Darth Vader carried the movie for me. I hoped we would see just a little bit of Darth Vader and that he would show us why he is so feared. Both of those hopes were met.

The rest of the film was ... alright, I guess? No, it was good, but I wasn't sitting there with a stupid grin on my face for the whole movie like I was when I saw The Force Awakens. Now, I do think TFA had more problems than Rogue One. Indeed, I can say that Rogue One is the better Star Wars movie. But I just had more fun watching TFA.

If Darth Vader hadn't had his two scenes in this movie, I would have ranked this move worse than Revenge of the Sith and maybe even worse than Attack of the Clones. Maybe my opinion will change when I see it again.

EDIT: On another note, I wondered the whole movie whether the kyber crystal around Jyn's neck would somehow become the one used in Luke's RotJ lightsaber. We usually expect a green crystal for a green blade, but I'm not sure that is canon at the moment, so I thought that might be a possibility. But the way the movie ended, that's not the case. (And yes, I know in the old canon Luke built a synthetic lightsaber crystal in Obi-Wan's hut.)

Nothing gets worse the Attack of the Clones.

Darth Vader carried the movie for me. I hoped we would see just a little bit of Darth Vader and that he would show us why he is so feared. Both of those hopes were met.

The rest of the film was ... alright, I guess? No, it was good, but I wasn't sitting there with a stupid grin on my face for the whole movie like I was when I saw The Force Awakens. Now, I do think TFA had more problems than Rogue One. Indeed, I can say that Rogue One is the better Star Wars movie. But I just had more fun watching TFA.

If Darth Vader hadn't had his two scenes in this movie, I would have ranked this move worse than Revenge of the Sith and maybe even worse than Attack of the Clones. Maybe my opinion will change when I see it again.

EDIT: On another note, I wondered the whole movie whether the kyber crystal around Jyn's neck would somehow become the one used in Luke's RotJ lightsaber. We usually expect a green crystal for a green blade, but I'm not sure that is canon at the moment, so I thought that might be a possibility. But the way the movie ended, that's not the case. (And yes, I know in the old canon Luke built a synthetic lightsaber crystal in Obi-Wan's hut.)

Nothing gets worse the Attack of the Clones.

May I introduce you to 'The Phantom Menace?'

See now, in most circumstances I'd say "I'd see your Phantom Menace and raise you one Holiday Special," but I think a better call would be straight to the bottom: The Ewoks movies.

Yub Nyub.

The reason I think Rogue One's the best movie so far is because it does multiple things:

1) It's a perfectly good war movie all on its own. Assemble the team of rag-tag veterans, strive against impossible odds, and even in death you still win . Classic war movie transplanted to the Star Wars universe, but still using things FROM the Star Wars universe instead of just pretending it's NOT in a galaxy far far away.

2) It makes the other movies better. Picture the Battle of Scarif in your head. The Rebellion loses several flagships, a crack infiltration team, more than a dozen fighters... and that's a victory in their view , because they achieved their goal. It makes the first ten minutes of Episode 4 really desperate. Leia knew good and well what she had done was signing her own death warrant, but she STILL spat in Vader's face and did her duty.

3) It adds to the lore of the universe itself without contradicting previous lore. A religious order built around the Force which was not run by Jedi? Mon Mothma trying to hold together a fractious and fragile Rebel Alliance in the days when some might still think that the Emperor could be reconciled with? The fact that the weakness was built in to the Death Star by its head engineer?

None of the other movies do all three of those things at the same time. EP4 and 7 are just Magical Boy narrative, 5 & 6 just conclude the story cycle began in EP4, and the prequels... what a hot mess.

The Rebellion loses several flagships...

I dunno. Agreed on Lapti Nek, but not on the Ewok music. Yub Nub is just not as good.

Disagree. "Ewok Celebration" is loads better than that new agey crap they put in the Special Edition.

Not to mention that stupid 'galaxy wide celebration' George put in to make it look like the destruction of the Death Star led to the immediate galaxy-wide surrender of all Imperial forces...

I dunno. Agreed on Lapti Nek, but not on the Ewok music. Yub Nub is just not as good.

Disagree. "Ewok Celebration" is loads better than that new agey crap they put in the Special Edition.

Not to mention that stupid 'galaxy wide celebration' George put in to make it look like the destruction of the Death Star led to the immediate galaxy-wide surrender of all Imperial forces...

The Rebels won. They blew up the Death Star AND killed the Emperor. You have to do both, then it's over :-)

I dunno. Agreed on Lapti Nek, but not on the Ewok music. Yub Nub is just not as good.

