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Date: 2006-02-06 02:51:34

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The George Lucas Interviews at SuperShadow.com
Sunday, February 5, 2006



The world is delighted by your imagination and I'm your wellwisher and I will always wish that may the Force be with you. Sir, I have got an idea. You can include a scene in victory celebration (Return of the Jedi) where at Naboo some flowers are dropped on Padme's grave. Thanks for Star Wars and please reply. Your no.1 fan from India. Guneet.

George Lucas: Your idea is a good one. No doubt about that. I?ve thought about getting Padme involved with the Naboo celebration, but I have never really found a satisfying way to pull this off. I don?t really want to show her grave because her name would be in Naboo so nobody would even know we were showing Padme?s grave because the Naboo alphabet is completely different from English. I guess I could have Padme whisper something like: ?Anakin, you are still good,? during the Return of the Jedi battle between Luke Skywalker and Vader. As it stands now, Padme will probably never have a major role in the old films.

Willow II and III. What were they going to be? I'm sure they would have been great.

George Lucas: I envisioned Willow as a trilogy. Willow 2 and 3 were going to focus on the search for an enchanted orb, which had many secret powers. The villain would be a mystical entity from the Great East. This entity would be multi-dimensional and exist on a higher plain of existence. Willow and Madmartigan would have been the main characters. The terrible thing about Willow is that it was a total box-office dud. It pulled in about $ 50 million dollars in the United States. We lost a lot of money on that one. It nearly ruined Ron Howard?s career. It took him two years to get another chance to direct after the Willow fiasco. I?m glad I didn?t ruin his career. I thought we had another Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I was wrong. Instead we produced a mammoth failure like Howard the Duck and Radioland Murders.

Dear Mr. Lucas, I want to thank you for making the best saga of all times. I mean it is even better than Frank Herbert?s Dune and Tolkien?s the Lord of the Rings. I am besides Star Wars a big fan of anime films like Akira, Ghost in Shell and the Dragon Ball Z saga and Frank Herbert?s Dune saga, but none of those could compare to greatness of Star Wars. Tell me what is your favorite anime and was Dune partly an inspiration for you in making Star Wars. Thank you, Mr. Lucas, for making my life better.

George Lucas: Thanks for the kind words. I?m excited to have such a passionate fan such as yourself. Tolkien?s work of fiction is very disappointing. It?s basically three books about two short people walking around all the time trying to destroy some ring. Peter Jackson had to change Tolkien?s books significantly in order to make the story interesting enough for film. Dune is also another one that will put you to sleep. People living in a desert searching for spice is really boring. I have to admit that the idea for Tatooine comes from Dune. However, I made my barren world much more interesting than anything seen in Dune. My favorite anime projects would have to be Takira?s Storm Robot Challenge, the 1970's version of Battle of the Planets and Osaki?s Planet of the Doomed Warrior Elite. I don?t have a lot of time to spend watching TV, but I do enjoy a little anime every month or so.

Hello George, thanks for the movies and for something me and my son can enjoy as my father did with me. My question is was it Anakin's frustration that finally did him in? Or just Anakin?s overconfidence because Obi-Wan took everything he had. Also why was Obi-Wan always on the defensive side. Why didn't Obi-Wan show an attack points he was sent there to do a job and he was always on the D. Was it because Obi-Wan knew that the will of the Force was with him and he would be O.K.? Or was it he couldn't attack his brother? God bless. Troy.

George Lucas: Anakin succumbed to the dark side for several reasons. First, Anakin was frustrated with the Jedi?s inability to accept his superiority over all other Jedi. Second, Obi-Wan circumvented Anakin?s progress towards greatness. Third, Anakin wanted a kind of unlimited power that the light side could not offer. These three factors allowed Sidious to trick Anakin into joining the dark side. If the Jedi had acknowledged Anakin as the best Jedi ever, had gotten Obi-Wan off Anakin?s back and allowed Anakin to do whatever he pleased, then the fall of the Jedi and Old Republic at the hands of the Sith probably wouldn?t have occurred.

Obi-Wan was on the defensive at Mustafar because he didn?t really believe he needed to kill Anakin. Obi-Wan loved Anakin like a brother. Obi-Wan was essentially the only father Anakin ever knew. Obi-Wan held on to the belief that Anakin could be turned back to the good. The only reason Obi-Wan defeated Anakin was because Anakin gave Obi-Wan no other choice.

Hi Mr. Lucas, a big fan here. You mentioned you wanted to have a huge battle with hundreds of Jedi and Dark Jedi. What about something like Massive, used by Weta? Wouldn't something like that (except instead of swords, you'd beef it up with Force powers and light sabers, etc.) be technically possible within the next 2 - 3 years with technology progressing as fast as it does?

George Lucas: What a naive mind you have. Weta is one of the worst special-effects houses in the world. Massive is a very primitive tool to produce digital effects. The battles in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy all look like something made by a kindergartner. Massive only looks half-way decent when the fighters are extremely small and the camera is pulled way back. We need a revolutionary system that will allow us close up pans of hundreds of warriors. No such technology exists in the present day. It will be another ten years before ILM develops the necessary special effects to capture my vision. Please don?t waste my time with amateurish ways of film making.

Dear George, I know that you may not be able to read this as you will be completely swamped with other fan mail. I only have 4 questions. 1 - Who was the original Sith Lord? 2 - If Leia and Han Solo had light sabres, what colour would they be? 3 - Do you think making Episodes 7, 8 and 9 into films will dampen a otherwise great series of films? And finally 4 - Did Palpatine have any children? Thank you for your time reading my post. Yours, Aaron Osman.

