"Star Wars" was my childhood. Yes there was Batman, Pokemon, "Alien" and "The Terminator," but "Star Wars" was my first, full scale pop culture obsession (dinosaurs were technically first, but they're different).
I remember each instance of when I saw the original three films. Every time on my grandmother's couch at the age of 8, rented VHS tapes untouched by the digital meddling Lucas would commit two years later. It was wondrous and even now watching the theatrical version of the Original Trilogy on DVD, that wonder is retained.
Some of his edits were whatever but others were audacious, leading me to my near universal preference of the aforementioned DVDs when watching them, despite my owning of the well-done BD "Complete Saga' set. I want untouched "Star Wars" on BD!
The clumsiness of the prequels only serves to heighten Lucas's boldness in taking a series once beloved for its story and impact and draining it for profit.
Yes the prequels were entertaining, I'll give them that. I can't ever completely hate them since I was still young when "Episode I" came out and let's face it Darth Maul's pretty awesome. "Episode II" had great action sequences and it was pleasing to Slave I in action.
"Episode III" bother me with its inability to stay in one location for more than five minutes. Lucas, I didn't need to see that much from the galaxy far, far away, as cool as some of it was. The penultimate, destiny-defining lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan was spectacular, if a little drawn out and at times too unbelievable.
Almost everything in "Episode II" and "III" was fucking green screen by the way that has not aged well in the least, especially in comparison to the painstaking models, mattes and puppets of the originals.
I digress...
Lucas certainly knows the money his movies make and to an extent one cannot blame him for his apparent milking. My assessment of this one-time genius stands that he still retains said genius but lost sight of the magic and creative fervor that was so clear when he directed the original film. In interviews he seems to still feel something for the saga, but I think he loses his intention in translating it from his brain to our shared reality.
I'm sure to him the prequels and originals are like some magnificent, stream-lined, well connected story of redemption. That is only half true as the prequels created many inconsistencies with their predecessors and his tinkering with the latter has served to only salt wounds.
His involvement with fandom is a complex one and is both a comfort and curse that few, if any, other franchises can boast of. He's executive production of some of the "Robot Chicken Star Wars" and contribution to the fanfuckingtastic film "Fanboys" only goes to show that he's not a heartless prick who doesn't listen, he just want his creation to be his way.
Now that Disney's has the reigns, I'm happy he's able to step back but I don't want a completely Lucas-free "Star Wars." It just wouldn't be the same.
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