating Anakin, yes. But "pretentious knight"? I hadn't perceived it that way till now. I mean, how else can Palpatine's ploy work, really? But still: I like your phrasing. Slightly new way to look at it.

That scene is also one that I enjoy a great deal. I really like Hayden's acting there. The eyes. In fact, maybe, being so distracted with that poignant mix of hopefulness followed by that "I told myself so" look he conveys when Anakin is inevitably shot down (by Mace, of course), I had failed to consider the "pretentious knight" aspect. I saw Anakin being set up, I saw the Jedi saying, "No, screw the Chancellor", and I saw Anakin's upset ..... but now I figure that Anakin is also made to look like a bit of a haughty buffoon in the eyes of the Jedi; further distancing them from each other. It puts a new spin on Mace telling Anakin to remain in the Council chambers after Anakin insists he must join them, I think. Oh, so slimy is that Chancellor Palpatine!



Going to close on this...........

You could be correct, sinister -- but there's no real way to know.

And that, I think, is part of the masterfulness of Lucas' alteration.

In the finished version, Mace snaps Anakin's hand away at a critical moment; and not for the first time (but it'll be the last).

This change, to me, makes the film, and the entire prequel storyline, much more profound.

Destinies are cumulative things. It's all about those roads not taken.

 

Good point, but since we never saw the original cut it is hard to argue either way. If my speculation is correct I think the original would have been darker, with Anakin "turning" before Mace arrived, but not telling the other Jedi if I understand correctly, quite like the "double-agent" we heard about with discussions of the older versions of the story. His killing of Mace would then be more to prove to Palpatine that he was loyal to the Sith, rather than a desperate last-second decision to save Palpatine's life.

Interesting, thanks for clearing that up.

Lol

Yeah, I remember that now that you mention it. I've only read the ROTS novelisation, but Mace's shatterpoint ability was definitely a high-point. If I recall, in the turn scene it says he was so focused on Palpatine's shatterpoint that he didn't sense Anakin's.

Heh. I wonder what Lucas would say if you asked him about the significance of the link between these two shots...



which then progresses to a role-reversal for Vader in ROTJ...

Thanx. I love little links like this. The extent of the PT good guys' clouded perception is perhaps understated in the films, but it is quite significant. I like the parallel to Palpatine being equally blind to Anakin/Vader's conflict in ROTJ. He gets cocky and really doesn't see Vader's betrayal coming.

I think it would have helped the movie if they had included the idea that the Jedi suspect the Sith Lord is in Palpatine's circle. The way it is in the final cut, there a hints that they are suspicious of Palpatine, but it makes them seem kind of dumb that they don't suspect him of actually being a Sith until the end. Explaining they thought he was being influenced by the Sith, and the idea that they send Yoda to Kashyyyk to tempt the Sith into making a move and coming out of hiding, would have been great to have demonstrated in the final film.

True. I think Yoda is possibly much more direct when Luke faces a similar conflict in ESB - "If you leave now, help them you could... but you will destroy all for which the have fought and suffered." He doesn't simply tell Luke to let go, rather admits that it could help to go, but will likely have clear ramifications.

True, I've posted similar on that event in the past. That it makes Anakin look pretentious in the Jedi's eyes is something I hadn't considered though. It is funny that Palpatine appears to be the only one on Anakin's side when he doesn't even really want him to go. The clever writing behind the plotting between Palpatine and the Jedi in the film can be quite overlooked , IMO

I like both relationships as well, but I feel AOTC's could have been better written personally.
I focus on Anakin/Padme's relationship when I want to be depressed, really. Watching their arc, particularly the whole three movie's worth (despite some problems in ep2), makes them very tragic. Han and Leia is much wittier, and what I would like to relate to, but I can't honestly say I do that much, experience wise.

Thanks. Well put. I too wish it was longer, there is so much going on in the PT, ROTS particularly needed more time to do the fall justice.

 

Dexter Jettster deserves a spinoff movie.

More than Han Solo, which would just be more of the same. Dex is an amazingly realized character.

 

Or at least his own cooking show.

 

Right. Anakin is told that he was created by Palpatine which serves as the finally catalyst for his joining him. The Jedi Posse enter as shown in that picture and Mace tells Anakin to stand aside and Palpatine says that it is too late. Then he uses Anakin's saber to attack the Jedi. Lucas then filled in the blanks in the commentary.

