Fox warned George Lucas he was going to destroy Star Wars if he tackled young Anakin Skywalker. Years after the original trilogy wrapped up, the franchise creator found a way to continue its story through the prequel movies. The films focused on Anakin's journey to be a Jedi, only to be lured to the dark side and become Darth Vader.
It's no secret that the prequels have their own set of issues such as a convoluted storyline made worse by bad execution and overuse of CGI, but it had its good moments. While the public has differing opinions regarding the films, the general consensus is that the trilogy got better as it progressed with Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith deemed the best among the bunch. But before Lucas even moved forward with his plans for the prequel films, he was apparently already cautioned that his decision to introduce a 10-year-old Anakin in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace may not be the best creative decision.
As chronicled in the book The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 (via Polygon) which tracks the process of making the prequel trilogy, it's revealed that Fox made their concerns known to Lucas regarding his plan on showing Anakin as a slave boy on Tatooine. The Star Wars creator, however, was adamant that he would rather create a film that nobody wants to see rather than retreading a story he's already done. Read the relative excerpt below:
“When Lucas initially told 20th Century Fox that he was making the story of how Anakin became Darth Vader, they were as excited as anybody else. Then he told them that, in the first film, Anakin would be 10 years old. ‘You’re going to destroy the franchise; you’re going to destroy everything!’ Lucas explains that he told people at Lucasfilm he was ‘making a movie that nobody wants to see,’ but would rather do that than telling the same story over and over. And to be fair to George, it still made a billion dollars.”
Lucas obviously moved forward with his plans, and while The Phantom Menace is hardly anyone's favorite entry from the prequels, its issues were not related to his decision to include the young Anakin. Instead, fans' criticisms of it were rooted in the boring premise that tackled Trade Federation and the involvement of very annoying players such as Jar Jar Binks. Granted that Anakin's arc in the movie had some problems as well, they're arguably minor and were far from being its weakest element. If anything, seeing him back in Tatooine trying to get by and being a devoted son helped better establish his character. Without the boy's interactions with his mother in The Phantom Menace, the death of Shmi wouldn't have had the same impact later on.
Aside from the main takeaway from this new reveal, it's also interesting how Lucas wasn't afraid to try new things despite the risks, not to mention the warnings from other people. He could've easily retreaded what worked before for a safer project, but he didn't want to do that. Considering how the biggest criticism of the Star Wars sequels was that it's essentially a rehash of a lot of elements from the original trilogy, it's curious what he honestly thinks about them now the Skywalker saga is officially done.
Source: The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 (via Polygon)
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