Disagree. "Ewok Celebration" is loads better than that new agey crap they put in the Special Edition.

Not to mention that stupid 'galaxy wide celebration' George put in to make it look like the destruction of the Death Star led to the immediate galaxy-wide surrender of all Imperial forces...

Which would be kind of amazing. I mean I don't think everyone knew what the Emperor was doing at any given time. Maybe the rebels sent out some broadcast allegedly showing the destruction of some super weapon but to claim they also killed the beloved Emperor in that same strike would be preposterous. Communications may be fast but people are going to want to know for certain what happened before they'd do anything as crazy as what some of those groups are doing in the RotJ Special Edition.

So, the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, valid targets to swiftly end a war and prevent further loss of life, or a war crime killing hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children?

The Rebel Alliance does meet all the current checkmarks for a partisan organization, making them eligible to the rights established in the Geneva Conventions. This makes them by definition not a terrorist organization.

AHHH! DON'T BRING UP THAT WAR! There was *plenty* done in World War 2 by the Allies (forget the atomic bombs - even the firebombing several cities, attacks on infrastructure and civilian locations, it just...nevemind!!) that would easily have been categorized as 'war crimes' and/or 'terrorist actions' if we'd lost the war.

The whole 'partisan/freedom fighter' vs 'terrorist' line is a very fine line, indeed .

Suffice it to say that the Star Wars universe threads that needle both ways, and makes for interesting discussing and argument - but PLEASE do not point at "real world" conflicts to compare. It's fascinating as an article of discussion in its own right, let's not try to use it as a tool to win other arguments (which still go on, today).

Has anyone seen it in IMAX 2D? I'm considering spending MLK, Jr. day driving to the nearest full-sized IMAX for a fourth viewing, and am wondering if it's worth my time & money.

IMAX 2d or 3d? If 3d, I'd do it. The 3d in this movie (and I'm NOT usually a fan of 3d) was used WELL. Even my wife enjoyed it, and she generally hates 3d...but we saw it in a traditional 3d screen.

IMAX 3d...actually, we managed an IMAX 2d showing of 'Fantastic Beasts...' (pure coincidence, just happened to be the only showing open when we were there to see it), and I gotta say...IMAX *anything* is awesome. So...sure?

Yeah, not much help, here, sorry...

I think you hit the nail on the head with Nazi Vs. French Resistance. The Rebel Alliance is not a terrorist group. It is a Partisan Group. Most of them don't attack civilians to cause fear and panic but instead play dirty against the empire military and supply lines. Definitely a fine line thing but there is a difference.

WOLVERINES!

The first death star was nearly finished when Luke blow it, but even finished, the probability of not having in civilians in such a big structure was... dim.

But Luke doesn't hesitate, and he does not so because he was a young desert native who lost his family to a military operation of a foreign ocuppation force of the most powerfull empire in his era; and then he was indoctrinated into an old religion by a bearded desert hermit; so indoctrinated that he started to hear religious voices in his head at the very moment of killing over a million people with an explosive device (as we said, with little chance of being only soldiers).

The rebel leaders did not even have the excuse of religious brainwashing, the second death star was under constuction (yes with a dead ray fully operative, but under construction), and the rebel alliance dont hesitate even a second and put to an end hundred of thousand of civilians lives (and the Empire was not precisely famous for employing only willing personal).

So... yes, it's a pretty fine line.

So, the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, valid targets to swiftly end a war and prevent further loss of life, or a war crime killing hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children?

The Rebel Alliance does meet all the current checkmarks for a partisan organization, making them eligible to the rights established in the Geneva Conventions. This makes them by definition not a terrorist organization.

If you want to talk about "terrorism" and the fine line, the only rebels that willingly cross that line are Saw's rebels.

The alliance had to take the lesser of two evils, either take the risk to knock the empire down a bit or just let them kill off a million more people.

Darth Vader carried the movie for me. I hoped we would see just a little bit of Darth Vader and that he would show us why he is so feared. Both of those hopes were met.

The rest of the film was ... alright, I guess? No, it was good, but I wasn't sitting there with a stupid grin on my face for the whole movie like I was when I saw The Force Awakens. Now, I do think TFA had more problems than Rogue One. Indeed, I can say that Rogue One is the better Star Wars movie. But I just had more fun watching TFA.

If Darth Vader hadn't had his two scenes in this movie, I would have ranked this move worse than Revenge of the Sith and maybe even worse than Attack of the Clones. Maybe my opinion will change when I see it again.

