'Star Wars' Editor Marcia Lucas Slams Sequel Trilogy

My reaction to Marcia’s comments:

 

This is the phrase I've been looking.

 

The wording of some of her quotes is so familiar and specific to a certain demographic of fan/commentator. Something stinks to high heaven about it.

But generally speaking it's no surprise that she would be critical. She's been critical about every movie she hasn't worked on. In fact she called the original trilogy "pap" in the past. So it's weird that she's suddenly turned into the guardian of the original trilogy's honour.

Oh well.

The weirdest thing though is the criticism of killing Han (which you shouldn't kill off for any reason, apparently) and of Luke "disintegrating". It was Marcia who convinced George to rewrite A New Hope, while they were already in production, and kill Obi-Wan Kenobi off (in fact he disintegrates in the manner repeated with Luke in TLJ). Purely to provide the movie with an emotional second act closer. Even though George had plans for Kenobi as Luke's teacher, he agreed to it because he understood that audiences need to be emotionally engaged in a story as much if not more than anything else (Even though he was always cynically dismissive and aloof about that aspect "Anyone can emotionally engage an audience. Just get a puppy and have someone wring its neck on screen.")

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She said the prequels were so bad that they made her cry. And not in the good way.

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"Hello, hello, hello… Echo, echo, echo… Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon,.. Manny Mota, Mota, Mota…”

 

Oh God...

 

oh no i have putting in stuff LPs tea for a while now. It helps to understand...... The mushroom people makes it special for me.

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I believe we would've also accepted "The Fido Maneuver", or more specifically "The Fido Manure".

 

Hey Hooman how did you know about our secret move. The fido maneuver has been had through generations secretly and now you are putting it on blast all over the interwebs.

The fido maneuver done correctly is a thing of beauty.

 

Ok if you want my true feelings about this, people can liking different things. You can also dislike different things and still get along with people who do like them. I would say it is rather childish to think you are the only person in the world who opinions matter about any given subject. Like what you like dislike what what you dislike, it turns out most people dont care if you do or dont.

 

Just wanted you to see the galaxy thru my helmet, one time bro.​

big, IF true



And if so, there is a certain ear-mic audio stream I'd like him to crack next.

I want moar, cawa. Even though I shouldn't.... for GFFA purposes I'm going all in on BANTHA BLAST




Mods: can we get a STEAMING-BANTHA face to go with the WAMPA?


Do it!

 

Yeah, it's like not understanding WHY Harrison Ford was back in the first place. It was BECAUSE they were going to kill off Han Solo.

Han Solo would probably have not been in any of the films at all if that was not going to be the case. It's the reason why Harrison Ford agreed to return.

Shortly after it was officially announced he would be back he was asked why he'd agreed and was quoted as saying "I like the direction they are taking the character." I certainly knew what that meant in that moment, especially considering it's what Ford had wanted to happen to Han in the OT.

 

So, I was skimming through the internet, and this showed up:
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/star-wars-marcia-lucas-kathleen-kennedy-jj-abrams-1235069465/

So, apparently, Marcia Lucas, who edited the original Star Wars (kept certain scenes, such as Chewbacca roaring at the Imperial mouse droid) and even helped with work even during ROTJ does not like the new sequel trilogy and has said this, according to the excerpt on the Variety.com article:

“I like Kathleen. I always liked her. She was full of beans. She was really smart and really bright. Really wonderful woman. And I liked her husband, Frank. I liked them a lot. Now that she’s running Lucasfilm and making movies, it seems to me that Kathy Kennedy and J.J. Abrams don’t have a clue about ‘Star Wars.’ They don’t get it. And J.J. Abrams is writing these stories — when I saw that movie where they kill Han Solo, I was furious. I was furious when they killed Han Solo. Absolutely, positively there was no rhyme or reason to it. I thought, ‘You don’t get the Jedi story. You don’t get the magic of ‘Star Wars.’ You’re getting rid of Han Solo?'” Lucas says in the book.

First of all, Marcia's arguments are rather incomprehensible. She is right in some areas- Kennedy and Abrams's approach seems to shy away from the abstract/mythic and Vietnam War parallels that Lucas made in the original Star Wars and through the original trilogy by focusing more on characterization, which was a mixed area in Star Wars, depending on the nuances of Lucas's dialogue, intents, etc.

