I neglected to cite the text from the interview I was talking about, but include it below. Again, spend some time reading the Expanded Universe, which details the history after the third film. It's fascinating, and much more well thought out and mature than the bulk of the movies.
http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/lukeskywalker/index.html “We had an outline and George changed everything in it," Kurtz said. “Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason.” The discussed ending of the film that Kurtz favored presented the rebel forces in tatters, Leia grappling with her new duties as queen and Luke walking off alone “like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns,” as Kurtz put it. Kurtz said that ending would have been a more emotionally nuanced finale to an epic adventure than the forest celebration of the Ewoks that essentially ended the trilogy with a teddy bear luau. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Johnson" <keithbjohn...@comcast.net> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 10:19:34 PM Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Gary Kurtz Speaks Bluntly About George Lucas The below from the interview really resonates with me. One problem i always had with "Return of the Jedi" was the ending. I kept thinking that just because the second Death Star was destroyed, and Vader and the Emperor dead, that only meant the work was beginning. After all, there was a huge interstellar apparatus in place that had aided and been complicit with the Empire's depredations. This system included the rule of whole solar systems, a corrupt Senate, leaders on hundreds of worlds loyal to the Empire that gave them money and power, a military dedicated to the Empire, and a dearth of Jedi to enforce the principles of the Old Republic. In short, the work was indeed just beginning, and tackling the task of a galaxy-wide makeover of a totalitarian state into a democratic one again would be a monumental task. Look at how the former Soviet Union is already struggling mightily with autocratic elements fighting with its democratic aspirations. They have a Prime Minister who was an autocratic president who's basically their strong man. So the "Ewok lua" as he put it, was indeed premature. I think that if you read some of the books, and study the Expanded Universe online, you see more mature, thoughtful, and in-depth treatments that handle that world a lot better than the kid- and crowd-pleasing movies. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Baxter" <martinbaxt...@gmail.com> To: "SciFiNoir2" <scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2010 5:01:40 PM Subject: [scifinoir2] Gary Kurtz Speaks Bluntly About George Lucas George Lucas, Mercenary Bastich First Class? You betcha, according to Kurtz... http://www.collider.com/2010/08/13/star-wars-and-empire-strikes-back-producer-gary-kurtz-speaks-bluntly-about-george-lucas-return-of-the-jedi-and-more/ -- "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
