Why I Love The “Star Wars” Prequels (And You Should, Too)

Megalith

Megalith

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I hope the author wrote this under a pseudonym; that’s a bold thing to admit. But really, the prequels weren’t a complete loss, as they did give us another batch of excellent soundtracks by John Williams.

The prequels tell a different kind of story than the original trilogy told, which was jarring for many fans. Instead of a hero’s journey to victory, they depict a hero’s fall from grace, a tragedy that is harder to bring to life onscreen. Coupled with the fact that Lucas -- with significantly improved technology behind him this time around-- chose a different visual style, the first three episodes of the series often feel as if they are part of a different universe.
 
The problem with the prequels was largely one of editing. Go ahead and grab Clones and skip every scene between Anakin and Amadela (sp) (it's roughly every other scene) isn't so bad. I've heard the same is true with The Phantom Edit, but I've never seen it.

TPM also had some writing issues. Anakin basically saved the day in the last act purely by chance. He made some mistakes that happened to cause the ship to fire a laser that accidentally shot the thing that kept a shield running (or something like that).

And of course the aforementioned Clone scenes featured a lot of horrendous dialog. We just didn't need that much screen time dedicated to them falling in love. We got that from Lea and Han in much less time. Lucas just needed to work with someone that said, "We could cut that and lets change this dialog a bit"
 
nilepez said:
The problem with the prequels was largely one of editing. Go ahead and grab Clones and skip every scene between Anakin and Amadela (sp) (it's roughly every other scene) isn't so bad. I've heard the same is true with The Phantom Edit, but I've never seen it.

TPM also had some writing issues. Anakin basically saved the day in the last act purely by chance. He made some mistakes that happened to cause the ship to fire a laser that accidentally shot the thing that kept a shield running (or something like that).

And of course the aforementioned Clone scenes featured a lot of horrendous dialog. We just didn't need that much screen time dedicated to them falling in love. We got that from Lea and Han in much less time. Lucas just needed to work with someone that said, "We could cut that and lets change this dialog a bit"
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I think it goes beyond just editing, a lot of the script and acting was fairly bad.

The love scenes as you mentioned were bad, but so were Anakin's "fall"... How he goes from Jedi General/Hero to kid slaughtering evil pawn is beyond me. ok I know how, I just don't buy it given the scenes etc

The story imo had a LOT of promise but was just poorly executed almost entirely across the board.
 
The storyline was terrible, the acting was TERRIBLE, I mean Anakin (Both actors that played him ) were NOT in any way good actors, they were sooooooo wooden, had 0 emotion (even when the scene called for it).

Then you have the TERRIBLE CGI over-use. The prequels look sooooooooo outdated now, so many things that they could have done with good animatronics/puppetry/make-up and Lucas was just like "CGI EVERYTHING!!!!1"

Throw in characters like Jar Jar and all of that together makes for a very very sub-par series that isn't even CLOSE to the original Star Wars trilogy.

The only decent things about them were Darth Maul and the fight scenes.

Once the late 90's hit Lucas just lost it with the CGI and things. He hasn't made anything decent since Indiana Jones: TLC.
 
I don't think anyone could have acted the writing the Anakins were given to perform. Add the Gungans to the mix and you have a terrible movie that only kids in the single digits of age can really like.
 
Meesa no like episodes 1-3 messa like spitting bantha poodoo.
 
Personally, I was REALLY wanting to see a gradual, but predictable corruption of the cocky Skywalker. I wanted to see us root for the bad guy, I wanted to see stuck-up pompous Jedi get their own, and I wanted the movies to have us cheering for the bad guy.

Instead we got Mr. bland do a moral 180 and go from 'whiny bitch' to 'tryhard emo' in 5 seconds with the most ridiculously reaching plot devices.
 
Catalan said:
Sigh. I need to stop watching that entire review every time someone links to it or I'm never going to accomplish anything with my life. :p
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What is really sad is that the reviews were way better than the movies.
 
Stiler said:
Throw in characters like Jar Jar and all of that together makes for a very very sub-par series that isn't even CLOSE to the original Star Wars trilogy.
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Krenum said:
Meesa no like episodes 1-3 messa like spitting bantha poodoo.
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You see, this movie was so bad, that Lucas was given no appreciation for making one of the first main characters in a live action that was fully CGI (maybe the first, I can't think of one before this off the top of my head).

Instead that distinction would generally be given to Lord of The Rings two years later simply because Golem was a more appreciable character.

Jar Jar was ground breaking from a technology point of view. It was his other ground breaking characteristics that stuck though.
 
westrock2000 said:
Jar Jar was ground breaking from a technology point of view. It was his other ground breaking characteristics that stuck though.
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Wrong, SO Wrong..... I know its opinion... but oh my wrong.

Jar Jar was by NO means realistic or believable, his animations were over-the-top and hard to follow, the surface of his skin looked like a greasy, metallic rubber, also completely unbelievable, as well as he had a constant lack of environmental consistency insofar that his self-shading was WAY too dark and he looked like a green-screen effect.

