A Spirited Perfect Ten

[lazyboy97o]

I find that an interesting statement. In light of all the comments on how Walt Disney would not be welcome in Igers Disney Company is such an awful thing. It is a different era. George Lucas being excluded from a project that he actually created and made famous. Now, he's not wanted or needed and he's still alive. Didn't the same thing happen to Steve Jobs and Apple? The very place that he created and built from the ground up, and he was no longer thought to be necessary in running the company. It's a strange world!

Few are the people who consider the prequel trilogy to be a grand resurgence for Star Wars the way Apple turned around after Jobs returned.

 

[ford91exploder]

I find that an interesting statement. In light of all the comments on how Walt Disney would not be welcome in Igers Disney Company is such an awful thing. It is a different era. George Lucas being excluded from a project that he actually created and made famous. Now, he's not wanted or needed and he's still alive. Didn't the same thing happen to Steve Jobs and Apple? The very place that he created and built from the ground up, and he was no longer thought to be necessary in running the company. It's a strange world!

Until the 'Hard nosed professional managers' ran it into the ground, Then Jobs was needed again to pick up the pieces and reassemble them into the most successful consumer tech company ever.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Prequels were okay in concept, the problem was in the execution.
Hell, even Lucas himself has admitted that he's more a visuals and broad ideas guy then a writer. He actually wanted other people to get involved in directing the prequels (Spielberg, Zemeckis, Chris Columbus), but they all kept telling him to do it himself.

 

[CinematicFusion]

Wow, its clear that you're fan of George Lucas and not of Star Wars.

I'm a fan of watching people creating ideas.
It would be like JK Rowling coming up with a new Potter story and then the publisher saying we like our Potter Story better and besides, the fans don't care who writes this Sh$%, they just care about Potter.
Not saying Lucas can write like Rowling. I am saying they are the ones who created the franchise and for better or worse should be the ones who have final say.
Again, to be fair, Lucas did give up his right to create the story when he sold. I think it will haunt him. He was already worth billions. Now he can never touch the franchise he started again.
It's so strange. I would freak out if I couldn't work on something I created.

Maybe I'm in a minority here but yes. I do care more about what Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas, (I could go on and on) do and not what the franchise they create continues to do. I didn't care about Jaws 2...I didn't care about Jurrasic Park 3. I didn't like Jurrasic Park 2, but cared about seeing it because Spielberg was directing.

So yeah...not as excited about Star Wars anymore. I'll enjoy it. I enjoyed Jurrassic Park 3....just wasn't that excited about it.

Make sense? Maybe it doesn't.

 

[ford91exploder]

Since it''s a truism that any recent movie project with strong support from Burbank will be a box office disaster, I'm looking forward to how Disney screws up the next Star Wars movie, It should be 'interesting' at least imagine a mashup of John Carter, GOTG and SW.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm a fan of watching people creating ideas.
It would be like JK Rowling coming up with a new Potter story and then the publisher saying we like our Potter Story better and besides, the fans don't care who writes this Sh$%, they just care about Potter.
Not saying Lucas can write like Rowling. I am saying they are the ones who created the franchise and for better or worse should be the ones who have final say.
Again, to be fair, Lucas did give up his right to create the story when he sold. I think it will haunt him. He was already worth billions. Now he can never touch the franchise he started again.
It's so strange. I would freak out if I couldn't work on something I created.

Maybe I'm in a minority here but yes. I do care more about what Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas, (I could go on and on) do and not what the franchise they create continues to do. I didn't care about Jaws 2...I didn't care about Jurrasic Park 3. I didn't like Jurrasic Park 2, but cared about seeing it because Spielberg was directing.

So yeah...not as excited about Star Wars anymore. I'll enjoy it. I enjoyed Jurrassic Park 3....just wasn't that excited about it.

Make sense? Maybe it doesn't.

Except that you shouldn't have been interested in Jurassic Park at all because it was Crichton, not Spielberg, who created the story and it is not what was presented in the film because he was told it needed to change. Even when he wrote a sequel book because there was a desire for a second film, there were considerable differences between the book and film.

Before Lucas started telling tall tales about his grand epic saga, he told of Star Wars being a serial where different film makers would write and direct stories set in the Star Wars universe. Lucas has also for years said he wanted to be done with Star Wars and do other, smaller projects. Lucas also allowed the expanded universe, starting with Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which was intended to be a cheap sequel film if Star Wars did not adequately perform at the box office. You're attaching to Lucas a Rowling level of attachment when for years he has made comments about wanting to be done with Star Wars and getting very close to admitting that Star Wars was a guaranteed way for him to make some money.

 

[CinematicFusion]

He still returned to apple and transformed Apple into a hipster and "high end" brand with insane income.