Okay, well this sequence always started out with Mace, uh overpowering Palpatine and then Palpatine using his powers to try to destroy Mace and Mace deflecting his rays with his Lightsaber. It always was that Anakin cut the Lightsaber out of his hand. But this part where he pretends to lose his power and be weak was something that I added later cause this is...it moved the point where Anakin turns down to this moment right here and you can see that he’s now that its very clear that he’s, he wants him to go on trial so he can pump him for information about how to get these powers."

--George Lucas, ROTS DVD Commentary.

"It made a lot more sense to have him stay loyal to the Jedi which meant later on in this scene with the fight with Mace, we re-did that scene and at first there wasn’t the part where the emperor gives up, he goes - “You got me! You got me!”. It was basically the scene without that where it gets more intense and Anakin finally breaks down and saves him, but it didn’t have the same feeling as that pause in there where you think…and it makes the Emperor a lot more slimy, it's really fun. it’s a dramatic thing to deal with."

--George Lucas, ROTS DVD Commentary.

So in other words, Palpatine doesn't falter and the lightning connection is severed. Then Anakin steps in, but doesn't question what he has done once Mace is dead.

 

Okay, then, a few more things.......

The double-agent thing is quite neat; and I think it is slightly implied in the quotations sinister himself has just presented.

On the other hand, Anakin was still meant to wrestle a little with his loyalties in the original conception of the turn; his struggle was simply less pronounced.

He didn't completely switch sides before Mace arrived in the office, but joining the Sith was, nevertheless, more of a "done" thing in the original draft.

From page 52 of "The Making Of Revenge Of The Sith":

Sunday, April 13, 2003

LUCAS: "This is the point where Anakin has to make a decision. His rationalization is: 'Everybody is after power. Even the Jedi are after power.' Therefore, he thinks, 'They're all equally corrupt now. So which side am I going to be on? Do I align myself with Palpatine, who is a Sith Lord who can possibly help me save Padme? Or do I side with the Jedi and maybe lose Padme?'"

After principal photography (the above comes about ten weeks before any shooting on ROTS had taken place), it was altered so that Anakin's crisis would be more apparent to the viewer; he would struggle more with trying to stay loyal.

But he was still vaguely committed to the Jedi path -- or so it seems to me -- in the original version. If anything, he was probably meant to be in more of a limbo state when Mace and the posse arrive in the Chancellor's office; vainly waiting to see which side came out the better for him.

From a certain point-of-view, then, he was still trying to hang on to goodness in the original, just as much as in the altered version. The problem was -- or Lucas must have decided -- that it was a bit dramatically inert; so he beefed up Anakin's conflict such that the tragic nature of his commitment to evil would draw people in and give more personal scope to his later actions (in ROTS and the OT).

That and, you know, I think Lucas was in love with the idea that "Revenge Of The Sith" is a dramatic title, and ultimately meant to be something of a red herring. As he also states in the "Making Of" book, Anakin doesn't really take revenge; his chief flaw is simply that he is greedy. The revenge and the spoils go to Palpatine, not Anakin. When you think about it, everyone Anakin kills in the movie is a dupe of Palpatine's of some sort; including himself.

That's kinda how I see it, anyway.

In Star Wars, it's almost all about the visuals. Yes!

I will say, though, in slight support of E. Shatterpoint's argument, that the Jedi do seem a little more decisive to me in ROTS. It's just that all their decisions tend to be bad ones.

They are -- as you pointed out in another thread (concerning Anakin) -- trying to "spring the trap"; and the trap dutifully springs on them. They're a little too slow to realize how extensively they've been played.

The other thing is, you can't really trust anything anyone says -- not fully.

Lucas himself calls the dialogue a "sound effect, a rhythm, a vocal chorus in the overall soundtrack". This is quite pithy when you consider he's calling every sound anyone ever makes to justify themselves a "sound effect".

Mace's motives are opaque. He can say something to Anakin, and he may even believe it himself, but that doesn't mean those are the exact reasons he's cutting him out of the picture.

