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- MrBabyMan, on 10/12/2007, -13/+100My first reaction was maybe this was taken out of context or inaccurate. I just didn't want it to be true. I thought maybe George was just trying to be funny or something, until I read this from the comments on the source blog post: "Trying to be funny? Lucas was dead serious. I've heard him argue that exact point before when he spoke at a class I had at USC. He's a very smart, talented, articulate guy, but he has blinders on when it comes to Star Wars. My personal take is that he doesn't have any clue about why any of it worked or didn't."
- Cloned, on 10/12/2007, -5/+71It was taken out of context, he WAS joking.
Quote from the original article:
George Lucas presented publicist-turned-producer Sid Ganis with a lifetime achievement award at the Beverly Hilton event.
"It's testament to his skills that ('The Empire Strikes Back') is considered the best 'Star Wars' film, even though it was the worst," Lucas joshed. - randovaro, on 10/12/2007, -16/+81I still remember that dreadful day in 1983, as a kid, coming out of the local cinema showing Return of the Jedi. I stood blinking in the cold sunlight, aghast at the spectacle I had just witnessed, too numb to even cry. A bunch of stupid teddy bears had defeated a mechanised galactic superpower! Teddy Bears vs. the Empire and the Teddy Bears had won? I just couldn't believe it. It was too stupid for words. A steel hard chill, like the gaze of a mother-in-law over expired foodstuffs served for dinner, had pierced my tiny body. I somehow knew then that my childhood was over. The Lucas franchise had entered its death spiral, never to recover. No matter how many films he made from that point on, Empire Strikes Back was to remain the best Star Wars episode. Ever.
- nixonrichard, on 10/12/2007, -7/+60Even if it was a joke, George seems to have no idea why people like Star Wars.
Q: Why do people like Star Wars so much George?
A: People like to see annoying kids asking Natalie Portman "are you an angel?" - byronne, on 10/12/2007, -4/+53To me, this list is precisely reversed. How perverse.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+54Wow! If thats true... he has really lost it... or he never had it.
I used to be one of the biggest SW fans I knew. When SW was released in 77, I was 9 years old. I saw the movie 12 times in its first theatrical run. Thats quite an accomplishment for a 9 year old. I loved it... and I know many have a very similar story. I thought George Lucas was a story telling god.
Over the years though... my thoughts toward George have changed. I now believe he is an incredibly gifted businessman and someone who had a small amount of talent who surrounded himself with incredibly talented people. - Kardde, on 10/12/2007, -15/+53The following is George Lucas' list of favorite Star Wars movies, from most favorite to least favorite. (drum roll)
1. The Phantom Menace
2. Attack of the Clones
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Return of the Jedi
5. A New Hope
6. Empire Strikes Back
(how's it feel to have your childhood raped?) - _loopy_, on 10/12/2007, -4/+39Randal: Which did you like better? "Jedi" or "The Empire Strikes Back"?
Dante: "Empire".
Randal: Blasphemy.
Dante: "Empire" had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All "Jedi" had was a bunch of Muppets. - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34I don't see why everyone is bitching about the Ewoks. I felt then, as I feel now that they made great cannon fodder.
- Witchboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28The problem is this: With the exception of the Ewok cuteness, Jedi has some of my favorite stuff in it. The Jabba's Palace scene, Luke back in black (with all this father conflict), the Emperor, Vader's redemption, Leia's chainmail bikini, etc. I love Empire like a sister, but Jedi is a flawed masterpiece.
- qwertywatcher, on 10/12/2007, -5/+29George Lucas lost my love of Star Wars with Jar Jar speaking english and acting like a clown.
Empire was indeed the best film - JDoorjam, on 10/12/2007, -5/+27Source, please? Or did you simply pull the most inflammatory order you could think of out of your ass?
