4 ms·

Add Gary Kurtz to the list. He said the original plan for ROTJ had no Death Star, and Wookiees instead of Ewoks.

ricc 6y ago
Who proposed the addition of Death Star 2.0 and replacing Wookies with Ewoks? Many people have been criticizing the Ewoks because their role "doesn't make sense" and probably started George Lucas' tendency to pander to children for merchandising purposes.
- krapp 6y ago
  George Lucas originally planned the trilogy so that the Death Star was destroyed in the third act - and the Wookies were supposed to be a primitive, arboreal species. However, he wasn't at all certain that A New Hope would be popular enough to fund sequels (remember how risky a big-budget sci fi epic was back then,) so he essentially rewrote the entire trilogy into the first movie. When ANH turned out to be... popular (to say the least,) he wound up retelling the trilogy as he originally intended, as best he could. And because it had already been established that Wookies were a technologically advanced species because of Chewbacca, he basically just made them smaller and reversed their names (Ewoks.)
  - ricc 6y ago
    Now I'm curious why did he use Chewbacca as Han Solo's partner in the "compressed" ANH... Who was supposed to be Solo's partner?
    - DennisP 6y ago
      I'm really curious how Episode IV would have ended. Maybe just rescue Leia and get away, skip the final battle? It seems possible that a scaled-back Star Wars would have been less popular.
      - rangibaby 6y ago
        In “The Hidden Fortress”, which Star Wars plot and characters (minus Luke) is mostly based on, “Obi Wan” humiliates “Darth Vader” by refusing to kill him after beating him in their duel. The Emperor horribly tortures Darth Vader for losing, which convinces him to switch sides and help Obi Wan and the princess escape, and the ending is the three of them rejoining the rebellion, ready to fight another day.
    - krapp 6y ago
      There were a lot of drafts for Star Wars, but according to the ones I've read[0] and Screen Rant[1] it was always Chewbacca, so I assume the characterization just changed from draft to draft. [0]https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Adventures_of_the_Starkiller,_Episode_I:_The_Star_Wars https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Adventures_of_the_Starkille... [1]https://screenrant.com/star-wars-return-jedi-ewoks-not-wookiees-reason/ https://screenrant.com/star-wars-return-jedi-ewoks-not-wooki...
  - maxerickson 6y ago
    I guess it'd be hard to film, but it'd be narratively coherent if they happened upon a leftover band of Wookies from a crashed ship or something like that.

ricc 6y ago

Who proposed the addition of Death Star 2.0 and replacing Wookies with Ewoks? Many people have been criticizing the Ewoks because their role "doesn't make sense" and probably started George Lucas' tendency to pander to children for merchandising purposes.

krapp 6y ago
George Lucas originally planned the trilogy so that the Death Star was destroyed in the third act - and the Wookies were supposed to be a primitive, arboreal species. However, he wasn't at all certain that A New Hope would be popular enough to fund sequels (remember how risky a big-budget sci fi epic was back then,) so he essentially rewrote the entire trilogy into the first movie. When ANH turned out to be... popular (to say the least,) he wound up retelling the trilogy as he originally intended, as best he could. And because it had already been established that Wookies were a technologically advanced species because of Chewbacca, he basically just made them smaller and reversed their names (Ewoks.)
- ricc 6y ago
  Now I'm curious why did he use Chewbacca as Han Solo's partner in the "compressed" ANH... Who was supposed to be Solo's partner?
  - DennisP 6y ago
    I'm really curious how Episode IV would have ended. Maybe just rescue Leia and get away, skip the final battle? It seems possible that a scaled-back Star Wars would have been less popular.
    - rangibaby 6y ago
      In “The Hidden Fortress”, which Star Wars plot and characters (minus Luke) is mostly based on, “Obi Wan” humiliates “Darth Vader” by refusing to kill him after beating him in their duel. The Emperor horribly tortures Darth Vader for losing, which convinces him to switch sides and help Obi Wan and the princess escape, and the ending is the three of them rejoining the rebellion, ready to fight another day.
  - krapp 6y ago
    There were a lot of drafts for Star Wars, but according to the ones I've read[0] and Screen Rant[1] it was always Chewbacca, so I assume the characterization just changed from draft to draft. [0]https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Adventures_of_the_Starkiller,_Episode_I:_The_Star_Wars https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Adventures_of_the_Starkille... [1]https://screenrant.com/star-wars-return-jedi-ewoks-not-wookiees-reason/ https://screenrant.com/star-wars-return-jedi-ewoks-not-wooki...
- maxerickson 6y ago
  I guess it'd be hard to film, but it'd be narratively coherent if they happened upon a leftover band of Wookies from a crashed ship or something like that.