Other reasons are questionable. Why is Marcia mad that they killed off Han Solo? Harrison Ford was arguing that Han should have broken out fighting during the carbonite freeze chamber scene than rather submit on set for the Empire Strikes Back, which would have led to his death in that scene (if Lucas and Kershner had permitted it), but it ended with him submitting. Was she not present when they were discussing that scene?

Also, what is:
A. "The Jedi Story"
B. "The magic of Star Wars"
C. So bad about getting rid of Han Solo? (I could understand if she mentioned that Han Solo represented one person making a difference in a rebellion, etc., but there isn't much deliberation on this point as of yet.). It has been mentioned during the making of Return of the Jedi that there were talks of killing of Han Solo or the actor wanting it, even Ford's contract could have been up in ROTJ, which would have led to the death of the character easily if it hadn't been for Kanzajian.

Additionally,

“They have Luke disintegrate. They killed Han Solo. They killed Luke Skywalker. And they don’t have Princess Leia anymore. And they’re spitting out movies every year. And they think it’s important to appeal to a woman’s audience, so now their main character is this female, who’s supposed to have Jedi powers, but we don’t know how she got Jedi powers, or who she is. It sucks. The storylines are terrible. Just terrible. Awful. You can quote me — ‘J.J. Abrams, Kathy Kennedy — talk to me,'” Lucas says in the book.

1. Luke disintegrates for crappy reasons in ROTJ (the abstract symbolism of the good son redeeming the good-bad father overrides or sidelines the conflict of the rebels and that task at hand, Luke leaves Leia to help out the rebels instead of saving or supporting them almost entirely), and his decision to disassociate in TESB is met with fire from Leia in a deleted scene, and there are scenes in TESB which might symbolically reflect that training to be a Jedi (ignoring the rebel's cause) is a bad thing (the X-Wing symbolically sinking, etc.). But in the end, Luke returns to the rebels (doing the right thing?).
2. Yes, they did; Lucas also killed Obi-Wan because he felt that there was nothing else for the character to do- Han Solo's character is in a similar situation in TFA, but he finally admits that he believes in the Force- he makes clear a few more ends that we more ambiguous or understated in the original, such as, Han wishing Luke goodbye with, "May The Force Be With You", meaning that Han now believes in the Force.
3. Having a female lead- I don't know, maybe? But this is besides the point, about as much as if they made the main character another alien species character in Star Wars.
4. We don't know where Rey got her Jedi powers. Well, Marcia, Lucas explained in the July 1981 ROTJ meeting that anyone can tap into the Force. It just requires concentration and training to become an actual Jedi knight.
5. Who Rey is- Well, we still know that she's a scavenger and get an unfair amount of food for her work- she still has more characterization than Princess Daisy in Mario Party 3. (Why does it matter so much who she is if she's referring to her genealogy?.)

 

Great song, haven't heard it in a long time... thanks bro.

Harrison Ford made sure he got the last word... I disliked Kylo Ren for a long time... but I got over it... I can't wait for Indy 5.

 

Ford didn't come back just because they were going to kill Solo off. He came back because of the way Solo was going to go out.

 

I really believe that the vast majority of issues that people express in relation to certain characters using the force is their inability to appreciate this. (Or unwillingness to)

 

LUKE: The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. And my sister has it.

QUI-GON: The Force is unusually strong with him. That much is clear. Who was his father?

GEORGE: Predestination in my mind is...your genetics. Your genes are your destiny. It’s biological. People say, oh, don’t put the biology in it....But we all have talent. And those of us that have talent know that we’re different than other people. We know we can do things that other people can’t do. Talk to any filmmaker, artist, or anything, you have this sense in your head of what works and what doesn’t work. Sometimes you’re wrong. It’s not fool proof. But at the same time, it’s something that’s innate in your genetic code that makes you look at things in a particular way. - James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction, 2018

I agree with the sentiment that ‘the Force is for everybody’, but let’s not pretend that heredity hasn’t been presented as a MAJOR factor. If the protagonist of your Star Wars story is demonstrated to be notably Force proficient, then it’s only natural for the audience to ask ‘why’. It’s what we’ve been conditioned to expect. It’s moot on the topic of Rey anyhow. We got the answer. It's from her grandad. I bet you that doesn’t magically reverse Marcia Lucas’ opinion though

 

George Lucas's parents sold office supplies and equipment and owned a walnut farm. I guess that's where he inherited his innate ability for film making.

 

It certainly has been presented as a major factor. Sadly that has translated to the "only factor" for too many fans.