back to article George Lucas: 'No more Star Wars'

George Lucas has announced his retirement from the movie business. The director blurted the news to the New York Times in an extensive interview centred on Lucasfilm's upcoming flick, Red Tails. "I’m retiring," Lucas told the paper. "I’m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff." While …

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  1. Richard Wharram

    What a tosser.

    If you don't like people criticising you for fucking up your old franchises then either don't do it or ignore them by sticking great wads of cash in your ears.

    Personally I'd rather watch the RedLetterMedia reviews of the Star Wars prequels and Indy 4 than the movies themselves. At least Lucas gave us all something to moan about.

    1. Thomas 4
      Unhappy

      *sigh*

      I'll be eternally grateful to the man that made A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I won't miss the man he became, corrupted by his own self-importance and blind arrogance.

      1. Ru

        "the man that made A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi"

        TESB was directed by Irvin Kershner, and ROTJ by Richard Marquand. I found both to be superior works to ANH, Lucas' major contribution. I seem to recall that Lucas was not a fant of TESB at all, which in my opinion was by far the best film of the series. But there you go.

      2. steward
        Pirate

        Except for Jar Jar...

        1, 2, and 3 were excellent, in the finest tradition of science fiction: disguised, entertaining political commentary. I'm just sorry he never made 7-9.

        1. Darryl

          7 of 9 was hot, wasn't she?

          Oh, you mean Episodes 7 - 9. Sorry, wrong franchise.

          Other than Jar Jar, the only other problem was with the cheesy reasons for Anakin to become Vader... He just looks like a pouty teenager whining because they won't make him a Jedi Master yet. That and Hayden Christensen's atrocious acting. I especially like his "I'm mad" face, where he tilts his head down and scowls under his eyebrows at people.

      3. DZ-Jay

        Re: *sigh*

        I'll be eternally grateful to the man that made Star Wars. I loved that movie, and I still watch it every now and then. What is this "A New Hope" you speak off? Is that one of those episode-somethings?

      4. Jim in Hayward
        FAIL

        Could not have written it better. Original 3 were superb. Then greed set it and stupid CGI tricks ensued. I know some folks that bought the first 3 every time they were re-released.

        Good riddance Lucas!

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      RedLetterMedia citation

      A guy called William Shakesman once said:

      'Brevity is the Soul of Wit.'

      It means stop wasting my time. You keep it nice and simple.

      [Shows Lucas inspecting a large set of Star Wars figurines of Goonghas etc.]

      I said STOP IT!

    3. tmTM

      Lucas whines like a bitch

      For someone so wealthy he seems to get his knickers in a twist when some nobody criticises his work. of course you'll have criticism, it's the movie business and you're catering to the die hard geeks who are the worst for having a gripe.

      If he can't be content with having mountains of cash then he can FRO.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      RedLetterMedia

      Undoubtedly the funniest and most entertaining films reviews anywhere.

    5. Lord Midas
      Flame

      Han shot first goddamnit!!!

      Really, I didn't mind his changes (though Han walking on CG Jabba out the Falcon, and Hayden replacing Sebastian Shaw at the end of TROTJ, were pretty wank). But having Greedo shoot first in the Cantina was a travesty.

      Han shot first, and that's all there is to it. Han shooting first made him a bad-ass no-shit-taking muthafucka. He blasted that green git, gets up, flips the bartender a coin then just moseys on outta there. Cool motherfucker.

      Greedo shoots first makes him look slow and pussy like. You ALL agree with this.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "kind of like ‘The Color Purple,’ only in airplanes"

    WTF is that supposed to mean?

    He just made this movie and that's how he describes it? Kinda makes you wonder if that was the pitch too.

    1. Anonymous Coward 101

      I've read the plot synopsis about The Color Purple, and I am mystified as to what that film has to do with aeroplanes. Do the pilots rape their daughters and beat their wives, then fly their aeroplanes?

      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        Unhappy

        "I've read the plot synopsis about The Color Purple...."

        Ah, I reckon you've gone an extra mile too far there. I doubt the comparison goes any further than; "It's quite arty and about black people, just like that other arty film about black people.". You're highlighting the sort of picky details that get thrashed out in script conferences.

    2. Tim

      Wait, what?!!

      "Kind of like 'The Color Purple', only in airplanes" and "like a Tyler Perry movie, only without jokes."

      As far as I can see the only two things those two examples have in common are... lots of black actors. Have I missed some deep, film-school-nerd connection or is he really trying to say that he's made a movie for black people without mentioning race?

      His quotation works elsewhere, too: I suppose the Prequels were "Like a Star Wars movie, only without a heart, some spectacle and a sense of fun and adventure."