On re-watches of ROTS, I notice a few interesting details which I didn't consciously pick up on before, in Sam Jackson's performance. One is the slightly disgusted, uncomfortable face he pulls the moment Anakin walks off, after Mace tells Anakin to deliver the news of Obi-Wan engaging Grievous straight to the Chancellor. Mace seems very agitated and unnerved around Anakin; but his monastic countenance generally masks it. The mask arguably slips a little there; just for a moment.

Then there is the way that Mace sort of stoops and creeps backwards (where do we see such body language elsewhere in the movie?) as he's climbing into the transport and telling Anakin to "wait in the Council chambers until we return". He seems scared to turn his back on Anakin until he's put a small distance between them. Fear seems to be animating them all.

Which lends irony to Mace telling Anakin that there is "much fear" that clouds his judgement. Yoda, of course, tells Anakin the same thing, when he's just a child, at the end of his testing scene in TPM. But what of the fear in the Jedi Order? Moments before Mace issues that judgement, he flatly admits, upon hearing from Anakin that Palpatine is the Sith Lord they've been looking for (LOL -- have they really been looking?), that "our greatest fears have been realized." The Jedi have practically become walking corpses -- completely blind to their own natures.

BTW, I kind of put that scene down in 2005/2006, but I've grown to rather like it; especially the way it looks. I like the grim, murky hue of the hangar (the only time we see it -- great digital effects work), the flaring lights, and especially that creepy mist (smoke/steam) that looms in the background as Anakin and Mace stroll forward. And the digital effect of a strobing light that briefly washes out Mace as he listens to Anakin insist on joining them is, I think, meant to kinesthetically suggest that Mace isn't really listening to Anakin, but is in some way blinded by the fears and suspicions in his own head; blinded by ego.

Anyway, as for the more technical matter of whether there needed to be more detail concerning the difference between the Jedi suspecting Palpatine being "a Sith Lord" or just some kind of stooge, with a Sith having penetrated his inner circle, is one the film does include, albeit in a very economic manner. We have Yoda telling Anakin that "dangerous and disturbing" is Palpatine's sudden appointment of Anakin to the Council as his representative, Obi-Wan warning Anakin that "something is out of place" with the way Palpatine has "managed to stay in office long after his term has expired", the Jedi not wanting to do the Chancellor's bidding when Anakin suggests he lead the campaign to capture Grievous, and that moment sometimes flagged up as cheesy when Mace balks at Anakin's revelation, "A Sith Lord???" -- quite clearly meant to imply the Jedi didn't want to countenance that darker possibility ("then our worst fears have been realized"). They were obviously hoping for a better outcome; even if they knew, per Mace's earlier words, "the Dark Side of the Force surrounds the Chancellor." The pieces are there, IMO (and perhaps a little better for being a bit thinned out).

The Yoda-being-sent-to-Kashyyyk thing, though. Yeah, that one isn't so obvious in the film. Although, given that Obi-Wan tells Anakin that his assignment to spy on Palpatine "isn't to be on record", it is probably best to assume that the Jedi are mainly speaking in code at that point -- especially when you take note of the fact that some of the communications have started occurring via hologram in this time-frame (which seem vulnerable to interception), and Anakin has just been put on the Council but the Jedi aren't ready to include him in all their plans. Also, with the film increasingly told from Anakin's POV, it might work better that we're not really given this particular insight; since Anakin's focus, right after this decision is made, is all on him, and how he feels he's been snubbed. He seems to have little sensitivity for sneaky strategizing against the Sith; and that not every decision being made is necessarily about him.

One way of looking at it, anyway.

I agree with you there. Completely.

The writing is quite ornate -- simplistic dialogue hiding a serpentine plot.

It came to me just last night, actually, that there is a weird visual juxtaposition that sort of outlines this. When Grievous is sending the Separatists away, telling them where they're to station themselves, and Nute Gunray objects, doubting Grievous' ability to keep them safe, and mentioning how Chancellor Palpatine managed to evade his grip, the film intercuts this brief exchange with Obi-Wan riding up on Boga. Boga, notably, is a super-sized, lizard-like creature, and both this and Boga's gait -- with this crafty intertwining -- sort of suggest the sneaky, lizard-like nature of Palpatine and the political plotline generally, IMO. We are not necessarily wise to take any of the dialogue at face value. And again, Lucas' "sound effect" comment.

