tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post6934950882815628578..comments2023-11-05T01:06:05.052-07:00Comments on The Star Wars Heresies: The Other Expanded UniversePaul F. McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05597806846560640157noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-47082200489807476612013-05-23T07:12:59.422-07:002013-05-23T07:12:59.422-07:00Greets! I had been searching the net when I saw yo...Greets! I had been searching the net when I saw your webpage.<br />And I quickly found the thing I had been looking for.<br />I really like your site! Domains with so rich content are much more better.<br />I do recommend you to write more and more! It was my enjoyment to see your post!<br />Check my page and download totally free of charge <a href="http://hack-top-eleven.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">top eleven token hack</a>!<br />Take care.. ^_-Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16646544583929965816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-69657099879280055902012-05-21T11:15:04.392-07:002012-05-21T11:15:04.392-07:00Paul you couldn't make it through Fellowship o...Paul you couldn't make it through Fellowship of the Ring? WOW! That's too bad. <br /><br />I also don't think The Secret History of Star Wars was as bad as you make it out to be. The author probably had an agenda, but I still think he brought forth some interesting information. Basically, however, representativebob's post sums up my feelings on that book pretty well.dbutler16https://www.blogger.com/profile/00046066729353639991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-4311766408973980192011-04-17T15:51:08.855-07:002011-04-17T15:51:08.855-07:00"The Secret History of Star Wars" should..."The Secret History of Star Wars" should have been named, "What the Know-it-All Loser Who Wrote This Waste of Time Wishes Was the Secret History of Star Wars So He Could Go On Blaming George Lucas for Ruining His So-Called Life."<br /><br />SAR, that's kinda the way I feel. I just don't get it. I don't want to downplay Kurtz's contributions, but that he somehow became the champion of all this is beyond me. It is utterly bizarre, especially when one takes into account what happened on Empire, as well as his subsequent career, or lack thereof. He was on that Hero's Blog awhile back, and the haters were cheering him on when he said that it all became a special-effects driven, money-grabbing affair with ROTJ. They were actually applauding his honesty. <br /><br />As you pointed out, there is so much evidence to the contrary it's absurd. Look at the Beginning documentary on the TPM DVD. After the first screening, I didn't see one yes-man running up and kissing his feet and telling him he'd created the greatest masterpiece in the history of cinema. No, there was an honest, open discussion about the merits of the ending, which Lucas obviously listened to and took into account. <br /><br />As a friend of mine was saying, that anything in "The Secret History" is somehow a "secret" is ludicrous. We all knew this stuff, right out of countless interviews and the annotated screenplays and all the making of books. So scratching our heads there. <br /><br />It's just kinda pitiful that the bashers have resorted to interview Lucas' former employees (and his ex-wife!) in increasingly desperate attempts to discredit him. It's absurd, as we all know. And believe you me, a lot of people DO know it. It's amazing, but with a new generation of fans on the way, it's nowhere near as trendy and cool to hate on Lucas and SW as it was a decade ago.<br /><br />Anyway, thank you so much for your comments. As they say on the Forcecast, we're taking the Force back.Paul F. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05597806846560640157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-74588575658111288842011-04-16T20:40:03.023-07:002011-04-16T20:40:03.023-07:00Lucas has done just fine without Kurtz. Kurtz has ...Lucas has done just fine without Kurtz. Kurtz has done...well, what? Since splitting from Lucas, he's been exiled from Hollywood, because no one WANTED him after his bungling of his duties on "Return to Oz," the fourth consecutive film he'd allowed to go off-schedule and over-budget. He's tried to get some fame for himself in recent years by badmouthing Lucas and kissing up to a bunch of malcontent fanboyz who refuse to move on from what they profess to hold in such contempt. He declared bankruptcy in the mid-1980s. <br /><br />Yet prequel-bashers treat that loser like he's some messiah. I guess it's only fitting, because they tend to be losers themselves.<br /><br />Lucas collaborates plenty nowadays. He asked several people to help him with the script for TPM, and he passed it by several people after it was done. He had a co-writer for the script for AOTC. He reportedly asked Tom Stoppard to help him with the opera scene in ROTS. He encouraged feedback from the actors, as confirmed by Hayden Christensen. He brought in Frank Oz to oversee the animation of Yoda and made it clear to the FX people that they were to listen to anything Frank said. He collaborated in many other ways that can be seen if one watches the behind-the-scenes documentaries for the prequels, instead of relying on what "Gary Kurtz says."<br /><br />If this post seems too harsh, well, I don't apologize. I am sick of prequel-bashers coming in to every discussion to spew their hatred, and acting as if they are somehow "fair-minded" because they hate more of the SW movies than they like. Not to mention, it has been twelve, nine, and six years, respectively, since the prequel movies came out. Why are they still fixating on them?SARhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14750205245888716532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-65221395936286598992011-04-16T20:39:49.341-07:002011-04-16T20:39:49.341-07:00"The Secret History of Star Wars" should..."The Secret History of Star Wars" should have been named, "What the Know-it-All Loser Who Wrote This Waste of Time Wishes Was the Secret History of Star Wars So He Could Go On Blaming George Lucas for Ruining His So-Called Life."