Lucas admits Episode 1 failure

As fans - and the world's toy-makers and merchandisers - await the arrival of Star Wars: Episode ll - Attack of the Clones, a big question-mark hangs over the series of spectacular space adventures ... is the Force running out of steam?

Critics of Star Wars maker George Lucas reckon he may have lost the plot in favour of the money-making merchandise, may have concentrated too much on the funny characters - such as the ghastly and universally unpopular Jar Jar Binks from Episode l - The Phantom Menace - instead of the characterisations, the dialogue and the plotting.

They have a point, and now the 57-year-old moviemaker himself has admitted what audiences had already decided ... Episode l was a big disappointment.

Lucas, writing to toy manufacturer Hasbro, is reported to have said "the last movie did not live up to expectations" and further admitted that the merchandising - now a major part of any movie's success - was "over-licensed, over-shipped and over-saturated."

Success of, of course, relative. After all, however bad audiences and critics thought Episode l was, the Liam Neeson vehicle earned a staggering $431m (€478m) in the States alone - the fourth highest ever - and almost $1b (€1.1bn) worldwide. We should all have such failures in our lives!

It was, though, a disaster for several key licencees such as Hasbro, Kentucky Fried Chicken and, particularly, Pepsi, which churned out eight billion cans featuring Star Wars logos. There are many warehouses packed with unwanted items from SW1.

Lucas will, he had promised, cut down on the number of merchandising licences handed out, by at least one-third, from 80 to 50.

Even more important, since it's what's on screen that ultimately counts, Lucas promises that Episode ll will have a "darker feel, closer to the original saga ... with no silly characters or kids!"

He wrote Episode l himself, but for this new one he has brought in Young Indiana Jones Chronicles writer Jonathan Hales to beef things up ... and to reduce Jar Jar to a mere walk-on part. Lucas, commented a Stateside magazine recently, is now a much smarter man ... who doesn't want to harm the franchise, which is increasingly what movies are recognised as.

Clones, say those who have had previews, is terrific, a thrilling and chilling, fun-filled two-hour return to the original concept.

And now it's on to Episode lll, which will be the final one in the series: "If people think Clones is dark, just wait for the next one ... I wonder if audiences will stand for it? But I've got to tell the story."

By the time he finishes what has been filmdom's most spectacular series, Lucas will be 60 ... and he is anxious to move on to several other projects burning on the back stove. He says that for the past 30 years he has been amassing lots of ideas for other movies and television shows and he'll soon have time to work on them when the last Star Wars zooms into screen history.