George Lucas on a Fifth Indiana Jones

[Trekker4747]

George Lucas is what happens when you become so powerful there's no one to check and balance you. It's like when Sylvester Stallone was at his peak and would get no-name directors he could boss around for his movies.

Pretty much.

"I want CGI gophers ooohing and ahhing at the explosion!"
"Yes, sir! Sounds great, sir!"

"I want Indy surviving a nuclear explosion in a lead fridge."
"Excelent idea sir!"

"I want Anikan Skywalkwer to be a whiny bitch."
"Top drawer, sir!"

"I want CGI weebles and greebles ALL OVER my classic trilogy! I want a huge CGI dance number sung in an alien language!"
"Such a great idea sir, I just creamed my pants!"

I just wish someone would have the balls to smack Lucas' hand away and tell him, "No!" Spielberg doing that a couple of times during KOTCS could've done lots to improve it.

 

[Broccoli]

George Lucas is what happens when you become so powerful there's no one to check and balance you. It's like when Sylvester Stallone was at his peak and would get no-name directors he could boss around for his movies.

Pretty much.

"I want CGI gophers ooohing and ahhing at the explosion!"
"Yes, sir! Sounds great, sir!"

"I want Indy surviving a nuclear explosion in a lead fridge."
"Excelent idea sir!"

"I want Anikan Skywalkwer to be a whiny bitch."
"Top drawer, sir!"

"I want CGI weebles and greebles ALL OVER my classic trilogy! I want a huge CGI dance number sung in an alien language!"
"Such a great idea sir, I just creamed my pants!"

I just wish someone would have the balls to smack Lucas' hand away and tell him, "No!" Spielberg doing that a couple of times during KOTCS could've done lots to improve it.

And how do we know that any of the the "stupid stuff" in Indy 4 wasn't Spielberg's ideas?

 

[Samurai8472]

30% blame to Speilberg 70% to Lucas that fair?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Because it's easier to hate Lucas.

 

[davejames]

I'm not telling him to stop at all. The dude's got a billion dollars and he likes to make movies - have at and more power to him.

I was talking to the people in the thread, and vicariously to all the SF fans out there who are agreed that Lucas lost his chops a long time ago (or at least constantly say that they think Lucas has lost his chops), and yet still go see his work. 'Tis confusing. Is there something so marvelous about the concept of Star Wars or Indiana Jones that I'm missing that even if people know they're going to be disappointed, they still want to see it? Do people go see it because they love to hate it (a perfectly respectable reason, IMHO, I love to hate a lot of stuff. I know liberals who watch Bill O'Reilly just to get pissed off - it's all good.)? Is it merely that hope springs eternal and there's still a chance that maybe someday he'll produce something that gives a thrill like back in the good old days and it's worth spending the money on the crap on that off-chance?

I'm truly not trying to be an asshole. I'm fascinated by pop phenomenon and Lucas has turned into a truly interesting case where he manages to continue to make commercially successful material even though a huge part of the fan base thinks his stuff of the last ten years sucks. People who like his work go see it. People who hate his work go see it. I guess that's the true definition of success. Truly. ( Man, I am likin' that word today apparently...)

Sorry, but it didn't matter how crappy the prequels were, this was freakin Star Wars we were talking about. The original movies are iconic, and the idea of seeing another chapter in the story was just too tantalizing a prospect for people to ignore. So I don't think you can blame people at ALL for lining up for those movies.

As for the latest Indy, I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that-- despite Lucas's involvement-- I still had plenty of confidence that Spielberg would deliver a quality movie. Because that's what he does.

Never in a million years would I have expected him to deliver the embarassing dud of a movie he did.

 

[Trekker4747]

George Lucas is what happens when you become so powerful there's no one to check and balance you. It's like when Sylvester Stallone was at his peak and would get no-name directors he could boss around for his movies.

Pretty much.

"I want CGI gophers ooohing and ahhing at the explosion!"
"Yes, sir! Sounds great, sir!"

"I want Indy surviving a nuclear explosion in a lead fridge."
"Excelent idea sir!"

"I want Anikan Skywalkwer to be a whiny bitch."
"Top drawer, sir!"

"I want CGI weebles and greebles ALL OVER my classic trilogy! I want a huge CGI dance number sung in an alien language!"
"Such a great idea sir, I just creamed my pants!"

I just wish someone would have the balls to smack Lucas' hand away and tell him, "No!" Spielberg doing that a couple of times during KOTCS could've done lots to improve it.

And how do we know that any of the the "stupid stuff" in Indy 4 wasn't Spielberg's ideas?

Call it a hunch.

 

[Broccoli]

Pretty much.

"I want CGI gophers ooohing and ahhing at the explosion!"
"Yes, sir! Sounds great, sir!"

"I want Indy surviving a nuclear explosion in a lead fridge."
"Excelent idea sir!"

"I want Anikan Skywalkwer to be a whiny bitch."
"Top drawer, sir!"

"I want CGI weebles and greebles ALL OVER my classic trilogy! I want a huge CGI dance number sung in an alien language!"
"Such a great idea sir, I just creamed my pants!"

I just wish someone would have the balls to smack Lucas' hand away and tell him, "No!" Spielberg doing that a couple of times during KOTCS could've done lots to improve it.

And how do we know that any of the the "stupid stuff" in Indy 4 wasn't Spielberg's ideas?

Call it a hunch.

