The Force Awakens George Lucas Appreciation Thread

[flickchick85]

Seasons 2 and 3 were my faves, because Darla and her whole...thing...was my fave. But I adored S5, too, and it still has one of my favorite endings ever for a TV show. As for S4, well I have a lot of thoughts on that, but I've just realized this is a George Lucas appreciation thread and we have gotten wildly off-topic, lol.

 

[Gianakin_]

Is the pilot for Buffy a remake of the movie, or a sequel to it?

And praise George (there).

 

[flickchick85]

Is the pilot for Buffy a remake of the movie, or a sequel to it?

A reboot/pseudo-sequel. It has a couple vague references to events of the movie but no characters or direct connections. If you ever plan on watching it, be warned, the 1st season is ROUGH. Like, hard to get through and super dated, rough. It started as a mid-season replacement and Joss's only ambition at that time was to take the whole "high school is hell" metaphor and run with that, not expecting to get more than that half-order season. His grand ambitions for the show didn't start to show themselves 'til midway through S2, when he realized this thing might last a while. I truly only watched beyond S1 because I was forced to, lol. But by the end of S3 I thought it was genius.

And praise George (there).

Woo George!

 

[Gianakin_]

A reboot/pseudo-sequel. It has a couple vague references to events of the movie but no characters or direct connections. If you ever plan on watching it, be warned, the 1st season is ROUGH. Like, hard to get through and super dated, rough. It started as a mid-season replacement and Joss's only ambition at that time was to take the whole "high school is hell" metaphor and run with that, not expecting to get more than that half-order season. His grand ambitions for the show didn't start to show themselves 'til midway through S2, when he realized this thing might last a while. I truly only watched beyond S1 because I was forced to, lol. But by the end of S3 I thought it was genius.

As someone who sat through Season 1 of The Wire till it revealed its greatness, I think I'll make it.

Woo George!

MEAN IT!

 

[flickchick85]

As someone who sat through Season 1 of The Wire till it revealed its greatness, I think I'll make it.

As someone else who watched The Wire, I can assure you S1 of Buffy is rougher, lol. But if it helps, David Simon himself is a Buffy fan. Said on one of his blog entries that it was more deserving of any "best show in years" title/tournament than his own show.

MEAN IT!

I DO!! GEORGE IS SUNSHINE!!

 

[StarLord]

 

[Gianakin_]

As someone else who watched The Wire, I can assure you S1 of Buffy is rougher, lol. But if it helps, David Simon himself is a Buffy fan. Said on one of his blog entries that it was more deserving of any "best show in years" title/tournament than his own show.

Fine, I'll give it a shot sooner than later.

I DO!! GEORGE IS SUNSHINE!!

Indeed. George is more essential than life and StarLord.

 

[flickchick85]

Fine, I'll give it a shot sooner than later.

Indeed. George is more essential than life and StarLord.

 

[Gianakin_]

I sense a trap.

 

[flickchick85]

I sense a trap.

Nothing suspicious to see here!

 

[StarLord]

Indeed. George is more essential than life and StarLord.

 

[Gianakin_]

You're overwhelmed?

 

[flickchick85]

I think that's sadness. It's hard to tell with Hayden.

 

[StarLord]

Haha. I actually tried to find the gif of him crying but I couldn't.

I should've just posted a pic of a block of wood.

 

[Gianakin_]

Nothing suspicious to see here!

 

[Gianakin_]

I should've just posted a pic of a block of wood.

What the hell does Kit Harrington have anything to do with this thread?

 

[Scarlet Spider]

Long live George Lucas!

 

[Guts]

Actually, Frank Herbert and Akira Kurosawa are our creators.

Arrakis > Tatooine

 

[BatLobster]

Call me crazy, and I know it was shot 1440 X 1080, but I actually don't think AotC looks that bad. If I could go back in time to 2002 and see it projected on a big screen, I'm sure I'd notice the lack of resolution more. But on my TV, it looks fine and I even think it looks more cinematic film-like than plenty of digitally shot films I see today. The use of anamorphic lenses helps with that (first SW movie to use them since the original two). I'm not talking about the blending of digital and real elements, just the actual picture quality.

And this is coming from someone that's a flim >>>>> digital Nazi.

 

[Napoleon]

I've always felt that George Lucas gets too much credit for creating Star Wars. He certainly can be thanked for the initial spark that inspired the idea and all the hell he had to go through filming the original. But Star Wars was and is successful because of the people surrounding him, those who vetoed his bad ideas and kept him on track; they deserve just as much credit, if not more. I can guarantee you that if he had the kind of control back then that he does now, Star Wars would have ended up a box office bomb and one of those movies the MST3K guys would rip into.

 

[BatLobster]

It could've been a cult classic too. Let's not forget, in the 70s Lucas was not a bad director by any means. THX and American Graffiti showed promise. Star Wars definitely would not have become a phenomenon without the great contributions of John Williams, Ralph McQuarrie, Marcia Lucas, etc. though. But film is a collaborative medium. Directors tend to get too much credit in general, but at the same time you need someone's vision guiding you through the storm. So it's kind of a catch-22. They get all the glory and all the blame.

Where Lucas really deserves credit IMO is revolutionizing special effects and risking everything by financing the sequels out of his own pocket which furthered the growth of his company, which furthered the growth of the industry. He was an entrepreneur as much as he was a filmmaker.

 

[Napoleon]

It's true that without Lucas the Hollywood film scene would be a totally different animal. The man is an excellent businessman who knows how to market a product and make money off it.

But at the same time, he's a businessman first and filmmaker second, and that mentality is part of what I believe damaged the quality of the prequels in the sense that he seemed to be more focused on the marketability of his product rather than telling a good story.

George Lucas is the ultimate Hollywood cautionary tale, and I'd recommend to any aspiring young filmmaker to learn his story so that they don't go down the same path as he did.

 

[BatLobster]

I actually don't agree with that. I think there are far worse paths you can go down, where you can get eaten alive by the Hollywood system and have to make soulless crap that you hate as a hired gun just for a paycheck. Lucas, even if you say his work became soulless- he was making the stuff he wanted to make and telling the stories he wanted to tell.

In an effort NOT go down that path created he created his own little empire. His whole career is modeled on him NOT wanting to be a part of the Hollywood system. You have to admire that to a degree, at least the spirit of that. Independent filmmaking on the largest scale. That had its own set of drawbacks, but at least everything he did was on his own terms. If anything Lucas is just the classic story of what happens when a starving artist becomes mega-rich and successful overnight and it messes with their perspective on things.

People should learn his story because it's a part of film history, but the chances of anyone going down that same path are slim to none because that's a one in a million story.

 

[AnneFan]

Long live George Lucas!

And the unaltered trilogy. How I wish this was released on Blu-ray.

 

[Doctor Jones]

You can tell Lucas didn't want to be married to this thing for his whole career. I mean everybody, even him, could have never expected SW to become the thing it was. People back then were at best hoping for it to make its budget back. Lucas just wanted to become an editor and make little experimental pieces. Then SW happened and of course he would have to step into the position of being who he was because he created the world and wanting control, took hold of it. The man made billions, but I don't think it was ever something he really wanted. What do you do with something where you have a career goal and it takes a totally different turn to become something you never expected? Lucas was in a very unique situation that very few people can relate to. You can make billions, but that doesn't mean you're completely happy and devoid of problems. It's about fulfillment first and those two many times don't coalesce.