I think a lot of George Lucas' "genius" just comes down to laziness wrapped in 50 years of nostalgia and mystique. The best parts of Star Wars have nothing to do with him, and the worst parts of it have everything to do with him. The trench run in Star Wars wasn't simply "inspired" by Dam Busters, it was practically lifted scene for scene. Most of the action sequences in Star Wars are the same.
Anyone else would be denounced as a hack and a plagiarist but because George Lucas is a master at tweaking people's member-berries he gets away with calling it "homage."
Exactly. It's kind of amazing, actually. Imagine writing music where you lifted riffs from The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, and a dozen other famous rock bands, but just changed the key. You'd get sued into oblivion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_(song)#Lawsuit).
This might also explain why, when more than a generation removed from his target audience, his work started to suffer.
Anyone else would be denounced as a hack and a plagiarist but because George Lucas is a master at tweaking people's member-berries he gets away with calling it "homage."