I will also add this >>>

http://starwarsverses.tumblr.com/post/29257530225

LOL. Well, like I said, romance is a difficult subject.

Thank you, HD.

It's kind of flabbergasting that LOTR can be four hours each, and even "The Hobbit" is turned into a trilogy, and there are how many "Harry Potter" movies? -- yet Lucas is incredibly concise!

A trilogy that could easily have spanned twelve (or even twenty-four) hours is sanded down to six. Pretty amazing; and I think it bears up pretty well. But how much could a little extra have added here and there?

It has to be about the briefest epic chronicle in existence. I suppose, if some movies are more drawn-out and literal about things, Star Wars is ultimately a poem, or a sonnet. It requires a slightly different approach.

 

As I've understood it for the last decade is that Lucas showed the rough cut to his friends and they were the ones who helped him to figure out where to go and how to proceed with Act II. So he may have been leaning one way, but having someone else's point of view helped him to make up his mind.

 

sinister -- et al. -- taking some time here to clear something up.......

Maybe.

But its not particularly clear -- reading Rinzler's "Making Of" book -- that that's what happened, in my opinion.

I've been going back over it with pen and paper at the ready; and the notion that Lucas was compelled to shake things up because of confusion or disapproval, or any panic on his own part, might simply be a myth.

There seem to be some tantalizing gaps in the overall account, but this is what I've parsed out:


Feb 5 2004, p. 169
- The rough cut is "about 85% done".


Feb 24 2004, p. 176
- Pickups have been pushed back to August, because the rough cut is taking longer than expected (this is an exact quote).


Mar 9 2004, p. 176
- The rough cut, now being referred to as "more of a rough assembly", is done.
- Lucas is going through "two to three works of reorganizing". A lot of material is being cut, getting the film into a more manageable length and shape. More focus is also being given to Anakin at this stage, making his story stronger and excising other plot strands.


Mar 16 2004, p. 179
- "We cut another ten minutes of the opening sequence", says Lucas. The aim is to condense it from forty minutes to twenty, "if we can".
- Lucas roughly edits in newly-devised, yet-to-be-shot scenes of Anakin reporting Palpatine to Mace, Anakin contemplating his decision in the Jedi Council chambers, and Anakin racing back to Palpatine's office in an airspeeder.


Apr 1 2004, p. 180
- Lucas anticipates a "first rough cut by May".
- He also "half jokingly" says that "everything is taking too long", and adds, "from this point on, it's a permanent 911".


Apr 27 2004, p. 180
- Lucas, McCallum, Burtt, and Barton watch the second version of the rough assembly.


May 28 2004, p. 185
- Rob Coleman announces that the "first rough cut" was finished as of May 18th. Note that that is precisely one year and one day before the worldwide release of the completed movie.


Jun 19 2004, p. 188
- "Earlier this week", Lucas shows the first rough cut to Steven Spielberg and Jeff Nathanson, screenwriter for "The Terminal". This is after Lucas having shown it to "a select group from ILM".
- Lucas states, "Fortunately, Steven confirmed that most of everything was working," after reporting (again, Lucas) that "some people (at ILM) were having a hard time with the reason that Anakin goes bad".
- Lucas also states, "I had to make a decision, and I decided that I'm not going to alter the film to make it more commercial or marketable." This after stating that he had to "look at (the rough cut) very hard" and put himself in the audience's shoes, based on the reaction of his ILM staff, some of whom "had strong opinions that were contrary to the way I was going".


Aug 27 2004, p. 205
- The end of the Mace-Palpatine confrontation is being re-shot. Lucas states that "we're working to make (Anakin's) story, his conflict sharper".
- Lucas also says that he has "two hard right turns in the movie", and that they are "very hard to deal with", clarifying that "for the audience, it's a real jerk".


Aug 28 2004, p. 207
- Anakin stewing in the Council chambers and fretting over Padme's fate is being shot. Lucas concedes that "showing how much Anakin and Padme care for each other is one of my weak points, adding that "if I had a whole movie, I could probably manage it".
- Lucas reiterates here that he's also dealing with "a very difficult structural issue", and that "when I created it, I knew I wanted two hard right turns", flatly asserting that "it's designed to be that way".



