Posted on 03/22/2026 1:23:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
George Lucas could be forgiven if he felt triumphant on March 22, 1976. That was the day cameras started rolling on Star Wars, his epic movie project that had already been underway for two years.
Despite the success of his previous film, the coming-of-age story American Graffiti, the director struggled to secure studio support for his new movie, and he even considered quitting the business before studio Fox decided to back him. “I really wanted to hold on to my own integrity,” he told Rolling Stone later. “So, I was going to try to write a very interesting project. Right after Graffiti, I was getting this fan mail from kids that said the film changed their life, and something inside me said do a children’s film. And everybody said, ‘Do a children’s film? What are you talking about? You’re crazy.’”
We now know that Lucas was the right kind of crazy. Picking up some of the ideas he explored in his 1971 directorial debut THX 1138, he went through several significant rewrites before landing on the Star Wars story we know and love today. So much energy was devoted to making it right that the script was going through changes even in the days running up to the start of shooting – for example, Luke Skywalker’s name was still Starkiller up until a week before the production unit traveled from England to Tunisia to roll cameras.
On arrival at the chosen location, the director and his team discovered the hotel they had block-booked was closed for refurbishment, and the production team behind the TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth had taken all the second-best accommodations. Producer Gary Kurtz later recalled: “That was okay for two weeks. We could survive that. But if it had been two or three months, we would have had a riot on our hands.”
Day one began in the Tunisian desert at 6:30AM, and the schedule included shooting the scene where Luke and his uncle Owen buy the droids C-3P0 and R2-D2 from the Jawas in their giant sandcrawler. The work began with the discovery that Anthony Daniels’ C-3PO costume took two hours to assemble and the actor found it too tight and painful once inside. Additionally, R2-D2’s front leg refused to deploy, and the radio remote controls used to operate it and several other droids worked only intermittently. “Every time the remote-control R2 worked, it turned and ran into a wall,” Lucas recalled. “And when Kenny Baker, [the actor who] was in it, the thing was so heavy, he could barely move it. … He would sort of take a step and a half and be totally exhausted.”
The director had to think quickly again when it emerged that the explosives set in the head module of the R5-D4 droid (whose meltdown prompts Luke to buy R2-D2) were wired too close to its movement-management systems, so it was useless when fired. Another issue arose when the batteries used to power the droids emptied too quickly and were difficult to replace.
With the weather working against them, Lucas called an end to the day after nearly 13 hours. The droid-purchase scene was in the can, along with the moment where Luke and C-3P0 run out into the night searching for the runaway R2-D2. But the scene where Luke watches the twin sunset on Tatooine couldn’t be shot because of the weather. Perhaps Lucas hoped the challenges would prove to be something like teething troubles, but because Tunisia had endured its heaviest storm in 50 years, Star Wars would gradually fall further and further behind schedule. A week before the movie was due in theaters, the director was still rushing trying to finish it.
At least one member of the production remained bright and enthusiastic through it all: Actor Mark Hamill enjoyed his first day on set. In 2017, he tweeted a picture of himself in costume from that first day, noting, “Crew was kind but thought [Star Wars] was ‘rubbish’ – I kept telling them, ‘We’re on a winner!'”
For Lucas, though, the experience of leading a staff of 950 – more than six times the number of people he was used to – was “very frustrating” and “unhappy." The experience convinced him to hire someone else to direct the Star Wars sequels.
He said the original movie – which later became known as A New Hope – was about “25 percent” of what he’d hoped it would be, but that was enough to keep him focused on the story’s future.
“I’m hoping that if the film accomplishes anything, it takes some 10-year-old kid and turns him on so much to outer space and the possibilities of romance and adventure,” he reflected. “Just infusing them into serious exploration of outer space and convincing them that it’s important. Not for any rational reason but a totally irrational and romantic reason.”
I heard that, too. Which is why I root for the Empire now.
George Lucas fairly recently mentioned this to James Cameron in that AMC series about Science Fiction stuff. Before then, he may have alluded to it in one of his director’s commentaries for Return of the Jedi, Empire of Dreams I think (I do know Bill Whittle directly referenced that bit with the Ewoks at least in his Afterburner episode Han Shot First). Apparently he was open enough about his inspiration for at least the Ewoks being Vietcong that Richard Nixon of ALL people specifically commented on it in his book No More Vietnams, which was being published around the time ROTJ was released. I think the earliest time he mentioned it was in 1973 with his initial story treatment, which can be found JW Rinzler’s The Making of Star Wars.
You thought it was bad that they had teddy bears in that film? Wait till you hear what Lucas actually had as an inspiration for them, as it would be even WORSE (Let’s just say they shared the same inspiration as the Rebels, and it was NOT America, but if anything one of America’s then-most recent and more direct enemies). Bad enough that they used childish teddy bears, but even worse that he specifically tried to sell Communism to kids.
“A fantastic creation”
George was an idiot. Star Wars as you saw it as a movie was a disaster. George had no plan to bring it together. It was in disarray.
