Thursday, February 23, 2012

An open letter to George Lucas....

Dear George,


Do you remember this recent interview where you were trying to justify the new recut versions inclusion of 'Greedo shooting first and why it isn't a big deal'? No? Well tell you what why don't you  READ THIS FIRST then come back.

Done? Good.


To elaborate as to why it matters is that you decided to change and alter something that was already established within our culture just so you can keep making money out of it. This is one of the reasons why I cannot and will not ever see the Star Wars films in 3D and that pains me to say it because I love the franchise so dearly.


The other point is that you've stripped away one of the best things about Han Solo. He was a smuggler, a criminal who was only out for his money to pay off Jabba. He didn't care about the Rebel Alliance or The Empire, he cared about money. He was a shoot first type of guy and over the course of the three films he redeems himself and BECOMES A HERO! These movies are not just about the Skywalker family dysfunction, this was also the "hero's journey' for Han Solo! Han didn't have to come back to help SAVE Luke's ass in the Death Star trench from Vader. No he could have taken his million space bucks and paid off Jabba and not gave a shit. But he was changing. He was starting to think of just more than himself and his ship. He didn't have to ride around on Tauntaun in the ice fields of Hoth searching for his friend when he could have been banging Leia back at the base...but he did. He was growing as a character.


We met Han Solo in the Mos Eisley cantina..."a wretched hive of scum and villainy". Hero's don't hang out where the villains do looking for work. Han was selfish and greedy at first and by the end of Return of the Jedi was selfless, a general in the Rebellion and had friends and a woman who loved his ass so much she disguised herself as a bounty hunter to track down where Boba Fett turned his carbonite ass over to Jabba. She risked her own life for him. Heros as a general rule don't try to save villains. Han was a redeemed hero by then. A good guy. One of the best.

And you've been slowly chipping away at that part of the story. Han's redemption. It was one of the best parts of those movies and you are trying to remove that. And by claiming you always intended Greedo and Han to shoot at each other but didn't film it that way just makes me sad. You are trying to rewrite history again. And again it is not for the better. You have wondered why you should keep making movies when your fans keep telling you that you are a horrible person, an evil bastard that is looking for money? Well reread that interview then take a good look in the mirror and you will have your answer.

To paraphrase from another geek love rant about this: when you create something of this scale that gets out into the world, like Star Wars, and it effects the culture of human beings spreading so rapidly it's like a virus and we love it unconditionally.....and then you start changing it for your benefit and wonder why we are mad? It's simple because while you may own the liscence you lost the rights to the stories. They belong to all of us now and we don't like you fucking with them any more.

We do love you George for all you've given us. Truly we love all of your creations but please stop altering them. Even Spielberg admitted it was wrong to alter E.T.

 Learn from that.

Your fan,

Phil