      His work is a sad example of what happens to great artists when they don't die young.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        TeeCee / Tim

        On further thought/review this might just be one of the most racist quotes I've ever read. Thanks for pointing that out.

        Coming from the genius behind Jar Jar Binks maybe we shouldn't be surprised :P

  3. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Before he retires can he give us our memory of Star Wars instead of his recently contrived vision of it?

    1. Danny 14
      Stop

      wut?

      You dont *have* to watch or buy the new versions. I have the trilogy on VHS and bought the trilogy on DVD when it came out. Thats about it. Nothing forced me to watch episode 1, it was all my own fault.

    2. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: our memory

      You've already got *your* memory and neither you nor Lucas can have *my* memory.

      Furthermore, I suspect that seeing it for the first time, as a child, probably isn't something that can be burned to disc. The closest you can get is to have kids of your own and watch them whilst they watch something modern.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        > watch them whilst they watch something modern.

        You don't have to watch something modern. I watched the Back to the Future trilogy with my kids (6, 10, 12) before Christmas and they absolutely loved it (as did I, again). The 6 year old now has a skateboard and a poncho because of it!

        Similarly ET and the Indiana Jones films have been popular, as have Laurel and Hardy ("This is as funny as /anything/").

        1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

          Re: something modern

          With hindsight, that was either the wrong phrase or not nearly a long enough phrase.

          To audiences of the time, Star Wars was mind-blowing. Not high-brow art, but quite mind-blowing in terms of sensory experience. The special effects were so pervasive that they ceased to attract the attention. There was hardly a scene in the last 15 minutes that wasn't blue-screened several layers deep. (Blue-screen meant something else then.) That was new and even without hindsight the audiences of the day knew they were looking at the first of something new rather than more of the same.

          Kids today can't watch Star Wars and have that experience, because the effects (even after George has finished fiddling) aren't "vastly better than anything else they've ever seen before". (Maybe if you looked them up from birth and only let them watch Star Trek, 2001, Buck Rogers and Forbidden Planet for their first 10 years.)

          *Maybe* there has been some more recent film that has had the same sensory impact, in which case there might be "something modern" you could show to your children to see the same effect. Then again, maybe not. I can't think of one.

          1. Andy Fletcher

            Careful Ken

            I would imagine the MPAA already have people working on memory removal devices for all cinema exits. Don't encourage them.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Giles

      Ignore Danny & Ken, I know what you mean, and I'm sure plenty of others do too.

      What, I suspect, you and I want is the original movies released in *unedited* form. Without all the stupid colour changing/Annaking overlaying bullshit.

      3 DVDs. As close to the original cinema edits as possible. Thanks. This is all.

      1. DZ-Jay

        Re: @Giles

        @AC:

        They exist, but not as the main attraction. The DVD set of the "Special Edition" versions (wtih "all the stupid colour changing/Annaking overlaying bullshit") contains on each disc the original, theatrical release of the movies as a "bonus feature."

        These are gritty, without the benefits of the re-mastering and restoration performed during the 1990s. However, they also are devoid of extraneous embellishments or extra scenes, just as you saw them in the theater, with a mono soundtrack and all.

        -dZ.

        1. Tom 35

          From NTSC Laser Disc masters

          They are from the first remaster but Lucas ordered the film destroyed after they did the SE so the only copy they had was the Laser Disc Masters. Letter box, composite artefacts and all.

          I own the Laser Discs and the DVDs actually look a little better, but if they had kept the film they could have done a proper DVD or even a Blu-Ray.

        2. Thomas 4
          Meh

          @dZ

          Yup - I just bought a set of those DVDs.

          .....wait, did I just funnel even *more* of my money into Lucas' gaping wallet? Goddamn it.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    thank goodness for that

    Stop pissing on my childhood, beardy.

    http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/500986152_5snvJ-L-2.jpg

    ..says it all.

    (I think Bioware are doing a better job than Lucas these days, SWTOR is kinda fun)

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Peter Gordon
    Unhappy

    Too bad

    he made those terrible, terrible prequals before quitting.

    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: those terrible, terrible prequals

      Perhaps someone else could make the three films that the prequels should have been. They'd be so different from Lucas' versions that I doubt copyright would be an issue.

      1. Ru
        Thumb Up

        I can heartily recommend

        The "Lego Starwars" games that covered the prequel trilogy. All of the good parts of the films, minus all of the crap parts (eg, the dialogue). The developers even managed to make Jar-Jar likeable and useful.

        Seriously, as a work of silent cinema (and a bit of button-bashing) they're not at all bad.

