People tens to forget that Lucas can only claim full credit as writer and director for the original Star Wars movie, episode 1,2, and 3. Empire and Return had other directors and Lucas only co-authored the stories.
The original was just Dune meets samurai, the acting was campy and barely tolerable, and plot mediocre. But Lucas had cutting edge special effects, and the movie hit at just the right time when no one else was making decent space movies. If Star Wars had come out after Star Trek two years later, it would not have been the blockbuster success it was.
He didn't write 2 or 3. It shows too, in how generic they are. Ep 1 was good except for Jar Jar and I remember its plot 25 years later. I can't remember the plots of 2 or 3, just a few scenes.
Interesting you say this because I remember hearing that Frank Herbert was a little pissed that Star Wars bit him so badly. I think now that Dune is finally pulling its head out of its ass we're going to get some really good sci-fi in the next coming years.
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