Reddit reviews How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise

That's really interesting. I would like to see if any of that carries in to the upcoming sequels. If not this new trilogy, Im sure we'll be getting PLENTY of Star Wars movies in the future. I think that "there is another" line is still open enough where a future writer can twist things around and have Yoda be talking about somebody else or even a group of people. I think the Ezra scene of the recent episode really sets it up that Yoda could have been thinking of him when he said it.

Also, I think you'll really love How Star Wars Conquered the Universe. It goes through the whole growth of the franchise from Lucas developing the original idea, to the prequels, all the way through the Disney sale and beginnings of Ep 7.

I thought it was really fascinating stuff and went in to a lot of stories and details that I had never heard before. It is also much more factual than most Star Wars history works, yet it still feels exciting as if it was written by a real fan.

I highly recommend How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor.

It manages to be a respectful account of the history of Star Wars movies and fandom, without pulling any punches when it comes to the series' flaws, or those of its creators.

But it is the same. Most folks - even though who love Star Wars in general and the prequels in particular - did not bother getting the Art of Star Wars books or any (now) legends books. The movies themselves had all of the worldbuilding within the lines given to the actors, and the visuals, of course. Those movies captured the imaginations of millions of people, because of the layered approach within the screenplay.

You want to make fun of Lucas's dialogue, go for it. He knew he wasn't good at it and had to have other writers punch it up. But don't confuse clunky wordsmithing for a bad script.

ESB, the movie most Star Wars fans agree is the best, was written in a hurry by Lucas because he so hated what Leigh Brackett gave him. Yes, she died of cancer a month after completing it and he gave her the screenplay credit with Kasdan, but it's well documented that he discarded it and started from scratch. Her screenplay, by the way, is readily available on the internet, and although she had story meetings with Lucas and had his treatment, so it has the big moments we know from ESB, she veered off wildly. So he produced the screenplay that then Kasdan fixed up, but the original Lucas draft is available and is obviously the movie as we know it.

Prequel haters - not all! - seem to sometimes fall into the same camp that likes to discredit Lucas for Star Wars and have him be the accidental beneficiary of others' talent. There's nothing much I can say to that camp, as his involvement in every aspect of the OT - even if sometimes unaccredited - is well documented (particularly well in [How Star Wars Conquered The Universe] (https://www.amazon.com/How-Star-Wars-Conquered-Universe/dp/0465089984/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) by Chris Taylor, definitely not a fan of the prequels).

Prequel haters talk how about Lucas being surrounded by yes men and/or folks intimated by Lucas who didn't steer him away from bad ideas. Obviously, as a fan of the prequels, I start from a different axiom about the quality of those movies, but I'll acknowledge Lucas's greatest faults. His inability to write movie dialogue, and his inability to detect an actor's inability to perform. But I'm a big movie fan and as someone in his mid 40's and a former movie critic (for a college newspaper, but I saw 4+ movies a week for 2 years), I have seen thousands. So I'll give Lucas enormous credit for his direction of action sequences, amazing visuals, excellent pacing (he is an editor by trade, after all), and for bringing high fantasy to the screen in a way only Lord of The Rings successfully implemented as well.

If you enjoyed this documentary you'll love the book How Star Wars conquered the Universe. I'm currently listening to the audio book and loving it.