The prequels and RotJ seem to be most in question of "what if we'd done this differently..."
I think they could have done whatever they wanted with RotJ (and according to history that's exactly what GL did) and most of us would still unconditionally love the first two movies at least, if not still embracing RotJ if only for more time to watch our beloved universe (that's all the Prequels amounted to, really). As far as I am concerned, the first two movies are the core of Star Wars and it is the changes to the concepts originally introduced in ANH and ESB that have annoyed me most. See: midichlorians.
Although as I think about it, GL's focus on merchandising went beyond simple children's toys and other merchandising. The entire EU was able to unfold because of his decisions (and by relation, places like TRF based off of said EU). Kurtz' direction could have meant drastic changes to the main characters, as well as deaths. There might have been no potential for an EU if things had been done differently, as Beff has suggested in a previous post...
I definitely wouldn't trade the Thrawn trilogy or many other EU stories for even a kick ass "what if it was done different" RotJ. Even with teddy bear armies, RotJ is still an ok movie; it has it's moments.
If the prequels, Jar Jar, and teddy bear armies are the price of many years since of great EU novels, comics, and other things, I guess I can live with that. TRF is a good example of how easy it is to ignore the bad stuff.
During the filming of the prequels, Beff should have been following GL around with a giant wet tuna.
So I say, what Prequels?
I think they could have done whatever they wanted with RotJ (and according to history that's exactly what GL did) and most of us would still unconditionally love the first two movies at least, if not still embracing RotJ if only for more time to watch our beloved universe (that's all the Prequels amounted to, really). As far as I am concerned, the first two movies are the core of Star Wars and it is the changes to the concepts originally introduced in ANH and ESB that have annoyed me most. See: midichlorians.
Although as I think about it, GL's focus on merchandising went beyond simple children's toys and other merchandising. The entire EU was able to unfold because of his decisions (and by relation, places like TRF based off of said EU). Kurtz' direction could have meant drastic changes to the main characters, as well as deaths. There might have been no potential for an EU if things had been done differently, as Beff has suggested in a previous post...
I definitely wouldn't trade the Thrawn trilogy or many other EU stories for even a kick ass "what if it was done different" RotJ. Even with teddy bear armies, RotJ is still an ok movie; it has it's moments.
If the prequels, Jar Jar, and teddy bear armies are the price of many years since of great EU novels, comics, and other things, I guess I can live with that. TRF is a good example of how easy it is to ignore the bad stuff.
During the filming of the prequels, Beff should have been following GL around with a giant wet tuna.
So I say, what Prequels?
