Hey everyone,

I just read the Oscar rant & yeah, this, as usual, sucks. I lost my
faith in the Academy Awards way back in March of 1984 when "Return
Of The Jedi" was up for 6 Oscars & only recieved a special Oscar for
its visual effects. Add insult to injury, Cheech & Chong presented
the award to Dennis Murin.

I had a little hope with "Phantom Menace" but I should have seen it
coming. "Menace" was up for 2 or 3 nods in 2000, but, went home
empty handed. Worse yet the friggin' "Matrix" won for visual effects
(sorry people, but, "Episode I" should have gotten it hands down).

In 2003, "Episode II" recieved one nod for visuals with no winner.

So its no surprise that "Episode III" gets the same kick in the
pants from the Academy that the last two films received. But, the
big question is, why?

Why didn't the "Star Wars" prequels get little, if any, Academy
attention for Oscar consideration?

Its simple & it all boils down to one thing - politics.
The man responsible? George Lucas.

Back in early 1977 when "Star Wars" (I refuse to call it "Episode
IV"!) was in post production GL decided to do, & what would
eventually set the tone for the other five episodes, is to take the
main credits & have them at the end of the movie, instead of the
beginning. If your a die-hard "Star Wars" fan, I think you know
where I'm going with this.

The result - the classic "Star Wars" opening with John Williams'
legendary main title theme, with the "Star Wars" opening logo
blasting into infinite space with the titles crawling up from the
bottom of the screen.

A few months after the films release The Screen Actors Guild, The
Writers Guild, & Directors Guild contacted Lucas & 20th Century Fox
citing both director & distributor saying that both were in
violation of basically giving credit where credit is due. In other
words, Lucas should have had the opening credits at the beginning of
the film as well as at the end, just like every other movie that's
been made over the years. Lucas & Fox got off with a warning stating
that if it happened again they would fined - severely.

This problem sprung up again when "The Empire Strikes Back" was in
post-production. Lucas explained to the guilds that if the credits
were at the beginning of the film it would:
a.) make the viewer feel as if they weren't transported to a galaxy
far, far, away
b.) slow down the pacing of the film,
& c.) with "Star Wars" already the way it is, having the credits at
the beginning of "Empire" would just look, well, odd.

The guilds didn't give a crap & told Lucas that if he didn't put the
credits at the beginning the fines would be heading his way. Lucas
stood his ground & notified Alan Ladd Jr. (the president of Fox &
the man who believed in "Star Wars" & had Lucas' back during this
whole mess. Put it this way, if it wasn't for this guy, "Star Wars"
wouldn't have existed). The result - Lucas & Fox were fined, Ladd
Jr. was fired from Fox, & Lucas quit both the director & writer
guilds, vowing never to return. Their has always been a bitterness
between Lucas & the guilds since this riduclous incident (since then
many films including "The Lord of The Ring" trilogy have had the
credits at the end of their films without incident)

Now you're probabley wondering what does this have to with the
prequels not getting nominated? It's simple. The Academy is made of
members from The Screen Actors Guild, The Directors Guild, & The
Writers Guild. Who directed "Episode I, II, & III"? George Lucas.
Basically, it's payback from the Academy.

Personally, I think Lucas was much more proud at recieving the
People's Choice Award for "Sith" than anything else.