Star Trek vs. Star Wars (and a collection of memes)

I remember seeing George Lucas in an interview say that his original plan was to use Wookies instead of Ewoks for the final ground battle in Return of the Jedi. He really liked Wookies, and he was afraid he wouldn't get any sequels so he shoehorned a Wookie into A New Hope. I believe part of the crappiness of the Holiday special is because George Lucas had an irrational attachment to Wookies.

It's very important that highly creative people have trusted friends who can say "No, that's a horrible idea."

For instance, I needed four separate friends tell me that the idea of making coal fossilized dragon poop in my fantasy world before I gave up on the idea.

 

Funnily he also had one for Ewoks.
He really really wanted to have those two Ewok movies made.

Oh yeah definitely. People involved in the production of the prequel trilogy claim that this was one of the main problems.

And I can tell from my own experience in writing/painting/etc. that it is important. What people (including me) think is a good idea might actually not be _that_ great.

 

It was a mercy he wasn't invited. It would have been cruel to make him watch. You don't invite a mamma cow to a veal dinner.