Dear George Lucas.....

[SithDroid]

Shouldn't there be a section for this included in the SSG area? Many of us have wanted to voice our opinions and ideas to GL, but there isn't a proper way to do it. I think that it would be a great subcategory to add. I know the posibilities of GL actually reading these posts is about a million to one, but I feel that this area is needed. A thread off the top of my head that could go here right now would be the "I want to see Anakin Skywalker the greatest starpilot in the galaxy." A lot of the Ep III stuff could fit into this category as well. What do you think?

[Wolfwood319]

I think the general discussion and specific film areas are good enough. After all, what are the film areas for other than discussing the films, and most of what is discussed could also be considered a "Dear George" type of statement if re-worded.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Dear George,

Let me write Episode III and I won't post these embarassing photos we took in Madrid all over the internet. Ha ha ha. Can somebody say nudist colony? And can I just say thats a lot of vaseline to waste on one goat. Please get back to me soon Georgie-kins.

Your "Special" Friend

Rollo.

[stillakid]

Dear George,

Could I go out with your Playmate girlfriend sometime? Really, I only need like, 20 minutes or so. You could spend that time away from her reviewing some of the notes we've left for you on the discussion boards. Think of it this way, if you make Episode III even better, you'll have almost as much money as a Saudi sheik and you can afford to steal away Hugh's entire harem.

your friend,
stillakid

[JetsAndHeels]

Thats a good idea, but if you read the SW Vanity Fair issue recently, you know how George feels about internet speculation.
When asked about the boards and the internet talk about SW, he said "I dont give a damn about internet speculation" or something to that nature. That didnt make me feel too good, since WE here at SSG forums are all about SW. That is like a slap in the face.
Any thoughts on that?

[Mandalorian Candidat]

Dear George,

What's up with that dweebie friend of yours, you know, Rick M.C.? Do you and your other buddies laugh at him when he walks out of the room? Why did you hire that guy? Lose a bet or something? Does he have compromising pictures of you with a tauntaun puppet? I know, he must be your flannel shirt dealer. Come on, G. Lu. You're buddies with Spielberg and Coppola, you don't need that hosebag. Dump him like a steaming load and get on with your life.

Sincerely,

-MC-

[stillakid]

I can see how he wouldn't give the time of day to "speculation." I wouldn't either. For that matter, I don't. Speculation is simply someone's opinion about what they think might happen.

Critique is something else. I recall just a couple months ago reading here somewhere that George used to read the forums (I don't know which fan site) but stopped when he got "fed up" or something with people not giving TPM a chance. More specifically, I think he was referring to questions concerning Midichlorians and what they were all about.

It's hard for any writer to listen to critique about their work. The better one's realize that "writing is re-writing." George just isn't a writer at heart, so he isn't in that mindset to listen to opinions that might actually improve his work.

But, he's a billionaire. That kind of money gives you the freedom to ignore anybody you want to. I wish I had his problems.

[SithDroid]

Perhaps if GL DID listen to us, then perhaps some of the bad things could get fixed. However, if he is too stubborn to take advice, then that just tells me that he is arrogant and doesn't like to receive criticism. Unfortunately I think IMHO that GL just doesn't care anymore. He wants all the Special Effects to look really cool, but even in interviews he has said that a special effect is just a special effect if there is no story to go along with it. So then why does he spend more time on the special effects than the story? If he would have taken more time on the story for TPM then perhaps it wouldn't have turned out to be as cr*ppy as it had. I don't know. I'm beginning to give up on GL. Just because he had a great idea 25 years ago, doesn't mean he has them now. I hope that AOTC is amazing, or I will be extremely outraged. When it all comes down to it I think he is more interested in the money than the story. If he was more interested in the story then he would consult people, but since he is arrogant this is why we ALL have to suffer.

[stillakid]

Originally posted by SithDroid
Perhaps if GL DID listen to us, then perhaps some of the bad things could get fixed. However, if he is too stubborn to take advice, then that just tells me that he is arrogant and doesn't like to receive criticism. Unfortunately I think IMHO that GL just doesn't care anymore. He wants all the Special Effects to look really cool, but even in interviews he has said that a special effect is just a special effect if there is no story to go along with it. So then why does he spend more time on the special effects than the story? If he would have taken more time on the story for TPM then perhaps it wouldn't have turned out to be as cr*ppy as it had. I don't know. I'm beginning to give up on GL. Just because he had a great idea 25 years ago, doesn't mean he has them now. I hope that AOTC is amazing, or I will be extremely outraged. When it all comes down to it I think he is more interested in the money than the story. If he was more interested in the story then he would consult people, but since he is arrogant this is why we ALL have to suffer.

No need to lose all hope yet. He did bring in a co-writer for AOTC, Jonathan Hales, so at the very least, it shows that he recognizes the need for some input. If he's going to listen to opinions, the best place is at the writing stage. Once the foundation is sound, the rest of it should fall into place.

Plus, check out http://www.aint-it-cool.com/display.cgi?id=11618, (link courtesy of Unit-01), for an optimistic non-spoiler review of the screenplay.

Yeah, TPM was bad and nothing can change that, but maybe...just maybe, Ep II will hold it's own and keep us looking forward to Ep III.

[Jargo]

GL does listen. The lashback for TPM was overwhelmingly negative and to counter this he brought in Hales to 'pep' up the script so it didn't sound like a political studies professors first attempt at writing a John Grisham type novel.
he's also gone the other way and tried to take into account the criticisms by over egging the pudding with characters and creatures and droids and ships. he's trying too hard to please now. This is why the battle scenes will look messy. Cool but messy. There's also Georges love of 'whimsy'. Those whell tanks are pure whimsy just as the spider droids that look like a reject from the war of the worlds are. There's no point to them and they just get in the way of the battle. But the battle is just a bigger version of the same battle he's had in all his movies so far. The strength of star wars was in following characters and feeling sympathy/empathy for/with the characters. There was little of that in TPM so he's trying to achieve that again with Obi and Anakin and Padders. Having a fully functional 3PO is at least going to work better. R2 was lost in TPM without him.
George is beholden to no-one but himself. His vast millions don't enter into the equation. He's a self employed man who makes his own rules so why should he listen to a few fans on the internet?
I know I'm one of the people b*tching about the movies but if I was George I wouldn't go anywhere near a fan site. Why torture yourself? All George has to contend with is the distributors and the creditors. As long as the movie makes it's money back for the studios backing it like FOX what's the problem?
If anything George is bored with star wars. His interviews are getting more and more frank and he's coming over as tired and irritable. I think he wants shut of the whole project and will do so once he's finished episode three and got the DVDs out. I think that's the last we'll see of star wars from George.
Life's too short to spend it trying to please other people. I think that's why the movie's turning out like it is. He's making it for himself not us. Maybe he started out with this movie making it better for the fans but not now. Now it's his alone.