O.L. Design

I recently read an interesting article discussing the changes made in the original Star Wars films over the years. My initial impression of George Lucas being an innovative and ingenious film maker full of creativity has finally been killed once and for all.

Allthough I have mixed feelings towards the new prequels, I can’t deny the fact that I’ve been a huge fan of the original Star Wars trilogy since I was a kid, watched them over and over again, and when the DVDs were released a couple of weeks ago I got them as soon as I could. I knew about the new changes made to the films for the DVD release, and didn’t care much about them.

Much to my surprise, some of the changes first made for the theatrical re-release of the trilogy back in 1997, had been changed back to the way they used to be in the originals. While this mostly was for the better of the films, it still left me with a feeling of disappointment towards mr. Lucas, as he apparently lacks a clear vision of how he wants those films to be like. The article mentioned above discusses this more in depth.

In addition to this, I discovered that Lucas’ first and probably best feature, THX-1138, had also been given a new DVD release. I was extremely disappointed when I realized that they had added new CGI sequences to this film as well. This includes some pretty badly animated monkeys attacking the main character in the end, and a short but action packed addition to the car chase sequence resembling the speeder chases in the beginning of Attack of the Clones, looking totally misplaced in THX, which is no action film at all, but an abstract and wonderful little sci-fi film dealing with fears of what mankind could become if we let technology and consumption take over our lives (which is ironic, since Lucas a decade later found himself being the head of one of the biggest trademarks ever, selling millions of different products).

So, dear George Lucas, the original Star Wars films were the most successful films in film history at the time of their releases. They are already as good as they can get! No one has ever complained about them! If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. My love for those films will never die, but I’m now convinced that mr. Lucas has lost all taste for creative filmmaking. He has yet to prove to me that he can deliver a good film these days, that is, good more than just in terms of moneymaking.