Star Wars is for kids.
Too many fanboys have tried to reinterpret it as some deep philosophical work, which it isn't.
Lucas' decision to re-edit the cantina scene was probably motivated by his mistaken belief that his heroes must never be seen doing anything ruthless or morally questionable. Everything in his universe is black-and-white, Good or Evil. Moral complexity has no place in children's entertainment.
Yes.
Yes, he's been consistent saying Star Wars was based off all the Saturday matinee $.10 serials he'd watch as a kid growing up.
And the end product was only as good as it was as others noted, that he was not yet in complete control. (well, he was by the time of ROTJ, but consistency with the first two movies was enough to contain him there too...) In the prequels, you get Buckwheat/JarJar, Midichlorians, and Dex's diner.
And saying he made it for kids doesn't quite make total sense, because the kids watching the original trilogy have grown up, and the kids next generation kids grew up ripping out hearts playing Street Fighter or whatever, killing hookers in Grand Theft Auto, and peeping at Internet porn... So no real point in dumbing it down for them either.
Gah... Irvin Kershner being in charge of everything after TESB and having ROTJ be set around Kashyyak and with Wookies instead of Ewoks would have been epic.
