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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 elements
00:26from 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 center around Chewbacca's Wookiee family didn't exactly bear the sort of fruit he was hoping
01:15for. Outside of the animated introducing of instantly iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett, there's a reason
01:21Lucas has done everything in his power to distance himself from just about everything to do with
01:25this ill-fated special as the years have gone by. 9. Star Wars Underworld
01:30Long before Disney Plus were unleashing fresh new live-action Star Wars tales by the quarter on
01:35their streaming service, George Lucas set out to tell his own small-screen space-age story set
01:41between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Yet with this still being the mid-to-late
01:45noughties, the idea of throwing tens of millions of dollars at a project designed purely for
01:50televised consumption wasn't as widely accepted as it is today. So despite putting together some
01:55rather intriguing test footage that would later leak online in 2020, and dreaming up a potential
02:01100 hours of content for the show, Star Wars Underworld ultimately didn't make it onto our screens
02:06due to budget concerns. Simply put, forking out $2-4 million per episode was a pretty steep investment
02:13back then, and Lucas and co. felt that it was probably best to put the entire project on hold
02:17until technology caught up and allowed them to produce the show on a smaller budget.
02:22In the end though, upon being purchased by Disney, Lucasfilm opted to steer clear of Lucas'
02:26underworld branding when firing up their streaming service, and telling their own post-prequel TV
02:31tales seen in the likes of this year's Obi-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
02:42revelation of microscopic organisms in the blood of all living things known as midichlorians,
02:47being the reason some folks can move rocks with a wave of the hand, the entire Phantom Menace
02:52exposition dump Qui-Gon Jinn delivers to a baffled future Darth Vader felt like a needless way of
02:57overcomplicating matters. Sure, it helped establish how ridiculously OP Anakin Skywalker was from the
03:03second the unorthodox Jedi Master stumbled upon the Tatooine lad, but the complete lack of midichlorian
03:08nonsense in the celebrated tales that would follow this table setter of a trilogy, only further
03:13hammered home the pointless nature of adding some bizarre concrete science to this mystical way of
03:18manipulating the energy around us. And with many of the folks involved in bringing elements of the
03:22franchise into 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
03:37As 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
04:20millisecond before 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,
04:39particularly 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
05:09available on these early 2000s adventures, tells the story of the likes of Lucas, Natalie Portman,
05:14and Hayden Christensen, all very much treating the love epic with the sort of care and respect needed
05:19to give Skywalker's eventual turn the dramatic hoof it so desperately deserved.
05:24But all of the good intentions in the world couldn't save anyone from monologues about sand
05:28and Shaq frolicking in the fields of Naboo.
05:315. A more uncompromising Anakin Skywalker was not PG-13 that has to fall in line with a strict PG-13 rating,
05:39and it led to Lucas having to slightly censor his diabolical fallen Jedi in the editing room.
05:44In particular, an infamous scene which depicts Anakin savagely setting the stage for the massacring
05:49of a number of innocent younglings was said to have been originally much darker,
05:53according to Palpatine actor Ian McDiarmid. And while McDiarmid felt it was probably a good
05:57idea to cut out the more gruesome version of the Order 66 scene, he did also recall a conversation
06:02with Lucas about the grisly cutting down of the next generation of Jedi. On the other hand,
06:07George says,
06:08That's what he's like, this guy. He's uncompromising. People should know it.
06:13But sadly, they weren't allowed to fully know it back in 2005.
06:164. Letting Ewoks bring down an empire
06:19As already noted, Lucas' original trilogy is widely regarded as one of the most celebrated
06:24cinematic feats in moviemaking history. Yet that's not to say that each and every component
06:28of this intergalactic machine completely clicked with the paying public out of the gates.
06:33In fact, the sight of a bunch of teddy bears taking down the big bad empire
06:37that had been wreaking havoc on the galaxy for three films was divisive to say the least
06:42during Return of the Jedi. Lucas has gone on record to defend the inclusion of the Ewoks
06:46in the Battle of Endor over a previously planned Wookiee population by stating that they were
06:50merely a way of distracting the Imperial troops. But that still wasn't enough to convince most
06:55that these cuddly souls possessed the firepower to hold off the most advanced army of the time.
