The most stunning thing about Empire is that the piece of crap ROTJ followed it. Empire just looked so big and slick with the sets and the heaviness about it. Jedi almost looked like it was done on the cheap in comparison.
At least with Jedi we finally found out the journey those proton torpedoes from A New Hope made. I know that allowed me to finally sleep at night after 6 years of mystery. What was even worse was that Luke's whole voyage of turning Darth Vader back to the Light side was pointless because it didn't matter. Had he failed, the Death Star would have still blown up and both the emperor and Vader would still be dead.
I think the point of that part of the movie was that Luke had to be tempted with the dark and overcome it to become a real Jedi Knight. It was Luke's story despite what three later films would try to shove down your throat.
The whole "sister" shit just goes to show that Lucas was making things up as he went along way before the prequel movies.
I think Lucas had not envisioned Vader being Luke's father when the original was made. I'm CERTAIN he did not have the idea that Luke and Leia were siblings. I think this things simply evolved as the screenplays for the sequels developed.
^THIS. I think Lucas is a freak. I remember one behind-the-scenes-thingy where some guy was talking about how Lucas personally designed the black S&M looking cat suit that Natalie Portman wore during her AotC Naboo scenes. Then he personally turned up on set to see her wearing it. Freak. Anyhoo... I think the truth is that Lucas couldn't resolve the Han-Luke-Leia love triangle realistically. So he just jumped over the whole issue and made Leia a Skywalker. Problem solved. Oh, and by the way Obi Wan, good job at hiding Luke and not even bothering to change his last name. Good thing Anakin was such an incompetent jackass anyway.
If I could make Natalie Portman wear whatever I wanted, and then perve at her wearing it, I certainly would too.
Given that Lucas directed Attack of the Clones, I don't find it unusually strange that he showed up to the set the day Natalie was wearing the S&M costume...
For me, Star Wars ended after Empire. I refuse to acknowledge the utter shitfest that was ROTJ and the entire prequel series. Lucas was once a semi-talented film maker who let all the hype go to his head. Now he deludes himself into believing that he's this creative genius, and surrounds himself with yes-men like Rick McKissAss who doesn't have the balls to tell Lucas that 90% of his ideas suck. Lucas would have been better off taking a hands-off approach as producer like he did with Empire and let more talented writers and directors take over the material. Unfortunately, no one has the balls or the clout to put Lucas in his place. Hell, even Steven Spielberg bends over for the flanneled one and allows him to fuck up his movies. I usually don't like fan-fiction, but I've had a story idea floating around in my brain for awhile now to completely re-write Return of The Jedi and take the story in an entirely new direction, one that would hopefully be more satisfying than the shit we got that would open the doors for Episodes 7, 8 & 9. Yeah, I know - fan fic mostly sucks, but I think this one has some potential. Maybe I'll post some excerpts in the Blue Room and get some feedback....
Ya know the first thing that went thru my head when Vader said "I am your father!"? HE'S DARTH VADER! DON'T BELIEVE HIM!!! I think it would have cooler if Vader was lying, and part the next movie involved Luke learning some interesting truth about why Vader was lying, and what really happened top Anikin Skywalker.
I wouldn't exactly call what Lucas does "directing". Here's a page out of Lucas' Directing 101 book. Dialogue Scenes -- "Faster! More intense!" Love Scenes -- "Faster! More intense!" Space Battles -- "Faster! More intense!" Fucking Rick McCallum in the ass -- "Faster! More intense!"
