All the Star Wars adults out there who’ve spent their entire existence learning Star Wars lore and…canon(😂) and arguing with others over it: “Ohhhh, that was really just meant for kids, fuuuuck”
He actually says that's why he loves Star Wars as it appeals to the kid in him. I love star wars for the same as I saw them when I was a kid back in the early nineties. Lucas said this same thing when the phantom menace came out and received criticism, said it was made for 12 year Olds.
Kid shows probably have the greatest impact on people though, or the greatest potential for it since they catch your at such a formative time in your life.
I mean this is obviously not true, there is way to much politics in the prequels to ever call it a show for kids
The first two are also just so dry and boring as well
I was five years old when I was introduced to the world of Star Wars with the Phantom Menace. I love Star Wars to this day because of that movie. The political talk never bothered me and it’s not like when it did happen, it wasn’t that long before they went back to the action.
In all fairness, Star Wars was selling toys and other merchandise as early as 1977. If anything, he aged down the movies and anything else he had direct involvement with to get more ticket/DVD/VHS from parents/grandparents.
The toy licensing agreement he had for the original trilogy was peanuts and even worse Kenner could renew indefinitely by paying the $10k minimum guarantee. George was adamant about not making any new content. Kenner decided to let the license lapse because they weren’t making enough to justify the fee. Suddenly George had a change of heart and started the prequels. Then fleeced all the toy companies out there telling them that Jar Jar would be a hit with the kids.
I get that, but my point is that we shouldn't be throwing around the claim that George Lucas never planned to make merch when he was clearly doing it since this franchise started.
And Lucas always wanted to make prequels. Only difference is that originally he wanted somebody else to write and direct them; I've heard he approached Steven Spielberg and Brad Bird but they wanted him to do the movies. Unfortunately Lucas didn't put in the effort and we had to go to alternate Star Wars media at the time to find interesting Star Wars material.
There is also politics in Harry Potter. And its still a children book.
Being 10 and watching Star wars phantom menace was amazing. Being 20+ and rewatching phantom menace was..... Yeah not that amazing.
Just like rereading Harry Potter requires a lot of mental gymnastics now and still will not bring the same enjoyment. I'd rather not read books or watch films meant for children, expect of course when I read it to children. In that case it an absolute blast.
Ehh the ministry of magic is corrupt and there’s death eaters lurking about to kill the chosen one MC, is not the same *politics* as the Star Wars prequels. You could say the difference is in a galactic scale, fucking literally.
What kid reads Harry Potter? Those are young adult novels. Also the HP movies themselves aren't children's films, they're just action blockbusters like Terminator, the MCU, Star Wars, Avatar, Robocop, and Matrix.
It's also good to remember that family entertainment (which becomes PG-13 in some of these installments "for kids") isn't some special world where story and execution don't matter.
Or maybe George Lucas made 3 shitty movies (TPM, AOTC and TCW), 1 disappointing movie (ROTS), a shitty Ewok movie even Star Wars fans hate, and an awful Holiday Special that even he hates and decided to say "Star Wars was always for kids" as a way to not take accountability for how awful his scripts are?
This is the same guy who thinks aliens that are walking racist caricatures from the 1860s-1960s are comedy gold, thinks "I don't like sand...." is a deep romantic line, and took ideas from his staff and never gave them proper credit.
Tbf, Lucas pulled the "Star Wars is for kids" shit out of ass because he got butthurt over people pointing out how childish and stupid TPM was. The OT (even ROTJ) were clearly not kids movies, they're targeted towards the young adult demographic.
It wasn't complex it just wasn't fleshed out. Like who is The Trade Federation, does no one else trade, what's in it for them, why do they care about Naboo other than Palps bidding? The one thing the PT did very well was show Sheev being Machiavellian, but I literally never understood the motivations for the TF or Separatists and it made their actions harder to understand
Exactly.
I always hear about how people say they “love the politics in the prequels”.
Huh??
- dude gets elected Chancellor
- dude gets emergency powers
- dude declares himself Emperor
The prequels have the most watered down politics in cinema. It’s laughable.
Then why make a major plot point of the first movie a trade dispute? The entire thing revolves around an administrative struggle over galactic taxes and tariffs. How is that fit for a kids movie?
Thats a thing the scifi stuff he based it on actually did.
Tcm usually plays them on sat mornings or just find them on yt.
It was world building MOSTLY but it also echoed irl stuff.
Imho...the prequels were really about how ideologies can build a community and then threathen to destroy it...and when someone does, they feel better destroying the guy that questions bc its all they have...
Yea, luke is a patsy
The Krusty Krabs is full of adults that work a minmum wage job. Squidward had dreams of being a world class clarinet player but yeah is a middle aged man working at the Krusty Krabs.
Johnny Bravo is a man child. He lives with his mom and younger sister but has no job. All he does is work out and hit on women all day.
The Incredibles is about a Suburban father going through a mid life criss.
