The Force was not strong with these George Lucas Star Wars ideas and plans...
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00:00 from small screen flops to perhaps not getting the best out of landscape shifting technology.
00:05 It's safe to say the force was not exactly strong with these particular Lucasforged Star
00:10 Wars elements.
00:12 Gareth the Hutt here from WhatCulture Star Wars and here are 10 things that did not go
00:16 the way George Lucas wanted.
00:18 10.
00:19 The Holiday Special In isolation, the concept of putting together
00:23 a light-hearted holiday special riffing on elements from a beloved franchise is pretty
00:28 harmless, and even potentially a fairly entertaining endeavour if executed well.
00:33 Just look at the success of Star Wars' own Lego variety of holiday treats, and the understandable
00:38 buzz surrounding James Gunn's upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy riff on the festive season.
00:43 However, with high levels of anticipation can sometimes come a bit of a lacklustre end
00:48 product.
00:49 Evidenced in this Galaxy Far, Far Away's first attempt to bring a bit of festive cheer
00:53 to George Lucas' corner of the small screen universe.
01:02 Despite roping in the majority of the feature players from the smash hit that was A New
01:06 Hope, Lucas' odd desire to have much of this TV Star Wars adventure centre around
01:10 Chewbacca's Wookiee family didn't exactly bear the sort of fruit he was hoping for.
01:16 Outside of the animated introducing of instantly iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett, there's
01:20 a reason Lucas has done everything in his power to distance himself from just about
01:24 everything to do with this ill-fated special as the years have gone by.
01:30 Long before Disney+ were unleashing fresh new live-action Star Wars tales by the quarter
01:35 on their streaming service, George Lucas set out to tell his own small-screen space-age
01:40 story set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
01:44 Yet with this still being the mid-to-late noughties, the idea of throwing tens of millions
01:48 of dollars at a project designed purely for televised consumption wasn't as widely accepted
01:53 as it is today.
01:54 So despite putting together some rather intriguing test footage that would later leak online
01:58 in 2020, and dreaming up a potential 100 hours of content for the show, Star Wars Underworld
02:04 ultimately didn't make it onto our screens due to budget concerns.
02:08 Simply put, forking out $2-4 million per episode was a pretty steep investment back then, and
02:14 Lucas and co. felt that it was probably best to put the entire project on hold until technology
02:18 caught up and allowed them to produce the show on a smaller budget.
02:22 In the end, though, upon being purchased by Disney, Lucasfilm opted to steer clear of
02:26 Lucas' Underworld branding when firing up their streaming service, and telling their
02:30 own post-prequel TV tales seen in the likes of this year's Obi-Wan Kenobi.
02:34 8.
02:35 Midichlorians Don't Go Down a Treat
02:37 Instead of dropping jaws around the world and leaving fans feeling wholly satisfied
02:41 at the revelation of microscopic organisms in the blood of all living things known as
02:46 midichlorians being the reason some folks can move rocks with a whither hand, the entire
02:51 Phantom Menace exposition dump Qui-Gon Jinn delivers to a baffled future Darth Vader felt
02:56 like a needless way of overcomplicating matters.
02:58 Sure, it helped establish how ridiculously OP Anakin Skywalker was from the second the
03:03 unorthodox Jedi Master stumbled upon the Tatooine lad, but the complete lack of midichlorian
03:08 nonsense in the celebrated tales that would follow this table-setter of a trilogy only
03:12 further hammered home the pointless nature of adding some bizarre, concrete science to
03:16 this mystical way of manipulating the energy around us.
03:19 And with many of the folks involved in bringing elements of the franchise into existence,
03:24 like Death Star Legends author Steve Perry also noting how the concept of midichlorians
03:28 was less than inspired, it's clear Lucas didn't convince a great many that this prequel
03:33 edition was in any way essential.
03:35 7.
03:36 The Alien Definitely Shot First As time would trickle on by, it soon became
03:40 clear that a few seemingly innocuous beats housed within the likes of A New Hope were
03:44 not to the creator's liking in the slightest.
03:47 So on top of eventually stuffing a dreadful amount of clunky CGI into later special editions
03:52 of his OG set of flicks, Lucas set about chopping and changing one specific scene involving
03:57 everyone's favourite smuggler blasting an alien into next week.