    2. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart

      "Lucas also revealed his disappointment of being attacked by Star Wars fans, hitting out at those unhappy... ...three prequels"

      "Too bad he made those terrible, terrible prequals before quitting".

      Hmmmppppp, My memory of it that there was always be 9 films going to, 3 trilogies. This story on wookieepedia see:- http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sequel_trilogy

      1. fandom

        Third trilogie

        After making the last trilogy he said he was not going to do the third one about the children of the skywalkers. Then he let novel writers continue the story, starting with Timothy Zhan 'Heir of the empire'

  6. 404

    I call BS

    I have a Star Wars Trilogy VHS set with interviews with Lucas saying "He'd never release SW on DVD because it was too much work and he wanted to move on".

    Money talks and bullshit walks imo.

    :|

    1. steward
      FAIL

      he didn't think anyone would ever need an HDD with a larger capacity than 10 MB.

      Times change.

      Technology changes.

      Many people don't even HAVE a VCR anymore. Tried shopping for one lately or finding any media for it other than on eBay, the online junk bin of the world?

      1. 404

        Here ya go buddy

        http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=VHS&ic=16_0&Find=Find&search_constraint=0

        Enjoy!

        ;)

  7. Anonymous Coward 101

    Editing

    “I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it’.”

    There are obviously lots of people associated with the making of a movie, more than just the writer and director. It is not just George Lucas's movie. In particular, the editor has a big role in cutting stuff from the film that he feels are not necessary.

    Read this review from Roger Ebert about the film The Brown Bunny, which will show the importance of the editor:

    http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040903/REVIEWS/409020301/1023

    I suggest that if a good editor was allowed to work on the prequels they would not be so poor. The Phantom Menace would still not be a good film, but much of the mince that cluttered the film would be left on the cutting room floor.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Read this review from Roger Ebert about the film The Brown Bunny, which will show the importance of the editor:"

      Errrrrrr..... no

    2. Richard Wharram

      But the plot...

      Would NEVER make sense. Who's doing what and why now? No amount of editing can get past that.

      Or the dull characters.

      Or the 'too much going on' ending.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

      I suppose they could cut Jar Jar though.

      1. Anonymous Coward 101

        @RW

        Correct, the film would never make sense. But a good editor would trim out some of the more incoherent and unnecessary passages. For example, did Liam Nesson have to explain to Anakin what 'metachlorens' were? What about some of the drivel in the senate?

        The youtube vid you linked to was excellent, and has reminded me of the rubbishness of the film.

  8. Magnus_Pym

    Red Tails?

    If he wants to make a film about Black Pilots he have looked at the amazing eal life story of Eugene Ballard. But no he decided to make "kind of like ‘The Color Purple,’ only in airplanes"

    I wonder if it is not really kinda like 'Start Wars' but in airplanes.

  9. jolly
    Unhappy

    Bah!

    I was looking forward to Howard the Duck 2

    1. thefutureboy

      No...

      He said he was going back to art house film making so Howard the Duck 2 must be his first project.

      1. Darryl
        Thumb Down

        Re: Howard the Duck

        As long as it's not a remake on THX 1138. What a horrible movie. I remember seeing the box at the video rental place and seeing "From the maker of Star Wars" and I thought Great!

        What a letdown.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Alderan shot first

    Thank the maker

  11. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Good Luck George...

    His imagination, focus, vision and drive brought innovative classics to the screen and opened the door for the modern age of cinema.

    Director, producer, entrepreneur, man of vision and integrity. Lucasfilm was only one of his many successful companies. Any missteps were few and far between and credit where credit is due, at least he was willing to try different approaches. The successes revolutionized the way films are produced today.

    Lucas is a power house of talent that can take single credit for resurrecting the US film industry in the late 70's. The critics and nay-sayers will always exist, but their niggles pale in comparison to his overall accomplishments.

    Before you criticize the man, walk a mile in his shoes and see how successful you would be. He has earned the right to walk away from the brilliant world he created and very few have the right to castigate him for that decision. Very few indeed.

    Good Luck in all future endeavours Mr. Lucas. Thank you for making this gray world just a little bit better than you found it.

    1. Richard Wharram

      I think...

      ...you credit Mr Lucas with too much of the success from Star Wars, which after all was just his idea to put an Akira Kurasawa film in space. As time has shown, without Gary Kurtz, Lucas makes average to poor films. Shame on you for swallowing Lucas' favourite myth that Star Wars' success was down to his own unique and original vision :)

      1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart

        Kurasawa

        Hmmmppphhh No, the 1980 film "battle beyond the stars" that you are thinking of, that is. Yeesssssss. As the hero the one with john-boy walton.