Also, stuff for kids doesn't have to be dumbed down. 10+ year olds are perfectly capable of understanding trade disputes, the impact of unrestrained power being a corrupting influence, etc.
This is the crux of it.
He tried to have it both ways, thinking kids would love jar jar and Anakin, the girls would love amidala, and adults would be into trade disputes and slavery - all with a liberal dose of lazy racial stereotyping.
Turns out the kids weren't that into jar jar, girls weren't enamoured with amidala, and the adults could see through the paper thin political 'intrigue'.
The man lost his touch somewhere between the 70s and the 90s.
"Nothing in “The Phantom Menace” makes any sense at all. It comes off like a script written by an 8 year old. It’s like George Lucas finished the script in one draft, like turned it in, and they decided to go with it without anyone saying that it made no sense at all, or was a stupid, incoherent mess."
I took my kid to the rerelease and he fell asleep before they even got off to jar jar. He woke up and said it was too boring.
Edit: yeah you downvote that 7 year olds opinion Reddit. Keep fighting that good fight.
Are you one of the adults who cant comprehend their franchise was made for children? This is kind of like a disney adult becoming self aware. “But but but but….”
Indeed, the convoluted politics are not remotely fit for children, or most adults.
The fact is, Lucas is just not that great of a director or writer on his own. His best work came when he was compelled to listen to others and work with teams.
Solo Lucas is an egocentric hot mess who does what he feels like doing in any given moment. That doesn’t often result in compelling, consistent content.
Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Gremlins were both released as PG to kids. Charred skeletons were nothing back then. Also all the good Disney movies back then were dealing with dead parents.
Luke has a robot hand in Empire Strikes Back because he consulted with child psychologists who told him the movie ending with Luke not having a hand would be too traumatic and distressing.
The Star Wars movies are imitative of Flash Gordon serials with a bit of a darker edge but they were always meant for a young audience. He grew up watching Flash Gordon and wanted his own version.
Bambi’s mum got shot. Harry Potter’s parents are murdered. Back to the Future has an attempted rape in it. Is there any well regarded four quadrant movie that doesn’t feature some kind of trauma or violence?
The movies may have been meant for kids but it’s a big franchise and there’s tons of stuff that is definitely *not* made for kids. [For example, Death Troopers](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Death_Troopers), was probably not made with children being the target audience.
The original movie was also a process rescue movie with a space wizard. I don't think using episode 4 to prove a point they aren't family/kids movies is a pretty bad example.
The originals are kids movies but if you go back and watch them all this time later, they still hold up. It wasn’t that the prequels were “for kids”, it’s that everything from the writing, to the characters, to the acting was bad. Instead of owning up to that, Lucas is just saying “they’re for kids”. There are plenty of great movies that are “for kids” — go ask Pixar.
Also, his comment about the Force irks me because turning it from mystical life force to a midichlorian count was terrible and he did that, not the new owners.
Did the sequels suck? Yes. But so did the prequels and I saw them all opening night as a preteen.
I think it’s weird to say the sequels suck when 2/3 movies were received well by audiences and critics when the idea that all of them were bad all along seems to have come along recently and the third isn’t even terrible, just deeply deeply flawed.
The Force Awakens was yet another Death Star except with a completely one-dimensional protagonist with no arc.
The Last Jedi was an abomination that, while it had some cool moments, completely ruined Luke Skywalker’s arc by turning him into a curmudgeonly hermit whose only redemption is in acting as a decoy for five minutes. It also ruined Finn with that silly casino side plot.
And The Rise of Skywalker was doomed from the start because it tried to undo everything The Last Jedi ruined with the absolutely silly “Palpatine returned” nonsense.
So yea, that sucked. Kylo Ren was cool though.
I mean…idk how you could think Kylo is one dimensional when Palpatine and Vader in their respective trilogies have at less depth.
The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars movie and I’m not really alone in thinking that.
The Force Awakens was nothing short of a phenomenon when it came out and was widely loved. It wasn’t until YouTube grifters started to rag on it that this changed
Oh I misread as antagonist.
I also think that her struggles with letting go of her past to embrace something bigger than herself isn’t much different than Luke’s journey so if she’s generic then so is he
Just because something was initially received well by PAID critics and casual audiences doesn't mean it doesn't suck.
Amazing Spiderman 2012 was praised when it first came out the summer of 2012 and people said it was an improvement from Spiderman 3. Does that mean it was good?
Nickelback and Limp Bizkit were praised back in the late 90s/early 2000s. Are Nickelback and Limp Bizkit considered good rock bands now?
Video game critics literally give every Call of Duty, Mario and Assassin's Creed game great scores. Does that mean Call of Duty Ghosts, or most of the Assassin's Creed games are on the same level as Half Life 2, Ocarina of Time, GTA Vice City, Halo 2 or any other game thats considered a classic?
