My Last Thread— what if George Lucas lets someone else make “Empire” (1980) and instead DOES move into experimental films?

[GeographyDude]

I’m basically asking, how radically different could the U.S. movie industry be?

And I wish to thank everyone who’s participated with me in various threads. I’ve learned a lot! It’s just that I feel the pull of some non-AH writing.

So, I’m going to participate in this thread a little, and I guess then, see people around the Internet.

 

[Dr Dee]

If he’s in that frame of mind in 1980, perhaps he eventually pushes hard for Lynch to direct Jedi in 83?!

 

[GeographyDude]

If he’s in that frame of mind in 1980, perhaps he eventually pushes hard for Lynch to direct Jedi in 83?!

I’m thinking he largely lets Star Wars go (which yeah, will be difficult for him!)

 

[GeographyDude]

For example, 2004 was kind of a mini-age of the documentary. So, what if this comes earlier and harder?

 

[marathag]

OK, GL walks away from Star Wars.
Him doing _Radioland Murders_ won't be any better in 1980 than it was 15 years later
Trying to do an updated screwball comedy was possible, but not with George as a writer, who was terrible with dialog and comedy

 

[kmmontandon]

*Return of the Jedi* will inevitably be much, much better. Maybe they go the distance and do full-sized Wookies instead of Ewoks, which were really the biggest flaw in *RotJ*, along with a bit of heavy-handedness.

 

[TheBalkanizer]

Making Lucas let Star Wars go seems like an almost asb task

 

[Mark E.]

Wasn't it in the 1980 movie that Lucas decided Darth Vader was Luke's father? If somebody else took the series, its direction could have turned substantially. I know it almost sounds ASB for Lucas to abandon Star Wars, but his original intent was to do Flash Gordon with the new special effects. That would have left him with a fixed set of characters that (like Superman, Batman, James Bond) get recast with each generation. In OTL, we have a saga that covers many generations and is still open-ended for a new set of Jedi.

 

[RedSword12]

Production of Empire goes overbudget like IOTL and without Lucas to bail them out, the film could well be cancelled.

 

[GeographyDude]

. . . but not with George as a writer, who was terrible with dialog and comedy

George just has to learn how to delegate!

 

[GeographyDude]

. . . but his original intent was to do Flash Gordon with the new special effects. That would have left him with a fixed set of characters that (like Superman, Batman, James Bond) get recast with each generation.

Love this wider universe!

And in real life, Lucas at least talked out loud about making stuff cheap and fast, like the serials from his boyhood.

 

[GeographyDude]

Survivor was first broadcast by CBS on May 31, 2000. It definitely had a mean edge with the rivalry and backbiting the feature, not the bug. It was schadenfreude writ large.

What if George, being a more optimistic and/or goody two-shoes sort, wants to make reality shows where people at least have a possibility of working together. For example, the show tries to recreate the musical “The Music Man” by sending real live people into a smallish town to start a young person’s band. The people sent in are averagely musical, but have no experience whatsoever teaching music!

But still an outside chance that they might pull it off.