I'd like to take some time today to discuss something that means a lot to me. Something I think about on a daily basis. Something that can probably never be replaced in my life. A part of my life than has been near constant over at least the past twenty years.I'm of course talking about the original Star Wars trilogy. More importantly, how George Lucas has ruined all that was pure in my life.
Now, there are plenty of people, much smarter and coherent, than me who have discussed this in the past. So, where I'm going to come in at is the Audio Commentary on the DVDs, I'll stray from there...
I've been checking out the commentaries over the past week. Included are Irvin Kershner, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, Carrie Fisher and of course, Lucas. George is the only one I have an issue with. Would you like to know why? Wrote a song about it, wanna hear it, here it goes....
I wanted 1 thing from Lucas in the commentary track. I just wanted some insight into why. Why George, why did you steal my innocence?!? Um...I mean, why make the changes. Offer some BS if you have to. Instead, he doesn't even ACKNOWLEDGE them. The Special Edition, the DVDs, changes made for both of them, HUGE changes, never mentioned.
Now, say what you want about them being his movies, his ART, that he has a right to make them into the movies that he wants them to be. As a director, he has that right. So, as much as I may hate it, I will give him a pass on Star Wars. However, he did NOT direct The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi, that would have been Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand respectivly. Did THEY have a say in the changes? Did they want to go back and BASTARDIZE the movies that they had made? You see, as soon as you get out of the director's chair, you lose the right to your artistic vision, ask any writer who had their novel wrecked by making into a movie. And I now Lucas didn't get Marquand's direct approval because he DIED in 1987! So, Lucas took it upon himself to change a movie that, in a lot of ways, WAS NOT HIS.
At this point, these are not the movies that I grew up with. It's like DaVinci looking at the Mona Lisa today in a museum and adding a car in the background because paint brushes are made better now and he'd always imagined someone driving across the background. At that point, it's not the piece of art you've always known. It's something altogether knew. And it detroys the original, much like Lucas won't acknowledge that there are people who want Star Wars back the way the remember it.
Really, all I can do is deal with it. I just wish that Lucas would acknowledge the changes and give a real explanation for it all...
Next year is the 30th aniversary of the release of the original Star Wars...my guess is that Lucas takes Sir Alec Guiness out and replaces him with Ewan McGregor.
I'm not kidding.