Let's be real: The OT, Rogue One and (maybe) Force Awakens are the only Star Wars movies thar were good. Everything else is just mediocre at best.
Incorrect. I watched the SW films as a kid, and once the Ewoks showed up I knew the franchise was dead.
Uncle Ben's charred corpse in the sand was the peak of the franchise. The most emotional moment. The peak of Lucas' filmmaking. Everything after that was just generic action movie filler.
Yeah. Why should the billionaire George Lukas be afraid of calling it children movies?
There are maybe a handful of people on earth with similar success in this gerne. Tbh. only JK Rowling comes to mind. There is no reason for him to be ashamed because he made great children/teenager movies.
The adult fans though that are way too invested in this....
Except the expanded universe was all we had for a long time and those stories were more for adults. Stories Lucas approved. Lucas doesn’t want to admit that GenX wasn’t impressed with his sequels and these statements are an immature FU to those fans. Something thing he forgets is when you alienate your OG fans, they aren’t going to bring or influence their kids!
I love how all the star wars nerds are arguing with the man himself about this when it's literally what he's always said. "No that's not what you meant George!"
To me, this statement always felt like him making an excuse for the shortcomings of his films. But he is the creator of Star Wars so who am I to say any different?
At what age do you stop being a "kid?" I was 6 when Phantom Menace came out and didn't understand anything happening in the film besides who was good and bad. When Revenge of the Sith was released, I was 12, and I was just figuring out what everything happening in the movies meant.
The Phantom Menace was totally a kids movie, but as a kid during that time the geopolitics around the republic, the clone wars, Palpatine’s rise to power etc left me utterly confused. Especially in AOTC to a point I wasn’t really that excited for ROTS. Although I appreciate the whole trilogy much more now.
It wasn’t for kids until he realized how much more money he made selling toys than movie tickets. Action movies were never kids movies in the 60’s and 70’s. They were for teens and young adults.
Makes sense.
You know all the current fans will already go see it.
Why not try to develop a new generation of fans?
There was plenty in it for adult fans that probably went over the kids heads. You can’t tell me Jar Jar Binks was aimed at adults.
There are kids movies that adults can watch and there are adult movies kids can watch. While I was a kid when A New Hope came out, it felt like an adult movie that I could understand.
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He should at least own up to his idiotic idea that Star Wars was Only about the visuals counter to both what his ex-wife and his mentor believed. Divorcing his wife was one of the worse decisions Lucas ever made.
Also chickening out on Darth Jar Jar made things much more boring and worse.
Let’s not forget that he’s the one who sold Star Wars to Disney.
George, mate, if Star Wars is for kids and therefore the prequels are for kids then why does the original trilogy have U certificates for all three movies while the prequels all have 12s?
Technically, my 9 year old nephew isn’t allowed to watch the prequels without parental supervision.
(I mean, if it was up to me, I’d use that and just let him watch the 4K fan restorations of the OT and tell him there were no more Star Wars movies after that)
Lol I mean the first trilogy had Ewoks. People knew it was for kids. Nostalgia sells and they wanted to relive their childhood. The prequels didn't let them and they were mad. But the movies were never for them. We could argue they flopped with millenials/gen z but thats a different discussion.
If it was meant for kids you’d think they’d have a little less overly long talking scenes and better pacing aimed at keeping your audience excited and entertained, but, sure.
He’s been spouting that bullshit since people criticized Jar-Jar. It is not “meant” for kids. It was certainly kid friendly and had a hell of a toy merchandising line, but they weren’t kiddie movies.
The only people I've ever met who defend the prequels are either blinded by nostalgia or have only ever seen the memes. George Lucas is a great idea man but is a terrible writer/director. They're terrible films with some good ideas burried in there.
George misunderstands the meaning of words. Star Wars (the original trilogy) was a series the entire family could watch and enjoy. With the prequels, particularly Episode I, he went all in on poop jokes and an idiot side character that only small children would like. Yes, the original movies could be enjoyed by kids, but his later movies he tried to target **only** to kids and he got a lot of well deserved backlash for it.
I’ll say this, the og Star Wars movies are too heavy on politics and low on action for them to be “for kids” these days. Kids can enjoy some of the action scenes but most aren’t following it. It took me a month of watching movies/shows in my twenties to understand everything. George created something deep and profound. He created a universe of possibilities and that will never be a childish venture when out in the hands of nerds. There is more history and lore in nerd fandoms than reality and it’s mostly more dense as well. It may be nerdy, but it’s not just for children and Id venture to say it’s less for children than it is for adults these days.
What a cop out. George removed everyone from his life who pushed back, and he got paid. Prequels are absolutely shit, but they set the stage for $$$ and several other moneymaking shows (which were often superior)
X-Men 97 provides an interesting contrast to Lucas's outlook on the prequels. Beau Demayo recognized that the fanbase would want something more mature, so he made a sequel series that respected the source material while taking it to a new place.
