8 Filmmakers Who RUINED Their Movies By Explaining Them
8. George Lucas - The Phantom Menace
Lucasfilm
There's nothing that could possibly ruin Star Wars - not in an irredeemable fashion, and especially not the Original Trilogy - but even while the Prequels are enjoying a nice little resurgence, one thing most fans can agree on is that George Lucas dropped the ball with midi-chlorians.
The Force as it was described in A New Hope made it seem as though it was this grand, mystical, cosmic energy that some could tap into if they had faith. There was no numerical value to determine a given character's proficiency with the Force or whatever - it was just that they had belief enough to wield this power.
This theme would eventually be expanded upon in the Sequel Trilogy, but not before the Prequels had made an about turn in order to detail Anakin Skywalker's fall to the Dark Side. Things became less metaphysical and more biological, as midi-chlorians - microscopic lifeforms that reside in all creatures - now denoted a given Jedi's power.
Anakin's fall could've been handled very differently, but there were still positives to be gleaned from the Prequels overarching story. Midi-chlorians, on the other hand, serve no purpose other than to explain what didn't need explaining. Star Wars is better off without them.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.