        1. Richard Wharram

          @Krakenfart

          No, I'm thinking of Star Wars. Star Wars was heavily influenced by The Hidden Fortress as Lucas admits. Battle Beyond The Stars was one of many films loosely based on Kurasawa's Seven Samurai. There's elements of many of Kurasawa's films in Star Wars though. Like most film-makers, Lucas is a fan.

    2. The Jon
      FAIL

      Go on, i'll bite

      >> can take single credit for resurrecting the US film industry in the late 70's

      So: Scorsese, Ford-Coppola, Friedkin, De Palma and Spielberg were doing fuck all then?

      1. NoneSuch Silver badge

        > Scorsese, Ford-Coppola, Friedkin, De Palma and Spielberg were doing fuck all then

        Scorsese had one hit film in the 70's. Taxi Driver - 1976. Box Office was $27.3 Million.

        DePalma had Carrie in '76. Box office was $33.8 million.

        Speilberg had Jaws. $260 million Box office. Close Encounters screened the same year as Star Wars. He was quoted as saying E.T. would have never been financed by the studios if Star Wars had not existed.

        Ford Coppola was a mentor for Lucas. He had a run of five films in the 70's. Godfather 1+2, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now and Patton. Total of all five films was $329 million Box office.

        Freidkin did The French Connection and The Exorcist (Some would argue they were his only hits). Total of 492 million for both films.

        Star Wars alone brought in $775 million.

        Raiders of the Lost Ark (Speilberg directed, Lucas financed and produced) $384 million. So with two films in the late 70's, he brought in over a billion dollars. So if you add up all of the above directors they total less than what George did alone.

        As we are talking about only the 70's I will not include the 5+ billion dollars the other Lucas films brought in since. Of the top ten grossing sci-fi films Lucas is responsible for five and Speilberg one.

        Star Wars / Raiders success kicked off a golden age in Hollywood sci-fi. E.T., Alien, Superman, King Kong, Blade Runner, etc. Star Trek: The Motion Picture got financing directly because of Star Wars success. That continues today with the Matrix, Blade, Underworld, Lord of the Rings / Hobbit, Avatar, Men in Black, Jurrasic Park, Back to the Future, etc. etc. etc.

        Directors who credited George as a positive influence include: Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, Bryan Singer, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Ron Howard, John Singleton, Roland Emmerich and Ridley Scott.

        Industrial Light and Magic (Lucas owned) has done special effects work on most of the above listed films and has changed the way Hollywood makes movies. In no way am I discounting the work of the other directors, but none of the ones you listed changed Hollywood except incrementally.

        Well said Asgard. People who down thumbed you are Jar-Jar groupies.

        1. The Jon

          At the risk of getting into a pissing match...

          @NoneSuch: Let's check your evidence.

          - CE3K took $303m box office (you forgot to add that in)

          - Raiders of the lost ark was released in 1981 (and "we are talking about only the 70's" )

          So I make the running total for the 5 other influential directors $1142.1m + $303m = $1445.1m. Almost double what Lucas did alone,

          Granted, Lucas had the highest grossing film of those mentioned, and granted, ILM changed the game in movie special effects, however the figures you used to back up your argument were presented wrongly.

          Don't get me wrong, I like Star Wars. I just don't agree that George Lucas single handedly resurrected the US movie industry in 1977. He has helped elevate sci-fi from B movie material, and that, to a lot of people around here, really seems to matter.

    3. Ru
      Meh

      You're building a bit of a big pedestal there, chief

      Lucas put together a capable team which went on to do some pretty good work. They kept him in check, exercising a decent amount of scripting and editorial control and everything was great.

      When he returned with a vast amount of cash and a colossal ego to match, suddenly he's free of all that awful editorial restraint he was subjected to in the past. The result? An abject lesson in why a) editors are useful things and b) why unrestrained egos are bad things.

    4. Asgard

      Critics love to criticize because it gives them a false sense of superiority over others, which they delight in feeling, yet they prove their words are illogical vitriolic arguments about having to watch films they don't want to watch, when really if you don't like it, then forget it and don't watch anything like it again!, instead of trying so hard, time and time again to put down what others enjoy.

      George Lucas has been hugely influential in the film industry and his success has greatly helped transform production methodology across the entire industry which in turn has allowed others to build on that to create spectacular amazing films that many people do enjoy (which is proven time and time again by huge box office takings that show many people enjoy these kinds of films), yet the pathetic critics still cling to their tired false closed minded acidic endlessly negative abuse of the success and work of others.

