So, we all know the story. A young filmmaker decides to adapt the serials he had enjoyed as a child, so he bought the rights, and made an adaptation that not only respects the source material, but expands on it. George Lucas' Flash Gordon helped create more optimism during the turbulent 70's, and led other homages. Apparently, though, the rights were sought after by famed film producer Dino De Laurentis. So, what if De Laurentis had bought the rights instead of Lucas?
DBWI: George Lucas doesn't get the rights to "Flash Gordon"
- Thread starter Miss Teri
- Start date
Lucas was at one time slated to direct Apocalypse Now. Perhaps he tries to make his own space story instead.
It'd probably be a flop and a disapointing footnote on an otherwise great director's career. I fail to see how something either invented from whole cloth or cobbled together could compare to the juggernaut that is Flash Gordon. Lucas is a good filmmaker but he's no miracle worker.
Well, there is certainly other source material out there. If he couldn't have Flash Gordon then maybe the Lensman series gets made a decade earlier? Granted, Lensman would then not have been so influenced but Jodorowski's Dune. It would have almost certainly been more serialized. Which, frankly, is more in keeping with the source, anyway, and which is exactly what Lucas was going for. Ridley Scott sort of mangled that. Don't get me wrong- he did a great job. It just doesn't feel right, somehow, cramming all those books into one film and a sequel. At least he knew he was going to have a sequel, though, so the flow is better than Flash Gordon.
But of course then the question becomes, what would be Scott's magnum opus if Lensman is already taken?
But of course then the question becomes, what would be Scott's magnum opus if Lensman is already taken?
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I saw an obscure manuscript about a young kid named Starkiller. No way does anything like that get turned into anything remotely successful. Lucas may even be remembered as the next Ed Wood if he keeps trying crap like that.
I remember reading that they published the manuscript as a novel detailing the plot of the hypothetical movie. Apparently it was ridiculous campy nonsense that would've sunk George Lucas's career.
Then it was parodied by The Simpsons in the '90s, only we all knew how it would go when they titled that episode "The Producers."
I think all of you are being a little unfair to the Starkiller script. There were some good ideas in there, sure it needed massive amounts of rewriting, but there were some gems. Darth Vedet and Old Ben both being failed members of the Jeedi Order trying to sway Starkiller to their side. Although, as much as I like the idea of the Murdermoon, I sure hope that name would have been one of the things changed. And yeah, it would have been campy, but well done camp can be fun. Anyone who has seen the Skylark movies can tell you that. Except the third one, that sucked.
The third one in the series always sucks: Doc Savage series, the Shadow series, Lost in Space movies, the Arbor Day slasher movies, the Oz reboot, etc, etc.
Can anybody name two different series where the third one did not suck?
Whitewings
Banned
Well, visual effects, if Lucas hadn't been able to get the go-ahead for Flash Gordon, probably wouldn't be as advanced. He put the lion's share of his budget into developing new effects technologies because he wanted Mongo to look real, like a place where people lived and worked, a place you could believe was real. He even had the hawkmen fly on artificial wings because organic-looking ones just couldn't be done at that time without looking cheap and fake. That decision drew a lot of criticism, but in all honesty I support it. I also liked the decision to stick to the source material and kill off Ming for real at the end of the first film; Aura being a tyrant, but less of one, and in a different way, than her father, allowed a lot more room for exploring Alex Raymond's complex world.
Dino deLaurentis's Flash Gordon would almost certainly be a studio-bankrupting monstrosity (with soundtrack by Queen) like his OT Metropolis remake. So yeah, no Apocalypse Now.
Exactly. The sequel so bad, MST3K wouldn't parody it, because "It would br wrong."