The Star Wars appreciation thread- Lucas Era...

Off Topic!!!
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Lets ignore the ‘questionable’ disney era for the moment, and focus on the father of star wars… the Lucas Era.

What did you like, what did you hate?

For me, I think the Original trilogy was damn near perfect. AND ROTJ would have had a better reputation if they had gone with Kashyyk like they planned. Maybe the ewoks could have been child sized wookies. cute and adorable while the adults where ferocious…

About the only thing that has not aged well about the prequel trilogy is the acting. The ONLY ones who put in a decent performance where Jake Lloyd, Anthony Daniels and Ian McDirmid. Along with Frank Oz. Most of them knew what they where doing already, and the other was so young it didn’t matter. Poor kid got a bad rap in life and he was ten times better than hayden christiensan.

Everyone else, from Natilie Portman all the way down to Samuel L Jackson acted, if not weird, kind of distracted. When you do the same plot lines in the animated clone wars, with decent directors, the result improves DRAMATICALY and even Jar Jar is enjoyable.

Most of the stuff I truly hated is in the EU books. but in the LA, Animated stuff…The Zombie arc of the clone wars was stupid. the rest of the episode was fine though. just get rid of the animating worms. Why bring darth maul back, if he never actually accomplishes anything? seemed kind of pointless. I kind of got used to NICE Anakin, and almost hated when he turned evil. unlike the movies, where I Was practically begging for it.

As for the EU…The Kevin J Anderson reign of terror. Felt like endorsed fan fiction most of the time. That being said, after revisting them 20 years later, they somehow don’t feel as bad now. Although I still think Kyp Durron should not have been redeemed after blowing up a galaxy.

The Post Yuzahn Vong era. 30 years of almost no character deaths…then EVERYONE started dying. Anakin Solo shouldn’t have been killed off. he should have been emotional support for jaina and a role model to ben. The fact that lucasfilm was so surprised by the reaction shows they dind’t even read their own books when done. Killing off Mara, while not my favorite action, I was OK with since it prodded Jaina into action. and was plot wise neccesary. I also don’t hate the Vong as much as everyone else. an Enemy other than sith and jedi was needed at that point.

What I DIDN’T like was Abeloth. she wasn’t needed at all, and ruined the Ones storyline. They where the Balance (father), light (Sister) and Dark(Brother). not a family. there was no need for a mother. otherwise, the father would have been pointless. you only need one or the other to keep a balance. And for someone so terrifying, a god diety, she seemed awfuly easy and quick to kill. and never felt like a true threat. even when causing volcanoes to erupt. Eliminate her, and f ate of the jedi would have been a fine conclusion to the saga. Vestara was an amazing character and a whole planet ful or two of sith would be problem enough.

so, what are your thoughts?

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Lucas was at his best when he had script doctors working with him.

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I have a bad feeling about this.

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After The Mandalorian introduced prequel-era stuff that I appreciated (thanks to Filoni, I guess), I thought I’d give the prequels another chance when they were on TBS or wherever recently. I still found it all cringeworthy. Oh well, not meant for me, I guess.

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i personally love the og trilogy and the prequel trilogy. the main reason is they are being told by the master storyteller George Lucas. ewoks were a tad annoying but they were there for the kid viewers, gungans were a tad annoying but they were there for the kid viewers. but those characters never took me out of the story being told. When i first saw A New Hope as a kid, i remember hating chewbacca just cause when they were all trapped in the trash compactor i expected chewie to fight that underwater eyeball lol in stead he screamed pounding on the door to get out. hahahah. i read very few of the books so i cant speak to much about that. but i’ve seen the entire clone wars series and the storytelling in that is amazing thanks to Lucas and Felloni.

i never felt Haydens acting was bad. He was simply playing the character.

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I agree. what was that yes man that appeared in the 90’s for no reason at all, and vanished as fast as the prequels ended? He also worked on young indiana jones. I blame him for enabling lucas’s alteration of the OT.

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what “yes man”? Lucas improved the OT with the special editions. fx were improved. scenes added that were always meant to be there. but sadly the tech wasnt available in the 70’s ear;y 80’s. if lucas was still in charge of his saga he may have still been able to improve both OT and PT. it kills me we will never see what a true Sequel Trilogy would have looked like under Georges watchful eye

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RICK MCKULLUM! (sp) THAT was who I was trying to think about. He had the vibe about him that he licked George’s boots each morning :).

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Yeah. Attack of the Clones is probably my least favorite of that trilogy.

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SOME stuff I don’t mind. The additions to A New Hope, For example. Tatooine drive through being expanded was needed. Fixing the Ronto’s was needed. Stuff in ESB was fine too. IT’s the ROTJ stuff I don’t like. Replacing Yub Nub, even though the new song was fine…Replacing Sny’s song. an even BIGGER door to Jabba’s palace? ‘NNOO…NOOOO!’ I would rather they have added in some dialouge from ROTS to show anakin is rethinking his life. would have been far more powerful.

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Yeah. I’m really not a fan of Jedi Rocks. I actually like the new celebration song at the end. It still fits the setting.

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I thought the re-inserted Jabba scene in A New Hope looked terrible with the CG Jabba. Suddenly he’s not a lazy slob but can move around and have bold expressions? I know that was necessary for the scene, but it just doesn’t work. He should have left it cut. You can see the original in the From Star Wars to Jedi documentary and it could have stayed there.

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There’s also some weird movements with him when he’s interacting directly with Han.

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The NPR radio drama of A New Hope (which is actually really good!) actually did that - they had a conversation between Han and “Heater”, one of Jabba’s underlings that was basically what they filmed with Han and Human Jabba.

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My stance on Star Wars is pretty simple: it’s pulpy fun, and I try not to take it too seriously. Even the “worst” Star Wars still has soaring soundtracks, lightsaber duels, and some awesome creature designs.

And…yeah, let’s be honest, there is a lot of it that’s not great, especially in the old EU’s novels. I think Disney wiping that and pulling bits and pieces (like Thrawn) back in was the smartest thing they’ve done.

Oh, by the way: I saw all three of the OT movies in a theater in the months prior to Rise of Skywalker, and the Ewoks got the single biggest positive reaction from the audience. Not just from kids, either. :wink:

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There’s something amusing about George Lucas giving the villains blatantly sinister names (even smaller ones like Elan) even when they’re supposed to be stealth villains in the story.

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Elan Sleazebaggano is a perfect character and I will not hear otherwise.

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The radio dramas are fun (although Vader’s voice is not great). I actually know someone who had a small role in the Jedi drama.

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That’s…actually not a bad idea. I’d have been ok with that. They even could have made it bobba fett himself if they wanted a ‘known’ character.

but at that time, lucas wanted to push the limits of digital technology, so probably would not have been able to talk him out of it

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want some death sticks?

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