EDIT: On another note, I wondered the whole movie whether the kyber crystal around Jyn's neck would somehow become the one used in Luke's RotJ lightsaber. We usually expect a green crystal for a green blade, but I'm not sure that is canon at the moment, so I thought that might be a possibility. But the way the movie ended, that's not the case. (And yes, I know in the old canon Luke built a synthetic lightsaber crystal in Obi-Wan's hut.)

Nothing gets worse the Attack of the Clones.

You ever watched the Star Wars holiday special? Attack of the clones is the best star wars movie after THAT.... (Even though attack of the clones has serious pacing issues, you can skip through the senate hearings/ Shimi's death most of tatooine and naboo and still have a decent action packed movie that's about an hour and a half long. I like fan edits).

Darth Vader carried the movie for me. I hoped we would see just a little bit of Darth Vader and that he would show us why he is so feared. Both of those hopes were met.

The rest of the film was ... alright, I guess? No, it was good, but I wasn't sitting there with a stupid grin on my face for the whole movie like I was when I saw The Force Awakens. Now, I do think TFA had more problems than Rogue One. Indeed, I can say that Rogue One is the better Star Wars movie. But I just had more fun watching TFA.

If Darth Vader hadn't had his two scenes in this movie, I would have ranked this move worse than Revenge of the Sith and maybe even worse than Attack of the Clones. Maybe my opinion will change when I see it again.

EDIT: On another note, I wondered the whole movie whether the kyber crystal around Jyn's neck would somehow become the one used in Luke's RotJ lightsaber. We usually expect a green crystal for a green blade, but I'm not sure that is canon at the moment, so I thought that might be a possibility. But the way the movie ended, that's not the case. (And yes, I know in the old canon Luke built a synthetic lightsaber crystal in Obi-Wan's hut.)

Nothing gets worse the Attack of the Clones.

You ever watched the Star Wars holiday special? Attack of the clones is the best star wars movie after THAT.... (Even though attack of the clones has serious pacing issues, you can skip through the senate hearings/ Shimi's death most of tatooine and naboo and still have a decent action packed movie that's about an hour and a half long. I like fan edits).

I think we're referring to canon material.

Besides, the Holiday Special isn't terrible. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

You know whats worse then the prequels? The special editions of the Original Trilogy. Even Jar Jar Binks by comparison is *shudders and prays to the Whills for forgiveness* better.

You dont take classic movies and alter them. ANH and ESB were perfect. The changes in RotJ destroys some of the best scenes in it. WTF Lucas? If you hate the prequels at least you can ignore them but the special editions and Blue Ray ruin the classic originals.

You know whats worse then the prequels? The special editions of the Original Trilogy. Even Jar Jar Binks by comparison is *shudders and prays to the Whills for forgiveness* better.

You dont take classic movies and alter them. ANH and ESB were perfect. The changes in RotJ destroys some of the best scenes in it. WTF Lucas? If you hate the prequels at least you can ignore them but the special editions and Blue Ray ruin the classic originals.

I'm surprised George didn't take a dump on Frank Oz (again) and CGI Yoda in ESB. Now THAT would be worse than Anything.

You know whats worse then the prequels? The special editions of the Original Trilogy. Even Jar Jar Binks by comparison is *shudders and prays to the Whills for forgiveness* better.

You dont take classic movies and alter them. ANH and ESB were perfect. The changes in RotJ destroys some of the best scenes in it. WTF Lucas? If you hate the prequels at least you can ignore them but the special editions and Blue Ray ruin the classic originals.

I'm surprised George didn't take a dump on Frank Oz (again) and CGI Yoda in ESB. Now THAT would be worse than Anything.

Sorry to burst your bubble but Lucas did nothing to upset Oz.

“I think it depends on the story, but I think at this point you can’t go back to the puppet,” Oz added. “The reason George [Lucas] did the CGI, which I supported, was that he wanted to tell a story that would have been hampered by the physical limitations of the puppet.”

You know whats worse then the prequels? The special editions of the Original Trilogy. Even Jar Jar Binks by comparison is *shudders and prays to the Whills for forgiveness* better.

You dont take classic movies and alter them. ANH and ESB were perfect. The changes in RotJ destroys some of the best scenes in it. WTF Lucas? If you hate the prequels at least you can ignore them but the special editions and Blue Ray ruin the classic originals.

I'm surprised George didn't take a dump on Frank Oz (again) and CGI Yoda in ESB. Now THAT would be worse than Anything.

