I find it odd that he would write a movie with many questions, Episode 7, but then not care how they are answered by walking away.
Well there we go, there's the confusion. Abrams is a producer for all three movies. That means he still has a degree of creative control. He read Rian's script and had to give his "okay" to everything Rian wrote before TLJ started production. Lucas didn't direct Empire Strikes Back either, he only wrote and produced it, and ROTJ.
The "answer" to the mystery he left open (literally only one mystery, Rey's parentage) is an answer that is flexible, and it's designed to be that way.
Personally I think it's a great tactic: You put out a mystery like that, and in between movies, read the feedback from fans to decide what kind of route you want to take. That's what Rian did, he even commented on the Darth Plagueis theory in an interview, explaining why he didn't want to go that specific route.
If we compare this to Lucas and A New Hope, Lucas wrote that script with Darth Vader being unrelated to Luke, and Ben was not lying when he believed that Vader had killed Luke's father. Lucas wanted to bring Luke's father back in the next movie to join the Rebellion and guide Luke.
In between movies, this was changed into Vader being Luke's father, which of course caused Ben's statement to become an untruth that had to be accounted for in Empire Strikes Back.
Changing a backstory that is already spoken about is definitely a lot sloppier than leaving the backstory vague and flexible until the time is right, right?
Snoke isn't considered a mystery because Abrams had already finalized his backstory: Snoke was a new character from an uncharted area of the galaxy. This backstory was confirmed in one of the art books, I know for sure it's specified in the art book for Last Jedi.
Force Awakens isn't stuffed with "mystery box" content like what I keep hearing. Only Rey. Anything else that is considered a "mystery" is just backstory information that wasn't considered important enough to specify in the movie.
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Keelai (34858)
7 years ago
Apples and oranges.
Lucas owned Star Wars. Everybody was HIS employees. He's a control freak so nothing happened unless he approved it.
There's nothing wrong with making changes which is part of the creative process as long as they make sense. Did Lucas himself say exactly when Vader's backstory changed? Someone else saying it doesn't make it true - just a rumor.
Look carefully at the scene when Luke ask Obiwan how his father died. Obiwan reacts in a way before replying that makes it seem like he's lying. Later, Obiwan looks like he's lying with a weird sideways look when he says "He betrayed and murdered your father." Both reactions are subtle, but noticeable.
Kennedy and some Disney head would have script approval for Last Jedi. Do executive producers have any creative control? If so, that makes him a hack also since the film was a mess.
Questions I had:
Why did Luke leave a map in Ep. 7 if he didn't want to be found in Ep. 8?
Rey need training in Ep 7 so she sought out Luke. But, without any training was able to beat Luke, her intended teacher, in Ep 8. How's this possible when a few days earlier she didn't know what the Force was yet beat a man trained by two Jedi masters and studied it for decades?
Ren to Rey in EP 7: "You feel it too." What?
Maz to Han in EP 7: "Whose the girl?" And Why did a Skywalker lightsaber call out to HER?
And how did Maz get the lightsaber?
How did Snoke become so powerful? Is there a new dark Force Order? I never had an issue with Snoke. I got the impression that Han wasn't around so Snoke became his father figure.
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Quint (957)
7 years ago
Great posting. But Lucas had an "enemy" with Irvin Kershner. He had his own vision of "Empire Strikes Back". And many things which are so great in ESB were coming from Kershners mind. Thats why the OT was so great. Cause there were creative folks which stopped Lucas when they knew he did something wrong. That was completely missing at Ep 1.
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Keelai (34858)
7 years ago
Thanks. Still Kershner wasn't calling the shots. Lucas was and could've fired him if he wanted. He hired creative people and listened to them with the OT.
By the time the prequels were being made, George Lucas status was much greater. Too many people around him in awe. Too many yes men, perhaps? Another problem, is that he was trying to appeal to young children which he did with Return of a Jedi. That's how we ended up with JarJar and Ewoks. He was also too overconfident. He needed constructive criticism from honest creative people.
I read that he wanted Lawrence Kasdan to help with the prequels, but he declined. That's a shame.
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Quint (957)
7 years ago
Lawrence Kasdan would have made the prequels amazing. And BTW Ewoks were cute and brave (without the ewoks the empire would have won!)! I really liked them (indeed minus the spinoff movie :) ). But Jar Jar was absolutely pointless.
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