I'm just a doormat, but I enjoyed those redlettermedia/Plinkett reviews. I was actually hooked on watching each one. I really didn't notice half of what he pointed out. I do think that it's important to have thick skin if you're to make movies or write scripts, and without someone to bounce ideas off of who will properly challenge what you're doing, you end up making a story that can't endure much criticism or has huge plot holes. At the same time, I think those reviews Leolaia posted are actually constructive criticism, albeit in a pretty brutal/humorous way. A doormat's shielding could not withstand such criticism, but it's easier when the muddy boot does not land on him/it. But the stuff Plinkett pointed out is all things an editor worth his pay would have caught and brought to the screenwriter's attention; since the screenwriter was also the BOSS, it makes sense that everyone just kept their mouths shut and went with it.
I was just thinking about this, maybe it would have made more sense to have the Empire and Darth Vader be born by the end of Episode II, with the Clone Wars being clones vs. a Republic volunteer army (helped by rather than led by the Jedi, as Jedi should never have been in absolute command, it would've made more sense to have a joint command with a non-clone Republic Army and the Senate overseeing it; we don't see non-clone Republic officers at all in Episode III), so that the formation of the Rebel Alliance and the start of the Civil War could have been the heart of Episode III. It'd be a big film, packing the hunting down of the Jedi, the formation of the Rebellion, and culminating in the Rebels' first victory against the Empire, the one talked about in the opening crawl of A New Hope. Hence, not to start with Anakin as a child, but to start with him being closer to Luke's age--the formula worked there and we didn't exactly wonder what Luke's childhood was like (brief glimpses of it in the novelization at most), so why not?
The clones could have been folded into the Imperial chain of command at the end of the Clone Wars, wrapping up everything neatly as opposed to leaving us wondering what the heck happened to those MILLIONS of battle droids after they were shut down in Episode III (giant recycling bin?), also providing good symbolism--as the Republic became the Empire and started to lose touch with its humanity and went more towards unethical actions and uniformity and away from justice and freedom. At the very least, Episode II should have been a straight-out war movie and not just a build-up to the start of the war at the end. Having a love story against that backdrop could have worked Empire-style. Episode I could have ended with more hype--they could have discovered the clones being made at the very end of that, if anything. (If you have multiple drafts of a script, you shouldn't have 4 different plotlines happening in your finale at the same time...you'd quickly realize that was a bad idea and figure out how to tie things up better BEFORE you start filming Episode I...) But...that's just me. It just shows how stuffed with possibilities the movies could have been. Not that my ideas make sense, as I've rambled and jumped all over the map in my usual doormat fashion, but I'm just sayin'.
With that kind of story there's also a huge opportunity to make characters referenced in the Original Trilogy more prominent, like Bail Organa, General Jan Dodonna, General Crix Madine, Admiral Ackbar, and maybe even bring in Mon Mothma (who was supposed to be in Episode III but her scenes were cut). There was a very fertile ground of information already laid out in the old films that was simply left untapped--and I think that in particular was why things turned out as they did. Sticking to your own source material was kind of a common sense thing, but then again I guess the later stories may not even have been written as he wanted them to be, so...that might explain everything....
But...the thing is, George Lucas probably started out with very good intentions, just to make movies of the kind he enjoyed as a kid, and then the system made him jaded and he just said frak it, let's just make some cash. 'Star Wars' is clearly borrowed from numerous sources (samurai films, mythology, old serials/swashbuckling adventure stories from the black-and-white era), so he's just another filmmaker who put in enough to be a part of something that ultimately became much larger than himself. He was lucky and made a mint off of it, and honestly, the temptation to milk it for all it was worth even without caring anymore might be strong.
I think I even tried my hand at writing some drafts of Episode III and even Episode VII myself. Never really got that far since I wrote in novelization form, but I would think the opening of Episode VII should have a nice X-wing joyride in it and highlight how the Jedi have changed and gotten back to being a peacekeeping force. We would be remiss if we didn't show the Millennium Falcon, though. You can easily toss in some banter between old friends (Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Lando in political/armchair roles) and a quick scene highlighting the New Republic, and from there introduce your villain. It's easy to bring back the Sith again, but maybe it might be better to try something totally different--the novels have great inspirational stuff to draw from, because there are obviously many groups that may be particularly good at countering Jedi and would make compelling bad guys (Mandalorians, for example, (d*** you 'The Clone Wars' for ruining them!) or of course everyone would love to see Thrawn realized on the big screen). I don't know.
But clearly the Emperor and Vader dying would start other entities (Black Sun, the Hutts, the Mandalorians, any Imperial Admirals left) to trying to rebuild their power relatively free from intimidation (since the New Republic would be less aggressive than the Empire was). Apart from the fact that any one of those groups would want revenge on Luke Skywalker in particular. The question is, what would be big enough to center three episodes around? The only possibility would be another major war of some kind. That's probably why some sort of adaptation of Timothy Zahn's trilogy, maybe a mixture of the best parts of all the novels since the Skywalker kids are just barely born or don't exist in Zahn's books, would be a good idea. The Expanded Universe deserves a nod for its rich storylines, and I hope that whatever they do will be reasonably respectful of that to the extent that it makes sense to do so.
Pizza roll, anyone?
--sd-7