Sorry to burst your bubble but Lucas did nothing to upset Oz.

“I think it depends on the story, but I think at this point you can’t go back to the puppet,” Oz added. “The reason George [Lucas] did the CGI, which I supported, was that he wanted to tell a story that would have been hampered by the physical limitations of the puppet.”

I was talking about the substitute of TPM Yoda, not the inclusion of CGI Yoda in the rest of the prequels. To be fair, that muppet in TPM looked...odd...and wasn't even close to being on par with the original from 2 decades prior. But to cover up the performance of a puppeteer is similar to redubbing Boba Fett's lines from ESB to match with Jango and the clones. No more changes, please.

It's extremely petty to translate post-production changes to the acting performance as 'dumping on said actor'. Lucas looks at the end result on film, and lord knows Frank Oz is professional enough to know that, rather than a diva who sees every reduction of his influence as a personal affront.

Before I saw the last four episodes of The Clone Wars (season 6), I had... problems with the fact that Yoda was jumping around and waving his lightsaber like a big frog in the prequels. After I watched them, though, I realized that Yoda hadn't yet learned the lesson.

Revising the original movies, though... it's... a tricky thing. A lot of it was overblown - the ending celebration in RotJ is the obvious one, Jabba's cut scene in ANH, and the tentacle mouth of Carcoon.

However... some of it, in retrospect, deserved to be done. Mos Eisley was supposed to be a bustling, huge spaceport, the center of Tatooine, but the original cut showed a grouping of maybe two dozen buildings. Revising it to show a big city they're driving through is... not as objectionable to me as it once was, in fact, it helps set the tone of the scene. Ditto Hayden Christianson appearing at the end of RotJ, because Anakin returning to the Light Side would picture himself in those days before he embraced the Dark completely.

But in typical Lucas fashion, he hamhandled most of it.

Darth Vader carried the movie for me. I hoped we would see just a little bit of Darth Vader and that he would show us why he is so feared. Both of those hopes were met.

The rest of the film was ... alright, I guess? No, it was good, but I wasn't sitting there with a stupid grin on my face for the whole movie like I was when I saw The Force Awakens. Now, I do think TFA had more problems than Rogue One. Indeed, I can say that Rogue One is the better Star Wars movie. But I just had more fun watching TFA.

If Darth Vader hadn't had his two scenes in this movie, I would have ranked this move worse than Revenge of the Sith and maybe even worse than Attack of the Clones. Maybe my opinion will change when I see it again.

EDIT: On another note, I wondered the whole movie whether the kyber crystal around Jyn's neck would somehow become the one used in Luke's RotJ lightsaber. We usually expect a green crystal for a green blade, but I'm not sure that is canon at the moment, so I thought that might be a possibility. But the way the movie ended, that's not the case. (And yes, I know in the old canon Luke built a synthetic lightsaber crystal in Obi-Wan's hut.)

Nothing gets worse the Attack of the Clones.

You ever watched the Star Wars holiday special? Attack of the clones is the best star wars movie after THAT.... (Even though attack of the clones has serious pacing issues, you can skip through the senate hearings/ Shimi's death most of tatooine and naboo and still have a decent action packed movie that's about an hour and a half long. I like fan edits).

I think we're referring to canon material.

Besides, the Holiday Special isn't terrible. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

But in typical Lucas fashion, he hamhandled most of it.

Yeah, maybe it would have been better if he'd not made any of the ********* films!!

...give me strength!

But in typical Lucas fashion, he hamhandled most of it.

Yeah, maybe it would have been better if he'd not made any of the ********* films!!

...give me strength!

Do you realize how much of the success of the first movie was due to advice and 'guest direction' from two of the BEST filmmakers that have ever lived, Steven Spielburg and Francis Ford Coppola? Ep4's first low-angle pass underneath the Star Destroyer is classic Coppola: Tell the story via visuals. We know all we need to know about how the war is going from the first thirty seconds: Rebellion weak, Empire strong.

It's also generally agreed by anyone who knows anything that his ex-wife (now deceased) Maria Lucas was the secret genius editor behind decisions like NOT having the main character being a 40-year-old half robot and C-3P0 having the personality of a smarmy used car salesman, and spending twenty hours a day in the cutting room after the horrific first cut of the movie.

Did you know that in the original cut Luke took TWO passes at the torpedo hole, and the trench battle was almost twice as long? And was boring ? Like, super, super boring. Like, bad 1970s movie boring. Go find Laserblast if you want to know what I'm talking about.