      I love the Star Wars films and the Star Wars universe. Yes it is at its core a very basic good Vs bad battle, but then so much of life is at its core, as is so much of fiction for that matter. The simple fact is if you enjoy that, then enjoy it, but if you don't, then don't endlessly seek to ruin the enjoyment of others by being endlessly abusing, negative and denigrating about something others enjoy. Its ridiculous to hear so much pathetic endless negativity filled with endless smug false superiority that they know oh so much better than others what is good. Their smugness is so false.

      Well critics, if you do think you still know better, then lets see you frankly shut the fuck up and make it happen. Prove it. I want to see you negative critics prove you know better by making it happen. Lets see you create something instead of endlessly sniping from the sidelines because I bet all too often they have no discernible talent of their own and try hard to feel superior by put down others because that makes them feel better, because they really know they have nothing to compare of their own. The critics behavior is all too well known in Psychology as a passive aggressive pattern of behavior and its characterized as a deeply manipulative pervasively negative attitude towards others to put others down below them. Exactly the pattern we see in the critics.

      They will probably delight in voting me down for saying all this but I don't care and I usually can't be bothered to listen to critics, because they show all to well, they can't add anything of value, but it does help from time to time to cull their numbers by exposing them for what they are. The truth hurts as they say.

      Now for anyone who does enjoy George Lucus's work and the Star Wars universe, as its often called, I would say I would love to see a massive block buster epic scale film (or trilogy) based on the storyline in Star Wars The Old Republic, centering around the long war between Grand Master Satele Shan and Darth Malgus. If you don't know the storyline, here's a link to the 3 trailers of the Star Wars: The Old Republic game. The artists who worked on this are brilliant. It has some of the best and most complex CG human acting I've ever seen. It really shows the potential a film would have based on this storyline. Here's the link for anyone interested with all 3 videos in 1. :)

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1KM3E0emjg

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

    5. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Are you hired by some PR agency?

      "Lucas is a power house of talent that can take single credit for resurrecting the US film industry in the late 70's."

      What the hell does that even mean?

      "Before you criticize the man, walk a mile in his shoes and see how successful you would be"

      Am I doing movies? No.

      "He has earned the right to walk away from the brilliant world he created"

      HE MADE MOVIES!

    6. DZ-Jay

      Re: Good Luck George

      When I think of the "imagination, focus, vision and drive" of George Lucas I imagine it would be like if Steve Jobs worked for Microsoft; and instead of the the iPod, iPhone, and the iPad, he were stuck working on the Zune, Longhorn, and that clunky flip-book-tablet-with-a-stylus thingy.

      -dZ.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Han Shot first

    He just did.

    No more sequels with no more crappy characters and poor story lines? Where's the problem?

  13. dogged

    OH NOEZ!

    What will mad, obsessed nerds bitch about now?

  14. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

    THX1138 "his" way

    "Bleat, whine, moan. They butchered my early movies! They aren't the way I would have done them!"

    Fine, Mr. Lucas. Where, then, is "your" vision of THX1138? I don't remember any new SpecialAnniversaryEditionWhatsit versions of THAT. Might have made a bit more sense, so I guess we couldn't have that now, could we? THX1138 was starkly brilliant and began to make sense after the third or fourth viewing. I would, however, actually WELCOME a new version of that which might provide more detail/backfill/etc.

    1. MD Rackham

      Actually...

      The version of THX1138 available today is hugely revamped from the original. New set extensions, new effects, re-edited in spots.

      I found the new version to be very disappointing, as I saw the original so many times (I was briefly a projectionist) I pretty much have it memorized shot-for-shot.

    2. DZ-Jay

      Re: THX1138 "his way

      >> "I don't remember any new SpecialAnniversaryEditionWhatsit versions of THAT."

      *sigh*

      Unfortunately, it does exist:

      http://www.amazon.com/THX-1138-Two-Disc-Directors-Special/dp/B0002CHIKG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326909639&sr=8-2

      It's a "Special Edition" with all the trimmings and embellishment worthy of a Star Wars sequel. It's even "enhanced" with CGI backgrounds and robots and stuff!

      -dZ.

  15. Seanmon
    Meh

    Not to worry.

    Pretty sure there'll be a (cough) reboot along presently.

  16. thefutureboy
    Boffin

    I don't get it...

    ...if he wanted Greedo to shoot first in the first place why didn't he film it that way in the first place?

    1. Martin Huizing
      Paris Hilton

      Because...

      ...most things become complicated after the fact. "If only I could re-write history... Oh, wait!"

      Paris 'cause I am sure that, if she could, she'd change a stabbing scene in one of her early productions.

  17. I Like Heckling Silver badge
    Meh

    I'd like to see more Star Wars movies... just as long as GL wasn't calling the shots. It's time to hand over the franchise to new talent.

