Not really. ROTS came out in 2005. At that stage, we had plenty of decent CGI in movies (Gollum and the MASSIVE system in LOTR for example).

Even for TPM, it was eclipsed by the first Matrix movie in the same year.

The problem wasn't the technology, it was Lucas' use of it.

Where he hid it cleverly in the original Star Wars movies, he didn't realise that it just wasn't quite ready in the prequels.

"Revenge is not a Jedi concept. Change them"
- Lucas ~1983

And then palpy's proto-palpy face grins like he's George Lucas forever alone.

If Lucas had did this instead of the other crap he did to the Special Editions I would have been fine, but he didn't. Bastard.

Agree 100%. Hollywood put to much of them in to this movie. George Lucas wishes he did not sell to Disney. Lets face it. They will destroy the true fans of the originals in favor of the modern series of crap.

I agree about the over-reaction to the "white slavers" comment, which I think just got hyper-PC types riled up.

And he does seem pretty humble and wise, although if he was really going to practice what he's preaching he would just butt out and not say anything. To be fair, he probably got invited on the show and is just responding honestly to the questions -- which is a fair bit different than if he sought out a soapbox to complain from.

I think Lucas had a fantastic combination of Tolkien-esque level creativity AND knew how to adapt his specific creations to the broadly appealing "Hero of 1000 faces" fantasy prototype AND got lucky in many ways. He deserves a LOT of praise for all of that. ...BUT, for the original movies he knew how to delegate things that he doesn't do well -- dialog, directing, etc. He was reined in by internal and external constraints. When those largely went away, we got the prequels.

I love Star Wars and am very grateful to George Lucas for creating that universe. And I'm pretty much equally grateful that he isn't at the helm anymore.

Don't forget though, Lucas literally invented the modern, film merchandising model.

Wow...I'd seen all the headlines about this, purposefully avoided most Star Wars commentary as it seems pretty weakly considered and nearly always click-bait.

Seems like the "white slavers" comment wasn't anything as serious as the hype-mill spun it. It's almost a throwaway joke that you can tell doesn't really land. I think Lucas seems humble and wise in this clip.

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I've seen it twice now--once on opening night in IMAX with co-workers and the next day with my daughter and wife in 2D at the local theatre. To be honest, I wouldn't have gone to see it again if the local theatre hadn't of gifted me with discounted tickets (around $12 US for me and the wife and $9 for the daughter).

I was deeply disappointed with the film, though I would not go so far as to say it sucks like @kulpims did. If I had to sum it up in two phrases, I'd say "tries too hard to be clever" in homages to the original films and "deeply flawed" in terms of story. It's not a terrible film by any means, but I would say its unevenness makes it good yet far from great.

It's better and worse than the prequels at the same time. Acting and pacing are far better than the prequels (but not nearly as good as the originals as has been pointed out by @ChaosEngine already).

At the same time, say what you want about Lucas's prequels but he at least tried to expand the Star Wars universe and show us new sides and aspects of it--to make it really feel like a galaxy rather than a couple of mostly uninhabited worlds like Tatooine and Hoth that we got to see in the original trilogy. This movie is a step backwards from that and played things waaaaaay too safe (partly because, as I mentioned, they were too busy trying to make themselves look clever with references to the originals and lots of "nod, nod, wink, wink, see what I did there" moments).

But it is JJ Abrams and I shouldn't have really been as shocked as I was to find out how much of the movie was copy/pasted from the originals with twists that I'm sure he thought were clever but which I just found as cringe-worthy.

Still, really loved the new characters. The daughter was definitely enthralled by Rey, but surprisingly likes her better as dune-surfing scavenger than planet-hopping adventurer.

Hmmm. The next stage in the Trek vs. Wars saga:

You stole our director, and thereby ruined the movies!

(I never would have guessed that would be the development, unless George Lucas was selected to direct the new Trek films, in which case it would have made perfect sense in reverse)

LOL at "you looked like George Lucas"

I saw her talk in person back in 2002. But better, I got a picture with the former SW overlord, George Lucas. Like her dog,

I think this gives Lucas far too much credit.