10 Terrible Star Wars Ideas That Nearly Happened
4. Splinter Of The Mind's Eye
When Star Wars hit theatres on May 25, 1977, it became an unprecedented hit. So unprecedented, in fact, that George Lucas had a contingency plan in case the movie wasn't a success.
He wanted a follow-up one way or another, so came up with a story called Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a smaller-scale film that wouldn't have cost much to make, meaning it'd likely be greenlit even if Star Wars failed.
It was written as a novel by Alan Dean Forster, and published in 1978. Since Harrison Ford wasn't signed on for a sequel at the time of writing, Han Solo was completely left out of the story. The focus was instead on Luke and Leia, who were stranded on a jungle planet and racing against Imperial Stormtroopers to be the first to find the powerful Kaiburr crystal.
There's a whole lot of sexual tension between Luke and Leia, who even engage in a spot of mud wrestling, and both hold their own in a fight against Darth Vader, who loses an arm.
Star Wars made $775.4 million worldwide. Thank. God.