Worst attitude towards his audience - I nominate George Lucas

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So I just rewatched some of those Star Wars prequels on Spike - and is there anyone who has a worse attitude towards the fans of his work then George Lucas?

The scripts for the prequel Star Wars movies vacillate all over the place, from childish slapstic antics punctuated by teen angst to poorly written love affairs and a suprisingly out-of-place massacre of innocents. All the while he effects a "holier-then-thou" attitude.

He creates Jar Jar Binks, a bumbling, unfunny, borderline racist character that no one likes, and then dismisses the universal critism as whining from overgrown children.

I really can't think of anyone else who treats fans so derisively and still has a job in Hollywood. Talk about a Napoleon complex.
 
[quote name='camoor']So I just rewatched some of those Star Wars prequels on Spike - and is there anyone who has a worse attitude towards the fans of his work then George Lucas?

The scripts for the prequel Star Wars movies vacillate all over the place, from childish slapstic antics punctuated by teen angst to poorly written love affairs and a suprisingly out-of-place massacre of innocents. All the while he effects a "holier-then-thou" attitude.

He creates Jar Jar Binks, a bumbling, unfunny, borderline racist character that no one likes, and then dismisses the universal critism as whining from overgrown children.

I really can't think of anyone else who treats fans so derisively and still has a job in Hollywood. Talk about a Napoleon complex.[/quote]

"I think someone is going to be tossed into the Sarlacc pit" -Random Star Wars nerd.
 
I don't know what George is thinking half the time... I remember him being quoted as saying Empire was the worst of the Star Wars movies, then I found this quote recently...

[quote name='George Lucas']"It's just a movie. Just like the other movies," says George Lucas of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. "You probably have fond memories of the other movies. But if you went back and looked at them, they might not hold up the same way your memory holds up." [/QUOTE]

So, instead of promoting his movie, he's just going to downplay it, AND piss all over the previous ones. Well done, George. Well done.
 
Walker: I would like to propose a procedural amendment.

There's too much politics in the new movies. I dont understand how our own government works. How or why should I be expected to know anything about a fictional society/universe?
 
The new movies make perfect sense. The wooden acting hurts them all though.

01: Bad guy tries to trick planet but is thwarted by unpredictable events.
02: Instead bad guy plays his way into taking control of democratic senate by drumming up a rebellion elsewhere.
03: Bad guy twists people into giving him control of senate and making him king in order to efficiently end rebellion.

The plot is entirely the same as the subplot from The Irresponsible Captain Tylor where the advisor is trying to make the empress look bad so he can take control.
 
All you need to know about the guy is that he tried to talk Irving Kershner out of making The Empire Strikes Back "too good" and that as recently as a couple years ago, he publicly said that he thought it was the worst of the six films.*

There...that comprehensible enough for you, Mr. Psycho-Bale Avatar?

EDIT: *--And if George said it, you know at that moment at least two-thirds of the registered users at theforce.net scrambled to rearrange their "Most Favoritest" list.

EDIT--Episode II: Attack of the 'D'oh!': I will at least skim the posts before posting. I will at least skim the posts before posting. I will at least skim....
 
So I just rewatched some of those Star Wars prequels on Spike - and is there anyone who has a worse attitude towards the fans of his work then George Lucas?

The scripts for the prequel Star Wars movies vacillate all over the place, from childish slapstic antics punctuated by teen angst to poorly written love affairs and a suprisingly out-of-place massacre of innocents. All the while he effects a "holier-then-thou" attitude.

He creates Jar Jar Binks, a bumbling, unfunny, borderline racist character that no one likes, and then dismisses the universal critism as whining from overgrown children.

I really can't think of anyone else who treats fans so derisively and still has a job in Hollywood. Talk about a Napoleon complex.
 
[quote name='camoor']So I just rewatched some of those Star Wars prequels on Spike - and is there anyone who has a worse attitude towards the fans of his work then George Lucas?

The scripts for the prequel Star Wars movies vacillate all over the place, from childish slapstic antics punctuated by teen angst to poorly written love affairs and a suprisingly out-of-place massacre of innocents. All the while he effects a "holier-then-thou" attitude.

He creates Jar Jar Binks, a bumbling, unfunny, borderline racist character that no one likes, and then dismisses the universal critism as whining from overgrown children.

