Stranger Things creators admit to "George Lucas-ing" content: fans react - The UpStream

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Stranger Things creators admit to "George Lucas-ing" content: fans react

posted Monday Aug 1, 2022 by Scott Ertz

Stranger Things creators admit to "George Lucas-ing" content: fans react

The Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things, recently made a comment about the show that didn't go over well with fans. They said that they had "George Lucas'd" content in the show, suggesting that they had made changes to previously published episodes to make changes, either to graphics or plot. However, after fans reacted poorly to the comment, the writers took to Twitter to clear things up. They stated that they had never changed anything and never would.

What is George Lucas-ing?

George Lucas-ing is a term used to describe when a creator or writer goes back and makes changes to their work, usually after it's already been published. This can be something as small as changing a word or phrase, or something as major as changing the ending of a story. It's named after George Lucas because he's well known for making changes to his Star Wars movies, even years after they were first released.

Lucas famously made changes to the original trilogy, starting in the Special Edition re-releases. The most obvious change was made to a scene in the original film, commonly referred to as Han shot first. The scene takes place in Mos Eisley and Han Solo shoots at Greedo. In the re-release, Lucas changed it to Greedo shooting first, changing it from an attack to self-defense. Fans believed that this was a defining character trait for Han which was stolen from them by the change.

What might the Duffer Brothers have changed?

There's no way to know for sure what the Duffer Brothers might have changed in Stranger Things, though they did reference missing Will's birthday as a possible target. Intrepid fans have already crossed that off the list, however, as the Season 4 episode remains intact.

However, fans are now on the lookout for any changes that might have been made. They're scouring through old episodes, looking for any differences between the original release and anything that's currently available. So far, nothing has been found but that doesn't mean there aren't any changes. It just means that we haven't found them yet.

The writers protect the audience

The Duffer Brothers' comment about George Lucas-ing the show was not well received by fans. However, the writing team quickly took to Twitter to clear things up. They stated that they had never changed anything and never would. This was likely in response to the negative reaction from fans, reassuring them that their favorite show hasn't been tampered with.

While it's not uncommon for creators to make changes to their work, it's usually not something that's done after the fact. It's more common for writers or directors to make changes before a work is released, either because they're unhappy with how it turned out or because they want to make a change based on feedback from beta readers or test audiences. However, Stranger Things has already been released, so any changes that have been made would have had to be done after the fact.

What do you think about George Lucas-ing?

Have you ever noticed any changes in a work after it's been released? Let us know in the comments! Stranger Things is available - unchanged - on Netflix.

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