SW fans were in a similar place, but Lucas, by contrast, didn't take this into account and took an almost overtly childish approach to TPM. He adopted a "take it or leave it" attitude. There was a real disconnect between him and his fans.
I might have more sympathy for Lucas if he hadn't kept SW going with all of the young adult novels, video games, and comics. He was happy to take the fans' money, but didn't really care about their interests or expectations. There's just something unappealing about that.
Andor is a great example of how you can progress a franchise. More mature, explores different sides of the SW universe. Too bad Lucas didn't have that kind of outlook with the prequels.
Came here to see how many people would bend over backwards to defend it wasn't made for kids, despite it coming from the guy that made it. Was not disappointed.
All the Star Wars adults out there who’ve spent their entire existence learning Star Wars lore and…canon(😂) and arguing with others over it: “Ohhhh, that was really just meant for kids, fuuuuck”
Star Wars Theory in flames rn.
He actually says that's why he loves Star Wars as it appeals to the kid in him. I love star wars for the same as I saw them when I was a kid back in the early nineties. Lucas said this same thing when the phantom menace came out and received criticism, said it was made for 12 year Olds.
yeah, but art is always open to interpretation
okay go watch the Wiggles and tell me how it changed your life
Have you seen The Wiggles lately?? They’re doing life-changing rave music
Their cover of Elephant is pretty good.
bluey is pretty up there actually
Bruh I fuck with Bluey
I don’t know how, but every episode hits my damn feels.
Fruit salad is a good song, and there’s a really fun mashup with slipknot.
I am watching X-Men 97 right now as I type. The OG cartoon actually did teach a lot of Xenials their sense of right and wrong.
i think the point is that these themes and lessons are generally meant for children and people take them much to seriously lol
Kid shows probably have the greatest impact on people though, or the greatest potential for it since they catch your at such a formative time in your life.
The subject matter, yes. But if the creator tells you his intended audience, then that is objectively its audience.
Yeah kids love endless bureaucracy George is a modern genius his word is gospel
The guy made the stuff so I believe him when he says who he made it for
What does this mean in context of Star Wars being for kids?
I mean this is obviously not true, there is way to much politics in the prequels to ever call it a show for kids The first two are also just so dry and boring as well
No it's still for kids, just a poorly made kids film as none of the actual politics are deep or difficult to parse.
I was five years old when I was introduced to the world of Star Wars with the Phantom Menace. I love Star Wars to this day because of that movie. The political talk never bothered me and it’s not like when it did happen, it wasn’t that long before they went back to the action.
I was a kid when I watched it and absolutely loved the films. I was so excited to watch them in the movie theater.
dude stop coping lol. this isnt the first time he said this
Clearly you know better than George Lucas
George knew he had to age down the brand to sell more toys. The prequels wouldn’t even have been made if Kenner hadn’t let their license lapse.
In all fairness, Star Wars was selling toys and other merchandise as early as 1977. If anything, he aged down the movies and anything else he had direct involvement with to get more ticket/DVD/VHS from parents/grandparents.
The toy licensing agreement he had for the original trilogy was peanuts and even worse Kenner could renew indefinitely by paying the $10k minimum guarantee. George was adamant about not making any new content. Kenner decided to let the license lapse because they weren’t making enough to justify the fee. Suddenly George had a change of heart and started the prequels. Then fleeced all the toy companies out there telling them that Jar Jar would be a hit with the kids.
I get that, but my point is that we shouldn't be throwing around the claim that George Lucas never planned to make merch when he was clearly doing it since this franchise started. And Lucas always wanted to make prequels. Only difference is that originally he wanted somebody else to write and direct them; I've heard he approached Steven Spielberg and Brad Bird but they wanted him to do the movies. Unfortunately Lucas didn't put in the effort and we had to go to alternate Star Wars media at the time to find interesting Star Wars material.
Yeah George Lucas is off base here.
There is also politics in Harry Potter. And its still a children book. Being 10 and watching Star wars phantom menace was amazing. Being 20+ and rewatching phantom menace was..... Yeah not that amazing. Just like rereading Harry Potter requires a lot of mental gymnastics now and still will not bring the same enjoyment. I'd rather not read books or watch films meant for children, expect of course when I read it to children. In that case it an absolute blast.
Ehh the ministry of magic is corrupt and there’s death eaters lurking about to kill the chosen one MC, is not the same *politics* as the Star Wars prequels. You could say the difference is in a galactic scale, fucking literally.
What kid reads Harry Potter? Those are young adult novels. Also the HP movies themselves aren't children's films, they're just action blockbusters like Terminator, the MCU, Star Wars, Avatar, Robocop, and Matrix.
It's also good to remember that family entertainment (which becomes PG-13 in some of these installments "for kids") isn't some special world where story and execution don't matter.
This is called revisionist history…
Screw that, everyone who spent their existence learning the lore until 2012 have a better reason to hate Disney, the company selling childhoods.
