Luke wasn't a Grey Jedi, but they wanted him to be the catalyst for it. He was distanced from the Jedi due to his experience with Kylo who is also on the path to becoming a Grey Jedi. Luke's whole attitude was that the Jedi needed to end. It only makes sense for that to rub off on Rey, but it's only implied and not really shown. The scenes are all well directed by Johnson, but his storytelling is awful. It's like he has an idea, then changes his mind, then changes it back again, leaving the final product terribly paced with no feeling of accomplishment.
Han's death is a bit different. Ford would only do the movie if they killed him, something he asked for in Return of the Jedi but was denied because of bad test screenings.
The third prequel is about how Anakin became Vader. The first two really aren't. I mean, you can try to nudge it a bit by him killing the sand people who murdered his mother. But the first two movies are really just him floating around in the Star Wars universe at different ages waiting for Palps to advance the story.
"Disney was afraid to move the story forward so they chose to return the story to the OT era."
For TFA, sure. JJ and Kasdan rushed the new TFA script after the previous guy said he needed an extra year and half to finish it. If Arndt had completed it as scheduled, we would have gotten something different. 26 months for a script though? Yikes. I'd have probably tossed him out too.
"That's cowardice."
Well, it's safe. TFA was good for the most part, but was criticized for being too similar. TLJ and the prequels were bad for the most part because they were too different from the OT. In fact, TLJ was so different you view it as destruction. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, I guess.
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Keelai (34864)
6 years ago
Kennedy's objective isn't to tell a story. It's to make money for Disney. She mistakenly believes the original characters needed to be destroyed in order for young people to accept the new characters. Have you listened to anything she said? All the fans are middle-aged white men. Females didn't like Luke because they can't relate to a male. He needs to be replaced by a female. They don't want the older fans, just new younger ones.
She's a fool. Johnson and Abrams are both her sycophants. Kasdan was over-rated as a writer. Most of the Empire Strikes Back was written by Lucas before he hired Kasdan.
The fans stupidly chased the true genius, Lucas away.
I don't know why you're paying attention to the nonsense that Johnson wrote when he's completely clueless about SW lore. He knows nothing about the balance of the Force, how Jedi are trained, the history of the Jedi and what a gray jedi is.
Lucas knew Han's death would be an unneeded distraction and a cliche. He was right not to do it.
All 3 prequels are about how Anakin became Vader. Lucas wanted to show an innocent good person (Ep. 1) becoming a hero (Ep 2) and then finally falling to the dark side (Ep 3). It was to humanize him.
Yeah I agree the sequels are rush jobs. I've been saying all along they're rushing them out with out caring about quality. But I reiterate that Disney wanted the sequels to take place in the OT time line because they know fans like the OT best. It's safe. That's why Leia & co are the rebels again. The Evil Empire is back. X-wings and Y-wings and death star all the same nonsense. Stormtroopers look the same. Lucas said things should look different to reflect a new era.
If you don't take risk, then there is no creativity. Disney is afraid to take risk because of the 4 billion dollar payout which is why we're getting rehashes.
Lucas was a risk taker and the EU covers variety. Old Republic, Mandalorian Wars, Jedi Sith Wars, Clone Wars, New Republic Era, first Sith appearing,etc.
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dlancer (2036)
6 years ago
Of course Kennedy is there to make money. That's why I laugh when people say she's there to push a pro-woman agenda. Disney has done the research. They know white male leads aren't doing as well overseas as they used to. We've had strong female leads before here in the US. We can handle it too. As long as it's a good movie, the neanderthals crawl back in their caves. It just sucks that they hijack the conversation when it's a bad movie.
There's no winning with Lucas or Johnson. I don't see the point of focusing on Lucas when JJ and Gareth did fine. There was no risk with TFA because it was a quick script whose goal was to set the universe and nothing more. It didn't need to be any more complicated. Rogue One was the second film in the Disney universe, and it took a chance, and succeeded. TLJ was the third film, it took a chance, and failed.
And now you think they should bring back Lucas?... because he's a risk taker? And because the one guy, Johnson, dropped the ball? C'mon, man. You know as well as I do that this whole thing could be fixed just by getting a better storyteller than Johnson. Focusing on getting rid of Kennedy and bringing in Lucas are both dead ends.
As long as JJ remains on board with IX, that part of the problem is taken care of. But Johnson's new trilogy is another big problem. That's what they need to fix.
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Keelai (34864)
6 years ago
I disagree when you say that Rogue One and The Last Jedi took chances. None of the Disney films have taken chances and they borrowed heavily from the OT. Disney is not adding anything new. Both JJ and Gareth just copied the story and artwork that Lucas created 40 years ago.
One of the main reasons I can enjoy the prequels is because visually there is so much new art as well as a new story.
What would've happen if you replaced these writers with Disney hired writers during the middle of their storytelling? Would the quality and creativity remain the same? George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones; J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter, J. R. R. Tolkien - Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Of course not!
Lucas needed to finish his story.
I agree with this video that says why Star Wars can't thrive without Lucas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lgqNI36usE
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