There is a reason why Gollum was so celebrated.
 
KazeoHin said:
Personally, I was REALLY wanting to see a gradual, but predictable corruption of the cocky Skywalker. I wanted to see us root for the bad guy, I wanted to see stuck-up pompous Jedi get their own, and I wanted the movies to have us cheering for the bad guy.

Instead we got Mr. bland do a moral 180 and go from 'whiny bitch' to 'tryhard emo' in 5 seconds with the most ridiculously reaching plot devices.
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Darth Vader was a bad ass motherfucker. Just evil and a guy you wouldn't want to cross. Willing to kill his own son if he didn't turn to the dark side.

After the prequels? He's a winey little slave bitch. He's not a bad ass, he's not a evil guy. He's just a little bitch.
 
Heretic! The stories are borderline moronic compared to the originals and could have been improved simply by not having George Lucas involved.

The prequels aren't completely devoid of entertainment value. Each had really epic scenes and sound that worked great on the large movie screen and sound system. Because of that, I really don't care to watch any of those at home.
 
I don't get it, I loved the prequels. In the first 3 a jedi could move a rock or crate or something if he concentrated really hard and had 5 minutes to spare. In the prequels they're virtually superheros! The light saber duels were light years better, the special effects were better and the stories were as good as the first 3. I never have understood all the hate for the prequels. Yeah Jar jar sucked big time and there were a ton of plot holes but the first 3 had quite a few as well.

The first 3 will always be special because I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's when they were at their height of popularity and I spent most of my youth playing Star Wars in some form or fashion. However the prequels were great as well and while maybe not as iconic, were still very good.
 
If you take out anything to do with boy-band skywalker and the existence of naboo, take out 80% of the nonsense, then yeah, it was a good movie.
 
So, we're gearing up the family for the new Star Wars over Christmas (inlaws coming down and it will be a whole family viewing experience). With that said, we are getting the kids to watch the original trilogy. After watching Episode 4 with them, I have to say that the dialog, by today's standards, is pretty atrocious. Granted, I haven't watched he originals in over 10 years (yeah.. I'm just not one of the those people that re-watch things).

I know a lot people bash the lightsaber duels in the new ones, but bleh, that battle between Obi Wan and Darth.. even my kids were asking why they were just standing around, and I'm not talking about the Obi's death, but the whole battle.

I think a lot of people who bash the Ep 1-3 so much have some nostalgic memories of the originals that they just keep hanging onto. That's not to say they were great or anything, and I'll agree with anyone who things Jar Jar needs to die by being burned alive, or cut to pieces one at a time, starting with his tongue.
 
It like Pizza, the best is what you grew up with. the difference though is the target audience for 4,5, & 6 was 15-25 back in the 70's timeframe. Seems tame now.
The target audience for 1 & 2 is 5-15. #3 is an oddball, they went back to an older target to fix things but the whole thing was too crammed with catchup meant to finalize the arc and have the arc itself serve its purpose because of the wasted silly moments of 1 & 2.
 
jpm100 said:
It like Pizza, the best is what you grew up with. the difference though is the target audience for 4,5, & 6 was 15-25 back in the 70's timeframe. Seems tame now.
The target audience for 1 & 2 is 5-15. #3 is an oddball, they went back to an older target to fix things but the whole thing was too crammed with catchup meant to finalize the arc and have the arc itself serve its purpose because of the wasted silly moments of 1 & 2.
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Except two things for 1&2.

1) The plot was completely incomprehensible to the supposed target demographic.
2) The target demographic has no disposable income.

No, 1&2 were just pieces of crap. There is no ifs ands or buts. They are bad movies. They are badly conceptualized, they are badly written, they are badly cast, they are badly filmed, they are badly directed. This happens to all long running movie franchises at some point. The only thing different is George Lucas had originally fooled people into thinking he was good at helming a franchise so these got made. Thankfully he is no longer involved.
 
I'm just glad Lucas decided to make a prequel trilogy instead of a successor to the original trilogy. Could you imagine what kind of Star Wars future we would've had if Han Solo and Chewie were helping out a Jar Jar type character with a civil war?
 
Can you imagine if George Lucas decided to replace Chewbaka with CGI? You KNOW he would have...
 
I completely fell in love with Coruscant in these episodes. Pretty much the main reason I like 1-3. The idea of a city-wide planet on a scale shown in the movies was mind-boggling when I first saw it. I'd love to love on a planet like Coruscant.
 
As I've said a million times before, the book authors were by and large very good and wrote a lot of dialog that was completely true to the style, fun and fiction of the original movies.

What disturbs me more than the prequels, is what they are about to do with the new movies. They will stab forward into territory that official books already covered. They needed to just start with the first set of books, or Truce at Bakura, or something, and make a screenplay out of it and GO FROM THERE. The books are low enough reading level that they should translate directly to screenplay fairly easily.