Um...sure.

Because it's easier to hate Lucas.

I find this more likely.

 

[Trekker4747]

Fine. Let's call it observational.

Spielberg tweaks the SFX in ET. He fixes some of the scenes with puppet ET and removes some guns (replacing them with walkie talkies) but overall the tone, look, and feel of the movie is exactly the same.

Lucas tweaks the SFX in Star Wars and adds in senseless greebles all over the place along with entire scenes that're abusrd and uneeded (Jedi Rocks, Han talking to Jabba) and are just there to "show of SFX."

Spielberg also has a much better history when it comes to effective, good, dramatic story telling enhanced by SFX. Lucas has a history of big, masturbatory SFX and, oh yeah, there's a story here too.

Who do you REALLY think came up with the idea for CGI Gophers and the nearly all CGI and over the top jeep/duck chase-scene given the history of these two men and their respective works?

 

[DWF]

Fine. Let's call it observational.

Spielberg tweaks the SFX in ET. He fixes some of the scenes with puppet ET and removes some guns (replacing them with walkie talkies) but overall the tone, look, and feel of the movie is exactly the same.

Lucas tweaks the SFX in Star Wars and adds in senseless greebles all over the place along with entire scenes that're abusrd and uneeded (Jedi Rocks, Han talking to Jabba) and are just there to "show of SFX."

Spielberg also has a much better history when it comes to effective, good, dramatic story telling enhanced by SFX. Lucas has a history of big, masturbatory SFX and, oh yeah, there's a story here too.

Who do you REALLY think came up with the idea for CGI Gophers and the nearly all CGI and over the top jeep/duck chase-scene given the history of these two men and their respective works?

And how many versions of CE3K are there? You can alter a movie without CGI just as well as you with CGI.

 

[Gaith]

I just wish someone would have the balls to smack Lucas' hand away and tell him, "No!" Spielberg doing that a couple of times during KOTCS could've done lots to improve it.

For all we know, he did... but perhaps we could get back to discussing future Indys... With all due respect, this thread isn't about KOTCS. So, to repeat what some dude said above:

I don't give two bits about Stargate, so I think Excalibur'd be fine... and as awful as it could easily be, Indy with dinosaurs sounds awesome. Atlantis could definitely work also.

 

[Tulin]

George Lucas is what happens when you become so powerful there's no one to check and balance you. It's like when Sylvester Stallone was at his peak and would get no-name directors he could boss around for his movies.

Agreed, whatever they'll put on screen, it won't measure to the original trilogy.

The 4th Movie was so badly received by critics and and fans that it started it's own phrase for when a movie franchise starts to go downhill. A phrase very similar to "Jumping The Shark". "Nuking The Fridge".

Or maybe just here on TrekBBS

Nope - I've seen it elsewhere.

 

[drasche]

I don't know, I read pretty much every interview out there, and most of Spielberg's enthusiasm for the movie seemed to be about the actors, and how much fun he had working with Harrison again.

I can't remember hearing him ever rave about the story they were telling-- something which really stuck out to me, because usually he loves talking about the stories of his movies, and the meaning behind them.

Well I'm with Spielberg on this one. I loved the way the main cast was treated but I didn't like the story.

I'd rather have the Atlantis video game put on the big screen. The story was great. And there were Nazis! Nazis are fun. Ruskies weren't as half the fun we had in the old days with the Nazis.

30% blame to Speilberg 70% to Lucas that fair?

I would easily go further

Because it's easier to hate Lucas.

I can't say that I hate Lucas, being the one who brought us Star Wars. I just wish he tones down when it comes to write a story.

Nope - I've seen it elsewhere.

Yes, I discovered the website meanwhile

 

[Saul]

It sounds from the interview that Lucas was up for the more wacky elements of Indy than Speilberg. Seems he is trying to push further with Indy 5.

And no this isn't a "Hate Lucas" post, just a fucking observation since i'm here to entertain the poster"s original question.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I'm all for another Indy movie, it got me to go to the movies for the first time since Star Trek Nemesis ,and i did enjoy it.

 

[Gaith]

To follow up the first three's religiosity, there's always...

Indiana Jones and the Golden Plates
Indiana Jones and the Portrait of Mohammad
Indiana Jones and the Totem Pole of Destiny

:P

 

[Stag]

This just in from the home office in a galaxy far far away --

The working title for the 5th Indy Jones movie will be --

"Indiana Jones and the Cranium of Jar Jar"

And the tag line --

"Meesa no like snakes!!"

It's true~

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

The enemy in the next one should be Beatniks (too early for hippies).

 

[Harvey]

Lucas just needs to shut the hell up

Speaking of hell and Lucas, wasn't Lucas' other big idea, besides Roswell Aliens, "Indiana Jones goes to Hell"?

Are you refering to Spielberg and Lucas' nickname for Temple of Doom, or something else?

 

[archeryguy1701]

I thought I had read somewhere (it was a while back... may have been here) that during that 17 year break, Lucas wanted to do Roswell Aliens and Hell for movies 4 and 5. But, that would seem to be partially incorrect.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Because it's easier to hate Lucas.

I find this more likely.

Well, in my case, every time I've read a mention of a possible IJ4 over the last 19 (God) years, the gist of the article or interview went, "Steven and Harrison have agreed on a script again. George hates it again." So, yes, it's easier to hate Lucas. And perhaps more justifiable as well.