A theory about why this film failed

Rating: 1/10 (8 August 2011)

This is less a review of The Phantom Menace and more a review of George Lucas.
Lucas dreamed big. That's a good thing, because without that big Dreaming we would never have had Star Wars (before it was ever called A New Hope) in the first place. But that big dreaming is indicative of a big ego.
And A New Hope hit big, and fed that ego. Lucas had not only succeeded, but succeeded magnificently, as a filmmaker and as a businessman. When it came time for what many others have referred to as the "inevitable sequel," Lucas was on top of the world. He made a pair of interlinked decisions that would prove to be the best thing that happened to his series: he hired Irvin Kershner to direct, and Leigh Brackett to write.
The film was an enormous success. But if you're Lucas, and more to the point if you have Lucas' ego, what do you make of the fact that the creative decisions in this very, very successful sequel were all made by other people? One potential answer is that you're resentful.
I've often wondered why Lucas picked Richard Marquand to direct RotJ. Arguably, this was one of the most important films to be made in its day, and yet Marquand seemed to lack any credentials that would qualify him for this role. (Yes, I am aware that Lucas pursued David Lynch, and while I think the result would have been interesting, I agree with Lynch's own statement that he was not a fit for the material.) It's almost as if Lucas was trying to torpedo his own franchise.
And I think that sentiment may explain the prequels. Lucas has been quoted as saying that he wanted to change how films were made. While he succeeded with Star Wars (aka A New Hope), he failed in his ultimate goal. All he did was transfer the Hollywood system to San Francisco. Lucas wanted to be remembered as an innovator in the process, but instead, he would be remembered as the man who created Star Wars...and not even all of that. So many of the important decisions were made by other people. He'd be remembered as the guy who created the IDEA behind Star Wars, which other people then perfected.
It's not hard to see how that could engender resentment. Star Wars simultaneously made him successful and in his mind highlighted his own failure to achieve the goal he had set for himself. If this theory is valid, then there's little surprise that he would go about creating a trilogy of prequels designed to tear apart the mythology that had lead to the successful of the original trilogy, and in particular to the success of The Empire Strikes Back, a film that must almost be a slap in the face.