George Lucas knew what he was doing when he was making the Star Wars franchise. He was particular about many things that ended up being iconic, and his need to keep up the integrity of his vision has helped him turn the franchise into one of the most successful of all time. Despite this, some factors can often stop a creator from fulfilling their vision; be it budget, time restraints, or practicality.
When the filmmaker was making Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, one character’s design proved to be quite confusing and complicated. In the heat of the moment, Lucas took a decision, only to regret it in the years to come.
George Lucas Had a Vision for Yoda
For years, Star Wars fans have been debating which version of Yoda is better, CGI or a puppet. The conversation has dominated online forums, and fans have been debating over it for years. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, George Lucas was asked to comment on the matter, and he explained the truth behind it all.
Lucas started by revealing that his original plan for Yoda was simple; he wanted the character to be CGI, and he wanted it to be as realistic as technology back then could make it.
However, problems started to arise when it came to executing his vision during the making of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
We tried to do Yoda in CGI in Episode I, but we just couldn’t get it done in time. We couldn’t get the technology to work, so we had to use the puppet,
The technology was proving to be quite difficult, which resulted in the production running out of time. Not wanting to ruin the rest of the film because of one mishap, a decision was taken to replace the character with a realistic puppet.
George Lucas Was Not Satisfied
Even though the decision was made and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace had already been released, George Lucas was not happy with Yoda’s final design. It bugged him that he was unable to do what he had planned, and the limitations of technology forced him to let go of his original wishes.
However, the filmmaker got another chance to fix this mistake when the technology began to drastically evolve.
The puppet really wasn’t as good as the CGI. So when we did the reissue, we had to put the CGI back in, which was what it was meant to be.
During the interview, Lucas revealed that when they were cleaning up the original film for its reissue, they decided to make the changes they were unable to execute when the film first came out. Since technology was no longer holding them back, they made the movie look a lot better, and to the disappointment of some fans, they turned the puppet Yoda into CGI.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is available for streaming on Disney+.