    There are dozens and dozens of officially sanctioned books set in the world after RotJ and some of them have decent plots and deal with the aftermath of the Emperors death... or what about the 18-20yr gap between ep 3 and 4.

    I'd like to see a new trilogy with a slightly darker tone to it, not so child orientated... leave that for the animated cartoons and TV and let the original fans having something they can relate to again.

    As for Red Tails... is this telling the same story as the film 'The Tuskagee Airmen' starring Laurence Fishburn that's just getting it's bluray release this month.

    I'm grateful for the memories George and I do understand that you think messing with the films 30yrs later is still ok, but don't whinge when fans of your original work complain that the 'additions' don't actually add anything and actually change the tone of characters... Han shot first... it's as simple as that... it explains exactly who he is in a split second and it's the change in his character over the course of the movie and it's sequels that makes you warm to him... and that's what good character development means... Making Greedo shoot first turns him into a pussy and makes Greedo look like a total moron (for not being able to hit his target at 3ft) rather than over confident and inexperienced who under estimates the true nature of his foe.

  18. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    No more Star Wars.

    That's a shame. I was really looking forward to the ultra-super-high-definition 4D remasters on Ocatrine-Ray disks.....

    1. Darryl

      By that time, it'll be "Jar Jar shot first."

    2. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      Thumb Up

      Tee Hee.....

      Nice Pratchett reference there TC

  19. DrXym

    Red Tails looks so bad

    If the trailer is representative of the final product, it looks like it is going to be the most cliche ridden, ham acted, cgi heavy war movie since Pearl Harbor disgraced the silver screen.

  20. Dana W
    Thumb Up

    None too soon.

    Al I can say is "midichlorians"!

    Good riddance.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    About F***ing Time!

    The Star Wars movies were pants when they came out in the 70s (yes, I do remember that far back) and age has definitely not improved them.

    Of course, all he said was he won't be running the business, you can bet someone else will be pushing the same tired ol' boxsets and lining up prequels, sequels or TV franchises.

    Why won't it just DIE?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So thats the STAR WARS Tv Show stopped then!!

    Thank you Mr Lucas for the original Star Wars, Proper SFX technologies, EditDroid > AVID, Pixar(in a funny way), Some great games..

    .. However Jar Jar was a bad idea

    1. jai

      i don't see why. i doubt he'd have more than an executive producer title on the tv show anyway

      and even if not, he's announced retirement from blockbuster movies. technically, it's possible this is because he'll be spending all his time in the future filming the tv series, and re-editing and making it 3D after the first season airs....

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He should be grateful people moan and complain, it's a compliment.

    People only moan when it's something they care about.

  24. jason 7
    Meh

    The guy retired pretty much after 1983.

    Nothing really of note since then.

    He got lucky with the first Star Wars movie and had a lot of people around him keeping him under control and telling him in no uncertain terms "George, that's a load of crap!" and therefore it was a vastly better film for that. By RoTJ things are starting to go astray and mistakes of judgement are being made.

    Since then no one has ever dared tell him to his face when he's going wrong. Except the 7 billion that don't work on his payroll.

    If he had kept a few strong personalities around him and listened to a few folks then it may have been very different.

    It's just so sad to watch those making of scenes on the prequels where you see talented actors running around empty green draped hangers for sets giving no emotion or depth to them. Whilst Lucas sits a few feet away looking at a monitor with a latte in hand. No wonder all the performances are totally flat. Must be soul destroying for an actor.

    I remember Terrence Stamp summed it up nicely when he said that at first he was quite excited to appear in a Star wars movie till he realised he was just in a glorified toy catalogue.

    1. Euchrid

      Artistic integrity

      "I remember Terrence Stamp summed it up nicely when he said that at first he was quite excited to appear in a Star wars movie till he realised he was just in a glorified toy catalogue."

      Out of interest, did he work that out before or after he took the money?

  25. bigphil9009

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  26. envmod

    2012

    isn't George Lucas convinced of the 2012 end of the world theory? like, he seriously believes it. whilst it is a tad worrying that somebody with his money (and i guess connections), would take this seriously, i suppose it might account for his retirement this year.

  27. Sean Kennedy

    They DO check the suggestion box!

    I've been saying he needs to retire for YEARS. It's obvious, from his recent ( and not so recent, frankly ) efforts that he hasn't been on his A game for a while. Or B game. I'm not even willing to grant him a C game at this point.

    I can't wait to see what someone competent can do with the start wars series once the torch has been passed.

  28. John Galt 1
    Thumb Up

    Ah George!

    Your philosophical contradictions come flying out again! Your statements are Objectivist: It's mine, I'll do with them what I like, and if you don't like them fine, but they're still mine and I'm happy if you like them but that isn't why I made them.

