George Lucas is deeply, passionately committed to the Star Wars saga, which he seems to envisage as a set of Jungian archetypes (filtered through Joseph Campbell) that meet in a climactic conflict between good and evil and then mesh to form a gigantic money machine. Other aspects of the story he doesn’t care about so much—logic, dialogue, aliens that don’t look like they escaped from a Happy Meal. And most especially, pleasing the fans. Some combination of those reasons must explain why David Prowse, the original Darth Vader, has been banned for life from any Star Wars-related activities involving Lucasfilms:

It is with regret that I have been informed by my friends at C2 Ventures, Ben and Phillip, that I am not to be invited to C5 [Annual Star Wars Celebration] this year or any other Lucas Film associated events. After enquiring, the only thing I have been told is that I have “burnt too many bridges between Lucas Film and myself” – no other reason given.
I have also been advised by the promoter of Paris Manga in September that LFL have requested no photo opportunities with the 501 Squadron, even though I am commander in chief of the 501.

Stay classy, George. Then again, this is the man who threatened to destroy a small entrepreneur for selling a high-powered laser pointer that looked vaguely like a light sabre. (No, you can’t have one, but you can still buy your own personal cease and desist letter, if that’s any consolation. Get ‘em while they’re hot.) In a perfect world, right now we’d be listening to recordings of George Lucas shrieking hyperventilated death threats at his Russian girlfriend for not giving him the oral gratification he needs and deserves. Okay, maybe “perfect” isn’t the right world, but at least it would be a little more consistent.