I really can't think of anyone else who treats fans so derisively and still has a job in Hollywood. Talk about a Napoleon complex.[/quote]

"I think someone is going to be tossed into the Sarlacc pit" -Random Star Wars nerd.
 
I don't know what George is thinking half the time... I remember him being quoted as saying Empire was the worst of the Star Wars movies, then I found this quote recently...

[quote name='George Lucas']"It's just a movie. Just like the other movies," says George Lucas of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. "You probably have fond memories of the other movies. But if you went back and looked at them, they might not hold up the same way your memory holds up." [/QUOTE]

So, instead of promoting his movie, he's just going to downplay it, AND piss all over the previous ones. Well done, George. Well done.
 
Walker: I would like to propose a procedural amendment.

There's too much politics in the new movies. I dont understand how our own government works. How or why should I be expected to know anything about a fictional society/universe?
 
The new movies make perfect sense. The wooden acting hurts them all though.

01: Bad guy tries to trick planet but is thwarted by unpredictable events.
02: Instead bad guy plays his way into taking control of democratic senate by drumming up a rebellion elsewhere.
03: Bad guy twists people into giving him control of senate and making him king in order to efficiently end rebellion.

The plot is entirely the same as the subplot from The Irresponsible Captain Tylor where the advisor is trying to make the empress look bad so he can take control.
 
All you need to know about the guy is that he tried to talk Irving Kershner out of making The Empire Strikes Back "too good" and that as recently as a couple years ago, he publicly said that he thought it was the worst of the six films.*

There...that comprehensible enough for you, Mr. Psycho-Bale Avatar?

EDIT: *--And if George said it, you know at that moment at least two-thirds of the registered users at theforce.net scrambled to rearrange their "Most Favoritest" list.

EDIT--Episode II: Attack of the 'D'oh!': I will at least skim the posts before posting. I will at least skim the posts before posting. I will at least skim....
 
He really does seem a bit like a spoiled child. His tendency to shit all over his own past work is strange too.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Please don't ruin the live action TV show. That is all.[/quote]


I am still scratching my head from the new Clone Wars series. The one that was already shown was very good. Do we really need another retelling of the clone wars in 3-d?
 
My "only hope" for the live-action show (is that Fall '10 or '11?) is that the budgetary constraints along with the success of the serious, gritty, and critically-acclaimed Battlestar Galactica "Force" him to "go home and rethink" this franchise. I want characters I can care about again, I want real sets whenever possible, and I don't want more of the ridiculous 'shrinking universe' where everyone is one degree of separation from one another. A 'sweeps week' cameo here or there is fine, but please, keep Vader, the Emperor, the droids, and middle-aged Ben in the background, thank you very much. Some bounty hunters would be cool, admittedly.

Actually, what I'm saying here, at the risk of having the 501st putting a hit out on me, the less lightsabers, the better. I don't know...try harder! But don't make it look like you're trying harder, Lucasfilm!

EDIT: 360 #3 dead 3/18/08

Jesus, you finish even behind me in the Villain voting and now this! My deepest condolences!
 
[quote name='BlueWingX']I don't know what George is thinking half the time... I remember him being quoted as saying Empire was the worst of the Star Wars movies, then I found this quote recently...

So, instead of promoting his movie, he's just going to downplay it, AND piss all over the previous ones. Well done, George. Well done.[/quote]

I know, besides the fact that his insults towards fans are rude and insulting, it's just bad business. I was so fed up with Jar Jar and all of the crap Lucas inserted in the prequels to kiddify them that I haven't watched them up until now when Spike happened to be playing them. If Lucas actually had listened to the fans and his crew after the first movie, lost Jar Jar, and taken a more serious tone, then I almost guarantee sales would have been better. I could have put up with the first movie completely selling out for the happy meal tie-ins if the second two had been halfway mature/intelligible.

[quote name='ITDEFX']"I think someone is going to be tossed into the Sarlacc pit" -Random Star Wars nerd.[/quote]

:rofl:
 
[quote name='jollydwarf']My "only hope" for the live-action show (is that Fall '10 or '11?) is that the budgetary constraints along with the success of the serious, gritty, and critically-acclaimed Battlestar Galactica "Force" him to "go home and rethink" this franchise. I want characters I can care about again, I want real sets whenever possible, and I don't want more of the ridiculous 'shrinking universe' where everyone is one degree of separation from one another. A 'sweeps week' cameo here or there is fine, but please, keep Vader, the Emperor, the droids, and middle-aged Ben in the background, thank you very much. Some bounty hunters would be cool, admittedly.

