h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Star Wars - A847668
Author: Oberon2001 (ACE) - U204088

This has been PRed before and I was politely told to submit it to Update HQ, which I did.
Anyway, one of the Italics said today that the Update HQ has died a death and that all updates are going through PR now.
This update is intended as a complete replacement of the original entry, 'cos, well the original entry -> A142228 <- just isn't very informative and I haven't actually managed to work in any direct stuff from it.
Share and Enjoy.
Oberon2001

Goodness... a lot of updates all of the sudden. What with Anhaga's (much needed) Canada entry, Bels Statue of Liberty, My Calvin and Hobbes... I suppose I shouldn't rewrite the entry on the USA right away then...

I read the EG before, and the first thought that came to mind was how inadequate it is.

May the force be with you.

I remember when I was in High School (dimly) and the year after Star Wars came out (I remember it comming out in 1976 but everybody seems to be saying 77) my English class was completely centred around Star Wars (except the Macbeth digression). The teacher was at that point putting the finishing touches on his Masters Degree (symbolism in the works of Hawthorne, as I remember[he very shortly retired from teaching high school english and moved to British Columbia to teach skiing. He drove a green SAAB. Goodness, my memory is doing well!]) and so he was very into instilling literary critical methods into what I remember as largely a class of teenage dolts who would never amount to anything (I think most of them in fact amounted to nothing). He had us reading the Wizard of Oz and Tolkien and Dune. It was actually a tremendous excercise that was completely lost on most of the dolts in the class (who claimed he was ruining the film by analyzing it's sources [not that they could even pronounce "analyzing").

Anyway, the point of all this which I didn't mean to bore you with is that he told us that Lucas originally intended twelve parts which would parallel the number of books in Virgil's Aeneid and Milton's Paradise Lost both of whom chose twelve because it was half of the 24 that Homer has in each of his epics (because they saw themselves as only half as good as Homer). I don't have any real source for this story, but if it's true, Lucas was sure building himself a tall pedestal to fall from (not that he ever got anywhere near to putting his tiny little feet up there anyway).

Good memory!
I've never seen any quotes or anything at all to suggest that SW was meant to come out in 12 parts, even when Lucas was devising it the most he meant was 9. I've done quite a bit of research into this as well, 'cos the last time it went through PR there was a big debate about it.
Anyway, if you can prove it even the slightest I'm willing to put it in, 'cos it's an interesting story.
Oberon2001

I'm sure I'll never prove it.

What a coincidence. I'm reading my mate's book on Lucas at the moment.

The thing about the number of episodes Lucas was planning has become a little confused over the years. Originally, Lucas began writing a massive story that included characters like Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker from the very beginning. As the story got more and more 'epic', he began paring down the story to the point where a huge battle on an ice planet was cut out of it and the story was simplified to what we know as 'Star Wars'. When it was released (something I didn't know for sure until recently), it carried the intro stating it was 'episode IV' to suggest it was part of a serial, like Flash Gordon, although at that point Lucas had not voiced any intention of doing parts 1-3, or indeed any subsequent episodes (right up until its release, no-one thought it would ever be a success, as shown by the very few cinemas that originally distributed it!).

When the film was eventually released, Lucas was so sure it would flop he and his wife had gone to an island on holiday with Steven Spielberg (and his wife) to avoid the disappointment of its failure. Only when the box office figures came through did he start to entertain the idea of a trilogy, utilising some of the story lines he'd cut out of the first script. As the concept got bigger and bigger, he suggested the trilogy might form part of a wider serial. Some interpreted that as six episodes, some as nine, some more, but Lucas never really elaborated on his vision.

Now of course, he's stated that it's six, although if you count the embarrassing Star Wars Christmas Special and the two Ewok movies ('y'know, for kids'), that *could* count as nine

Good to see this back in PR, Oberon. I think I might have to be restrained from suggesting lots of additions to this,

Jims

Can you explain to me why Queen Amidala is central to the plot of the third film? If you mean 'Return of the Jedi', she's not really central at all, other than the fact that she is Luke and Leia's mother. In this case, she is central to them all, as is Obi-Wan's mother.

I seem to recall hearing that it was intended to be nine. Of course Jimster, if Lucas himself denies that I'm sure it was wrong all along.