    Your angst is Kantian.

    And your movies? Well the first 3 where when you saw the world much more clearly obviously. The next 2 are a philosophical mess, which is why, if it mattered, people hated them. (but couldn't help but watch them because of the greatness of the first 3!)

    And the last one? You just threw in every philosophy you could think of and said it was more deep. Except it wasn't. It was just contradictory and sad.

    But I think I see a glimmer! I think that you're shrugging Ayn Rand style! Good for you! Do what you want and the rest of the world be damned! Did you re-read Atlas Shrugged? It sure sounds like it! If you didn't, it's time George, it's time.

  29. Hooksie
    Terminator

    Toys > Pram

    For a guy with buckets of cash and a supposedly unshakable belief in his vision for Star Wars , seems to me to sound a lot like a big baby who had his toys taken away and now he's spitting the dummy. "People shouted at me so I'm not going to make any more films ever!". Like all children we should simply call his bluff (and hope to hell he's not bluffing)

    Star Wars films were absolute guff in the grand scheme of things - yes, we all loved them as kids and had the toys etc and he created a fantastic universe (galaxy?) for us to play in but as proper pieces of film-making they were fairly pap. And he only directed the first one before the studio took them off him and said "come now George, we have some pretty pictures for you to colour in". The man cannot direct, write dialogue or create a believable relationship on-screen so why should we give a rat's ass that he's not going to make any more shit films? Prequel films were beyond pish and should NEVER have been made, but kids still love them so who cares.

    I just keep thinking of that line in one of those piles of drivel where Annakin says "Every time I see you, I'm in agony" and I said "You and me both mate, I'm in agony watching this pish". That got more laughs than the whole film. (and it wasn't even that funny!)

  30. Spindreams

    George Lucas: 'No more Star Wars'

    Oh good, I was scared he might actually try to make another starwars "episode" that would again completely spoil the first three films. If he's saying the first three were not "his" movies because he was made to make edits he didn't want, then someone please find the persons who's movies they were and get him to remake the rest for us!

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh noes...

    ...we'll never get to see "Star Wars: The Return Of Jar Jar"

  32. Ru
    Trollface

    So, humour of sorts:

    http://www.cracked.com/article_19612_star-wars-vs-star-trek-objective-analysis.html

    I think the phrase "Star Wars: Retroactively Shit-On Edition" does a reasonable job of summing up my feelings on the matter...

  33. Andy Scott

    So let me get this right the last film he'll make will be a remake of The Tuskegee Airmen?

    1. jason 7
      FAIL

      Exactly, hilarious he's making a remake....

      ....of a perfectly good TV movie as his last film.

      How the mighty have fallen.

      The original movie isn't bad so why bother? Oh I guess no one was around to say "George wtf are you doing that for????"

      Not an original idea in that head....ever.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Remake

      I agree - "The Tuskegee Airmen" was a pretty decent film and doesn't need to be remade. If he has more of the real history to add in this new film then fair enough -but I doubt it.

  34. This post has been deleted by its author

  35. Bernard M. Orwell
    Mushroom

    Good, now sod off Lucas you hypocrite!

    “On the internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie,” Lucas remarks. “I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it’.” ~ George Lucas, 2012

    But....

    "These current defacements are just the beginning. Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tommorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces," or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor's lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new "original" negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires." - George Lucas, 1988

    "People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians" ~ George Lucas, 1988

    "In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten." ~ George Lucas, 1988

    Guess enough money will change anyone's principles, eh? Now, I don't think anyone can deny that Star Wars is part of western cultural heritage and could even be classed as a work of art, so again I say good riddance to Lucas (who, lets be honest, wrote/directed almost NONE of the original Star Wars trilogy.).

  36. john 112

    Good _ quit watching his films after the revenge of the stith stuff

    Well up to the last muddle he made good films. Guess we all get old. I have decided not to watch anymore of his movies anyhow. Hint, its called a 'Movie'. When they call them 'filns' the danger of pretentious rubbish is acute.

  37. Armando 123
    Devil

    Good

    Our long national(*) nightmare is at an end.

    (*) - Geek Nation, as it were.

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The unaltered trilogy

    They actually released the unaltered Original trilogy on DVD based on the laserdisc release. I am not sure if they are still available for sale anywhere, I believe they were released in 2006, but you can still find them on the internet.

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Original_unaltered_trilogy_(DVD)

    1. Sooty

      possible downvote here

      But people don't really want the unaltered trilogy... The ones that were released were, in my view intentionally, low quality. This was, again in my view, so that the sales would be poor and he could point at it and say, see I was right, people don't want it, they want the special editions!

