Without this guy, there would be no Star Wars. We're all grateful for that, but it seems many of his "fans" are also mad as hell at him. Some people seem to think that in order to be a Star Wars fan, you must hate the prequels, hate the special editions, and hate half the stuff in the original trilogy. Everyone's entitled to their opinions of course, but I for one am a little tired of hearing the same rants over and over from the so-called "fans," so that's why I created this section - because I happen to enjoy the movies for themselves, the way they are.
Some Common Complaints
Leia and Luke being siblings
Many people say it's tacked-on, a far too convinient way to solve the love triangle, that there's nothing leading up to it. Then they'll say George is lying when he claims that the movies were about twins since very early in development.
Well first of all, there IS foreshadowing that Luke and Leia are related. Remember when Luke communicates with Leia through the Force? Luke subconsciously KNOWS that Leia is the one to call for. Even in ANH, after R2 plays Leia's message, Obi-Wan gets this knowing look on his face, like he knows it's time for the siblings to be reunited. Secondly, there is basically NO romantic development between Luke and Leia. Sure, Luke says she's beautiful when he first sees her message, but that's more of a casual tone than a oh-man-I-gotta-marry-her tone. Then there's the "you think a princess and a guy like me..." scene, where Luke seems upset at the suggestion of Han being with Leia. Well, Luke MIGHT have a shallow boy-crush on Leia at first, but there is NOTHING to suggest anything further - and may I remind you that they DON'T know they're siblings yet. Then there's the kiss - which Leia does for one reason and one reason only: to piss Han off. Meanwhile, it's HAN who has the serious relationship with Leia for the whole movie. It's no secret who she's going to end up with.
Hayden added at the end of Return of the Jedi
Of all the changes George made to the original trilogy, probably none has gotten as much flack as deleting Sebastian Shaw's ghost form and adding in Hayden Christiansen's. People say it's too much tampering and it's an insult to Sebastian's memory. Yes, it is tampering. Yes, it's deleting the previous actor - but it's not like George removed Shaw completely. Shaw still gets his very important and very moving death scene, but from a purely storytelling perspective, it works better for Hayden to be the ghost. Showing that Anakin can once more take the form he had before becoming Darth Vader displays that he has truly left the dark side behind - he is once more the hero he used to be.
Greedo shooting first.
All right, before I get any rotten fruit thrown at me, let's say that I AGREE with the majority on this one. I AGREE that Han shooting first makes more sense and is the better scene. HOWEVER, contrary to popular belief, it does NOT dramatically alter Han's character. No matter who got to the trigger first, they both obviously INTENDED to kill the other. If George really wanted to make Han into a big softie, he would have cut out the shots of Han prepping his gun under the table. Okay, so Greedo's a lousy shot. So are stormtroopers, and I don't see anyone complaining about that. I'm not going to lose sleep over a split second of footage.
Leia remembering her mother when Padme died in childbirth.
After seeing ROTS, a whole lot of viewers were scratching their heads about how Leia could remember Padme if Padme died in childbirth. And of course, several people started blabbing about how stupid George is for forgetting that Leia remembered her mother, even though they have no official proof that George actually forgot. In fact, Leia remembering her mother is NOT a plothole. A plothole is when there are no plausable explanations for something - and there are at least two plausable explainations for Leia remembering her mother. One is that Leia has the Force and the Force allowed her to remember her mother. Of course, that brings up the whole question on why Luke doesn't remember...but are we sure he doesn't? Remember Padme's last words? It could very possibly be that Luke subconsciously remembers his mother's claim that there is good in his father and that drives him to bring the good out. The other plausable explanation is that since Bail was close to Padme, he told Leia a lot about her real mother and thus she thinks she remembers her. Either way, it adds a poignant touch that in some small way, Padme's memory is carried to her children.
More coming soon.
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