Why did george lucas make the star wars film from 4 to 6 and then from 1 to 3?

Question

Why did george lucas make the star wars film from 4 to 6 and then from 1 to 3?

Answer 1

In 77, he said he made 'Episode 4' (from the Journal of the Whills) to, as stated above, reflect the mentality of the '50's Serial films.  Seeing 'Episode 4' gave audiences the impression that they were being dropped in the middle of something much larger.  Lucas stated then (and denies now) that after a 3yr break, he'd start Ep 1-3 and after another 3yr break, he'd do Ep 7-9.

More recently, Lucas has stated that he always meant SW to be the cycle of Anakin Skywalker - BS.  Tarkin was the villain in SW4, Vader was merely a thug.  Until SW6, most of the fans were convinced that Vader was lying and that Luke's father (or a clone thereof) would show up near the end to save the day.  

By episode 6, Lucas realized that the $$s weren't to be made at the box office, but rather at the toy store.  That's why we got Ewoks instead of Wookies.  That's why Anakin didn't get his Revenge on Vader but rather Returned from Vader.

All the talk of 'he was waiting on the technology' is twaddle.  Lucas commissioned Dykstra to create the SFX by any means necessary.  Dykstra *invented* the technology based on his and Trumbull's earlier work.

Answer 2

he wated to make it seem like the old time serials that they used to show.  and starting at number 4 would make it seem part of an ongoing saga

Answer 3

He started with 4- 6 to establish the characters and make people care about them before moving backward and showing you how they became the people they are. He says he had them all written and wanted to make the movies in that order, but I think he made the first three and people asked so many question about their past that he had to make more movies to explain.

Answer 4

because he felt he didn't have the technology to do 4 to 6, but he knew what the story was. so he did 4 to 6 and then went back and did 1 to 3 when he had the technology to do it .

Answer 5

In interviews about the time of the release of the first one, George Lucas stated repeatedly that he intended to do a central set of films~a trilogy. He said that he then planned to do a trilogy that would lead up to what happens in Episodes IV, V and VI. Eventually, there would be a third set of films, following the events of the second trilogy.

People keep trying to rewrite history by claiming he came up with the plan as if under duress or to make more money out of the idea. They are WRONG! I have at least a dozen magazines as well as newspaper clippings because I started collecting on "Star Wars" as soon as I heard hints about it.

He started with "A New Hope" because it could work as a stand-alone story. You see, he had no guarantee that "Star Wars" would even get to theaters. I found this at an IMDb site while researching another film:

Because of the phenomenal success of the novel "The Other Side of Midnight" by Sidney Sheldon, 20th Century Fox was sure that the movie based on the book was going to be a huge hit at the box office. At the same time, there were such low expectations surrounding "Star Wars" (1977), which most theaters refused to book! So, the distributor at Fox came up with the idea of a package deal, telling theater chains that, if they wanted this movie, they had to book "Star Wars" first. This movie went on to become a box office dud, while "Star Wars" went on to become one of the most successful films of all time.

You see? No one had any idea that "Star Wars" would spark a phenomenon. Basically, George Lucas put all the eggs in one basket, and it paid off!

Answer 6

technology

he had much bigger plans for Ep 1-3 than 4-6

so he did the series he knew he could do well with in 1977

and held off the others till the technology was there to do what he wanted

Answer 7

He felt like 4 was the best story and it would sell the best. He was right. Because 4 sold so well, it launched the series.

Answer 8

well there were only 2 jedis left after 6 leia and luke soo not much to go on and dark vaders past is much more interesting...and clone wars that 3d thing kinda sucked to kidish didnt follow the story line either.

Answer 9

I'm always amazed, not in a good way either, at the answers people give when they try to answer this question.

When Lucas first came up with the idea for "Star Wars" he envisioned it as a 12 part story that would be told in a similar fashion as the old Flash Gordon series. It didn't take him long to realize it wouldn't work that way so it got cut down to a 9 part story. The first trilogy was to be about the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker. The second trilogy was to be about the rise of Luke Skywalker and the redemption of Anakin Skywalker. The third trilogy was to be about the "other" Skywalker that Yoda mentions in The Empire Strikes Back. There have been many insane rumors floating around saying that Lucas is going to make ep 7 – 9 … he’s not because the don't exist anymore. They were all basically condensed into what became ep 6, Return Of The Jedi. A little known fact is that up until the point where Lucas was almost done writing the script for ROTJ Leia was NOT the other Skywalker. When Lucas was writing the duel between Luke and Vader he was stumped on something that would make Luke attack his father in a dark side fueled rage. He solved this problem by making Leia Luke's twin sister and having Vader threaten her. That one change eliminated the third trilogy in its original form.

As for why he did 4 - 6 first. It has been said it was because the technology was not there to make it right. That's almost true except for the fact that the technology wasn't there to make 4 - 6 either. People have said that Lucas is a genius ... I don't know if I'd go that far but what really is the true genius of Lucas is that he surrounded himself with the very best people in Sci-fi movie making ... for the most part everything that we saw in ep 4 were things that they made up as they went along. Basically a "how are we going to do this", "I don't know, figure it out" kind of thing. Lucas had the vision but it was the people he surrounded himself with who made it work. If you really watch ep 4 you see that it could have been a stand-alone movie. By that I mean that if it was a flop then we would never need to know that there were 8 more parts. Of all the Star Wars movies ep 4 is the only one that can be said of. Good had defeated Evil ... end of story.

May The Force Be With You ...