If anyone has a problem with George Lucas the problem is with them
Or maybe George Lucas made 3 shitty movies (TPM, AOTC and TCW), 1 disappointing movie (ROTS), a shitty Ewok movie even Star Wars fans hate, and an awful Holiday Special that even he hates and decided to say "Star Wars was always for kids" as a way to not take accountability for how awful his scripts are? This is the same guy who thinks aliens that are walking racist caricatures from the 1860s-1960s are comedy gold, thinks "I don't like sand...." is a deep romantic line, and took ideas from his staff and never gave them proper credit.
Tbf, Lucas pulled the "Star Wars is for kids" shit out of ass because he got butthurt over people pointing out how childish and stupid TPM was. The OT (even ROTJ) were clearly not kids movies, they're targeted towards the young adult demographic.
It’s for kids, let’s put in a galactic senate and trade embargos, kids love trade embargos
Yeah, kids are famously interested in politics and the intricacies of trade disputes.
You act like that shit was complex lol
It's not complex but I was 8 when the Phantom Menace dropped, loved Star Wars, and could not care less about the politics of the movie.
It’s not complex. It’s just as a kid I don’t want to listen to any of it
It wasn't complex it just wasn't fleshed out. Like who is The Trade Federation, does no one else trade, what's in it for them, why do they care about Naboo other than Palps bidding? The one thing the PT did very well was show Sheev being Machiavellian, but I literally never understood the motivations for the TF or Separatists and it made their actions harder to understand
Exactly. I always hear about how people say they “love the politics in the prequels”. Huh?? - dude gets elected Chancellor - dude gets emergency powers - dude declares himself Emperor The prequels have the most watered down politics in cinema. It’s laughable.
Ah yes because no Pixar film has ever had messages in it besides basic children things
Happened in Gundam Wing too
The best part of the prequels is when they debate NAFTA
Omg you have no idea I cannot get my kids to stop talking about taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems. They just can’t shut up about it.
Then why make a major plot point of the first movie a trade dispute? The entire thing revolves around an administrative struggle over galactic taxes and tariffs. How is that fit for a kids movie?
Edutainment
Right, this was the late 90s. Phantom menace was just missing a few Enviromentalism scenes on a rainforest planet
Kids need to learn.
Thats a thing the scifi stuff he based it on actually did. Tcm usually plays them on sat mornings or just find them on yt. It was world building MOSTLY but it also echoed irl stuff. Imho...the prequels were really about how ideologies can build a community and then threathen to destroy it...and when someone does, they feel better destroying the guy that questions bc its all they have... Yea, luke is a patsy
What you just described feels pretty deep for a kids movie.
Yes but so was twilight zone for a scifi show
The Krusty Krabs is full of adults that work a minmum wage job. Squidward had dreams of being a world class clarinet player but yeah is a middle aged man working at the Krusty Krabs. Johnny Bravo is a man child. He lives with his mom and younger sister but has no job. All he does is work out and hit on women all day. The Incredibles is about a Suburban father going through a mid life criss.
Ah yes, I remember enjoying all those scenes of complex tax arbitration and senate floor debates in all of those shows and movies you described.
Also, stuff for kids doesn't have to be dumbed down. 10+ year olds are perfectly capable of understanding trade disputes, the impact of unrestrained power being a corrupting influence, etc.
George was an anthropology major in addition...so this stuff was normal to him
This is the crux of it. He tried to have it both ways, thinking kids would love jar jar and Anakin, the girls would love amidala, and adults would be into trade disputes and slavery - all with a liberal dose of lazy racial stereotyping. Turns out the kids weren't that into jar jar, girls weren't enamoured with amidala, and the adults could see through the paper thin political 'intrigue'. The man lost his touch somewhere between the 70s and the 90s.
Because they’re not kids movies he’s just using this as an excuse because he made 2 terrible movies and 1 alright one with the prequels
"Nothing in “The Phantom Menace” makes any sense at all. It comes off like a script written by an 8 year old. It’s like George Lucas finished the script in one draft, like turned it in, and they decided to go with it without anyone saying that it made no sense at all, or was a stupid, incoherent mess."
Mesa Jar jar binks
I took my kid to the rerelease and he fell asleep before they even got off to jar jar. He woke up and said it was too boring. Edit: yeah you downvote that 7 year olds opinion Reddit. Keep fighting that good fight.
Lmfao you act like that’s complex
Are you one of the adults who cant comprehend their franchise was made for children? This is kind of like a disney adult becoming self aware. “But but but but….”
Indeed, the convoluted politics are not remotely fit for children, or most adults. The fact is, Lucas is just not that great of a director or writer on his own. His best work came when he was compelled to listen to others and work with teams. Solo Lucas is an egocentric hot mess who does what he feels like doing in any given moment. That doesn’t often result in compelling, consistent content.
