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!
