The Force was not strong with these George Lucas Star Wars ideas and plans...
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00:00From small screen flops to perhaps not getting the best out of landscape-shifting technology,
00:05it's safe to say the Force was not exactly strong with these particular Lucas Forge Star Wars
00:11elements. Gareth the Hutt here from WhatCultureStarWars and here are 10 things that did not
00:16go the way George Lucas wanted. 10. The Holiday Special
00:20In isolation, the concept of putting together a light-hearted holiday special, riffing on
00:26elements from a beloved franchise is pretty harmless, and even potentially a fairly entertaining
00:31endeavor if executed well. Just look at the success of Star Wars' own Lego variety of holiday treats,
00:37and the understandable buzz surrounding James Gunn's upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy riff on
00:42the festive season. However, with high levels of anticipation can sometimes come a bit of a
00:47lackluster end product. Evidenced in this galaxy far, far away's first attempt to bring a bit of
00:53festive cheer to George Lucas' corner of the small screen universe. Absolutely destroyed by
00:58critics upon landing on CBS in November 1978, despite roping in the majority of the feature
01:04players from the smash hit that was A New Hope, Lucas' odd desire to have much of this TV Star Wars
01:10adventure centered around Chewbacca's Wookiee family didn't exactly bear the sort of fruit he was
01:15hoping for. Outside of the animated introducing of instantly iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett, there's a
01:21reason Lucas has done everything in his power to distance himself from just about everything to do
01:25with this ill-fated special as the years have gone by.
01:289. Star Wars Underworld
01:30Long before Disney Plus were unleashing fresh new live-action Star Wars tales by the quarter on their
01:36streaming service, George Lucas set out to tell his own small-screen space-age story set between the
01:41events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Yet with this still being the mid-to-late noughties,
01:46the idea of throwing tens of millions of dollars at a project designed purely for televised
01:50consumption wasn't as widely accepted as it is today. So despite putting together some rather
01:56intriguing test footage that would later leak online in 2020, and dreaming up a potential 100
02:01hours of content for the show, Star Wars Underworld ultimately didn't make it onto our screens due to
02:07budget concerns. Simply put, forking out $2-4 million per episode was a pretty steep investment back then,
02:13and Lucas and co. felt that it was probably best to put the entire project on hold until technology
02:19caught up and allowed them to produce the show on a smaller budget. In the end though, upon being
02:23purchased by Disney, Lucasfilm opted to steer clear of Lucas' underworld branding when firing up their
02:28streaming service, and telling their own post-prequel TV tales seen in the likes of this year's
02:33Obi-Wan Kenobi.
02:348. Midichlorians Don't Go Down a Treat
02:37Instead of dropping jaws around the world and leaving fans feeling wholly satisfied at the revelation of
02:43microscopic organisms in the blood of all living things known as midichlorians, being the reason
02:47some folks can move rocks with a wave of their hand, the entire Phantom Menace exposition dump
02:53Qui-Gon Jinn delivers to a baffled future Darth Vader felt like a needless way of overcomplicating
02:58matters. Sure, it helped establish how ridiculously OP Anakin Skywalker was from the second the
03:03unorthodox Jedi Master stumbled upon the Tatooine lad, but the complete lack of midichlorian nonsense
03:09in the celebrated tales that would follow this table setter of a trilogy, only further hammered
03:13home the pointless nature of adding some bizarre concrete science to this mystical way of manipulating
03:18the energy around us. And with many of the folks involved in bringing elements of the franchise
03:22into existence, like Death Star Legends author Steve Perry, also noting how the concept of
03:28midichlorians was less than inspired, it's clear Lucas didn't convince a great many that this prequel
03:33edition was in any way essential. 7. Han Definitely Shot First
03:38As time would trickle on by, it soon became clear that a few seemingly innocuous beats housed within
03:43the likes of A New Hope were not to the creator's liking in the slightest. So on top of eventually
03:48stuffing a dreadful amount of clunky CGI into later special editions of his OG set of flicks,
03:54Lucas set about chopping and changing one specific scene involving everyone's favourite smuggler
03:59blasting an alien into next week. With Han Solo infamously firing first in his tense exchange
04:04with Greedo on Mos Eisley, Lucas quickly decided that he actually didn't want his lovable scamp to
04:09come across as a cold-blooded murderer so early in the Star Wars day. But his multiple attempts to
04:15reframe the moment by letting loose a surreal red laser shot from the green alien's blaster a millisecond
04:21before the eventual general does, has only added further fuel to the hand-shot first fire,
04:26and another hilariously clunky sequence to an already perfectly fine 1977 entry.