<br /><br />Of course, prequel-haters and Lucas-bashers act like that thing is "the last word," and "proves" that he used to have tough-talking no-men like Gary Kurtz (whose whiny, sour-grapes, self-serving interviews are a major source of so-called "information" for the thing) but now he's surrounded by butt-kissers. According to whom? Why, to Gary Kurtz, of course, never mind that he hasn't worked with Lucas in 30 years and has no idea what's going on behind the scenes. Not to mention, interviews and articles written around the time Kurtz actually was SW's producer, pretty neatly disprove his claims of being a tough-talking naysayer and Lucas's babysitter. So does "The Making of 'The Empire Strikes Back.'" <br /><br />But, prequel-bashers and Lucas-haters have glommed onto Kurtz as their hero, because he says exactly what they want to hear. To me, he comes across like an opportunistic, self-serving jackass who is very cynically using the backlash against the prequels to reclaim a notoriety that was never really his to begin with...trying to cast himself as an "elder statesman" of SW, and gaining a slavish following of discontented Internet too-hip-for-words fanboyz who hate ROTJ and the SW prequels, but refuse to move on from them. <br /><br />Oh, and Kurtz wanted ROTJ to end with Han dead, Leia adjusting to her new role as Queen, and Luke wandering off alone. According to him, that's more "mature." To me, that's needlessly angsty and actually rather cruel. But, of course, the Kurtz Kultists fawn over that ending, not necessarily because they like it, but because, in their eyes, Kurtz can do no wrong. <br /><br />Interesting, because Jim Henson sure thought Kurtz could do wrong...he was so inept in his producing duties for "The Dark Crystal" that Henson wanted to remove his name from the credits. He was also so inept in his producing duties for "Return to Oz" that the studio threatened to pull the plug...until George Lucas (the same George Lucas who Kurtz supposedly "babysat") stepped in and, as a favor to the director Walter Murch, who was a longtime friend, persuaded the studio to let the filming go on. Twenty-odd years later, Murch was still very grateful to Lucas. Lucas, not Kurtz.SARhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14750205245888716532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-76124730952315974762011-04-15T19:34:37.227-07:002011-04-15T19:34:37.227-07:00Well thanks, sandspirit. I think the wearing-itsel...Well thanks, sandspirit. I think the wearing-itself-on-its-sleeve is very appealing, and something a lot of people don't give it enough credit for. It is what it is and doesn't try to be anything else, which is always refreshing. :-)Paul F. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05597806846560640157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-63907832343626839282011-04-15T09:29:44.977-07:002011-04-15T09:29:44.977-07:00I waited to read such an essay as this forever. Th...I waited to read such an essay as this forever. Thanks! I especially loved the part where you say that G-Level canon has always been brave enough to wear itself on its sleeve. That the very thing that makes Star Wars is the balance between the 'cool' and not cool. I admire Lucas' fearlessness and dedication.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-55808320056538306592011-04-14T13:08:03.394-07:002011-04-14T13:08:03.394-07:00Exactly, bob. Exactly. I've been researching i...Exactly, bob. Exactly. I've been researching it. Okay, so I shouldn't have called it "garbage," but see next post for why I'm getting sick of it.Paul F. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05597806846560640157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-32927994072413387042011-04-14T10:50:41.596-07:002011-04-14T10:50:41.596-07:00I read the online version of "Secret History&...I read the online version of "Secret History" a while back, and my reaction to it could more or less be compared to Claude Rains in "Casablanca", shocked to discover that there's gambling at Rick's cafe. Spoiler alert-- George Lucas probably kinda-sorta made up the Original Trilogy as he went along. Does that undercut its validity, or his stature as a filmmaker, or the fundamental underpinnings of the saga and Prequel Trilogy? Hell, no. My issue with "Secret History" isn't that it tries to convince you that Lucas didn't have everything quite as planned as he's insisted, but rather that it assumes that's somehow a bad thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-30724656627466274062011-04-12T00:00:23.612-07:002011-04-12T00:00:23.612-07:00Ah, I was wondering where my post went. Well, we&#...Ah, I was wondering where my post went. Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on several things. If you find any relevance in Jar Jar, we certainly won't see eye to eye on many things (though we do both love Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, so that's something). Then again, if you only got partway through FOTR (the book; the movie is an interpretation), then it's not really fair to judge Gollum's character. Frankly, for someone who's read as much mythology as you've noted, I'm surprised you're not able to find a bit more patience for the books. But as regards Tolkien's relationship with Lewis, the two were open and honest friends for years. Tolkien felt the inclusion of Santa Claus in the Narnia mythology was a misstep, and he's not alone in that opinion. <br /><br />As regards Kaminsky's work, I can't help but feel you might have been offended by the implications, so we can agree to disagree. I found it well-researched and well-presented. I also don't think it's a book for Lucas