Lucas had IDEAS, but ANYONE can have ideas. He was the luckiest man in the world to have the right combination of talent around him who exerted the proper pressure which turned his lump of coal into a diamond.

If you want to see what he did without those people... well, pop in The Phantom Menace. THAT'S the kind of genius auteur Lucas is sans outside editors. "Meesa Jar Jar Binks!"

And that was made when Lucas had been working in film for twenty-five years . If a man doesn't grasp the basic rules of storytelling after THAT long...

Lucas had IDEAS, but ANYONE can have ideas.

...but not everyone who has ideas does something with them...without that, they remain...just ideas!

I've been hearing much the same for the past 30+yrs...at the end of the day, if he hadn't made the film, none of this would exist...and before anyone says "someone else would have made it", the state of SciFi in the mid-70's would suggest otherwise

But in typical Lucas fashion, he hamhandled most of it.

Yeah, maybe it would have been better if he'd not made any of the ********* films!!

...give me strength!

Do you realize how much of the success of the first movie was due to advice and 'guest direction' from two of the BEST filmmakers that have ever lived, Steven Spielburg and Francis Ford Coppola? Ep4's first low-angle pass underneath the Star Destroyer is classic Coppola: Tell the story via visuals. We know all we need to know about how the war is going from the first thirty seconds: Rebellion weak, Empire strong.

It's also generally agreed by anyone who knows anything that his ex-wife (now deceased) Maria Lucas was the secret genius editor behind decisions like NOT having the main character being a 40-year-old half robot and C-3P0 having the personality of a smarmy used car salesman, and spending twenty hours a day in the cutting room after the horrific first cut of the movie.

Did you know that in the original cut Luke took TWO passes at the torpedo hole, and the trench battle was almost twice as long? And was boring ? Like, super, super boring. Like, bad 1970s movie boring. Go find Laserblast if you want to know what I'm talking about.

Lucas had IDEAS, but ANYONE can have ideas. He was the luckiest man in the world to have the right combination of talent around him who exerted the proper pressure which turned his lump of coal into a diamond.

If you want to see what he did without those people... well, pop in The Phantom Menace. THAT'S the kind of genius auteur Lucas is sans outside editors. "Meesa Jar Jar Binks!"

And that was made when Lucas had been working in film for twenty-five years . If a man doesn't grasp the basic rules of storytelling after THAT long...

LOL, obvioulsy Lucas could have been removed and noone would notice, Star Wars was basically made by Coppola, Spilberg, special effects guys and Lucas' wife, amirite?

Don't forget the script editors.

But in typical Lucas fashion, he hamhandled most of it.

Yeah, maybe it would have been better if he'd not made any of the ********* films!!

...give me strength!

Do you realize how much of the success of the first movie was due to advice and 'guest direction' from two of the BEST filmmakers that have ever lived, Steven Spielburg and Francis Ford Coppola? Ep4's first low-angle pass underneath the Star Destroyer is classic Coppola: Tell the story via visuals. We know all we need to know about how the war is going from the first thirty seconds: Rebellion weak, Empire strong.

It's also generally agreed by anyone who knows anything that his ex-wife (now deceased) Maria Lucas was the secret genius editor behind decisions like NOT having the main character being a 40-year-old half robot and C-3P0 having the personality of a smarmy used car salesman, and spending twenty hours a day in the cutting room after the horrific first cut of the movie.

Did you know that in the original cut Luke took TWO passes at the torpedo hole, and the trench battle was almost twice as long? And was boring ? Like, super, super boring. Like, bad 1970s movie boring. Go find Laserblast if you want to know what I'm talking about.

Lucas had IDEAS, but ANYONE can have ideas. He was the luckiest man in the world to have the right combination of talent around him who exerted the proper pressure which turned his lump of coal into a diamond.

If you want to see what he did without those people... well, pop in The Phantom Menace. THAT'S the kind of genius auteur Lucas is sans outside editors. "Meesa Jar Jar Binks!"

And that was made when Lucas had been working in film for twenty-five years . If a man doesn't grasp the basic rules of storytelling after THAT long...

LOL, obvioulsy Lucas could have been removed and noone would notice, Star Wars was basically made by Coppola, Spilberg, special effects guys and Lucas' wife, amirite?

He was removed for Empire Strikes Back and no one noticed, amirite?

Oh, wait, everyone did notice: It's considered the best Star Wars movie, one his wife mostly wrote, that he let someone else direct, and basically put himself in charge of merchandising and nothing else.