------------------------------------------



What I take from all of that, noting the dates of those various developments, is that Lucas might well have come up with the whole "Anakin runs back and tells Mace" alteration, and all those story aftershocks, relatively independently of any external feedback or advice.

He could have been showing bits 'n' pieces to friends and confidantes before mid-March 2004 -- when it was that he is reported as devising that important set of changes -- but it's quite clear that a proper rough cut screening didn't take place until June (or possibly May). There was no rough cut before then.

Some of the wording in the book is quite ambiguous, and there are gaps, however. For instance, a rough cut is meant to be "roughly 85% done" on Feb 5th 2004, but by March 9th 2004, one month later, the rough cut has been re-branded a "rough assembly", implying that perhaps Lucas felt it was too primitive to be considered a "rough cut", per se, and that he was giving himself a bit more time to prepare the latter. This is corroborated by the Feb 24th extract, where Rinzler states that "the rough cut is taking longer than expected"; as well as the April 1st extract, where Lucas looks forward to having a rough cut by May.

On April 27th 2004, Lucas' main crew (executive producer Rick McCallum and editors Ben Burtt and Roger Barton; along with Lucas himself) view a "second version" of the "rough assembly" -- but there is no prior mention of when this second version was created; nor any further word about the fate of the first version. Owed to the gaps, and the fact that the first "rough assembly" was complete by March 9th 2004, it might be reasonable to assume that some people were at least shown this first version around that time (despite it not being reported in the book); which might also explain Lucas' sudden burst of creativity in coming up with that whole new twist involving Anakin reporting Palpatine to the Jedi and undergoing a more pronounced crisis of loyalty/identity on (or no later than) March 16th 2004.

But there is only so much to go on. I provided those last two entries -- August 27th and 28th 2004 -- to exemplify what Lucas says in the preceding, critical entry of June 19th 2004, after the rough cut was shown to people at ILM and then to Spielberg and his screenwriter. He's very defiant in those passages, insisting that he designed ROTS to have "two hard right turns" all along; backing up the idea that he took a "very hard" look at what was there in the rough cut, and at what he was trying to say, but that he ultimately decided to leave it alone and stick to his guns. It seems, in Lucas' eyes, he conceived any significant alteration as a move away from his vision and a move toward commerciality. This artistic intransigence echoes his determination in TPM that Anakin start as a nine-year-old boy; which he considered non-commercial and against what a focus group would probably have done.

That isn't to say that Lucas might not have been swayed on some points; or at least been subconsciously influenced by the first reaction (the ILM staff). After all, subsequent to screening the rough cut in June 2004, Lucas had a couple of months to think about the pushed-back pickups taking place in August, would write dialogue on the same day that scenes were being shot in some cases, was open to actors altering it, and continued to mold the film in editing. Maybe the reaction of some of his ILM crew did play on his mind and spurred him on to make Anakin's final commitment to Sidious as dramatic as possible. Maybe he felt painted into a corner so did the maximum he felt he could to get out of it; to soften the problem. But I find the timing interesting. It seems -- to me -- that Lucas recognized the turn wasn't quite working to his satisfaction before the rough cut had been completed: a full two months earlier, in March. He didn't require the jolting awareness that the myth of rough cut screenings, among trusted friends, supposedly prompting him to have a dramatic rethink, suggests.

It could just be that Lucas purposefully left himself with room to improve the first year's worth of material quite drastically (depending on your POV). He stresses several times in the book, and in other making-of material, that he's not one to pour tremendous faith into a screenplay. He sees it as an outline, a guide map, which can be changed; and even should be deviated from. With digital filmmaking, Lucas has stated outright that it frees the filmmaker up to paint as they see fit, and is as revolutionary as the addition of sound or colour. I'm addressing this here because myths surrounding these movies annoy me. They frequently serve to degrade the input and the acumen of Lucas, creating a simplistic view of the man and his philosophies. Lucas is certainly not obtuse. He is open to suggestion. And I like the way you often present things in that manner. But he's also very firm on what he wants; and I think it may be that firmness which has been slightly devalued and underestimated here.

But I can't speak to any of this with absolute certainty.

 

I figured there could be more, but as I've noted, I've only gone by what I had read here.

 

Dark Empire was terrible.