04:316. An Epic Love Story Fails to Deliver
04:34It's evident that George Lucas had some rather high hopes for certain facets of his prequel trilogy,
04:40particularly the passionate romance between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala that would prove to be
04:45the catalyst for the creation of the most iconic villain in the galaxy. However, what could have been a
04:50tragic tale of forbidden love ultimately wound up being remembered more for its highly memeable attempts
04:55to conjure up some genuine chemistry between two actors trying their utmost to make lemonade out of
05:00some of the worst dialogue ever committed to this galaxy far, far away. And oh boy, is that saying
05:05something? Perhaps even more tragically, looking back on the hours of behind-the-scenes footage available
05:09on these early 2000s adventures, tells the story of the likes of Lucas, Natalie Portman, and Hayden
05:14Christensen, all very much treating the love epic with the sort of care and respect needed to give
05:19Skywalker's eventual turn the dramatic hoof it so desperately deserved. But all of the good
05:25intentions in the world couldn't save anyone from monologues about sand and Shaq frolicking in the
05:30fields of Naboo. 5. A more uncompromising Anakin Skywalker was not PG-13. George Lucas was under no
05:37illusions when it came to the birth of the unmistakable force that was Darth Vader in his
05:42prequel flicks. He had to be as terrifying and unstoppable as humanly or cyborgly possible.
05:47But that is quite a tough task when you're faced with producing a flick that has to fall in line
05:52with a strict PG-13 rating. And it led to Lucas having to slightly censor his diabolical fallen
05:58Jedi in the editing room. In particular, an infamous scene which depicts Anakin savagely setting the
06:03stage for the massacring of a number of innocent younglings was said to have been originally much
06:07darker, according to Palpatine actor Ian McDermid. And while McDermid felt it was probably a good idea
06:13to cut out the more gruesome version of the Order 66 scene, he did also recall a
06:17conversation with Lucas about the grisly cutting down of the next generation of Jedi.
06:22On the other hand, George says,
06:23That's what he's like, this guy. He's uncompromising. People should know it.
06:28But sadly, they weren't allowed to fully know it back in 2005.
06:314. Letting Ewoks Bring Down an Empire
06:34As already noted, Lucas' original trilogy is widely regarded as one of the most celebrated
06:39cinematic feats in moviemaking history. Yet that's not to say that each and every component
06:43of this intergalactic machine completely clicked with the paying public out of the gates.
06:48In fact, the sight of a bunch of teddy bears taking down the big bad empire that had been
06:53wreaking havoc on the galaxy for three films was divisive to say the least during Return of the
06:57Jedi. Lucas has gone on record to defend the inclusion of the Ewoks in the Battle of Endor
07:02over a previously planned Wookiee population by stating that they were merely a way of distracting
07:07the Imperial troops. But that still wasn't enough to convince most that these cuddly souls possess the
07:11firepower to hold off the most advanced army of the time. In reality, the Ewoks were likely
07:16designed as little more than a way to appeal to the younger demographic and sell some stuffed toys
07:21upon release. But either way, they still sit as another of the rare opinion splitters in this
07:26generally cherished original trilogy.
07:283. Blue Screen Work Doesn't Mask a Lack of Soul
07:31Few would argue against the fact that George Lucas helped thoroughly change the game with his use of
07:36computer-generated imagery in the prequels. With his utilizing of blue screens and combining of
07:41CGI with practical costumes and sets being genuinely groundbreaking at the time.
