Lucas fears Sith flop

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | May 4, 2005 | Louisa Hearn

[timtoews5292004]

I am a mature adult. If I were not, I would consider your comment an insult. Instead I will explain why I am expending so much energy in this thread. Read along with me if you don't mind. Here's why I enjoy star wars. I am 26, with a a bachelors degree and masters degree, soon to be pursuing a PHD. I work two fulltime jobs, and I run a video production company in my spare time. I am married, and I attend church regularly. I do not drink, smoke, or view pornography. So, my one vice is following star wars-the films, the books, and anything connected to it. I grew up with star wars. I am a huge fan, always have been, always will be. I even have tickets to the midnight showing of this film at my local cineplex. With all that being said, my fan-dom stops at certain points. For instance, I sold my entire collection of star wars novels (I had all of them, over 50) to raise money to pay for my rental car on my honeymoon. I am defending the film in this thread from those people who choose to judge it sight unseen. I would defend other topics just as vigorously. This just happens to be my topic today.

[frogjerk]

I've already reread it. I did not comment any further...

[MarkL]

Yeah right, great memory dude. He had better have his memory wiped at the end of Sith.

I thought that Anakin owned the droids... At least, he built C3P0.

Mark

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

Better to ask, "What's God's excuse for having created Natalie Portman?"

Well, she is awful purdy...

[theFIRMbss]

>This will be a Star Wars summer

This summer will be
when George Romero puts out
his "Land of the Dead"!

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

When they issue the six-episode DVD, I want them to change the "Buh-Bye" scene to insert Carl Weathers, the 'Gator, and Abe Lincoln with Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda. That "Jedi" spoof was one of the many highlights of Happy Gilmore.

[xp38]

If you do some research in the development of what we now call episode IV you find Lucas was all over the map trying to get his fantasy space opera to the theatres. Many drafts of the script very slowly developed the story we got. In some of the early ones Luke had a twin brother not sister...his father was the one kidnapped not Leia. Han was something like the creature from the Black Lagoon and so on.

One thing is clear you are dropped into what seems to be the middle of a story and Lucas was assuming the core science fiction/comic book audience would recognize the convention of this being something like an old time serial in the Flash Gordon vein. The opening crawl up is a direct take from those old time movie serials of the 1930s 40s and 50s. The first time you come across episode IV is in the draft script in the Art of Star Wars book which was published in 1978. It says on its title page

STAR WARS

EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE

FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE WHILLS

BY GEORGE LUCAS

REVISED FOURTH DRAFT JANUARY 15 1976

LUCASFILM LTD.

This was most likely the shooting script or very close to it since it was in 1976 that most of the movie was shot.

Lucas said he didn't think the movie would be huge but hoped for a moderate success. He probably didn't add the episode IV when it first came out since he was expecting it to be a one shot movie deal and thought why confuse things more and went with the simpler Star Wars title by itself. That title page in the Art of Star Wars however suggests he had that title in his mind well before the movie opened in 1977 The Journal of the Whills part who were supposed be I guess the narrators of the whole saga is an idea he never developed further for the movies.

[VRWCmember]

Thanks to BigB for finding sources for the stories I remembered but couldn't locate. From T-Bone's Star Wars Universe, several reviews of the original release of Episode V are referenced. Here are a couple:

review of EMPIRE found in the Washington Post. It's dated May 18, 1980 and is written by Gary Arnold:

Just as "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back" start in the thick of the action, jumping into military operations caused by civil war in a remote, exotic, technologically advanced interplanetary civilization, Lucas recently disclosed that he started in the middle of a grandiose epic narrative. These sensational popular spectacles are intended to be merely the first and second chapters of a trilogy, which will be completed in 1982 or 1983 by a third chapter entitled "Revenge of the Jedi" (changed to "Return of the Jedi"). When "Star Wars" is reissued, probably next summer, the prints will include the subtitle, Episode IV: A New Hope". This adjustment may already be seen in the published screenplay, which came out last winter in an attractive book called "The Art of Star Wars." (emphasis added)

And here is one from Newsweek dated May 19, 1980, a review of TESB by David Ansen:

"Viewers may be in for a surprise when the credits announce 'Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.' Episode 'FIVE?' Have we slipped into a time warp? Actually, what we are getting is the second act of the middle trilogy of a projected nine-film cycle. The first 'Star Wars' will be retitled 'Episode IV: A New Hope,' and the next sequel, projected for 1983, will resolve all the dangling threads of the Luke Skywalker saga." (emphasis added)

And another review in Time magazine's May 19, 1980 issue, mentions the retitling of the original film from just STAR WARS to STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE.

"The very first surprise in 'The Empire Strikes Back' comes in the opening credits: the movie is identified as 'Episode V.' Since it is the immediate sequel to the original 'Star Wars,' that opus has been retitled 'Star Wars: Episode IV,' raising a meteor shower of questions. (emphasis added)

I remember reading almost the exact same words in a review of TESB in the Fort Worth Star Telegram in 1980 (I didn't remember what year it was until I saw these dates in the reviews). Now clearly, if SW had been released as Episode IV in its original theatrical release, the Episode V would have come as no surprise. I would suggest that the memories you have of being curious or confused about the Episode IV is really a projection of your reaction to the Episode V title of TESB back on the original movie.

[timtoews5292004]

yeah, yeah, rub salt in my wound. :-)

[chilepepper]

Lucas missed out bigtime by not including sex scenes between Natalie Portman and Yoda...

[VRWCmember]

What surprises me is that you did not remember this given your almost fanatical devotion to the movies and books and all things SW as described in one of your other posts.

I tried to follow some of the books that came out; some were more closely collaborated with Lucas than others. I remember one that I read called "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" or something like that. It had a confrontation between Luke and Vader that was rendered utterly obsolete and useless once TESB came out, making further books along its storyline impossible.

[70times7]

Ho Humm. Tells someone who cares enough to click on this article and read it... oh, wait a minute, um... never mind.

[jayef]

Schwartz . . . schwantz . . . what's the difference?

[Liberal Classic]

Now *that's* entertainment.

[jayef]

I'm missing something or you're missing something. Something is being missed.

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

Lucas missed out bigtime by not including sex scenes between Natalie Portman and Yoda...

Thanks ever so much for that disturbing mental image.

[jayef]

You are incorrect.

[lepton]

OK, now that's just plain funny.

Too bad they couldn't get BA in the dress.

[timtoews5292004]

Yep. That is what it was called. it also included a makeout scene between luke and leia, a direction which was rendered unusable once ROTJ came out.

Keep in mind that fanatical devotion can only begin at birth. I was born in 79. The first two films were out before I took my first steps. I do occasionally miss things, even about star wars.

[TheBigB]

Natalie can speak however she likes. Or not at all. : )