Also, the things that were primarily his ideas, like 3P0 and R2-D2 bumbling around to seal a Wampa in a storage room, then letting it out when the snowtroopers attacked the base, were cut for being goofy.

...

Revising the original movies, though... it's... a tricky thing. A lot of it was overblown - the ending celebration in RotJ is the obvious one, Jabba's cut scene in ANH, and the tentacle mouth of Carcoon.

However... some of it, in retrospect, deserved to be done. Mos Eisley was supposed to be a bustling, huge spaceport, the center of Tatooine, but the original cut showed a grouping of maybe two dozen buildings. Revising it to show a big city they're driving through is... not as objectionable to me as it once was, in fact, it helps set the tone of the scene. Ditto Hayden Christianson appearing at the end of RotJ, because Anakin returning to the Light Side would picture himself in those days before he embraced the Dark completely.

But in typical Lucas fashion, he hamhandled most of it.

If there are redeeming factors about the remakes I certainly think some of the set decorating was a big part of it. Mos Eisley looking like a city instead of small town. I liked seeing more ships leaving Yavin. In the ESB what they did with Cloud City turned it from a sanitarium with it's boring white walls and made it look vibrant. These things are enhancements that technology allowed which really weren't all that possible before and added to the movie without really "adding" or changing much to the actual movie.

But in typical Lucas fashion, he hamhandled most of it.

Yeah, maybe it would have been better if he'd not made any of the ********* films!!

...give me strength!

Do you realize how much of the success of the first movie was due to advice and 'guest direction' from two of the BEST filmmakers that have ever lived, Steven Spielburg and Francis Ford Coppola? Ep4's first low-angle pass underneath the Star Destroyer is classic Coppola: Tell the story via visuals. We know all we need to know about how the war is going from the first thirty seconds: Rebellion weak, Empire strong.

It's also generally agreed by anyone who knows anything that his ex-wife (now deceased) Maria Lucas was the secret genius editor behind decisions like NOT having the main character being a 40-year-old half robot and C-3P0 having the personality of a smarmy used car salesman, and spending twenty hours a day in the cutting room after the horrific first cut of the movie.

Did you know that in the original cut Luke took TWO passes at the torpedo hole, and the trench battle was almost twice as long? And was boring ? Like, super, super boring. Like, bad 1970s movie boring. Go find Laserblast if you want to know what I'm talking about.

Lucas had IDEAS, but ANYONE can have ideas. He was the luckiest man in the world to have the right combination of talent around him who exerted the proper pressure which turned his lump of coal into a diamond.

If you want to see what he did without those people... well, pop in The Phantom Menace. THAT'S the kind of genius auteur Lucas is sans outside editors. "Meesa Jar Jar Binks!"

And that was made when Lucas had been working in film for twenty-five years . If a man doesn't grasp the basic rules of storytelling after THAT long...

DON'T FORGET GARY KURTZ!

​I think it's a travesty of history that everyone remembers George Lucas as a monolithic film-maker. Three things in life are certain: Death, Taxes, and When George Lucas has complete creative control, the resulting movie is very bad.

During his peak period (American Graffiti, Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back) he was practically one-half of a duo with Gary Kurtz. I think it is no coincidence that the only three truly great movies Lucas ever made had Gary Kurtz in the producer's chair (shared with no less than Coppola on Graffiti.) The other trilogy that was essentially Lucas's baby was directed by Spielberg.

The last time Lucas had full creative control on a project and it turned out for the better was probably THX-1138.

It boggles the mind to imagine what his legacy would have been without having been accidentally surrounded by the likes of Kurtz, Marcia Lucas, Coppola, Kershner, Kasdan, Leigh Brackett, Spielberg, Harrison Ford + Carrie Fisher (in their roles as unofficial script doctors).

And his "ideas" weren't originally that great. The original storylines and screenplays for the "Starkiller" version of Star Wars are readily google-able. His only ambition was to plagiarize Flash Gordon serials... and that's about all he had. He happened to stumble on the work Joseph Campbell at EXACTLY THE RIGHT MOMENT to rebuild Star Wars around an actual "Hero's Journey" template, and cosmically lucked out in having Coppola, Kurtz, and Marcia on hand to reign in the.... I'll call it the "Jar Jar Factor"... while assembling that film.

If ALL of those things hadn't coalesced properly (none of which had ANYTHING to do the man himself) then the resulting Star Wars film would have roughly the same legacy as Buck Rogers or Battle Beyond the Stars - and none of us would be obsessing over collecting an alphabet-soup of plastic space ships!!!