04:01 With Han Solo infamously firing first in his tense exchange with Greedo on Mos Eisley,
04:06 Lucas quickly decided that he actually didn't want his lovable scamp to come across as a
04:10 cold-blooded murderer so early in the Star Wars day.
04:13 But his multiple attempts to reframe the moment by letting loose a surreal red laser shot
04:18 from the green alien's blaster a millisecond before the eventual general does has only
04:23 added further fuel to the hand-shot first fire, and another hilariously clunky sequence
04:28 to an already perfectly fine 1977 entry.
04:31 6.
04:32 An Epic Love Story Fails to Deliver It's evident that George Lucas had some
04:36 rather high hopes for certain facets of his prequel trilogy, particularly the passionate
04:41 romance between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala that would prove to be the catalyst
04:45 for the creation of the most iconic villain in the galaxy.
04:48 However, what could have been a tragic tale of forbidden love ultimately wound up being
04:52 remembered more for its highly memorable attempts to conjure up some genuine chemistry between
04:57 two actors trying their utmost to make lemonade out of some of the worst dialogue ever committed
05:01 to this galaxy far, far away.
05:04 And oh boy, is that saying something.
05:07 Looking back on the hours of behind-the-scenes footage available on these early 2000s adventures,
05:11 tells the story of the likes of Lucas, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen all very much
05:16 treating the love epic with the sort of care and respect needed to give Skywalker's eventual
05:20 turn the dramatic "Hoof" it so desperately deserved.
05:24 But all of the good intentions in the world couldn't save anyone from monologues about
05:28 sand and Shack frolicking in the fields of Naboo.
05:31 5.
05:32 The more uncompromising Anakin Skywalker was not PG-13
05:36 George Lucas was under no illusions when it came to the birth of the unmistakable force
05:40 that was Darth Vader in his prequel flicks.
05:43 He had to be as terrifying and unstoppable as humanly or cyborgly possible.
05:47 But that is quite a tough task when you're faced with producing a flick that has to fall
05:51 in line with a strict PG-13 rating.
05:53 And it led to Lucas having to slightly censor his diabolical fallen Jedi in the editing
05:59 room.
06:00 In particular, an infamous scene which depicts Anakin savagely setting the stage for the
06:03 massacring of a number of innocent younglings was said to have been originally much darker,
06:08 according to Palpatine actor Ian McDiarmid.
06:10 And while McDiarmid felt it was probably a good idea to cut out the more gruesome version
06:14 of the Order 66 scene, he did also recall a conversation with Lucas about the grisly
06:19 cutting down of the next generation of Jedi.
06:21 On the other hand, George says, "That's what he's like, this guy.
06:25 He's uncompromising.
06:26 People should know it."
06:28 And sadly, they weren't allowed to fully know it back in 2005.
06:31 4.
06:32 Letting Ewoks Bring Down an Empire
06:34 As already noted, Lucas' original trilogy is widely regarded as one of the most celebrated
06:39 cinematic feats in movie-making history.
06:41 Yet that's not to say that each and every component of this intergalactic machine completely
06:46 clicked with the paying public out of the gates.
06:48 In fact, the sight of a bunch of teddy bears taking down the big bad empire that had been
06:52 wreaking havoc on the galaxy for three films was divisive to say the least during Return
06:57 of the Jedi.
06:58 Lucas has gone on record to defend the inclusion of the Ewoks in the Battle of Endor over a
07:02 previously planned Wookiee population by stating that they were merely a way of distracting
07:06 the Imperial troops.
07:08 But that still wasn't enough to convince most that these cuddly souls possessed the
07:11 firepower to hold off the most advanced army of the time.
07:15 In reality, the Ewoks were likely designed as little more than a way to appeal to the
07:18 younger demographic and sell some stuffed toys upon release.
07:22 But either way, they still sit as another of the rare opinion splitters in this generally
07:26 cherished original trilogy.
07:28 3.
07:29 Blue-screen work doesn't mask a lack of soul
07:31 Few would argue against the fact that George Lucas helped thoroughly change the game with
07:35 his use of computer-generated imagery in the prequels, with his utilising of blue screens
07:40 and combining of CGI with practical costumes and sets being genuinely groundbreaking at
07:45 the time.