The reason I remember is that I was in grade school when the second one came out, and using the interval between the first two movies as a standard I had calculated that I would be 18 by the time the series would be finished and that seemed an interminibly long time!

Little did I know that I would be well in my 30's before he'd even completed six!


Off to see the update now...

Amidala is central to the plot of the third film, Episode 3, not third film, Episode 6 (if you see what I mean), as something will happen to her to push Anakin over the edge (or something).
There's a link in the entry to what About.com has to say on the subject of six or nine episodes. It'll probably be more informative than I could ever be!
Oberon2001

I don't think Lucas ever had that grand of a plan. I don't think his vision of Star Wars is nearly as refined of developed as most of his fans.

Nice job, Oberon! And of course, to your co-contributors as well

If you're going to mention Jedi, forget Australia - try this statistic on for size:

FACT: In the UK, Jedi outnumber Jews three to two.

According to the 2001 census, in the UK there are two hundred and sixty thousand Jews. There are THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY THOUSAND JEDI!!!

And they still won't let us have our own slot on "Thought for the Day".

H.

Just checked this - apparently, during the script development phase for the first film, Lucas first suggested the idea of the first story and two sequels. Built into the contract with Fox was an agreement that any sequel to Star Wars would have to go into production no later than two years after the first one was released, so there was, from the beginning, a tacit understanding that a sequel might be possible, but as I said earlier, no-one expected the first film do make any money anyway (indeed, the sequel was eventually financed - at least initially - by Lucas himself as a way of guaranteeing that it wouldn't make a loss).

I too remember the story that there were nine episodes in total, but the fact that (with the prequels) the story seems to be that of Anakin Skywalker, the addition of a further three episodes focusing on Luke, or another generation, would probably undermine that. Perhaps it was marketing hype that was never truly believed until Lucas started work on the prequels?

Anyone who knows for sure doesn't seem wiling to talk about it, but certainly by the time Episode I was announced, the party line was that it was 'always' six episodes. As Jim Smith notes in his book on Lucas, the fact that the original plots for the first film seem to have contained way to much back- and sub-story makes it easy for Lucas to claim that everything was 'always part of it' anyway. He seems to have built enough escape routes for himself so he could claim that was the case without prohibiting the possibility of a third trilogy

Could you imagine? "I think that we should all search deep inside ourselves for an answer to the war in Iraq. Now get out yourlightsabers..."
Anyway, I'm gonna keep the Australia one in for the time being, mainly 'cos I have a link to prove it. for telling me that throughly strange fact about the state of the nation.
Oberon2001

It might be worth expanding the production notes for Attack of the Clones.

As I recall, not only was Attack the first to be fully digitally filmed, it was also fully digitally editted and in cinemas with the capability, digitally shown on its release, without seeing a single piece of celluloid. Celluloid copies were produced, but only for those cinemas that didn't have digital projection equipment.

at the feet of Jimster for his superior knowledge of Star Wars.
I've expanded the production notes for ATOC.
Oberon2001

If you need a link check out

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=297

"When it was released (something I didn't know for sure until recently), it carried the intro stating it was 'episode IV'"

No it didn't! *jumps up and down in mock irritation". The 1981 *re-release* did. The original release said no such thing.

I Quote from www.cedmagic.com/featured/star-wars-lost-footage.html

"The first appearance of "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" was on the new
prints struck for the two-week reissue of "Star Wars" on April 10,
1981, nearly one year after the premiere of "Empire.""

Back later with more constructive stuff

do you think this entry would be better if it waited till after movie 3 in 2005? it seems you've been trying to get it updated for a while, so it might be a good idea to wait until movie 3, add that to the entry, and then submit it.

spook

in reply to post 13: as far as i know there was originally the concept of 9 stories. at the time of the first movie the 4th was the most exciting and marketable. after that followed 2 more to make a trilogy.

Lucas has always had a plan of the trilogy sequal to the middle 3, but they will probably never be made for 2 reasons:

1. the actors who originally played Luke and stuff are old
2. Lucas himself is getting too old, and he says it takes 10 years to make a Star Was trilogy.

the only story line i every reember hearing about the following trilogy is that Boba Fett was in them and it was set with Luke still alive. i'm not sure if Lucas every wrote the following trilogy in book form or not.

spook