Actually, what I'm saying here, at the risk of having the 501st putting a hit out on me, the less lightsabers, the better. I don't know...try harder! But don't make it look like you're trying harder, Lucasfilm![/quote]

The new Battlestar Gallactica is so badass, but they admittedly have a great deal more lattitude in their recreation of the original franchise.

However in a sense this made it easier for Star Wars - it was way ahead of it's time and really didn't need a retooling, but Lucas had to screw it up by insisting that his primary audience was kids (because we all know that decapitations, burning to death, and massacres are E for Everybody)

And as for the political satire - geez. Starship Troopers was more subtle!
 
Right-o. I'll be the Devil's Advocate in this thread.

I say that any complaint lodged against the new Star Wars films applies just as much to the originals. Love 'em? Hate 'em? Fine either way. But be consistent.

To "They're for kids! Look at Jar Jar Binks!" I say "Ewoks."
To "The acting is wooden!" I say "Nooo! That's ... impossible!"
To "Teen angst!" there's "But I want to go to Tochi Station to get a power converter!"

And so on. Here's the bottom line: kids nowadays like the new movies just as much as we liked the originals. The only people complaining are the people who grew up with the originals and unsurprisingly don't find themselves as impressed as they were when they were seven.

Face it: Lucas is right. He didn't make the movies for a bunch of 40-year-old man-children. I hate to spoil everybody's warm, fuzzy notion that the original trilogy is secretly some kind of nerd Haute Cinema ... but that's not the case. All the grown-ups who liked science fiction were sitting in another theater, watching Tarkovsky's "Solaris."

So I counter-nominate Russell Crowe for worst attitude towards his audience. The man does nothing but complain about how much he hates Hollywood. Again, that's fair ... so you can walk away from those multi-million dollar paychecks anytime you want, mate. No? That's what I thought.
 
The thing is that Lucas is warning people to not get thier hopes up too high for Indy 4, yet he has no problems with the Prequel Trilogy
 
[quote name='anomynous']The thing is that Lucas is warning people to not get thier hopes up too high for Indy 4, yet he has no problems with the Prequel Trilogy[/QUOTE]

Again, not a bad idea: there's a point where hype just becomes backlash, because it's impossible for any movie to live up to two decades worth of expectations. I love the Indiana Jones movies (well, the first and third, anyway...) so I'm looking forward to the new one quite a bit. I wanted to *be* Indiana Jones when I came out of the theater, after seeing the first one. But if I psyche myself up with expectations of this new movie having the same effect on me, twenty five years later, I'm going to be sorely disappointed. And then, if the Star Wars Prequels are any indicator, I'm going to hop onto the internet to complain about ... I don't know. Pod racing or something. So in the end, again, Lucas is right: It's just a movie. We shouldn't get our hopes up too high.
 
The prequels left a bad taste in my mouth but after all he didn't have to make them at all, so I do thank him for at least making them. There are moments in those prequels that I enjoy but there is much that is left to be desired at least in my eyes.

From what I've seen at various conventions, and from what I've heard on the internet and elsewhere, he lost touch with reality a long time ago in a galaxy far far away... I just wish he would listen to his fans once and a while or at least when it is important!

At any rate, I'm going to watch the new Indy like almost everyone else here I'm sure, but I'll not be expecting anything special. I've been disappointed way too many times by him now as well as most of the movie industry in general.
 
[quote name='camoor']So I just rewatched some of those Star Wars prequels on Spike - and is there anyone who has a worse attitude towards the fans of his work then George Lucas?

The scripts for the prequel Star Wars movies vacillate all over the place, from childish slapstic antics punctuated by teen angst to poorly written love affairs and a suprisingly out-of-place massacre of innocents. All the while he effects a "holier-then-thou" attitude.

He creates Jar Jar Binks, a bumbling, unfunny, borderline racist character that no one likes, and then dismisses the universal critism as whining from overgrown children.

I really can't think of anyone else who treats fans so derisively and still has a job in Hollywood. Talk about a Napoleon complex.[/QUOTE]
I agree.

However, I was surprised that I liked Episode III.
 
