The wookiee has no pants

   I was watching the documenatry, Empire of Dreams, included in the new DVD box set of the Star Wars trilogy, and I was amazed at how close the original Star Wars movie was to never getting made.
   Nobody was interested in making the movie. Even Alan Ladd Jr., George Lucas' supporter at 20th Century Fox, believed only in George's talent, not in the picture itself. George Lucas was a young, inexperienced director; clearly unprepared to deal with the rigours and complexity of directing a big budget picture. His special effects team, that would later become Industrial Light and Magic, were trying to come up with visual effects that had never been done before, and were simply making it up as they went. Mere weeks before principal photography was due to wrap, the studio pulled the plug on the project. That should have been it, but instead of telling them to stop, Alan Ladd told George he had a week before the next board meeting to get it all done.
   Though it wasn't made on a shoestring, an apt metaphor might have been a tightrope. One misstep and Star Wars might never have been. How would our entertainment world be different today?
   The chain of events proceding in a direct line from the success of Star Wars is remarkable. Aside from six blockbuster science fiction movies, the last of which is preparing to knock our socks off this May, without Star Wars, the Indiana Jones movies do not get made. And without those, the movie Spielberg is best known for is Jaws. Not a horrible film, but it's no Schindler's List.
   The PIXAR computer system used to create fabulous 3D animation effects was originally developed by Industrial Light and Magic. Without Star Wars, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles do not get made. Look at the ILM website. The list of projects they have been involved in reads like a list of the top Sci-Fi and Action/Adventure movies made in the last twenty years.
   The home theater revolution was driven by THX, another Lucasfilm company. Without Star Wars, you wouldn't have that fancy surround sound stereo system in your living room.
   Even the way we talk has changed. The simple phrase, "I've got a bad feeling about this," has a whole extra layer of subtext whenever it is spoken, due to Star Wars. Even people who have never seen a Star Wars movie know what the words, "jedi mind trick" mean. It is a part of our culture.
   I'm not saying that George Lucas is a great director. Of his group of contemporaries, Brian De Palma, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg are all more talented.  He is, however, a great  storyteller, and a man who knows how to push his people to new achievements. George Lucas changed the way movies, all movies, were made. He is probably among the most influential figures in the world in the last fifty years.