haters; it presents too balanced a picture for that kind of unreasoning persona; but neither is it a book for those who don't want to see Lucas as anything but a genius. Its relevance is to debunk the myth of Lucas as 100% honest (and it doesn't take Kaminsky's book to prove that; just a few old interviews where he says, for example, that the SW saga was going to be 9 or 12 films), or that Star Wars is the product of a "single vision" (the very fact that Anthony Daniels changed 3PO's character from a used-car salesman to a prissy butler demonstrates one of many contributions from other creative minds). <br /><br />IMO, Lucas was never as strong a filmmaker when he ceased collaborating with other creators and became autocratic. Gark Kurtz, John Milius, and others have spoken of this, and I think the quality of the later films demonstrates it. Great as the concepts are, they should and could've been much better had the screenplays been worked on and improved.<br /><br />At any rate, SW has a few fundamentalists in its ranks, the talifans who hate anything and anyone that deviates from their ideas (be it films, books, etc.), and, in recent days, those who belligerantly oppose a politely worded petition for no good reason other than their disdain for a 30+ year old series of books/comics. Of course, the controversy they generated is beneficial, but the attitude reveals a reactionary bent over something that has nothing to do with them since they don't read the books, and all the petition is ASKING Lucas is to go back to doing things the way they'd been done successfully for 30 years.Joe Bongiornohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04075779871102122284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-85901697316815146202011-04-11T18:34:35.667-07:002011-04-11T18:34:35.667-07:00Maybe one day Lucas will CGI Jar Jar into the scen...Maybe one day Lucas will CGI Jar Jar into the scene in ANH when Luke is watching the twin suns set. It would be awesome if they could enjoy the sunset together. Pals.Paul F. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05597806846560640157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-73373689554479121862011-04-11T18:30:12.470-07:002011-04-11T18:30:12.470-07:00Sometimes I want to walk up to Lucas and give him ...Sometimes I want to walk up to Lucas and give him a big hug! He's like Santa Claus. Maybe it's the beard.Paul F. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05597806846560640157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-91635089836511378552011-04-11T18:17:57.083-07:002011-04-11T18:17:57.083-07:00Joe, thanks for reading.
First off, I found the...Joe, thanks for reading. <br /><br />First off, I found the "Secret History of SW" to be the worst, most pointless thing to ever come out of fandom. What I saw was unrelentingly awful and unfounded, and much of it actually disproved the central thesis. This whole "revisionist history" thing IS the revisionist history. Someone really needs to let go and move on.<br /><br />Second off, as for JRR Tolkien, I couldn't even make it through "Fellowship." Excruciatingly boring and pointless. One Hobbit too many sang one too many songs and that was it for me. As for CGI characters, I'll take Jar Jar to Gollum any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Why people prefer Gollum slobbering all over the place while moaning about his precious and having schizoid breakdowns to Jar Jar, I'll never know. Plus Tolkien was apparently a jerk to Lewis about Narnia. And I believe "Clerks 2" settled this debate.<br /><br />Third off, I love Teddy Bears. <br /><br />Fourth off, I don't mean that everyone who has bought an EU book is an "insular, fringe element" for heaven's sake. Don't identify where identifications aren't relevant. I would have to include myself in that category, too, as I have bought many an EU book.<br /><br />Fifth off, I certainly think EU fans have a right to express themselves and belong in fandom. I even un-spammed your comment as a result. <br /><br />What I have zero respect for is these people who keep throwing garbage like "The Secret History of SW" around as though it has some kind of relevance to anything. I'm glad so many Lucas haters are enjoying it and working themselves up into a delirious, pseudo erotic frenzy while reading its pages, but I don't swing that way. <br /><br />I don't dance to the SW fundamentalist beat, which is why this blog is "The SW Heresies." I'm pretty sure someone will probably start a petition to shut it down, because that's always been the way with reactionary, belligerent fundamentalists. At least I won't be burned at the stake. Probably.Paul F. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05597806846560640157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-63575121050921233682011-04-11T17:53:46.967-07:002011-04-11T17:53:46.967-07:00Well thanks, Brandon. I think all of us have enjoy...Well thanks, Brandon. I think all of us have enjoyed the EU from time to time, but it still doesn't haven't that Lucasian buzz for me. Cheers.Paul F. McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05597806846560640157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-27476233068666855672011-04-11T01:40:24.083-07:002011-04-11T01:40:24.083-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Joe Bongiornohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04075779871102122284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636066944923143523.post-54866278152074575202011-04-10T17:44:14.813-07:002011-04-10T17:44:14.813-07:00Loved this article. I can't say that I disagre...Loved this article. I can't say that I disagree with anything here. While I have read, watched, played, or what have you of my fair share of the EU, I have always approached the content with the attitude that it was not canon.Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12499127155591828226noreply@blogger.com