George Lucas: For official information about the first Sith, you need to read the History of the Jedi and Sith section of SuperShadow.com. Leia would prefer a pink light-saber blade color. This would be permissible under Luke?s relaxed Jedi Code. Han would want a blueish-gold tinted light-saber blade. He would want something unique. Episode 7 to 9 bring the Star Wars saga to a complete triumphant conclusion. As long as the dark side exists, the story never really ends for the Skywalkers. The only way to bring the story of Luke and Anakin to a fitting conclusion is to actually show the final destruction of the dark side. Palpatine never had any children because they would be a threat to him.

Dear Mr. Lucas. I am Chris from England and I love Star Wars. My life has been impacted by the films as I watch all the films during each week. I have a couple of questions for you here on SuperShadow. Firstly - I know in the USA that there was a few spin off TV programs made soon after Return of the Jedi which are never shown here in England. Will these ever be released on DVD/Video? Secondly in Revenge of the Sith it was told that Qui-Gon Jinn made himself immortal. Wouldn't it have been cool to here Qui-Gon Jinn talk to Yoda? I hope you answer these questions Mr. Lucas. You are a Total Legend, the most influential guy in my life!

George Lucas: I?m glad you are so supportive. Watching the films each week is a tremendously fulfilling accomplishment. You are one of the true die-hard fans that make me so proud. Continue to follow your Star Wars ways. The U.K. market is really tiny. There are only about 60 something million people in your country. It?s not economically feasible to release our entire Star Wars library in your country. You need to visit some British web sites that sell U.S. Star Wars products so that you can get the material you are missing. We toyed with the idea of having Qui-Gon and Yoda speak to each other during Revenge of the Sith. We tested this for one particular scene, but it really didn?t work. I thought it was best to leave the Jedi vanishing trick as a mystery. Something the fans could debate forever. There is no need to remove all the mysteries from the films.

Dear Mr. Lucas, I am your biggest fan. Same goes for my two older brothers aged 20 and 17. I'm 16 years old. In my opinion, Star Wars is like the best thing to happen in the history of this Earth. Anyway, I probably sound like a stalker. Lol! I want to be a film maker as well. And I like your idea of going independent so that the film is COMPLETELY yours. My question though is how did you get started? Financially. Or even mentally. But mainly financially. I wanna make independent films so I am IN CHARGE of the gold as they say. But I get worried about how much harder independent would be. Thanks so much for your time, Mr. Lucas.

George Lucas: Thanks for being such a wonderful fan. Having stalkers just means you have made a huge impact on this planet. I?m honored that you wish to become a fellow film maker. Being an independent film maker in Hollywood is extremely difficult. For financial reasons, I couldn?t start out as an independent because I lacked the resources to finance my own films. Even after American Graffiti made me a multi-millionaire, I still didn?t have enough money to finance Star Wars all by myself.

I had the mind set to be on my own, but I simply lacked the cash. The surprising success of Star Wars finally gave me the kind of money I needed to break free from the iron-grip of the major studio system. Fortunately, I was able to swindle 20th Century Fox by getting the sequel and merchandising rights to Star Wars. You may wonder how I pulled off such a deal, but back in the 1970's sequels and merchandising rights to science-fiction films were worthless. Fox actually thought they were ripping me off because I took such a small salary in order to get those rights and a large percentage of the net box-office gross.

I don?t think any film maker on the way up could make that kind of deal today. Right now, the studios won?t give you any ancillary rights that might potentially be worth something. You have a long road to independence in film making. You will have to start out as a slave of Hollywood. If you make financially successful films, you might earn enough money so that one day you can break free and finance your own films. I don?t envy the arduous road you have ahead. Few will be able to make it in today?s situation. I wish you the best.

What would have happened if Obi-Wan had battled Darth Sidious instead of Anakin? Would Obi-Wan have defeated Sidious (since he is more powerful) and would Yoda have beaten Anakin? Would the galaxy still be in peace and prosperity? Please e-mail me at (e-mail address omitted).

George Lucas: Obi-Wan fought Dooku twice and lost both times. If Obi-Wan couldn?t defeat Dooku, then he would have little hopes against Sidious. Yoda likely would have killed Anakin because Yoda did not have the same kind of bond with Anakin that Obi-Wan had. Without Anakin, Sidious would have had a tougher time taking down the Jedi and Old Republic. However, Sidious would have found a replacement for Anakin and the same outcome would have transpired. The Empire would still exist. With Anakin gone, there would have been nobody to save Luke Skywalker from Sidious. The Sith might have reigned for a very long time if Anakin had been killed during Revenge of the Sith.

George Lucas you rock! I am a big, big fan of all Star Wars. I know many things from you. I wonder what you think about new space films that are not good like Star Wars? What do you say to bad film makers?

George Lucas: There are no bad films. The only bad films are the ones that don?t get made. I?ve made several films that are considered low quality by many people, but I?m glad I still made those films. You learn a lot from failure. Once you taste massive box-office disaster, you tend to enjoy the successes a little bit more. I still don?t understand why Star Wars has such a large following. Star Wars is practically the only science-fiction franchise that can earn so much money. I don?t know why this is so. However, you need to appreciate all ?space films.? It is a miracle getting any film made so appreciate what few science-fiction films we have.