      What people really want is the original unaltered content of the trilogy, but with the benefit of modern processes to clean it up a little and remove the obvious errors.

      An example, in a new hope, cleaning up some of the washed out colour and fixing the big blob of Vaseline they had to smudge on the lens to hide the wheels of the speeder is acceptable. Redoing the whole scene as a CGI extravaganza, that stylistically is completely different to the rest of the film isn't.

  39. MD Rackham

    Huh?

    "He will have completed his task as a man..." according to Rick McCallum.

    Does that mean that he's getting the operation?

    Episodes 7-9 will be directed by Georgina Lucas?

  40. Keep Refrigerated
    Gimp

    Wrong audience

    The problem was that he was creating the prequels for the wrong audience. The kids of the 80's that loved the originals and played with the toys are all grown up. They remember the fantasy that ignited their imaginations - but no longer needed the toys.

    Lucas should have been focusing on creating gritty prequels, catering to a more mature audience. No we don't need to see Jedi sex scenes, but we do need something more intelligent than Jar Jar Binks and a terrible poorly contrived romance.

    One of my all-time favourite RPGs was KOTOR. You pretty much knew which side you wanted to be so the trick was if you want to be Dark Side you simple go around treating everyone like an asshat - even if it didn't seem like a natural response - just so you could max your DS points.

    In the same way, Hayden Christensen must have reasoned to himself - "Hey, my character is going to go DS", and so basically acted every scene in the same way. Sadly what works for a highly playable game, doesn't always translate to the big screen - especially if you try to keep these types of game dynamics.

    Imagine if Batman Begins and the Dark Knight was followed up with Batman and Robin... that's what you have here. No depth to the characters, no tension - just massive reliance on special effects to make up for inexcusable lack of story and poor script.

    1. NogginTheNog
      Coffee/keyboard

      Are you telling me

      Hayden Christensen actually ACTED in those movies??!

    2. Euchrid

      re: Keep Refrigerated

      Arguably, the target audience was a new generation of fanboys and gals. Not saying I like that, but I think people forget just that the prequels went down with younger audiences.

      The Star Wars TV show (if we ever see it) is meant to be more mature in tone, however. Deadwood in space, apparently...

  41. markw:
    WTF?

    Shot first?

    Han shot Nanny Ogg's cat first?

    Or am I missing something?

  42. OrsonX

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    thank goodness!

  43. Chad H.
    WTF?

    I do have to ask though..

    What exactly is "RegHardware's" remit - I fail to see how entertainment news, even with the most liberal of interpretations, could be considered hardware.

    George Lucas develops real live working R2D2, sure; but Lucas Retires from Big Budget Movies?

  44. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    CGI was the big problem.

    @Ken Hagan and @AC, the special effects in the original Star Wars movies has aged reasonably (well the death star explosion wasn't too great.) What *HASN'T* aged well is having rereleases with like 90% original special effects (more or less -- I'm sure there's some color balance changes and such) and the other 10% cheezy, in-your-face CGI with no effort to make the CGI look anything like the rest of the movie. I think some of the other changes (Hans did shoot first!) were pointless, but I honestly wouldn't whinge about them, but the added cheeze is pretty bad.

    The new movies? Well, no comment really. The big problem from what I've heard regarding the acting and such was so much was done in front of a blue screen -- like, even if it's 2 people talking, instead of having both of the 2 in front of the blue screen, they'd be filmed seperately... it'd be like "say line 3, wait 3 seconds then look angry, then wait another 3 seconds, say line 4 and storm off". It's a lot easier to make that look natural when the other person is actually talking for 5 or 6 seconds than to react to someone that is not actually there!

  45. Delbert

    The Farce is Strong in this one

    When you make a series of movies based on adult oriented action- based themes it shows a degree of arrogance when you tag three more on that would not challenge a five year old and are surprised that you are royally criticised for not keeping the faith with the audience that made it possible who btw have got older not regressed into childhood. The world moved on after the Empire Strikes Back and merchandising became important to the profitability of film but that cannot excuse creating cutesy charactors that have no right in scifi aside from excrable Disney flicks to snag the adolescents into collecting more tatt he cries art-house and yet produces sales orientated pulp. I will not shed a tear at the news I cannot see anything good coming if he continued just more boxed set limited edition collectibles.

  46. Ben Rosenthal

    "my movie, with my name on it"

    fair enough, just don't expect me to pay my money to see after you've been rubbing your dick all over it.

  47. cs94njw
    FAIL

    You what, I'm kinda wondering if E.T., Indiana Jones, and Star Wars 4-6 were just lucky...

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