OK, season seven of TvFILM is now in the books. Stay tuned for news on our next call for
entries and maybe a special edition this fall.
Please excuse me as I take a late summer vacation of sorts, from independent
film, for this blog post only. In just a
few short months “Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens,” will be
released. This much anticipated film
will feature the return of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo. It will be the first Star Wars film to be
released by Disney after they purchased Lucasfilm Ltd. from George Lucas, for a
mere four billion dollars!
When the deal was announced, I was not a fan. For Mr. Lucas to tell us that he was selling
his company to this sort of corporation to somehow protect the legacy of Star
Wars for future generations is ridiculous.
Maybe it was just for the money, but Star Wars and Indiana Jones are
cash cows! George Lucas met with Jim
Henson as he prepared to sell his company and the Muppets to Disney (which by
the way went spectacularly awful). Read
“Jim Henson: The Biography” by Brian Jay Jones for all the gory details. I’m guessing this is where the seed was
planted. It is also well documented that
Lucas’ love for Disney goes back to when he was a child and visited Disneyland
when it first opened. Later, he had
successful collaborations with Disney including the Star Tours ride and
“Captain EO” 3-D film. Maybe it was some
misguided nostalgia and the few billion dollars that sealed the deal?
So, George sold his company and along with it a galaxy far,
far away! He’s getting older and has
said he wants to retire, makes sense right?
And the new Star Wars film, directed by J.J. Abrams, looks really good
and more like the Star Wars we all love.
As I write this there are even grumblings of a new Indiana Jones film in
the works. Everybody’s happy, right?
Well, hold it right there. I think that George actually lost
Star Wars, kinda like that part in “Goodfellas,” when they have no choice but
to burn the mob-run restaurant down because they ran up the credit they didn’t
pay. I know it was his choice to sell
his company but I think he had backed himself into a corner by alienating the
very fans that helped create his film empire and things ended, not exactly how
he planned.
Nowadays he’s not that popular, especially among fanboys
(and girls), but to look back on his career, one must concede his genius both
on the silver screen and off with genre defining films like “American
Graffiti,” “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Raiders of the Lost
Ark.” Behind the camera he was a special effects pioneer with his company
Industrial Light and Magic. I could go
on and on but just look it up and all you haters out there- stop rolling your
eyes. You might not like Michael Jordan
but you have to admit he is one of the greatest basketball players, same
situation here. Ok, he did create some
not so nice things like film merchandising.
Nobody’s perfect. The more I look
at his life and career arc, the more I think he’s a Howard Hughes figure for
Generation X. But that’s a whole other
blog post…
At his zenith, Lucas had created the Star Wars universe with
all its films and spin-offs. These
helped to solidify his company and sprawling production facility, Skywalker
Ranch. His other film franchise,
Indiana Jones, was almost as successful and all of Hollywood was now anxious to
use his special effects company. The
skinny kid from Modesto, California had made good. Fast forward to a costly divorce, some film
flops and a twenty-year, self-imposed exodus from directing and we find ourselves
on the doorstep of the Star Wars prequel films and the first cracks in the dam.
The Star Wars prequel trilogy was a successful failure. If you think about it, George accomplished
everything he set out to do. He created
a new Star Wars trilogy that explained the origin of Darth Vader. He used pioneering CGI technology, even going
completely digital with Episode 2! The
films were huge successes at the box office and the merchandise machine was
spitting green. He even created a
successful spin-off cartoon series, “The Clone Wars.” Lucas also re-branded the most popular
trilogy of all time into a six-part series, Episodes 1-6. He made the new films more like the old
school Saturday matinee serials with a target of a much younger
demographic. And if you ask this demo
(basically anyone under thirty) what their favorite Star Wars films is –
dollars to donuts, it’s from the prequel trilogy. In fact, after hearing that my nine year old
son’s best friend watched all six Star Wars films in chronological order for
the first time (come on, parents!) I asked what his favorite film is. His answer was “The Phantom Menace.” I can’t even get my son to watch “The Empire
Strikes Back.”
However, to everyone who grew up watching the original
trilogy these new films were mostly not popular. At first, I could not admit that my life long
favorite filmmaker had created these films –it took years. This is not about what did not work with the
prequels; I think that is well documented.
Honestly, I’m not going to burn him at the stake for that – pretty much
everything I have ever made with the exception of TvFILM has been utter….well,
you get the point.
A few years before the prequels Lucas began to tinker with
the original films. This started with
the re-release of the original trilogy in movie theaters with some added
footage mainly consisting of CGI enhancements.
These films were billed as “Special Editions,” and Lucas claimed he was
just giving audiences something new for their price of admission. I have to admit at first it was fun. I remember spending all day at the Madison
Theater in Albany for their “Evening with the Empire” event. They played all three “Special Edition” films
back-to-back with all you can eat popcorn and soda. To say this was an amazing day of cinema
would be an understatement. Anyway,
after the initial release of these “Special Editions” on home video (I got’em
on laserdisc), George dropped the “Special Edition” and now these became the
only original trilogy films available.
Then he proceeded to make more changes.
Most of the changes were small and puzzling but hey, he’s the
creator. Even though the fans were
clamoring for the original films he refused to release them without the changes
on DVD or Blu-Ray. There was a DVD
release of the films separately and one of the extras was the original films on
a second DVD with no restoration. So,
they looked as bad as a VHS copy but on DVD.
This really angered the fans, me included. Right around this time is when you started to
see “Han Shot First” t-shirts. So for
the one person who is still reading this, the combination of the prequels,
changes to the original trilogy and his insistence of not releasing the
original films with no changes, caused the fans to turn their back on him! I’m really dreading the Episode 7 press
drooling about how Star Wars is back.
I’m looking forward to Episode 7 but I’m not sure you can have Star Wars
without George Lucas. I feel he wanted
to part ways with that universe that existed a long time ago in a galaxy far,
far away with a little more reverence.
I’m not asking you to feel sorry for him; after all he is a
billionaire! And, Mr. Lucas has a
tremendous opportunity now! Who says
there are no second acts in life, Fitzgerald?
Well, George could have a second act if he wanted it! I’m positive the more Star Wars films Disney
makes the worse they’ll get. Disney is
going to pimp the Star Wars brand out until the wheels come off and then
they’ll just re-boot it. This will make
his decision of getting out from under the Star Wars franchise a smart move. He’s now free to do what he’s been saying he
was going to do and that is to make a new original film. He says he wants to make “small art films.” That sounds good to me. I’m not talking about an “executive producer”
credit or “story by” credit! I’m talking
about a new, original film directed by Mr. George Walton Lucas! You never know and until then I can’t wait to
check out Episode 7!
