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George
Lucas: by Steven E. McDonald On the surface, the fairly infrequent motion picture output from George Lucas' seemingly relaxed LucasArts group of companies would indicate little more than an interest in big, flashy, shiny baubles. The constant flow of merchandise, particularly that tied into Star Wars, has reached epic proportions - and almost all of it is considered part of the greater canon by Lucas and company (at least until Lucas cooks up something that conflicts.) Where the original Star Wars arrived on a wing, a prayer and some Japanese warrior myth (mixed with a good salting of Flash Gordon and Joseph Campbell), Return Of The Jedi eventually led to the appearance of an intricately assembled mosaic of novels, comics, games and toys that serve the particular purpose of allowing Lucas to quietly abandon the original plans for a saga once referred to as The Journal Of The Whills and intended to be executed in twelve parts. Those twelve parts were eventually refined to nine, and then again to six, apparently because Lucas finally realized that he was unlikely to live long enough to complete the final trilogy, given the time factors involved in production - those twenty-year waits are problematic. What has emerged from this ongoing process of adjustment (aside from an unnerving proliferation of ever-cuddlier merchandise) is a stronger mythological basis for the Star Wars saga - while the initial comics (from Marvel) and novels (from Del Rey) made little impact, the subsequent appearance of the first post-Return Of The Jedi mini-series from Dark Horse Comics, Dark Empire by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy, set the LucasArts machine into motion. A deal was struck with Bantam Books for a new series of novels, beginning with Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn, the first of a trilogy of hardcover novels that dealt with the fragmenting Empire after the death of Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi. Del Rey, Dark Horse, and, eventually, Boulevard Press were then carefully co-ordinated to produce a monumental tapestry that serves up engaging adventure fiction and mythological parallels galore. Additional elements were introduced in LucasArts games, particularly Shadows Of The Empire, which used film, 3D imaging, and orchestral music to fill in the space between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi; comics and novels provided additional material. All of this is painstakingly cross-referenced. New novels are being published by Del Rey, who are continuing the post-Jedi timeline as well as producing novels featuring Obi-Wan and Anakin post-Phantom Menace. Dark Horse is also continuing to produce their Star Wars comics, including an ongoing series set around the time of The Phantom Menace. Mythological elements continue to be a key element of the Star Wars saga, with The Phantom Menace having its Knight Errant in the form of the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, driven by hubris rather than the initial desire for vengeance that propels (and darkens) later student Luke Skywalker, a Merlin figure in Yoda, a young Arthur in the form of Anakin, and so on. The concluding installments serve to deepen and darken the mythological elements as the result of Obi-Wan's pride becomes clearer. Lucas has attempted to translate this structural approach to other properties, including the original Alien Chronicles book series, and the fantasy world of Willow (in collaboration with comics writer Chris Claremont, who authored a series of original novels.) None of these have captured significant attention - even a concerted attempt to expand the universe of Indiana Jones, via The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and a series of books, proved ultimately futile despite the fertile ground available for the theories and observations of Lucas' good friend Joseph Campbell. That he has succeeded in achieving this on such a scale with Star Wars, utilizing merchandising as well as the core material, is remarkable. ©2000 by Steven E. McDonald |
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