I guess Lucas won't get that chance with Star Wars. Lucas did it to himself though, he didn't have to sell.

 

[Goofyernmost]

He still returned to apple and transformed Apple into a hipster and "high end" brand with insane income.

Few are the people who consider the prequel trilogy to be a grand resurgence for Star Wars the way Apple turned around after Jobs returned.

Until the 'Hard nosed professional managers' ran it into the ground, Then Jobs was needed again to pick up the pieces and reassemble them into the most successful consumer tech company ever.

That is somewhat my point. I just named three very famous and successful people that at one point or currently are no longer considered relevant. Walt is dead, so it is just speculation that he would no longer be up to the task and unwelcome in his own company. We will never know. Jobs, who was considered by the management to not be an asset to his company, sent him on his way. He had the opportunity to show them that they were absolutely wrong, and he brought the company back. Now we have Lucas that because of what was considered by some to be producing less then stellar work in later years, just no long had the ability to continue to tell a story that he created. Do we know that he wouldn't be able to or are we just guessing. Throwing someone in the trash because they think that they are superior to the brain behind the success that they now are operating to me is not the most intelligent thing to do.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That is somewhat my point. I just named three very famous and successful people that at one point or currently are no longer considered relevant. Walt is dead, so it is just speculation that he would no longer be up to the task and unwelcome in his own company. We will never know. Jobs, who was considered by the management to not be an asset to his company, sent him on his way. He had the opportunity to show them that they were absolutely wrong, and he brought the company back. Now we have Lucas that because of what was considered by some to be producing less then stellar work in later years, just no long had the ability to continue to tell a story that he created. Do we know that he wouldn't be able to or are we just guessing. Throwing someone in the trash because they think that they are superior to the brain behind the success that they now are operating to me is not the most intelligent thing to do.

Lucasfilm was doing just fine financially and Lucas could have easily done more Star Wars films if he so desired. Even if he wanted to shed himself of the personal financial responsibility he could have signed a production deal with Disney, sold a sizable stake in Lucasfilm or sold for Disney stock with a nice position like on the board. Instead, Lucas cashed out and has spent more time since Revenge of the Sith publicly talking about wanting to be done with Star Wars and denying that he ever said anything about a sequel trilogy.

 

[CinematicFusion]

Except that you shouldn't have been interested in Jurassic Park at all because it was Crichton, not Spielberg, who created the story and it is not what was presented in the film because he was told it needed to change. Even when he wrote a sequel book because there was a desire for a second film, there were considerable differences between the two.

Before Lucas started telling tall tales about his grand epic saga, he told of Star Wars being a serial where different film makers would write and direct stories set in the Star Wars universe. Lucas has also for years said he wanted to be done with Star Wars and do other, smaller projects. Lucas also allowed the expanded universe, starting with Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which was intended to be a cheap sequel film if Star Wars did not adequately perform at the box office.

Spielberg was bringing his visual interpretation of the book. I was also excited being a fan of Crichton. I'm not saying I like the movies, I was disappointed with both of them. I was still excited for it because I was fans of both Crichton and Spielberg. You get what I'm saying...maybe?

Yes...expanded star wars I never cared about. the only books I ever read was Splinters of the Minds Eye and the Thrawn series in the early 90's.

I'm good with the Disney Star Wars Spinoffs...I want other directors and writers to explore the world.
I'm talking about episodes 1-9. The ones Lucas would talk about making..that is until he was grilled so hard after the prequels he started acting like they never existed.
I always felt he was the one who should pen those movies. Directing and screen writing I wanted to go to someone else after Phantom. Lucas lost his touch...but I felt his story telling was still there.

Anyway, just one guys opinion. No more, no less.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Lucasfilm was doing just fine financially and Lucas could have easily done more Star Wars films if he so desired. Instead, Lucas has spent more time publicly talking about wanting to be done with Star Wars and denying that he ever said anything about a sequel trilogy.

OK, I will concede that if he gave it up and just wanted to go home and count his billions, then no one should really care, especially him. That would be voluntary relinquishing of his creation and correctly, he would have no one to blame but himself. It just seems that recently there have been a lot of instances of that type of thing happening to the originals.

I suppose that even Disney was guilty of that in doing Mary Poppins his own way in defiance of the wishes of her creator. He was probably correct in updating it to more identifiable characters and tone.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I find that an interesting statement. In light of all the comments on how Walt Disney would not be welcome in Igers Disney Company is such an awful thing. It is a different era. George Lucas being excluded from a project that he actually created and made famous. Now, he's not wanted or needed and he's still alive. Didn't the same thing happen to Steve Jobs and Apple? The very place that he created and built from the ground up, and he was no longer thought to be necessary in running the company. It's a strange world!

