The First Draft of Star Wars

Now that we've seen what Lucas did with Chapters 1, 2 and 3, it's pretty obvious that he had some major behind-the-scenes help with the original Chapters 4, 5 and 6.

We'll probably never know who was the real 'man behind the curtain'.....

When you start your science fiction epic masterpiece by titling it "The Journal of the Whills", the Fail Button has already been pushed. Lucas was lucky to be surrounded by the right technical people to get the ball rolling and turn it around.

I highly recommend the book, The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film. It gives a great account of the birthing pains Lucas went through to get the first movie made. It really _was_ quite an heroic feat (as well as a lot of his own money in the early production), but it also makes clear that his huge success allowed him to later surround himself with nothing but sycophantic yes-men instead of brutally honest creative collaborators. Many of his later creative endeavors would have been a lot more interesting and entertaining if he, himself had realized this.

Didn't they actually have that luggage scene in Spaceballs?

The third one was a fun movie. If you disregard the horrible development, plot, and dialogue.