…to make a movie.
Recently I stumbled across a series of mini documentaries on the making of Star Wars Episodes I, II and III on youtube (search on “Star Wars webisode”). I shouldn’t have been surprised, because making movies has much in common with staging plays, but it really struck me just how many pieces have to go together to make a movie. Considering all the moving parts, it’s amazing that movies even get made, let alone are enjoyable to watch when they’re finished. And Star Wars movies add at least a dozen extra levels of complexity.
George Lucas took (and continues to take) a lot of criticism for the Star Wars prequels. I’ve certainly lent my voice to it. But after having watched a large number of these webisodes I’m more inclined to be quiet. I never felt they were as bad as some people do, but then this is the Age of the Perpetual Rage. I suspect J. J. Abrams is in for his share of rage on Episode VII, even if he knocks it out of the park.
I think what most people missed from the prequels is the fun. Though they certainly had their serious moments, the IV-VI installments were a lot of fun. And, largely from the limitations of the period, they were cleaner films. I do think Lucas overdid the look of the prequels. There was simply too much to take in in many scenes. As a result of the twenty year gap there is a very distinct difference in the feel of the two sets of movies which might have been considerably less had they been made closer together.
I believe Abrams is correct to go back to the more sparse feel for the next movies. Even in the trailers for VII I can see him giving in to the temptation to give you too much to look at. It’s easy to do.
But I digress. I don’t think the prequels were intended to be “more of the same”, frankly. They represented the descent into darkness, not the climb out. And you get a much different feel watching a film about the Titanic than you do about the Memphis Belle, partly because you know what’s going to happen to the Titanic going in, while you had every reason to believe the Memphis Belle was going to make it home…somehow. Likewise, we knew Luke, Han and the gang were going to somehow defeat Vader and the Emperor. Somehow. With the prequels we knew that everything was going to fall apart. Totally different arc, totally different feel.
The prequels are not “feel-good” movies.
And I think, ultimately, that’s where much of the criticism comes from. We wanted more Star Wars fun. We got Star Wars Downer. We wanted Han Solo’s banter. We got Jar-Jar Binks. Sorry, but while I enjoyed the job the actors did, not one of them has Harrison Ford’s charm and comic timing–nor his character to work with. I used to be more down on young Anakin. Then I had eight year old boys of my own, and I realize now that Lucas and Jake Lloyd came a lot closer than we give them credit for.
Ultimately I think Lucas’ main crime was allowing us all to age. Episodes I – III were received by my kids with the same wide-eyed enthusiasm as IV – VI were by me. But I aged in between, and I somehow thought Lucas would make a movie for the adult me. He didn’t. Phantom Menace, especially, was for the seven-year-old me, and I’d moved on. My kids got it, and in watching it with them, I finally got it.
Is Lucas a great director? No. I don’t think he thinks he is, either. He’s a great movie-maker, though. His vision of the Star Wars universe stands for all time. People want to play in his universe. Of all the criticism I’ve heard about the movies, I’ve never once heard that Episodes I – III didn’t “feel” like Star Wars. People complain about the acting, the dialogue, and the directing, but I’ve never heard anyone say “I thought Geonosis was a lousy setting” or “those space ships looked fake.”
Because ultimately, that’s where Lucas’ talent lies: picking the best people for the various jobs, and then keeping them all in line with the same vision. The webisodes bring that out repeatedly. His people do fantastic work, and he’s there constantly nudging and shaping. The depth and breadth of his vision is amazing. If I could world-build half as well as he does I’d be most of the way to being a successful author.
Lucas also takes a lot of heat for trying to milk more money out of Star Wars, that he didn’t have to make the prequels and only did it for money. That may be true–he is, after all, a Hollywood director/producer, and money means being able to finance his projects himself, which in turn means control over his work. Why wouldn’t he want more money? But considering that he waited twenty years to come back around to the “cash cow” seems a little less cynical to me than the mere five years between LotR:The Return of the King and beginning production on The Hobbit, and certainly less profit-driven than the decision to turn The Hobbit from two into three movies so that we could get the numerous bloated, over-the-top, laugh-(or yawn-) inducing action sequences we got.
Of the two directors who produced three movies, then went back and did three prequels, I know which one I’m the more disappointed with, and it’s not Lucas.
It’s also interesting that Lucas decided to hand off the Star Wars universe to someone else. One could say that was motivated by money, too, since he did walk away with a fair chunk o’ change, but I can see how he may actually have walked away from an even bigger check. The first of The Hobbit movies made nearly a billion dollars just at the box office, not even remotely including the merchandising. Lucas could have easily made more than $4 billion off more Star Wars had he wanted to.
Instead, we’re on countdown to see what J.J. Abrams can do. I’m reservedly optimistic. What we’ve seen so far looks very good. But what we saw of Phantom Menace did, too. The same with Abrams’ Star Trek reboot, which I didn’t like. They key in Abrams’ favor may be that this will not be a reboot, but an extension of what we already know. Yes, I know, it’s overriding much of the extended universe already out there. I can live with that. How much of all the Star Trek books and other extensions were ever acknowledged or leveraged, or were outright contradicted, by The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, or Voyager?
I hope Abrams knocks it out of the park. I’d love to have some more fun in the Star Wars universe. But at the same time I’ve decided I’m going to stop complaining that Lucas gave us more of the universe to play in just because it didn’t feel quite right. There was a lot to love about the prequels. I’d much rather have them than not. The lightsaber fighting in Phantom Menace, for example, was worth the price of admission by itself.
I suppose it could be argued that if I have to see everything that went on behind the scenes in order to appreciate a movie there might have been something wrong with that movie. Perhaps. But learning how they make blood sausage, as interesting as that may be, won’t make me want to try blood sausage again. I think I mainly am impressed by just how much work went into making things not be noticed. Regardless of how you feel about the prequels, if you like Star Wars specifically or movie-making in general, the webisodes are interesting watching.
I’ll let you have the last word here.