Long Summary
George Lucas has had a long and storied career. He began his career with more personal, independent movies like "American Graffiti" and "THX-1138" before exploding into stardom with Star Wars in the 70s. He subsequently left directing to act as a writer and producer, helming the further Star Wars sequels as well as the Indiana Jones trilogy. Both proved major successes both as franchises and with merchandising.
However, there were missteps along the way, and signs of George Lucas beginning to become what he would become.
Return of the Jedi received a more mixed critical response than the other Star Wars films. This could perhaps be linked the Lucas being unwilling to do things suggested within the story, such as having Luke go to the dark side before being saved by Leia (I don't recall if she was supposed to have gone to be trained by Yoda as a Jedi as well; Luke was said to be the last hope, while Yoda said there was another, which was Leia), having Han Solo die, and having it set on the Wookie homeworld instead of having Ewoks. Return of the Jedi was I believe when Lucas went as nuts with merchandising as we've become used to from Star Wars. In 1986, Lucas produced Howard the Duck, which was a critical bomb. Willow, in 1988, received mixed reviews. 1994's Radioland Murders received negative reviews and was a box office bomb. Despite all these, his legacy was good. People forgave Howard the Duck, liked Willow, and ignored Radioland Murders. He hadn't directed them anyway. And he was the man who gave us Star Wars and Indiana Jones (along with Spielberg).
Then the prequels came out and everything changed. Fans, by a majority, hate them. George Lucas, in turn, has said his films were only for children, which I prescribe largely to a cop out. He also lashed out at his fans to get a life. People thought of Episode 1 as a fluke, and that Episode II would be better. Episode II was not better. Then we were hoping Episode III would be better. Episode III was better, and ok, but still suffered many problems which were overlooked because we just experienced an ok Star Wars film after 2 bad ones.
The prequels lead to a complete reevaluation of George Lucas. Some said they were just a problem of circumstance; that George Lucas was not surrounded by people willing to criticize anymore, and that he had been lured in by CGI far, far too much. Some said it was just Lucas himself, and that he couldn't write, didn't know how to direct, and relied on special effects instead of story. Some said that that was just something that was recent, while others went back and said that George Lucas was never any good, and that the first Star Wars was a fluke, or that it was all the other people who worked on it that made it really work, and that George Lucas did not really do all that much. Whatever the case, the people who had previously looked up to him did not look at him the same way, and he lost his icon status. Subsequent actions solidified backlash; his refusal to release the theatrical cuts of the Original Star Wars to modern home video (DVD and Blu-Ray), and his constant recuts of them to make them better. His disparaging of fans who like his previous work and are upset at what he's doing to his past work. His influence in the making of Indiana Jones 4, which received mixed reviews and backlash from fans upset at where they perceived they saw George Lucas in the production and making it a worse film than it could have been. The negative reaction to Red Tails.
All those things lead to a perception that Lucas was incompetent as a director, was careless with these beloved franchises, was willfully disdainful of the fans of his films due to his actions in tinkering with the films and making bad sequels and criticizing those who criticize his tinkering, and was only in it for merchandising money. That's a far cry from George Lucas as a pure genius responsible for so many great things who must have been great for giving them to the world.
Short Summary
That's the career of George Lucas in a nutshell. The challenge here is to make his career better. To avoid the missteps and to avoid the things that lead to Lucas being look at with a mixed reaction at best today. You can do that by improving specific areas along the timeline, or starting earlier and branching off the timeline. George Lucas, after all, could have become a respected Indie director, which is what he began his career as. Or he could have just remained as an idea man, which is what he was from Star Wars (1977) up to the prequels started production. Or you can have him get hit by a car at a specific point in 1985.
George Lucas has had a long and storied career. He began his career with more personal, independent movies like "American Graffiti" and "THX-1138" before exploding into stardom with Star Wars in the 70s. He subsequently left directing to act as a writer and producer, helming the further Star Wars sequels as well as the Indiana Jones trilogy. Both proved major successes both as franchises and with merchandising.
However, there were missteps along the way, and signs of George Lucas beginning to become what he would become.
Return of the Jedi received a more mixed critical response than the other Star Wars films. This could perhaps be linked the Lucas being unwilling to do things suggested within the story, such as having Luke go to the dark side before being saved by Leia (I don't recall if she was supposed to have gone to be trained by Yoda as a Jedi as well; Luke was said to be the last hope, while Yoda said there was another, which was Leia), having Han Solo die, and having it set on the Wookie homeworld instead of having Ewoks. Return of the Jedi was I believe when Lucas went as nuts with merchandising as we've become used to from Star Wars. In 1986, Lucas produced Howard the Duck, which was a critical bomb. Willow, in 1988, received mixed reviews. 1994's Radioland Murders received negative reviews and was a box office bomb. Despite all these, his legacy was good. People forgave Howard the Duck, liked Willow, and ignored Radioland Murders. He hadn't directed them anyway. And he was the man who gave us Star Wars and Indiana Jones (along with Spielberg).
Then the prequels came out and everything changed. Fans, by a majority, hate them. George Lucas, in turn, has said his films were only for children, which I prescribe largely to a cop out. He also lashed out at his fans to get a life. People thought of Episode 1 as a fluke, and that Episode II would be better. Episode II was not better. Then we were hoping Episode III would be better. Episode III was better, and ok, but still suffered many problems which were overlooked because we just experienced an ok Star Wars film after 2 bad ones.
The prequels lead to a complete reevaluation of George Lucas. Some said they were just a problem of circumstance; that George Lucas was not surrounded by people willing to criticize anymore, and that he had been lured in by CGI far, far too much. Some said it was just Lucas himself, and that he couldn't write, didn't know how to direct, and relied on special effects instead of story. Some said that that was just something that was recent, while others went back and said that George Lucas was never any good, and that the first Star Wars was a fluke, or that it was all the other people who worked on it that made it really work, and that George Lucas did not really do all that much. Whatever the case, the people who had previously looked up to him did not look at him the same way, and he lost his icon status. Subsequent actions solidified backlash; his refusal to release the theatrical cuts of the Original Star Wars to modern home video (DVD and Blu-Ray), and his constant recuts of them to make them better. His disparaging of fans who like his previous work and are upset at what he's doing to his past work. His influence in the making of Indiana Jones 4, which received mixed reviews and backlash from fans upset at where they perceived they saw George Lucas in the production and making it a worse film than it could have been. The negative reaction to Red Tails.
All those things lead to a perception that Lucas was incompetent as a director, was careless with these beloved franchises, was willfully disdainful of the fans of his films due to his actions in tinkering with the films and making bad sequels and criticizing those who criticize his tinkering, and was only in it for merchandising money. That's a far cry from George Lucas as a pure genius responsible for so many great things who must have been great for giving them to the world.
Short Summary
That's the career of George Lucas in a nutshell. The challenge here is to make his career better. To avoid the missteps and to avoid the things that lead to Lucas being look at with a mixed reaction at best today. You can do that by improving specific areas along the timeline, or starting earlier and branching off the timeline. George Lucas, after all, could have become a respected Indie director, which is what he began his career as. Or he could have just remained as an idea man, which is what he was from Star Wars (1977) up to the prequels started production. Or you can have him get hit by a car at a specific point in 1985.