I really don't know why everyone shits all over the newer Star Wars movies. I thought they were great, although the acting was a little static; and Jar Jar does suck...a lot.
 
i love star wars however have you guys met star wars fans. could you imagine that everyday of your life!!!! I'd have to have killed myself by now. I mean star wars fans are out there. Ive seen two kids argue for about a day about a prop in one movie or scene was called somethign while the other argued that it was called a something different made by some other person. I mean come on the damn prop in the background was on the screen for two seconds. What difference does it make if its a blastec 9 or a humdinger iv
 
I only like Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, in their original form (sorry I don't care about that episode X crap)

Even RotJ was crap IMO and they went downhill from there....although Revenge of the Sith is actually probably better than RotJ.....

Just my opinion.
 
[quote name='porieux']I only like Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, in their original form (sorry I don't care about that episode X crap)

Even RotJ was crap IMO and they went downhill from there....although Revenge of the Sith is actually probably better than RotJ.....

Just my opinion.[/QUOTE]

I agree with you on that. My choices are:

5, 4, 3, 6, 2, 1 I really can't stand that he felt the need to revise the original Trilogy.
 
[quote name='Zen Davis']The new movies make perfect sense. The wooden acting hurts them all though.

01: Bad guy tries to trick planet but is thwarted by unpredictable events.
02: Instead bad guy plays his way into taking control of democratic senate by drumming up a rebellion elsewhere.
03: Bad guy twists people into giving him control of senate and making him king in order to efficiently end rebellion.

The plot is entirely the same as the subplot from The Irresponsible Captain Tylor where the advisor is trying to make the empress look bad so he can take control.[/quote]

You're right about the wooden acting, but I think the terrible dialogue is the cause of the shitty acting.
 
George Lucas: "In the future, we won't have a need for actors. All actors will be replaced by CGI. People may not agree with my now, but in the future, they will label me a visionary."

Everyone else on Earth: "Shut up, George."
 
When in doubt, just enjoy the novels. They're like a quick bacta shot of Star Wars magic.

[quote name='InuFaye']Star Wars died 20 years ago. I refuse to believe the other things exist.[/quote]

A bit off topic (understatement), but I saw in your last.fm that you listened to Master Blaster. I thought I was the only one! Do you like them?
 
[quote name='chasemurata']George Lucas: "In the future, we won't have a need for actors. All actors will be replaced by CGI. People may not agree with my now, but in the future, they will label me a visionary."

Everyone else on Earth: "Shut up, George."[/quote]


Remember when T2 came out?

And all those interviews asking if "Computer Graphics" Will replace real life actors in hollywood? :rofl:

That was amusing back then.

But now a days if the director wants the star to do some crazy ass stunt, they hire the cg people to make them do it if the Stunt man can't do it or won't do it. I don't mind this unless the stunt scene gets a little too crazy, then it annoys me.
 
Lucas is just an untalented hack that doesn't deserve to always be put up on stage with Coppola and Spielberg. American Graffiti is the only good movie he did with competent directing. And Raiders would have been not nearly as beloved if Spielberg didn't handle a large portion of it.

The original Star Wars trilogy was great because you grew up with it and it has good pacing. The prequel trilogy is just garbage with an example of how NOT to pace your plot. 2 shitty movies and a third trying desperately to play catch-up because the first two had nearly forgettable character development. The fact the first movie had zero "veering towards the dark side" moments from Anakin was basically 2.5 hours of bullshit that did not matter whatsoever if the focal point of the story is supposed to be Anakin in the first half and Luke in the second.
 
Lucas is a twat. I watch the Indy movies atleast once a year and they're all still a head above 99% of all the other shit that comes out.

Atleast he doesn't go back and fuck with Lucas Arts classics like the dig or Full Throttle.
[quote name='BlueWingX']I don't know what George is thinking half the time... I remember him being quoted as saying Empire was the worst of the Star Wars movies, then I found this quote recently...



So, instead of promoting his movie, he's just going to downplay it, AND piss all over the previous ones. Well done, George. Well done.[/quote]
 
George could come to and burn my house down and I will still go see his movies, love the guy's work, if he wants to piss on his audience so be it.
 
[quote name='ZeroSupporT']George could come to and burn my house down and I will still go see his movies, love the guy's work, if he wants to piss on his audience so be it.[/QUOTE]

Speaking of which... I'd nominate GG Allin. He flings poo at his audience.

Unless the nominee has to be alive, then I guess Lucas can have it.
 
[quote name='Kayden']
Atleast he doesn't go back and fuck with Lucas Arts classics like the dig or Full Throttle.[/QUOTE]

Huh?