- Lisztman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22The source article where it is described as a joke:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i1bca43ffb402e1d76d149e407777a784
(and thus this article ripped the comment out of context) - drunkenirish, on 10/12/2007, -6/+23"Because we hadn't perfected real-time 3D rendered eyelashes and sweat drops, my first three films were horrible. Technology made the last three great!" - George Lucas
/sarcasm - marinist, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19Nothing can possibly be worse than Vader's NOOOOOOOO!
- earthtoandy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19close. but A New Hope is better than Return
- AncientWeird, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Me: No thats not true, thats impossible!
George: Search your feelings you know its the worst.
Me: Noooooooooooooooo! - ubuwalker31, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12George Lucas has been completely off of his rocker since the making of Return of the Jedi. Fame and fortune have truly eroded his critical thinking abilities. I love Star Wars, but we all know that the original movie was made on an extremely low budget, and is pretty cheesy and campy, which is part of the charm, and why it works so well. The last two movies of the trilogy were also excellent, but were made on a huge budget, but at least there was lots of cool special effects going on, like the claymation and puppeting, etc. My point is that the original trilogy was an accidental, and largely fan driven success, while the new trilogy was a mass marketing driven success, and the real fans were very disappointed.
- Roger, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14George Lucas has become a hack.
Or maybe he was always just a lucky hack. - kal-el, on 10/12/2007, -9/+19wow he really thinks the worst is The Empire Strikes Back (which many believe is the best in the series) Its official Lucas has lost his mind
maybe Lucas should watch 3 films hailed by many to be the worst in the series (or film making ever)
1. The Phantom Menace
2. Attack of the Clones
3. Revenge of the Sith - SmokeChiba, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13He was trying to throw out a funny comment regarding how good their publicist is, he was obviously not serious.
- whaleyboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11hmm, sounds to me like he was joking. He acknowledges that Empire is "considered the best" and the joke is that the publicist was so good he just made everyone think that. Nobody would actually say that the publicist is the only reason a film is considered the best.
- hattable, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13The reason he doesn't like it is the reason it is the best of the bunch:
He really didn't do that much to the film.
He had no chance to screw it up or "envision" it as i'm sure he would call it.
That is hands down why it is the best. Lucas is a good idea man.
I usually say that it would have been fine if he came out of the womb, wrote down "star wars" and then died.... I don't harbour bad feelings I SWEAR. - matman730, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Why is Empire so good? Director Irvin Kershner. Of course, Lucas nearly fired Kershner during the shooting of Empire because, and I quote, "YOU'RE RUINING MY MOVIE!!!" Uhh...yeah, George, he sure ruined it. :P
- MrBabyMan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10The source is actually David Poland's Hot Blog. David Poland was a first-hand witness. Hollywood Reporter was also there, but is not the source, and their description, that George 'joshed', is their opinion.
- PARAPA, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7The Worst?
I didn't think Jar Jar was in it? Or am I missing something...? ;) - brundlefly76, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Figures he would pick one of the two films he didn't direct.
- imtigger2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7"I now believe he is an incredibly gifted businessman and someone who had a small amount of talent who surrounded himself with incredibly talented people"
... and that, in of itself, requires a lot of talent. Being able to manage these people and to share a vision to success. Just like Walt Disney was, a visionary that has/had the talent to bring it ALL together by bringing out the best in his talent.
I for one (obvious here on Digg), am very grateful for George Lucas being a film maker and talented director. Tear his films apart all you want, there's still plenty of us who love his work, and will continue to do so. :) - zepoldesign, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Buried as inaccurate. GL was joking. Read the source article from the Hollywood Reporter. The blog omitted the text that would have put the comment into context.
- Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4So are all the awkward "love" scenes.
- renik, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7A lot of us grew up with the original Star Wars and are disappointed wit the new trilogy.
I don't think it's just bias/childhood, but do any of you have kids that saw all 6 movies at the same time for the first time ? Perhaps even after the new trilogy cam out in theaters?
What is their take? Anyone know? Do they feel the same way?