He first gave the job of editing it to the Brits who edited it into a comedy, but they just couldn’t bring it together as there wasn’t enough material for the comedy plot.
George’s wife, Marcia, understood the issues and benefits of the storyline and she performed with two others the editing of the movie as you know it. George hated her edit, but he was out of money to change it and the movie reviewed well.
The silly garbage Star Wars became was what George wanted all along. Only for Marcia did the first Star Wars movie set the tone for what people love about it.
Marcia was already an award winning movie editor by the time she did Star Wars. George wanted to remove The Force, Obi -Wan, and other components essential to the plot lines she created.
I had no idea!
So I don't trust 2000's Lucas to be honest about what 1970's Lucas thought.
The Vietcong were actually fighting other Vietnamese people, and the U.S. intervened on the side of one group of Vietnamese.
Where the ewoks fighting against other ewoks?
Where the ewoks fighting against other ewoks?
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Ewoks Fighting Against Other Ewoks in Star Wars
In the official Star Wars canon, there is no major storyline where Ewoks are depicted as fighting against their own kind. The Ewoks of Endor are portrayed as a unified society with a social hierarchy, each village led by its own Council of Elders, and a shared cultural identity Nerdist. They have been allies to the Rebel Alliance, using their forest knowledge and primitive weapons to great effect in battles against the Galactic Empire StarWars.com.
However, there are non-canon and speculative scenarios where Ewok–Ewok conflict could arise:
Imperial-Ewok War (Legends): In the Legends continuity, the Ewoks fought the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. While this was an Empire–Ewok conflict, it’s worth noting that in some alternate storylines, such as the Imperial-Ewok War concept, the Ewoks were portrayed as a united front against Imperial forces starwars.fandom.com. There is no canonical example in this version of them turning on each other.
Post-Endor tensions: In a new Marvel Ewoks series preview, the Ewoks are left to fend for themselves after the Rebels leave Endor. The Empire returns with a weapons cache, and the tribes debate how to interact with outsiders. While this is a threat from the Empire, it doesn’t depict Ewoks fighting each other Screen Rant.
Speculative or fan fiction: In some fan stories, Ewoks might be shown in conflict due to tribal rivalries, resource disputes, or ideological differences. These are not part of the official canon.
Unfortunately, in this case, 1970s Lucas actually BACKED UP 2000s Lucas if JW Rinzler’s book and Richard Nixon’s “No More Vietnams” book are of any indication. I’ll even quote the former for you:
Page 16 (bottom picture):
In enlarging the treatment to what became a nearly two-hundred-page rough draft, Lucas was continually aided by the transference of his Apocalypse Now ideas to the fantasy realm. Some of his notes scribbled on yellow legal pads are: “Theme: Aquilae is a small independent country like North Vietnam threatened by a neighbor or provincial rebellion, instigated by gangsters aided by empire. Fight to get rightful planet back. Half of system has been lost to gangsters . . . The empire is like America ten years from now, after gangsters assassinated the Emperor and were elevated to power in a rigged election . . . We are at a turning point: fascism or revolution.”
Page 17 (top picture):
The Empire is like America ten years from now; after Nixonian gangsters assassinated the Emperor and were elevated to power in a rigged election; created civil disorders by instigating race riots. Aiding rebel groups, and allowing the crime rate to rise to the point where a “total control” police state was welcomed by the people. Then the people were exploited with high taxes, utility and transport costs. Gangsters, a cartel made up of power companies, transport companies & crime organizations. Other companies had to pay bribes to stay in business. They increased the crime rate by slowing down the system of justice and punishment.
Side bar: Lucas’s notes, scribbled before writing the rough draft, make clear the transference of his thoughts from Apocalypse Now to The Star Wars.
Me too, unfortunately. And it didn’t even start with that bit, though it certainly was the final straw. Aside from Lucas essentially having Obi-Wan promoting moral relativism TWICE (ROTS, and to a lesser extent ROTJ), I also ended up nearly being tricked by Hideo Kojima in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker when he gave glowing praise to Che Guevara, vowed never to let myself get tricked again, and when I learned from Bill Whittle that the Empire was based on Americans, while the Ewoks were Vietcong (and by extension implied the Rebels were Soviets), not to mention got confirmation that the Ewoks and Rebels were cut from the same cloth regarding inspirations... yeah, what was I supposed to do but defect to the Empire? No one manipulates me into rooting for Communists and gets away with it.
As do I. I already nearly got manipulated once before then by Hideo Kojima regarding something similar, definitely have zero intention of letting that happen a second time.
Thanks for the interesting background and I couldn’t agree more about the importance of the John Williams score. I was a little kid when Star Wars came out and my friends and I were totally blown away by it. To say it captivated us would be an understatement. From that point forward all of our play activities had a Star Wars theme to some degree. Everything was light sabers and X wing fighters and getting crushed in the garbage compactor and the whole bit. I will add that anyone who hasn’t seen George Lucas’s THX 1138 should check it out.
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