07:46But for all of the mesmerizing digitally enhanced battle scenes, beautifully computer-crafted locales,
07:52and fully animated clone and droid troops seen over the course of the prequels,
07:56there's no escaping the fact that this reliance on the artificial over the real deal robs Star Wars of
08:01some of its heart. With the original trilogy of flicks regularly finding itself shooting on location
08:06or fully built sets, due to technology not giving Lucas the tools needed to digitally craft his own
08:11imaginary worlds, the planets we occupied and stories that were being told felt tangible and
08:16came equipped with a touch more soul. And while undoubtedly impressive in execution, the reality of
08:21actors being forced to exhaust their imaginations by constantly performing in front of little more
08:26than a bland blue background, eventually led to a set of features that, while visually ahead of their time,
08:31felt unfortunately hollow.
08:332. Jar Jar Binks CGI Groundbreaker
08:36And speaking of CGI endeavors not exactly landing in the way Lucas would have hoped,
08:41what once looked destined to be perhaps the most important Star Wars development of the time,
08:45quickly devolved into little more than a stick to beat the creators' precious prequels with.
08:50I'm of course talking about the controversial Phantom Menace debut of the first ever fully computer-generated
08:55supporting player in a live-action flick by the name of Jar Jar Binks.
08:59Blatantly designed to once again appeal to the younger demo, an admittedly impressive technological
09:04feat was very quickly overshadowed by the need to present Binks as little more than lazy slapstick
09:09comic relief. Despite all of the backlash sent the characters' way, though, Lucas defiantly stands
09:14by Binks being his favorite character in the series, saying as much when saluting Ahmed Best for his
09:20dedicated work in bringing the Gungan to life on set and in the recording booth throughout the flicks.
09:24With Ewan McGregor admitting to wanting to work with Best again in the future whilst promoting
09:29Disney Plus' Obi-Wan Kenobi, perhaps now may be as good a time as any to rehabilitate a CGI
09:34character in need of some desperate TLC. Mesa thinks so very, very much.
09:391. The Sequel Trilogy
09:40Despite ultimately deciding to all but part ways with this galaxy far, far away in 2012,
09:46upon Disney's purchasing of Lucasfilm, George Lucas still found himself involved in the process of
09:51bringing the House of Mouse's sequel trilogy into existence, acting as a creative consultant
09:55during its early stages of development. However, as Lucas would later go on to confess in a
10:00conversation with CinemaBlend in 2015, pretty much all of his original ideas for the next trilogy of
10:05Skywalker saga flicks, and The Force Awakens in particular, were binned off early on.
10:10Later on, Lucas would frequently take aim at Disney's direction heading into The Force Awakens,
10:15criticizing the first entry's retro feel, with the sequels definitely going down a completely
10:20different role to the one previously planned by Lucas many moons ago.
10:23As revealed in the Star Wars archives 1999-2005, Lucas wanted to center the tale around Leia
10:29Organa's rebuilding of the Republic, with Darth Maul returning to train the new Darth Vader in
10:34the form of a girl known as Darth Talon. Aside from Leia acting as the leader of the Resistance in a
10:39supporting capacity, though, it seems Disney had little interest in sticking to Lucas' initial
10:44plan for the stories that would follow his sacred original space opera trio.
10:48That ends our list. Know of any other things that didn't go the way George Lucas wanted?
10:53Let this padawan know in the comments section right down below, and do not forget to like,
10:57share, and click on that subscribe button while you're there. Also, if you feel the pull of the
11:00force towards this sort of stuff, then head on over to whatculture.com and find some more
11:04awesome articles, just like the one this video you're watching right now is based on.
11:08I've been Gareth from WhatCulture Star Wars, may the force be with you, thank you very much for
11:12watching this video today, and hopefully I will see your faces very, very soon. Bye-bye!