I'd be curious to find out.. - Kookami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Clone Wars was a short animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky, the guy who makes Powerpuff Girls/Dexters Lab/Samurai Jack/etc. It was set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, with the last episode ending where RotS begins.
It was a short thing, on Cartoon Network, but compared to the new trilogy, it was really well done and worth a look. Packed full of action-packed flipping out by Mace Windu, Yoda and General Grievous. If you felt Grievous, the robot villain, looked like a cheap Power Rangers villain, you need to check him out decimating Jedi in Clone Wars.
Also, RotS had a fiery limbless Hayden Christenson scene, that's why it gets slot #4 on my list. I laughed. - TheUngod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4So maybe I just want to start a war but really....Who shot first?
- BileFroth, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I don't have a webcam, weirdo.
- ldkronos, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7What is "The Clone Wars", and what happened to "Attack of the Clones"? :-)
- BileFroth, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9bilefroth's Favorite Star Wars Movies (in order)
1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Return of the Jedi
3. Star Wars
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. The Clone Wars
6. The Phantom Menace - EzarKun, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The first 3 movies from the list had a greay story, but were poorly executed. They were horrible on screen. The acting was *****(Hayden guy was ... wow), and too much SFX.
But maybe George doesnt see it like we do. Or maybe he rated them from the story point of view? not the movie itself? - halleyscomet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I've jut gotten into the habit of hitting "Stop" after Jabba's sand barge explodes.
That's the end right there. Yeah, Return of the Jedi ends up being a short movie then, but we get to see:
Han's Rescue
The Team working together again
Luke finally being a badass, after ages of whining, pissing and moaning.
The Teddy bears? Never happened. - KyotoWolf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Razorsharp
We don't like him because he was a horrid actor.... not because he was the bad guy.
And Revenge of the Sith was one of the worst films... I have it on DVD and only watched it once while the others I have watched numerous times. - robphillips, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9If anyone was an writer or artist, they'd know that authors often hate thier best work.
- ucbmckee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Lucas needs to hurry up and get cancer of the ass and die, before he totally destroys the legacy he created in his pre-megalomaniac years. Like the guy who did Donnie Darko, some of his early classics are starting to look more and more like flukes. He's produced a lot more Howard the Ducks than Indiana Joneses.
- dmckey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4WTF, The Empire Strikes Back is the only StarWars movie I don't fall a sleep when watching.
- jdelamater, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Which movie did you like better, Jedi or the Empire Strikes Back?"
"Empire"
"Blasphemy!"
"What? Empire had a better ending!" - digdug2020, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Don't believe everything you read on the internets man. That guy pulled the list out of his ass, otherwise he would have given a source.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3thelimabeanking: 'Empire' Was the Best Star Wars Film!
- toxicredm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I think the Rebel Alliance had something to do with it also. I mean, it was Lando who actually destroyed the second Death Star. The Ewoks were just a tool of the Rebels and were used to emphasize the allegory of victory by the little guy (the Rebels) over the big guy (the Empire)
- drmangrum, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It was also the only one that followed any type of realism as far how things actually happen. One of the things that never sat well with me is how the Empire had massive armies, superior technology, far more powerful Force users, and limitless resources..yet they always failed. I'm all for the whole good triumphing over evil, but at least make it believable.
Empire at least showed that when you poke a bear with a stick, sometimes the bear pokes back. - CornStarch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I think what he means by that statement is that if you were to go by what a movie these days is expected to be and do it was a "bad movie".
The entire thing was exposition, and it had no conflict resolution. So if you're looking at it from the Orson Wellian position of what a movie should be then it truly is the worst of the original three, but critically it has the best writing, acting, direction, and special effects.
Or maybe he's just clueless. Based on his most recent work I'm inclined to believe the latter. - slickrick2k1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You don't know your ass from your elbow
- jsnow87, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9***** grow up dude
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