How To Save Star Wars?

Christopher Bahn wrote an article (for MSNBC.COM) today about how the last movie in the Star Wars Line (Episode 3) could be saved.

Among the more tongue in cheek suggestions are hiring Ed Wood as director and ripping of Kurosawa again (as Lucas did (although he denies it) for A New Hope). But obviously the key suggestion is getting rid of George Lucas.

It is frustrating as a fan of the series to consider that Mr. Lucas is not producing the movies one would really enjoy. I mean you could find more inventiveness and genuine fun in 15 minutes of A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back, than you could in the whole of A Phantom Menace. Attack of the Clones was saddled with a terribly lame romantic subplot involving one of the most unappealing actors I've ever seen (Christopher Hayden). But if you buy the DVD, skip past those scenes and just watch the Obi Wan stuff, it's not too bad. But certainly could have been better.

The problem with all this is that, at the end of the day, it's Lucas's franchis. I mean he created Star Wars, so as much as we might wish it otherwise, he'll create Star Wars III (Title to be named later). That's part of the price we paid for the enjoyment of the first trilogy. In the same sense that the thrills of the Matrix also contained the disappointments of the Matrix Revolutions.

But I still think they ought to recast Anniken Skywalker.