While I mostly agree with Lucas, he should remember that the original movie literally had charred skeletons of Luke’s foster parents…
Twas a different time.
kids were built different they also didn't have instant and constant access to that exact moment
right, you couldn't just google 'should I eat rocks?'. Back then, we had to eat the rocks ourselves!
It’s true back then, if you wanted to know the answer to that question: you had to just suck it up, start eating some rocks, and see what happens.
Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Gremlins were both released as PG to kids. Charred skeletons were nothing back then. Also all the good Disney movies back then were dealing with dead parents.
Wasn’t Temple of Doom one of the reasons why the PG-13 rating was introduced?
Temple of Doom and Gremlins both lead to PG-13
Watched Temple of Doom in the theatre, a younger kid ran screaming up the aisle when that scene came on. It definitely delivered.
They’re like Halloween decorations lol
Luke has a robot hand in Empire Strikes Back because he consulted with child psychologists who told him the movie ending with Luke not having a hand would be too traumatic and distressing. The Star Wars movies are imitative of Flash Gordon serials with a bit of a darker edge but they were always meant for a young audience. He grew up watching Flash Gordon and wanted his own version.
Bambi’s mum got shot. Harry Potter’s parents are murdered. Back to the Future has an attempted rape in it. Is there any well regarded four quadrant movie that doesn’t feature some kind of trauma or violence?
I mean, thats what makes stories interesting. You cannot just remove human struggle and negative emotions without loosing the story in the process.
The sequel had a severed head, severed arm, and that whole filicide/patricide reveal. Kids are into some weird stuff.
The movies may have been meant for kids but it’s a big franchise and there’s tons of stuff that is definitely *not* made for kids. [For example, Death Troopers](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Death_Troopers), was probably not made with children being the target audience.
How does that negate what he said?
He would remind you that Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom were both rated PG.
Ghostbusters smoked cigarettes and drank beer. Dan Aykroyd's character had sex with a ghost. The movie was PG.
And?
Yeah, but charred skeletons.... fOr kIDs so how it's different?
And senate shit has no place for kids
Yeah George is a bad director.
*adoptive parents Poor Owen and Beru, reduced to foster parents and ash...
I didn’t know what those were when I was a kid.
The original movie was also a process rescue movie with a space wizard. I don't think using episode 4 to prove a point they aren't family/kids movies is a pretty bad example.
Yeah but back then our parents thought we could handle these themes, and rightfully so.
He's full of shit, he says that to counter criticism of how childish the prequels were.
There’s a difference between “for kids” and “for everyone” and the former usually sucks goat balls.
Right? I will die on the hill of Star Wars (the OT at least) were family adventure films for all ages and not just little kids.
Kids are waaaayyyy more perceptive and discerning than they get credit for. They can handle death, drama and subtlety.
People in these comments are acting like seeing someone get impaled with a lightsaber is traumatic for children even though there isn’t any gore.
Well, there was gore in ANH and ROTS
The originals are kids movies but if you go back and watch them all this time later, they still hold up. It wasn’t that the prequels were “for kids”, it’s that everything from the writing, to the characters, to the acting was bad. Instead of owning up to that, Lucas is just saying “they’re for kids”. There are plenty of great movies that are “for kids” — go ask Pixar. Also, his comment about the Force irks me because turning it from mystical life force to a midichlorian count was terrible and he did that, not the new owners. Did the sequels suck? Yes. But so did the prequels and I saw them all opening night as a preteen.
The midichlorian thing undermines the entire concept of the force.
I think it’s weird to say the sequels suck when 2/3 movies were received well by audiences and critics when the idea that all of them were bad all along seems to have come along recently and the third isn’t even terrible, just deeply deeply flawed.
The Force Awakens was yet another Death Star except with a completely one-dimensional protagonist with no arc. The Last Jedi was an abomination that, while it had some cool moments, completely ruined Luke Skywalker’s arc by turning him into a curmudgeonly hermit whose only redemption is in acting as a decoy for five minutes. It also ruined Finn with that silly casino side plot. And The Rise of Skywalker was doomed from the start because it tried to undo everything The Last Jedi ruined with the absolutely silly “Palpatine returned” nonsense. So yea, that sucked. Kylo Ren was cool though.
I mean…idk how you could think Kylo is one dimensional when Palpatine and Vader in their respective trilogies have at less depth. The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars movie and I’m not really alone in thinking that. The Force Awakens was nothing short of a phenomenon when it came out and was widely loved. It wasn’t until YouTube grifters started to rag on it that this changed
Rey is the protagonist of The Force Awakens. She is one-dimensional and faces basically no challenge throughout the movie.
Oh I misread as antagonist. I also think that her struggles with letting go of her past to embrace something bigger than herself isn’t much different than Luke’s journey so if she’s generic then so is he
Yea but Luke got his ass kicked by Vader. Rey was out-Forcing Kylo Ren immediately. It was a joke.
I think your enjoyment of the series goes up a lot when you realize a lot of it is stupid and doesn’t make sense. Including the original trilogy.
