The People vs. George Lucas

I am the biggest Star Wars geek I know, so I have a warm fuzzy place in my heart for George Lucas. The height of my reverence for the creator of Star Wars was mirrored in reverse in 1999 when he released The Phantom Menace (although it was beginning to erode with the “Special Edition” re-release of the original trilogy). I was not alone in my feeling of betrayal, and when news of The Phantom Edit surfaced (I still haven’t seen it) my palm made a mighty slap against my forehead.

There’s a fine line between love and hate, and some Star Wars fanatics have crossed that flimsy divide with blasters a-blazin’ when it comes to George Lucas, the visionary filmmaker who dreamed up the franchise.

In the decade since, Star Wars mythology has flourished everywhere but on the silver screen, IMHO. Several interactive video games are exploring the SW universe in amazing ways, countless homages to the series (both serious and parody) have popped up on cable and broadcast TV, independent film, and online video. Even Lucas himself finally brought a computer-animated SW series to cable tv.

A new film promises to give my (and maybe your) sense of betrayal a forum for legitimate expression (read: a movie in a theater).

The fan-fueled filmmaking process, enabled by the internet and easy access to video-editing technology, made it possible for Phillippe and his crew to connect with legions of fanboys and fangirls around the world, then stitch together a crazy-quilt indictment of Lucas’ handling of the Star Wars legacy.

The People vs. George Lucas Is Really a Twisted Love Letter | Underwire | Wired.com