[VanHelsing7]

I wonder if you folks might agree with these charges against George Lucas: George Lucas built his multi billion dollar empire on the foundation of a consistent and endless supply of previously published and produced works, so much so that if you were to delete all his so called "homages" "references" and "wink-wink-nod-nod's" to previous films and science fiction novels the series STAR WARS would be five minutes of bad shots of Jar Jar binks saying poodoo and yousa mousa bousa dousa. The reality is unfortunately, that even "JAR JAR" is an obvious rip off of the 'groundbreaking revoulutionary sythesis of animation and live action' character known as ROGER RABBIT and intentionally just as annoying. Even JarJar is Roger Rabit fused with Dumb Donald from the Cosby series known as "FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS." Do your research on that, you will be unbelievably surprised to see Jar Jar/the Gungans born in that character played by the voice actor Erik GUNDEN. This is truly sad. From Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Tetsu Yano, Akira Kurosawa, and EE Smith, to Bill Cosby, George Lucas has constructed his films entirely from previous works, and scarcely a new idea can be found. Only now, in the year 2004, do we know how adulterated and fraudulent STAR WARS really is...after we all handed over billions to Lucas for Yoda toilet seats and R2D2 toothpaste...

I am preparing a vast case against Lucas, and charging him with CRIMES AGAINST THE CINEMA, not to mention plagiarism and a million other things...anyone with any tidbit of info, such as a movie they were watching one night made before 1977, where they realized...."Holy shit, this is right outta Star Wars" such as the scene in DERSU UZALA where Dersu saves the fallen Captain from the blizzard by tukcing him into an improvised shelter(Han and the Tauntan on Hoth)...or the moment he meets and approaches the Captain Arseniev in the night in the woods and like yoda unassuming, sits down and begins talking... There are a million more scenes out there and I am determined to find them all.

Lucas has the true genius of an Ed Wood and the balls of P.T.Barnum, and we ALLLLLLLLL fell for it. Archtypes of the Unconscious my ass, fluck Joseph Campbell we were decieved I tell you! Used and abused and then tossed like an empty beer can over Lucas' shoulder upon release of the PHANTOM MENACE. Don't you feel dirty?

[Vwing]

No. As Kill Bill was a rip-off of the Japanese/Hong Kong movies and Westerns, but is still great on its own, so is Star Wars. There isn't one person on this forum who doesn't know the originals were pretty much taken from other stuff, but that's OK. THEY WERE STILL GOOD MOVIES. They took these ideas, transplanted them into a different setting, and just made everyone feel so great, because they were great. The prequels aren't any reason for us to feel bad about the old movies. The only difference between the prequels and OT is that the prequels are bad and the OT is good. That's it. I don't care what's ripped off, if it's well-done, it's well-done, and it's original enough that I wouldn't call it plagiarism. That's a bit too far. Don't forget we wasted our money on that stuff because of our love for Star Wars, and Star Wars got our love by BEING GOOD.

[Helena]

I don't doubt that you're right, but I don't really have a problem with Lucas plagiarising other people's work as long as it's done well - after all, Shakespeare stole many of his ideas from other people. The real problem comes when he starts trying to make up his own stuff, as we can see from the Prequels.

[barend]

I tell you right now...

the way these prequels make cheap references to the originals, (gundarks, fodder, poodoo etc.), and seem to have payed little attention to information regarding important characters freely offered in ANH.

i'm utterly convinced that the true genius behind the Original SW was someone else and Lucas took the credit for it.

[Just your average movie goer]

I second that - and fully agree with Vwing and Helena.

[Chefelf]

i'm utterly convinced that the true genius behind the Original SW was someone else and Lucas took the credit for it.

But who could have helped him?

[Just your average movie goer]

Ah, that was a great flick. I can certainly see why you'd jump on a chance to advertise that one again. Guys, if you haven't seen the flick Chefelf has linked here... do yourself a favour and take a look. It'll answer ALL your questions.

[Hannibal]

I think van helsing is correct, George Lucas is praised for putting together all these ideas and calling them Homages, but think about it, did any of these people like Kurosawa get one dime from the multimilliondollar franchise that is now Star Wars? Is the moral here, steal as much as you can from earlier works, just do it better and you deserve all the cold hard cash you can carry?

[Mike Mac from NYU]

I wonder if you folks might agree with these charges against George Lucas: George Lucas built his multi billion dollar empire on the foundation of a consistent and endless supply of previously published and produced works, so much so that if you were to delete all his so called "homages" "references" and "wink-wink-nod-nod's" to previous films and science fiction novels the series STAR WARS would be five minutes of bad shots of Jar Jar binks saying poodoo and yousa mousa bousa dousa. The reality is unfortunately, that even "JAR JAR" is an obvious rip off of the 'groundbreaking revoulutionary sythesis of animation and live action' character known as ROGER RABBIT and intentionally just as annoying.

I understand your greivance

.but are the really any truly original ideas.

Every movie is based on an amalgamation of some form of previous literature or film.

The accusation you levied against Lucas could be made for every filmmaker in the last 50 odd years???

[littlejerryseinfeld]

thaz what i'm talkin 'bout, vanhelsing!

remember that vanhelsing isn't just saying lucas stole plot ideas/characters, but SPECIFIC scenes... is that going too far? in my eye(s), yes.

should he have li'l annie fighting a large spider in episode III only to have obi wan rescue him?

[Mike Mac from NYU]

should he have li'l annie fighting a large spider in episode III only to have obi wan rescue him?

That would be a horrible scene...

not because their is a large spider......

..but because Anakin is being saved by Obi-Wan in Episode III, where Obi-Wan and anakin are supposed to be at their throats. What's Obi Wan doing saving Anakin in scene that probably would take place in the middle of the movie.


But, knowing Lucas these days, that scene will probably happen.