I'm not the best person to comment on the Apple situation myself, i've never liked Apple with or without Steve Jobs (I grew up with Apple products but i've since found life much better without them). So i'll allow others to comment on it, ford91exploder had a good comment on the matter above. From what I gather, Steve Jobs was forced out by financial heads in the company. Likely because they saw him as a threat, not because he was putting out poor products and the general public began to detest him for it. It apparently was not Apple fans who turned against him but some sort of power struggle by executives.

But I am a Walt Disney fan (the person and his philosophies by which the company used to adhere to). Walt Disney was and is (by those who actually realize he was a real person and know anything about him) considered an avatar of quality. Much of what was created under Walt Disney was so successful BECAUSE of Walt Disney. That's not to discredit the absolutely brilliant imagineers, animators and writers that helped bring his ideas to life (many of whom themselves went on to become avatars of creativity and quality). But Walt Disney was the brains of the operation. Generally speaking, there's practically nothing that Walt Disney touched that wasn't overflowing with quality and worth. From the time he really began to kick off his career in the 1920s until his death in 1966, he proved himself a constant and uncompromising force of brilliance in entertainment. The more control he had over a project, the better it turned out. The reason he wouldn't be welcome in the company today is because the people who run the company don't want a quality product for consumers (which means expending money and effort). He would be a threat to the way they wish to run the company (short term profits by running things to failure). Similar to how Tony Baxter was perceived as a small but troublesome threat and nuisance and forced into retirement (not because he was bad for the company).

George Lucas has not earned the same level of admiration as Walt Disney. He obviously has (or had) some degree of talent. But i'd say Star Wars has at least as much poor quality as high quality. The poor decisions even crept into the original trilogy occasionally (particularly certain parts of Return of the Jedi). The best things about Star Wars are some of the elements he had the least control over, often elements he admits to disliking. Polar opposite to Walt Disney where the more control Walt had, the better the product turned out. The vast majority of Disney fans held Walt's entire career in the highest regard. Whereas in regards to Star Wars, even a vast portion of the fanbase has turned against Lucas for the massive damage he's inflicted upon his own creations...

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm not the best person to comment on the Apple situation myself, i've never liked Apple with or without Steve Jobs (I grew up with Apple products but i've since found life much better without them). So i'll allow others to comment on it, ford91exploder had a good comment on the matter above. From what I gather, Steve Jobs was forced out by financial heads in the company. Likely because they saw him as a threat, not because he was putting out poor products and the general public began to detest him for it. It apparently was not Apple fans who turned against him but some sort of power struggle by executives.

But I am a Walt Disney fan (the person and his philosophies by which the company used to adhere to). Walt Disney was and is (by those who actually realize he was a real person and know anything about him) considered an avatar of quality. Much of what was created under Walt Disney was so successful BECAUSE of Walt Disney. That's not to discredit the absolutely brilliant imagineers, animators and writers that helped bring his ideas to life (many of whom themselves went on to become avatars of creativity and quality). But Walt Disney was the brains of the operation. Relatively speaking, there's practically nothing that Walt Disney touched that wasn't overflowing with quality and worth. From the time he really began to kick off his career in the 1920s until his death in 1966, he proved himself a constant and uncompromising force of brilliance in entertainment. The more control he had over a project, the better it turned out. The reason he wouldn't be welcome in the company today is because the people who run the company don't want a quality product for consumers (which means expending money and effort). He would be a threat to the way they wish to run the company (short term profits by running things to failure). Similar to how Tony Baxter was perceived and forced into retirement (through no fault of his own or from any lack of quality).

George Lucas has not earned the same level of admiration as Walt Disney. He obviously has, or had, some degree of talent. But i'd say Star Wars has at least as much poor quality as high quality. I say at least as much because even the original trilogy is not completely devoid of **** (particularly certain parts of Return of the Jedi). The best things about Star Wars are some of the elements he had the least control over. Polar opposite to Walt Disney where the more control Walt had, the better the product turned out. The vast majority of Disney fans held Walt in the highest regard throughout his life. Whereas in regards to Star Wars, even a vast portion of the fanbase has turned against Lucas for the massive damage he's inflicted upon his own creations...

Walt, unlike Lucas, realized he was more of a big picture guy. Walt had his focuses and passions, but he wasn't writing scripts himself. There are a couple really lousy, poorly received shorts from the 1930s were Walt wanted to get more directly involved. The Empire Strikes Back was probably Lucas at his most Walt-like, putting together a team he supervised, following the model he outlined for the Star Wars serial. Instead of embracing that relationship, Lucas found it distasteful and took a more prominent role moving forward until The Force Awakens. Jobs actually fits between the two, wanting to get more involved in individual projects (something he was less adept at) and be less focused on the larger operation before ultimately being booted for being too difficult to work with. When Jobs returned he was still very much a micromanager but he did shift his focus to the larger picture.