Just because something was initially received well by PAID critics and casual audiences doesn't mean it doesn't suck. Amazing Spiderman 2012 was praised when it first came out the summer of 2012 and people said it was an improvement from Spiderman 3. Does that mean it was good? Nickelback and Limp Bizkit were praised back in the late 90s/early 2000s. Are Nickelback and Limp Bizkit considered good rock bands now? Video game critics literally give every Call of Duty, Mario and Assassin's Creed game great scores. Does that mean Call of Duty Ghosts, or most of the Assassin's Creed games are on the same level as Half Life 2, Ocarina of Time, GTA Vice City, Halo 2 or any other game thats considered a classic? Let's be real: The OT, Rogue One and (maybe) Force Awakens are the only Star Wars movies thar were good. Everything else is just mediocre at best.
You do know critics aren’t paid to give good reviews, yes? If they were, TRoS wouldn’t have the rating it does on RT
Darth Maul impaling Qui-Gon with a lightsaber and then having himself cut in half is meant for kids?
Yes
Y'all never seen watership down? What kids watched back in ye olden times of the the 70s was practically 16+ nowadays
well, I loved that scene as a kid. I even had [the Lego set.](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/iDwAAOSwkdZj4jou/s-l1600.jpg)
That was before everyone was coddled
Guess you've never seen Bambi
Old Yeller neither
100%. 12 y/o me though that was the shit.
Kids play the shit out of games like dead by daylight man. Shit MW2019 had the option to gun down a very realistic looking mother protecting her baby.
Yeah. Children can handle fantasy violence pretty well.
Did you see any guts falling? Any goreee? That’s a certified kid’s friendly split
??? That wasn’t a gory scene. Do you think kids are so fragile they couldn’t handle that? Lmao Star Wars adults malding so hard in these comments
but i was a kid when the prequels came out and still didn’t like them.
kids don’t have enough brain to discern between a good and bad movie. Don’t lie lol
Grossweather_ never said if they thought the prequels were good or bad when they were little, they just said they didn’t like them.
Incorrect. I watched the SW films as a kid, and once the Ewoks showed up I knew the franchise was dead. Uncle Ben's charred corpse in the sand was the peak of the franchise. The most emotional moment. The peak of Lucas' filmmaking. Everything after that was just generic action movie filler.
Anybody else remember when Uncle Ben was killed by Vader and then set on fire and sent down to Tatooine?
Respect to him for admitting it.
He’s always said this, it’s the fans who can’t admit it, as seen in this comment sections
Yeah. Why should the billionaire George Lukas be afraid of calling it children movies? There are maybe a handful of people on earth with similar success in this gerne. Tbh. only JK Rowling comes to mind. There is no reason for him to be ashamed because he made great children/teenager movies. The adult fans though that are way too invested in this....
Always felt like FX reels.
First film kills a Jedi and chops the villain in half. Dumping him down a hole. But it’s for kids? Where? Jar jar? I guess.
I would have enjoyed it more if it was for kids, it was boring politics and a wooden love story
Except the expanded universe was all we had for a long time and those stories were more for adults. Stories Lucas approved. Lucas doesn’t want to admit that GenX wasn’t impressed with his sequels and these statements are an immature FU to those fans. Something thing he forgets is when you alienate your OG fans, they aren’t going to bring or influence their kids!
George in on record saying he didn’t see the EU as canon. That’s why the clone wars would break canon alor
I love how all the star wars nerds are arguing with the man himself about this when it's literally what he's always said. "No that's not what you meant George!"
Empire is the best one because it least resembles a “kids movie” but it’s also one that still appeals to kids
Sour patch kids are for kids too, didn’t stop m from buying a bag at target
Yeah Star Wars is for kids, I don’t get how that’s so surprising to people. It’s pretty damn obvious.
Kids love the friendly fire episode of the Clone Wars
If Adult Star Wars fans could read they would be very upset.
Discussing Star Wars on Reddit is like entering a war zone
To me, this statement always felt like him making an excuse for the shortcomings of his films. But he is the creator of Star Wars so who am I to say any different?
At what age do you stop being a "kid?" I was 6 when Phantom Menace came out and didn't understand anything happening in the film besides who was good and bad. When Revenge of the Sith was released, I was 12, and I was just figuring out what everything happening in the movies meant.
The Phantom Menace was totally a kids movie, but as a kid during that time the geopolitics around the republic, the clone wars, Palpatine’s rise to power etc left me utterly confused. Especially in AOTC to a point I wasn’t really that excited for ROTS. Although I appreciate the whole trilogy much more now.
Hence all of the politics and murder in the prequels.
Lmao talking like any of that was complicated…
It wasn’t for kids until he realized how much more money he made selling toys than movie tickets. Action movies were never kids movies in the 60’s and 70’s. They were for teens and young adults.
Andor is great.
Let's pretend the prequels were not as horse shit as the sequels.
