In Defense of George Lucas

Before You Crucify and Condemn Him Or Throw Him Any Further Under The Bus, Please Consider Where He Came From and What He’s Given Us:  Mr. George Lucas

 A long time ago, in Modesto, California…

We’re all know about George’s work in “a galaxy far, far away”, but very few people have looked for or are familiar with his other endeavors in film and later TV series.

Indiana Jones?  Recognize that name, perchance?  That came from George.

Ewoks, the little teddy-bear aliens from Star Wars Episode 6, Return of the Jedi, he created and executive produced an entire live action and animated TV series around these creatures.  More on the Star Wars saga later on.

The World War II film about a group of African-American pilots, Red Tails, the Tuskegee Airmen… George’s handiwork, too!

How many times have you watched Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, try to outrun that massive boulder at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark?  Me?  A bazillion, I’m sure.  And I don’t know if it was for effect or not, but when Indy stumbles and you’re sure he’ll get crushed, he gets right back up and high tails it out of that cave!  “It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.”

Hold up, here!  Steven Spielberg directed that movie.  Yes, you’re right, but it was George who created the Indy character, based on early film serials from his youth.

Does this ring a bell with you?     The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.

George Lucas.  The one and only.  He changed how Science Fiction movies were made and in the process created a world class Special Effects company, and gave it a really cool name:  Industrial Light and Magic. ILM. Next time you’re watching the credits of a film, look closely and I’m pretty sure you’ll see it there on the big screen.

It all began for young George back in 1971, with his first major motion picture, “THX 1138”.  Although it was not a commercial success for George, it did give him the confidence to push forward and make, “American Graffiti”, in 1973.  Graffiti, by the way, helped to spawn the hit TV show, “Happy Days”, which coincidentally starred Ron Howard; also in Graffiti, future Indiana Jones star, Harrison Ford.

George worked on the script for his next project, “Star Wars” for nearly two years.  Given the green light by Fox Studios’ head, Alan Ladd, George then made a very lucrative deal, unheard of at the time.  Instead of accepting huge pay raise for directing his new project, George went to the heads of Fox with a small proposal, to keep his salary at $150,000 in exchange for two seemingly insignificant requests: 1) That he retain all merchandising rights, and 2) that he would retain the rights to any sequels. At the time this was actually a fantastic deal for the studio. As for sequel rights, these were also not an important factor for Fox considering the fact that no executive thought the movie had any chance of making money the first time around. So off George went to finalize his script with $150,000 and what must have seemed like an incredibly naive contract in his pocket in 1973.

The rest, well, is history.  His current net worth is right around $7.5 billion.  Not bad for a kid from Modesto.  But, hey, remember… it’s just money.

Now, wait a minute.  What about the Star Wars prequels?  And specifically that annoying, racist, and offensive character, Jar Jar Binks?  Yeah, you’re right.  And even his ears look like dread-locks.  His walk?  Eh.

More time, actually, much more time could have been spent on a species that was much less offensive and much more endearing than the Gungans.  Almost anything would have been better.  I can let that part go, because, well, for me I kept trying to imagine what the technology would have looked like if it had truly been older and more dumbed-down than the original trilogy.

Yes, of course, Jar Jar was annoying and incredibly offensive (and stepping in that feces?? Yikes.)  But that aside, George and his team really should have made the overall look and feel of those three movies older, since they were supposed to be a prequels.  Would-a, could-a, should-a, right?

In the end, for me, I have only good things to say about George.  His first movie that I saw was American Graffiti.  It came out in the summer of 1973, I was to start high school in the fall and my friends and I hung around blasting the soundtrack on the radio, laughing to Wolfman Jack, humming, singing a few bars of Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, and, Chantilly Lace.  It was a magical time for me, and of course, I thank George for that.

I remember in 1977, opening night of Star Wars at the Westgate Theatre in Beaverton, Oregon.  It was amazing.  Incredible!  We’d never seen anything like it before, but we knew we had to see this thing again and again and again.  That’s how cool it was.

Mr. Lucas. George. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the wonderful movies, TV shows, and the funny and amazing characters you’ve created.  

For me, you’re still the best, and May The Force Be With You... Always!