[QUOTE=Stingray;196510]I still can't believe that nobody at the Skywalker ranch told him, "listen George, me and the guys think you are going about this the wrong way."[/QUOTE]
That's because the people who were happy to stand up and disagree with his decisions left around the time of Return of the Jedi.
By the time the prequels came along, he was surrounded by people who would say yes to anything he wanted because they only saw dollars.
As for the technical excuses, I agree. They should have gone for the same mix of models and cgi that movies like First Contact and Starship Troopers had. The effects in both of those have dated far less than the Prequels.
Mmmmhmmmm, the First Contact battle is still FRAGGING AWESOME! To this day, it looks better than most CGI out there. And this was 96 when it came out. Models can be really cheezy, but when done right, look amazing.
Come to think of it, Jurassic Park's release and Lucas' decision to make the prequals was about the same time. Jurassic Park came out in 93, and the earliest mention I have of Lucas being in pre-production for the prequals was in the interview at the beginning of the THX VHS releases, which came out in 94 or 95. So he was probably inspired by it for sure.
Look at Prometheus to see what can be done with models with modern technology. No matter what you think of the story, there's no denying the visuals are so very impressive. Ridley Scott set out with the goal that anything that could be made practically had to be done so and CGI would only be used to enhance it.
I thought Prometheus was cool. Sure it's not absolutely perfect, but I thought it was just a very enjoyable movie and had a lot of what's been lacking in movies for a long time.
Comments
I cannot remember any flying bugs in the prequels at all. Have I blanked them out?
That's because the people who were happy to stand up and disagree with his decisions left around the time of Return of the Jedi.
By the time the prequels came along, he was surrounded by people who would say yes to anything he wanted because they only saw dollars.
As for the technical excuses, I agree. They should have gone for the same mix of models and cgi that movies like First Contact and Starship Troopers had. The effects in both of those have dated far less than the Prequels.
Come to think of it, Jurassic Park's release and Lucas' decision to make the prequals was about the same time. Jurassic Park came out in 93, and the earliest mention I have of Lucas being in pre-production for the prequals was in the interview at the beginning of the THX VHS releases, which came out in 94 or 95. So he was probably inspired by it for sure.