07:46 But for all of the mesmerising digitally enhanced battle scenes, beautifully computer-crafted
07:51 locales, and fully animated clone and droid troops seen over the course of the prequels,
07:55 there's no escaping the fact that this reliance on the artificial over the real deal robs
08:00 Star Wars of some of its heart.
08:02 With the original trilogy of flicks regularly finding itself shooting on location or fully
08:06 built sets, due to technology not giving Lucas the tools needed to digitally craft his own
08:11 imaginary worlds, the planets we occupied and stories that were being told felt tangible
08:15 and came equipped with a touch more soul.
08:18 And while undoubtedly impressive in execution, the reality of actors being forced to exhaust
08:23 their imaginations by constantly performing in front of little more than a bland blue
08:27 background, eventually led to a set of features that, while visually ahead of their time,
08:31 felt unfortunately hollow.
08:33 2.
08:34 Jar Jar Binks - CGI Groundbreaker
08:36 And speaking of CGI endeavours not exactly landing in the way Lucas would have hoped,
08:41 what once looked destined to be perhaps the most important Star Wars development of the
08:44 time, quickly devolved into little more than a stick to beat the creator's precious prequels
08:49 with.
08:50 I'm talking about the controversial Phantom Menace debut of the first ever fully computer
08:54 generated supporting player in a live action flick by the name of Jar Jar Binks.
08:59 Blatantly designed to once again appeal to the younger demo, an admittedly impressive
09:03 technological feat was very quickly overshadowed by the need to present Binks as little more
09:08 than lazy slapstick comic relief.
09:11 Despite all of the backlash sent the character's way though, Lucas defiantly stands by Binks
09:15 being his favourite character in the series, saying as much when saluting Ahmed Best for
09:19 his dedicated work in bringing the Gungan to life on set and in the recording booth
09:23 throughout the flicks.
09:25 With Ewan McGregor admitting to wanting to work with Best again in the future whilst
09:28 promoting Disney+'s Obi-Wan Kenobi, perhaps now may be as good a time as any to rehabilitate
09:33 a CGI character in need of some desperate TLC.
09:37 Misa thinks so very, very much.
09:39 1.
09:40 The Sequel Trilogy
09:41 Despite ultimately deciding to all but part ways with this galaxy far, far away in 2012,
09:46 upon Disney's purchasing of Lucasfilm, George Lucas still found himself involved in the
09:50 process of bringing the House of Mouse's sequel trilogy into existence, acting as a
09:54 creative consultant during its early stages of development.
09:58 However, as Lucas would later go on to confess in a conversation with CinemaBlend in 2015,
10:02 pretty much all of his original ideas for the next trilogy of Skywalker saga flicks
10:06 - and the Force Awakens in particular - were binned off early on.
10:10 Later on, Lucas would frequently take aim at Disney's direction heading into the Force
10:14 Awakens, criticising the first entry's retro feel, with the sequels definitely going down
10:19 a completely different road to the one previously planned by Lucas many moons ago.
10:23 As revealed in the Star Wars Archives 1999-2005, Lucas wanted to centre the tale around Leia
10:29 Organa's rebuilding of the Republic, with Darth Maul returning to train the new Darth
10:34 Vader in the form of a girl known as Darth Talon.
10:36 Aside from Leia acting as the leader of the Resistance in a supporting capacity, though,
10:41 it seems Disney had little interest in sticking to Lucas' initial plan for the stories that
10:45 would follow his sacred original space opera trio.
10:48 That ends our list!
10:49 Know of any other things that didn't go the way George Lucas wanted?
10:53 Let us know in the comments section below and don't forget to like, share and click
10:57 on that subscribe button while you're there.
10:59 Also, if you feel the pull of the Force towards this sort of stuff, then head over to whatculture.com
11:03 and find some more awesome articles just like the one this video you're watching right
11:06 now is based on.
11:07 I've been Gareth from What Culture Star Wars, may the Force be with you, thank you very
11:11 much for watching this video today and hopefully I will see your faces very, very soon.