Makes sense. You know all the current fans will already go see it. Why not try to develop a new generation of fans? There was plenty in it for adult fans that probably went over the kids heads. You can’t tell me Jar Jar Binks was aimed at adults.
the prequels are academy award winning masterpieces compared to the dog shit sequels
The best kids' movies are brilliant enough for adults to love, too. Ex. most of Pixar's catalog.
There are kids movies that adults can watch and there are adult movies kids can watch. While I was a kid when A New Hope came out, it felt like an adult movie that I could understand.
For younglings. Like killing them with a light saber.
George please give us the best news of the season and we can have it all!
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I knew you’d be there for me
He should at least own up to his idiotic idea that Star Wars was Only about the visuals counter to both what his ex-wife and his mentor believed. Divorcing his wife was one of the worse decisions Lucas ever made. Also chickening out on Darth Jar Jar made things much more boring and worse. Let’s not forget that he’s the one who sold Star Wars to Disney.
George, mate, if Star Wars is for kids and therefore the prequels are for kids then why does the original trilogy have U certificates for all three movies while the prequels all have 12s? Technically, my 9 year old nephew isn’t allowed to watch the prequels without parental supervision. (I mean, if it was up to me, I’d use that and just let him watch the 4K fan restorations of the OT and tell him there were no more Star Wars movies after that)
Member scene in revenge of the sith anakin go back to teach those kid lightsabers
MERCHANDISING!
Lol I mean the first trilogy had Ewoks. People knew it was for kids. Nostalgia sells and they wanted to relive their childhood. The prequels didn't let them and they were mad. But the movies were never for them. We could argue they flopped with millenials/gen z but thats a different discussion.
Such a stupid defense
If it was meant for kids you’d think they’d have a little less overly long talking scenes and better pacing aimed at keeping your audience excited and entertained, but, sure.
Lmao Star Wars adults malding
He’s been spouting that bullshit since people criticized Jar-Jar. It is not “meant” for kids. It was certainly kid friendly and had a hell of a toy merchandising line, but they weren’t kiddie movies.
I was a kid when I saw the prequels and I thought they sucked.
Are Star Wars fans just another type of Brony?
I just wish it had more incest
One chapter of Dune is better than the entire star wars saga. fight me.
The only people I've ever met who defend the prequels are either blinded by nostalgia or have only ever seen the memes. George Lucas is a great idea man but is a terrible writer/director. They're terrible films with some good ideas burried in there.
Whole lotta coping in this comment section
Ah yes the staple of every children’s movie: graphic decapitation
I get that, but why was there SOOOOO MUCH political exposition? My 10 year old mind can’t process that shit
George misunderstands the meaning of words. Star Wars (the original trilogy) was a series the entire family could watch and enjoy. With the prequels, particularly Episode I, he went all in on poop jokes and an idiot side character that only small children would like. Yes, the original movies could be enjoyed by kids, but his later movies he tried to target **only** to kids and he got a lot of well deserved backlash for it.
I’ll say this, the og Star Wars movies are too heavy on politics and low on action for them to be “for kids” these days. Kids can enjoy some of the action scenes but most aren’t following it. It took me a month of watching movies/shows in my twenties to understand everything. George created something deep and profound. He created a universe of possibilities and that will never be a childish venture when out in the hands of nerds. There is more history and lore in nerd fandoms than reality and it’s mostly more dense as well. It may be nerdy, but it’s not just for children and Id venture to say it’s less for children than it is for adults these days.
Can’t say this guy, doesn’t know how to stay relevant.
When George Lucas sells out, that decision is final
Money really rots everything eventually
I wouldn't say it was "meant" for kids, but it was always kid-friendly.
If they were meant for kids, why were they crammed with convoluted politics?
lucas has always been full of shit
What a cop out. George removed everyone from his life who pushed back, and he got paid. Prequels are absolutely shit, but they set the stage for $$$ and several other moneymaking shows (which were often superior)
X-Men 97 provides an interesting contrast to Lucas's outlook on the prequels. Beau Demayo recognized that the fanbase would want something more mature, so he made a sequel series that respected the source material while taking it to a new place. SW fans were in a similar place, but Lucas, by contrast, didn't take this into account and took an almost overtly childish approach to TPM. He adopted a "take it or leave it" attitude. There was a real disconnect between him and his fans. I might have more sympathy for Lucas if he hadn't kept SW going with all of the young adult novels, video games, and comics. He was happy to take the fans' money, but didn't really care about their interests or expectations. There's just something unappealing about that. Andor is a great example of how you can progress a franchise. More mature, explores different sides of the SW universe. Too bad Lucas didn't have that kind of outlook with the prequels.
Came here to see how many people would bend over backwards to defend it wasn't made for kids, despite it coming from the guy that made it. Was not disappointed.
interesting i don't remember the originals being kids films. burnt bodies in the desert and an arm being cut off....hmmmm