Thank the Maker!

Good Ladies and Gents of InternetLand,

Below is a long-promised post. I'm sorry for the delay.... Really, I am! If you saw today's earlier post, you'll see that I've been working on other things too!

I originally watched this... in... um... well... it was a while back. So if some thoughts seem unfinished... it's because I don't recall the specific thought from the time of first writing. As of this edit, the documentary listed is still available. I strongly urge you to check it out!

With out further ado, continue on past the jump to read the original post!


Lately, I've been reading up on and watching various items of fans of the Star Wars universe's outcry and, in some instances, acceptance of the recent "updates" on the beloved saga. In general, there is... unrest... in the fandom populace. And that is probably the most mild description I could come up with.

Netflix (if you have a membership) offers the documentary The People vs. George Lucas. If you have not seen the film yet, I strongly suggest you do. Especially if you are a fan of anything Star Wars! Word of caution: there is some very strong language, so viewer discretion is advised!

I watched it with Mrs. DrthGeek (bless her patience!). She can attest that certain times, I got riled up and felt the need to pause and drive home a point being presented. She just rolled her eyes and gave me the look like I was sounding like the adults on the Charlie Brown cartoons.... (I don't think she'll admit to it, but I bet she was more into the documentary than her bored expression indicated.)

The film chronicled the history of the saga from both George Lucas' (henceforth referred to as GL) stand and from the fan view point. One thing is for sure, whether you love or hate the saga, George Lucas sure knows how to control his property! And every one of us, at one point, bought in. There was one clip where GL embraced his "godhood" in an interview by saying he's not just a creator, he's The Creator. We, the fans, elevated him to that status. And we, the fans, are vilifying him for taking ownership of that status. Does that give us the right to do so? Some say yes.

One of the greatest parallels the documentary pointed out is the similar rise and fall of GL's professed "main character", Anakin Skywalker, to that of The Creator himself. He even admits to the parallel. He created the Star Wars brand, including ILM, in response to an apparent heavy-handed re-edit from the film studios that allowed Lucas to make THX-1138 and American Graffiti. He vowed to himself not to allow his future projects to get such treatment. There was even a point in time, in the mid-80s, that GL championed the cause for American Cinema classics to be preserved in their original black-and-white formats. Those examples are used frequently by fans when they ask, "Seriously, George? What the #%^ happened?!"

I will not extol the numerous travesties that have been a result of his re-edits, and "cleaning". I'll save that for a different post!


 So that was the original post.... Re-reading that made me want to revisit the (short) documentary. I may do so. Considering the (not-so) recent news of GL selling his beloved franchise to Disney, I may just have to revisit this film... and post some new ideas!

I smell a possible future blog post!!! Stay tuned, dear readers!

And as always, thanks for reading!