Yet another reason why the prequels sucked.

Tldr

I started to post that, then decided it wasn't even worth the comment.

I mean WTF.

It's just part of a long series to deprogram the Jedi cultists - who are as morally blind as any Nazi.

Lucas made you want to hug an Ewok, didn't he? So adorable, so cute, living such simple lives in harmony with nature. Well as you should expect, that's all bullshit. Lucas tries to delude you into thinking the Empire made war on the cute little Ewoks. Not true. The Empire had obviously been on Endor for years before the rebels showed up, otherwise the battle station built in orbit wouldn't have been fully functional.

At the end of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, at the big Ewok luau, the Ewoks use Imperial helmets as musical instruments. Prior to that, when the rebels arrived, an Ewok showed complete puzzlement at Leia's helmet, unable to comprehend that it's just something worn on the head. Obviously the Ewoks had no significant encounters with Imperial forces during the many benevolent years of Imperial occupation, or they'd already have known all about armor and helmets. It becomes likewise obvious that the Empire had its equivalent of the Prime Directive. "If they don't fuck with you, don't fuck with them." The Empire left the Ewoks' rituals and belief systems intact because the Empire doesn't contaminate harmless primitive cultures.

Contrast that with the attitude of the rebels.

Step 1 – Show the Ewoks what armor is.

Step 2 – Have a droid convince them he's their god – able to strike them all down if they disappoint him.

Step 3 – Completely supplant their religion and mythology with a new one, crafted to teach them about space war, portraying the Empire as the ultimate evil.

Step 4 – Convince the Ewoks to do something they've never done before – make war.

Step 5 – Summon all the Ewoks in the forest and use them for blaster fodder.

Look at that battle rationally. You have a couple hundred Imperial troops, possibly more, backed by heavy armor. A Storm Trooper is armored and equiped with battlefield technology far in advance of our own modern forces. In an open fight, faced with RPG's and AK-47's, our soldiers generally establish a 20 to 1 or even 50 to 1 kill ratio. What would be a rational guess at their kill ratio against rock throwing teddy bears? 200 to 1? 1000 to 1? And a Storm Trooper's? There's no way the Ewoks weren't piled up in endless mounds after the Imperial forces unleashed on them, and since the Empire was defeated by the onslaught there must've been vast, endless waves of advancing Ewok hordes. The slaughter was almost certainly bad enough to send ripples through the force, distracting Luke, Vader, and the Emperor.

Emperor: "I sense a disturbance in the force."
Luke: "Like tens of thousands of exploding koala bears?"
Vader: "That's it. That's it exactly…"
Luke: "Why would Imperial troops want to slaughter koalas?"

Yet what did Lucas show us? He gave us glimpses of a few dead Ewoks, set to tear jerking music, to give the temporary rebel setback a sad mood. *sniffle* Yes, he cleverly made you think only a few Ewoks died, but simple math says that's ridiculous. That's the Jedi for you, using everyone else as expendable pawns, in this case treating an indigenous culture like literal spear-carriers, while washing away the bloodstains in their Hollywood spin cycle.

There is something I don't get about The Phantom Menace.

Toward the end Ulic El Droma (Liam Neeson) Jedi tells Padme "I'm not here to fight your war for you".

Just what the hell are the Jedi for?????? They train in lethal martial arts with weapons capable of defeating point blank blaster fire. They make a point of excelling as fighter pilots.

If not fighting a war, just what are those talents supposed to be good for?

Qui Gon-Jinn....

Peacekeeping... much better than a war. Resolve a situation before it becomes a problem. The Jedi are peacekeepers, not warriors.

Then they are complete failures.

At any rate "peacekeeping" implies the ability to bring war like force into play.

I'm stuck on Ulic El Droma.

He read about him. In a well regarded book. Written by someone who spent time with Jedi Knights. Making him an expert on such matters.

But that really makes no sense. We don't have Navy Seals negotiate trade agreements. The Jedi are basically assassins. There aren't enough of them to make up any kind of military force, since their entire number in a sports stadium hardly outnumbered a football roster. That also means that they could field perhaps two or three fighter squadrons - in a universe where such small fighter craft certainly number in the tens of thousands.

Star Wars is great unless you seriously think about it, and then you realize you've been sucked into a bunch of pro-Jedi propaganda by the careful selection of awesome cinematography and John William's sound tracks. That's how the Nazis convinced the German people that they were righteous warriors. You must ask questions and start counting up the bodies to find the truth.

Ever since I became a Battletech fan, the name "Ultric" from "Ultric Kerensky" has stuck with me.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ulic_Qel-Droma

I'm a big fan of 24 but not every action hero is Jack Bauer.

Ulric, not Ultric.

Oh well who knows where I came up with the name then. Unless Forbin is right.

Forbin IS right. There's no other way you could have come up with "Ulic Qel-Droma".

Okay. That explains it.

Ed's clip of the kids reminded me of how godawful every child actor in the PT was. These brats couldn't NOT have been the brats of the producers or execs or personal friends of Lucas.

I'm surprised Jakes Lloyd's career lasted as long as it did in retrospect. The bashing he got was well over the top, but he wouldn't have had another acting gig after his balls dropped anyway.

That's the part that boggles, they auditioned THOUSANDS of kids for that fucking movie.
Every child star and wannabe child star on the planet wanted that role.
Jake Lloyd was the best??
Really???????????????????????

I think Lucas fucked things up on purpose, knowing that if other directors thought he was trying to emulate B sci-fi movies from the 50's, and succeeded at sucking, it would be "art". Thus the bad acting and horrible dialog, which he could argue was his vision of what a modern B sci-fi movie should properly look like as an homage to the sci-fi movies of the past. It also, of course, lets him hide the fact that he sucks - at least in his mind.

That's why it was so important to remove him from control of the franchise.

The guy was a hack who lucked up with an extremely talented crew for the first two SW films. Then he let fame go to his head and sacked many involved by the time ROTJ rolled around.

I'll give props for the initial spark of the idea, but I'm beyond glad he's taking a backseat to the new films.

Still not used to hearing the Disney logo at the beginning of the other films, though. Small price to pay for an actual decent attempt at a SW continuation.

Then again Gene Roddenberry was a complete one shot wonder. Basically the Dr. Daystrom of Desilu/Paramount.

Dunno who Dr. Daystorm is.

Watch "The Ultimate Computer". Original series episode. Pay special attention to Daystrom's tirade about "colleagues laughing behind my back as they became wealthy building on MY WORK!"

Calling him a hack shows a complete disregard for history and the many excellent and influential movies Lucas has been responsible for (American Graffiti, THX 1138, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc.)

But you did hit the nail on the head about his ego. Lucas needs someone to reign in his ego. In the case of Star Wars and the other movies, he had people around him who could do that. The problem is that as his fame, ego and wasitline grew, there were less and less people willing to say "no" or reign in his ego.

I watched a couple of clips from the prequels yesterday. Hard to believe they were made by a professional filmmakers at all. It's like something I as a total amateur would come up with if you told me to direct a $200 million movie. It's that bad.

Did he hit his head at some point?

S'okay. JJ Abrams will perfect Star Wars just like he did Star Trek.

Disney has announced a rebranding strategy, the new movies are referred to as AwesomeWars.

(Lens) Flare Wars!

THX 1138 looks like a student film, and Raiders of the Lost Ark's magic was probably due to being directed by a guy called Steven Spielberg.

Left to himself, Lucas creates things like Howard the Duck and Red Tails, which are cringe-worthy.