 

[Gabe1]

With all the issues of F&W 2015 will bring 53 days of the fest going through the 16th of November. That is a lot of Fall celebrating at Epcot.

 

[Quinnmac000]

In George Lucas's defense, its his vision and to see your vision as an director, producer, etc not go as the way you wish it to go. It hurts. The films were like his kids. Star Wars is his baby. To see other people's influences and suggestions outweighing his is probably a pain and probably feels like a betrayal.

Like you are leading a project you think is great yet all of a sudden, it gets snatched away from you and the original focus and vision isn't present. I'm sure most people would feel hurt and later dislike and feel disdain for the project even if it came out better than what it originally would be because its no longer yours in a way.

 

[lazyboy97o]

In George Lucas's defense, its his vision and to see your vision as an director, producer, etc not go as the way you wish it to go. It hurts. The films were like his kids. Star Wars is his baby. To see other people's influences and suggestions outweighing his is probably a pain and probably feels like a betrayal.

Except that Lucas spent so much time talking about how he wanted to put Star Wars behind him. This also was not some Pixar-Circle 7 situation where Disney, owning the characters from the outset, told Lucas to go pound sand. He made the decision to sell Lucasfilm and not be actively involved in the new films.

 

[ford91exploder]

Except that Lucas spent so much time talking about how he wanted to put Star Wars behind him. This also was not some Pixar-Circle 7 situation where Disney, owning the characters from the outset, told Lucas to go pound sand. He made the decision to sell Lucasfilm and not be actively involved in the new films.

And let's not forget the deal was intentionally done before the new capital gains tax rates kicked in, Once again a limosine liberal does what they accuse others of doing putting the almighty buck ahead of the 'disenfranchised' they profess to be the champions of so Lucas got to keep an extra 800 Mil or so but it's ok because it went to a person with an 'evolved' sense of social justice,

Not some grubby small businessman who's trying to save for college and retirement and keep a roof over his family's head oh and by the way pay his employees.

The hypocrisy shown by Lucas and others in this case makes me ill.

 

[GrammieBee]

Anyone else see the youtube video of the entitled brat berating a manager in epcot because she didn't get a seat for hibachi?!

She cried sexual harassment and everything!

Crazy Girl at Disney World gets Mad!:

I want to give that poor guy a hug.

Just now catching up, so a little late with this post as you are now on a completely different topic. However----

How sad.. Her parents have either lost control over a very angry, out of control youth, or they have the same entitlement mentality and have taught her well. Hopefully, at some point or in some way she will learn the world does not revolve around her. If not, she will go through life being miserable and creating misery for everyone around her.

I have great respect for all those who have jobs involving direct contact with the general public. They need the patience of a saint, the tact of a diplomat and the hide of a rhino.

 

[Phil12]

Just now catching up, so a little late with this post as you are now on a completely different topic. However----

How sad.. Her parents have either lost control over a very angry, out of control youth, or they have the same entitlement mentality and have taught her well. Hopefully, at some point or in some way she will learn the world does not revolve around her. If not, she will go through life being miserable and creating misery for everyone around her.

I have great respect for all those who have jobs involving direct contact with the general public. They need the patience of a saint, the tact of a diplomat and the hide of a rhino.

She was probably just overtaken by the power of Japanese cuisine. It can do that to young people.

 

[Cesar R M]

I'm a fan of watching people creating ideas.
It would be like JK Rowling coming up with a new Potter story and then the publisher saying we like our Potter Story better and besides, the fans don't care who writes this Sh$%, they just care about Potter.
Not saying Lucas can write like Rowling. I am saying they are the ones who created the franchise and for better or worse should be the ones who have final say.
Again, to be fair, Lucas did give up his right to create the story when he sold. I think it will haunt him. He was already worth billions. Now he can never touch the franchise he started again.
It's so strange. I would freak out if I couldn't work on something I created.

Maybe I'm in a minority here but yes. I do care more about what Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas, (I could go on and on) do and not what the franchise they create continues to do. I didn't care about Jaws 2...I didn't care about Jurrasic Park 3. I didn't like Jurrasic Park 2, but cared about seeing it because Spielberg was directing.

So yeah...not as excited about Star Wars anymore. I'll enjoy it. I enjoyed Jurrassic Park 3....just wasn't that excited about it.

Make sense? Maybe it doesn't.

Except Lucas was never exactly used to write full stories, nor books.
He used to direct and create visual things (just like Spielberg), both created their own groups of special effects.
I would say that both are VISUAL visionaries, not writers in the way you claim Lucas is.