07:00In reality, the Ewoks were likely designed as little more than a way to appeal to the younger
07:04demographic and sell some stuffed toys upon release. But either way, they still sit as
07:08another of the rare opinion splitters in this generally cherished original trilogy.
07:133. Blue Screen Work Doesn't Mask a Lack of Soul
07:16Few would argue against the fact that George Lucas helped thoroughly change the game with
07:21his use of computer-generated imagery in the prequels. With his utilising of blue screens and
07:26combining of CGI with practical costumes and sets being genuinely groundbreaking at the time.
07:31But for all of the mesmerising, digitally enhanced battle scenes, beautifully computer-crafted
07:36locales, and fully animated clone and droid troops seen over the course of the prequels,
07:41there's no escaping the fact that this reliance on the artificial over the real deal robs Star
07:45Wars of some of its heart. With the original trilogy of flicks regularly finding itself shooting
07:50on location or fully built sets, due to technology not giving Lucas the tools needed to digitally craft
07:56its own imaginary worlds, the planets we occupied and stories that were being told felt tangible
08:01and came acquit with a touch more soul. And while undoubtedly impressive in execution,
08:06the reality of actors being forced to exhaust their imaginations by constantly performing in
08:10front of little more than a bland blue background eventually led to a set of features that,
08:15while visually ahead of their time, felt unfortunately hollow.
08:182. Jar Jar Binks CGI Groundbreaker And speaking of CGI endeavours not exactly
08:24landing in the way Lucas would have hoped, what once looked destined to be perhaps the most
08:28important Star Wars development of the time, quickly devolved into little more than a stick
08:32to beat the creators' precious prequels with. I'm of course talking about the controversial
08:36Phantom Menace debut of the first ever fully computer-generated supporting player in a live-action
08:42flick by the name of Jar Jar Binks. Blatantly designed to once again appeal to the younger demo,
08:47an admittedly impressive technological feat was very quickly overshadowed by the need to present
08:52Binks as little more than lazy slapstick comic relief. Despite all of the backlash sent the
08:57characters' way though, Lucas defiantly stands by Binks being his favourite character in the series,
09:02saying as much when saluting Ahmed Best for his dedicated work in bringing the Gungan to life on set
09:07and in the recording booth throughout the flicks. With Hugh McGregor admitting to wanting to work with
09:12Best again in the future whilst promoting Disney Plus' Obi-Wan Kenobi, perhaps now may be as good
09:17a time as any to rehabilitate a CGI character in need of some desperate TLC. Mesa thinks so very,
09:23very much.
09:241. The Sequel Trilogy
09:26Despite ultimately deciding to all but part ways with this galaxy far, far away in 2012,
09:31upon Disney's purchasing of Lucasfilm, George Lucas still found himself involved in the process
09:36of bringing the House of Mouse's sequel trilogy into existence, acting as a creative consultant
09:40during its early stages of development. However, as Lucas would later go on to confess in a conversation
09:46with CinemaBlend in 2015, pretty much all of his original ideas for the next trilogy of Skywalker
09:51saga flicks, and The Force Awakens in particular, were binned off early on. Later on, Lucas would
09:56frequently take aim at Disney's direction heading into The Force Awakens, criticizing the first entry's
10:01retro feel, with the sequels definitely going down a completely different road to the one
10:06previously planned by Lucas many moons ago. After revealed in the Star Wars archives 1999-2005,
10:12Lucas wanted to center the tale around Leia Organa's rebuilding of the Republic,
10:16with Darth Maul returning to train the new Darth Vader in the form of a girl known as Darth Talon.
10:21Aside from Leia acting as the leader of the Resistance in a supporting capacity though,
10:26it seems Disney had little interest in sticking to Lucas' initial plan for the stories that would
10:30follow his sacred original space opera trio.
10:33That ends our list! Know of any other things that didn't go the way George Lucas wanted?
10:37Let this padawan know in the comments section right down below, and do not forget to like,
10:41share, and click on that subscribe button while you're there! Also, if you feel the pull of the
10:45Force towards this sort of stuff, then head on over to WhatCulture.com and find some more
10:49awesome articles just like the one this video you're watching right now is based on.
10:52I've been Gareth from WhatCulture Star Wars, may the Force be with you, thank you very much for
10:56watching this video today, and hopefully I will see your faces very, very soon. Bye-bye!
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