... and all they had to do was remove a certain person from the power structure/decision-making process...

Actually, after George saw Avatar at James Cameron's place the first time, he was blown away, so much so, that he decided himself to begin making plans for more movies, post-Jedi, sans directing and writing. He felt that he was at his limit in the Star Wars galaxy, which to me, was a very selfless gesture.

Say what you will about the prequels but George Lucas single-handedly changed the way movies are made, period. From the creation of LucasFilm, which acted as an independent film company, to the creation of ILM and the retention of merchandising rights, the Hollywood Model was literally transformed overnight with the success of the original Star Wars.

He created Droid, which was the first digital editing system, which he later sold to a couple of guys who would then change the name to Avid, which has been the leading video editing software worldwide. There isn't a Post House in the world that doesn't have an Avid Media system. He also created Pixar, the first digital studio and sold it to his friend Steve Jobs for $10 million.

The Clone Wars series is an absolute masterpiece of animation, voice acting, direction and story telling.

The man has been a visionary story teller unlike any the world has ever seen. It's a shame that so many post 40 year olds blame him for "ruining their childhood".

I had no clue that he had a hand in the creation of Avid. That's crazy.

I think he's a brilliant innovator, no doubt. And this defense of him rings very true.

He's just out of his depth when contributing on dialogue and directing, in my opinion.

The Core story of the prequel trilogy is excellent and has tremendous potential. Some of it falls flat due to hollow dialogue and decisions made about the script/direction.

I probably like the prequel trilogy (And especially revenge of the sith) much more than most people.

The crazy thing is that once upon a time, he had it. It would be hard to imagine American Graffiti or the original Star Wars in the hands of anyone else.

And look at the cast of the prequels, from Natalie Portman to Ewan McGregor (who wasn't a gigantic movie star at the time) to Kiera Knightly to Rose Byrne to even Liam Neeson, who up to that point, hadn't been an "Action Star", something he's traded on for nearly the last decade.

But what I should have stated is that finally, he's let go of the Star Wars universe and obviously left it in more capable hands, something he couldn't do even in 2001. Steven Speilberg begged and begged and begged him to direct Attack of the Clones but George said no.

And while I'm not a fan of all things Spielberg (especially the childish sentimental twinges he often feels obligated to include), Saving Private Ryan was a masterpiece of film making and to see him follow that up with AOTC could have been epic.

Yep, it was his creation.

He also "Ghost" edited Jurassic Park.

Lucasfilm and Disney XD have announced that the second season of "Star Wars" is set to debut on Saturday, June 20th at 9pm. That's considerably earlier than expected.

The new season commences with the one-hour episode "The Siege of Lothal" which screened at Star Wars Celebration the other weekend. The downside? The remaining episodes of the second season though won't start airing until this Fall.

Prominent recurring roles in the second season include Darth Vader (James Earl Jones ), Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) Captain Rex, Wolffe and Gregor (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker).

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Can't wait for vintage Vader.

It'll be a travesty Vader doesn't appear in Rogue One and the film in which Trank was supposed to direct.

I'm sure he will.

It is a law:

You can not have SW without Vader in some capacity.

As even the new film clearly demonstrates.

Need to have as much Vader as possible for as long as Jones is able to do voice work.

With all the force power we have seen lately, it seems Vader should have been able to just force grab their ship to keep it from taking off.

Wait. . .

So, they are going to show 1 episode of season 2 on Saturday, but then you have to wait until probably the end of September to see the next episode?
I'm assuming that season 2 will conclude a week or two before VII hits theaters...

I thought it was cool they were doing such a rapid launch of the 2nd season, but a one-off cocktease sucks!

With Disney's resources and the built-in audience, they could and should have 3 or 4 of these going simultaneously. There is plenty of period gaps to feature multiple series.

Obviously the seasons tend to run over a 3 to 4 month period.
I just think it would be a novel idea if by having a few series in production at the same time they were able to deliver a *new* Star Wars universe episode each week throughout the entire year.

It would be a unique achievement. Calling back to the days of radio and before that weekly serials.

The resources just aren't available for something as massive as you've described. A new Star Wars animated series, with new characters, would be extremely difficult to launch while Rebels is in production.

It would be surprising if Disney launched another animated series before the end of Rebels, as the comics are filling in the events between III & VI as well as between VI & VII.