I require some serious explanation on this one. Unless you are purely saying that he can not do that, and you are thankful for it. I'm just making sure there's not something here I'm missing.
 
[quote name='Kayden']

Atleast he doesn't go back and fuck with Lucas Arts classics like the dig or Full Throttle.[/quote]


The only time LucasArts ask for Uncle George's opinion is when they are doing another star wars title. Everything else like The Dig, Full Throttle and the other non-Star Wars titles they don't need his stamp on it. I really don't know about the Indy games thought.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Lucas is just an untalented hack that doesn't deserve to always be put up on stage with Coppola and Spielberg. American Graffiti is the only good movie he did with competent directing. And Raiders would have been not nearly as beloved if Spielberg didn't handle a large portion of it.

The original Star Wars trilogy was great because you grew up with it and it has good pacing. The prequel trilogy is just garbage with an example of how NOT to pace your plot. 2 shitty movies and a third trying desperately to play catch-up because the first two had nearly forgettable character development. The fact the first movie had zero "veering towards the dark side" moments from Anakin was basically 2.5 hours of bullshit that did not matter whatsoever if the focal point of the story is supposed to be Anakin in the first half and Luke in the second.[/quote]

I think it's more that he majorly sold out, his earlier work actually showed some promise. I agree that at this point he's a hack.

Only someone like Lucas would have had the sheer stubborn nature to make Star Wars though - even if his "vision" consisted of nothing else then throwing Kurosawa, WWII fighter pilot movies, westerns, and Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" into a blender and then garnishing it with 1940s movie conventions.

[quote name='ZeroSupporT']George could come to and burn my house down and I will still go see his movies, love the guy's work, if he wants to piss on his audience so be it.[/quote]

Wrong guy, you're thinking of R Kelly.
 
Everyone here has some very good points against Lucas, but you got to admit, if it wasn't for him doing star wars, there would be no ILM or any other special effects company out there that was "Inspired" by star wars and the work of ILM.
 
As a self-admitted fanboy... I will say this in defense of Lucas: he allows fans to be fans. You will not find him suing anyone over being a fan and making fan art/ fan fiction/fan anything. As long as you aren't making money, he's cool with it. If more people were that cool about their fans, more cult movie followings would become this huge.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']Everyone here has some very good points against Lucas, but you got to admit, if it wasn't for him doing star wars, there would be no ILM or any other special effects company out there that was "Inspired" by star wars and the work of ILM.[/QUOTE]

Oh please. I'm not going to discredit ILM and Lucas's contributions to the special effects industry, but someone at some point would have thought "Hey, you know, maybe we can use computers to make neat graphics."

[quote name='umcthomas']As a self-admitted fanboy... I will say this in defense of Lucas: he allows fans to be fans. You will not find him suing anyone over being a fan and making fan art/ fan fiction/fan anything. As long as you aren't making money, he's cool with it. If more people were that cool about their fans, more cult movie followings would become this huge.[/QUOTE]

This is a really good point, actually.
 
[quote name='Strell']Oh please. I'm not going to discredit ILM and Lucas's contributions to the special effects industry, but someone at some point would have thought "Hey, you know, maybe we can use computers to make neat graphics."[/quote]

:rofl: But still if he didn't push for all this back in the late 70's, we would be 10 years behind and all these movies with these incredible special effects these days would not be made.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']But still if he didn't push for all this back in the late 70's, we would be 10 years behind and all these movies with these incredible special effects these days would not be made.[/QUOTE]

2001: Space Odyssey was made before Star Wars and had some pretty awesome special effects, so I don't really believe what you're saying here either.

Again, I'm not discrediting. I'm just saying he's not the only person with a vision for computerized grafmogix.

But no big deal. We're veering this off into off-topic territory, which might earn me a demerit or something these days. I might have to go to the principal's office or something. Or the corner, to think about what I've done.
 
[quote name='Strell']2001: Space Odyssey was made before Star Wars and had some pretty awesome special effects, so I don't really believe what you're saying here either.

Again, I'm not discrediting. I'm just saying he's not the only person with a vision for computerized grafmogix.

But no big deal. We're veering this off into off-topic territory, which might earn me a demerit or something these days. I might have to go to the principal's office or something. Or the corner, to think about what I've done.[/quote]

oh yea I forgot about 2001. Yep back to the topic before we get a "time out".
 
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