A Thought About Lucas

After watching Plinkett's reviews of Star Wars for the zillioneth time (note: I do not recommend these to family and friends who are squeamish about, uh, let's call it vulgarity), I had a thought (which I'm sure "Plinkett" has already had) about what George Lucas was trying to do with I, II, and III:

Recapture his youth.

He wasn't just trying to compete against directors like Ridley Scott and James Cameron (although he was doing that too), and he wasn't just trying to be rich and famous because he already was. He was trying to be THAT GUY again, the guy who came out of nowhere with a picture that wowed the world.

And it's sad because even if I, II, and III had been good, he could never be THAT GUY again.

There's a great line in an episode of Numb3rs where Charlie is explaining to Larry how much pressure he feels to instantly produce genius work. Larry tries to explain that many great mathematicians did their best work in their later years; Charlie has a lot of time to produce awe-inspiring research.

"Yes," Charlie says, "but it will never again come ahead of schedule."

Just think of the rush a person gets from producing masterpieces ahead of schedule! It would be hard to lose that.

Unfortunately, even prodigies have to grow up.