But no, we now have to risk having the established story from AFTER the movies ruined by a new timeline being made. It really can't end any other way than tears for fans.

A little geeky of me? Perhaps. But sometimes you really have to leave classics alone.
 
Why is he trying to tell me what should I love?
The prequels weren't all bad, but completely forgettable experiences. I had no urge to re-watch any of them since I first saw them, ever.

I don't hate them, but I don't love them either.
 
Megalith said:

The prequels tell a different kind of story than the original trilogy told, which was jarring for many fans. Instead of a hero’s journey to victory, they depict a hero’s fall from grace, a tragedy that is harder to bring to life onscreen.
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No, the prequels show us that Darth Vader, the most feared entity in the galaxy, more feared than the Emperor himself, was really nothing but a whiny emo kid.
 
FM 3370 said:
I completely fell in love with Coruscant in these episodes. Pretty much the main reason I like 1-3. The idea of a city-wide planet on a scale shown in the movies was mind-boggling when I first saw it. I'd love to love on a planet like Coruscant.
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The whole prequel trilogy was basically a big tech demo for Industrial Light and Magic. They certainly pushed the limits of what was possible with CGI at the time, but it hasn't really aged well. Good CGI with no plot and forgettable characters doesn't make for much of a movie. Coruscant itself ended up being kinda boring and unchanging through the films... even after the battle. I got tired of all the boring scenes of people sitting/standing and talking in obvious-CGI rooms.
 
jardows said:
No, the prequels show us that Darth Vader, the most feared entity in the galaxy, more feared than the Emperor himself, was really nothing but a whiny emo kid.
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God this gets old. Yes.. at that point in his life. I'm turning 40 next year.. and I was a completely different type of person when I was 16. That's the nature of getting older, you mature and your outlook on life changes.

The Darth Vader that everyone knows from the 1st trilogy is what, 16-20 years older than the last scene we have of the "whiny emo kid"? That is plenty of time to take that whiny, emo attitude and cultivate a calculated, terrifying personality bent on the destruction of all that is good.

I'm sorry, but how many of you can say that your viewpoints, outlook on life and society, and a multitude of other things haven't changed over the last 15-20 years? Are you still the "happy go lucky" person you were? The self-centered know-it-all most teenagers are?
 
farscapesg1 said:
I'm sorry, but how many of you can say that your viewpoints, outlook on life and society, and a multitude of other things haven't changed over the last 15-20 years? Are you still the "happy go lucky" person you were? The self-centered know-it-all most teenagers are?
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According to my wife's family, yes. :cool:
 
I absolutely hated The Phantom Menace. It completely lacked the depth of the original films, screamed sellout, and child-Anakin was annoying as hell. Not to mention Jar-Jar...

Attack of the Clones was better, but I still felt it lacking in depth compared to the original films. A few things bothered me a lot. The turning of the mysticism of the force into some sort of science with blood tests, and the fact that Anakin was so intolerably whiny that he annoyed the hell out of me.


The truth is, these two films ruined star wars for me. I loved the original Star Wars. I grew up with them, thought they were amazing, I used to play X-Wing and Tie Fighter all the time in the DOS days. The Star Tours ride at Disney World was my favorite ride. I was a HUGE Star Wars fan. I saw the first two prequels and then I became completely turned off from Star Wars. I never saw Revenge of the Sith as a result. I had kind of planned on it at some point when I got around to it, but 10 years have gone by and there was always something more interesting to do with 2+ hours of my life.

I also have stayed away from the Battlefront games. Again, other things have been more interesting to me, and I just couldn't be bothered after having it ruined for me,.

Chances are I won't see The Force Awakens, or any of the following films either.

"The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones" just completely ruined the Star Wars universe for me, and I doubt anything can pull me back in.
 
Zarathustra[H];1042016953 said:
I absolutely hated The Phantom Menace. It completely lacked the depth of the original films, screamed sellout, and child-Anakin was annoying as hell. Not to mention Jar-Jar...

Attack of the Clones was better, but I still felt it lacking in depth compared to the original films. A few things bothered me a lot. The turning of the mysticism of the force into some sort of science with blood tests, and the fact that Anakin was so intolerably whiny that he annoyed the hell out of me.


The truth is, these two films ruined star wars for me. I loved the original Star Wars. I grew up with them, thought they were amazing, I used to play X-Wing and Tie Fighter all the time in the DOS days. The Star Tours ride at Disney World was my favorite ride. I was a HUGE Star Wars fan. I saw the first two prequels and then I became completely turned off from Star Wars. I never saw Revenge of the Sith as a result. I had kind of planned on it at some point when I got around to it, but 10 years have gone by and there was always something more interesting to do with 2+ hours of my life.

I also have stayed away from the Battlefront games. Again, other things have been more interesting to me, and I just couldn't be bothered after having it ruined for me,.

Chances are I won't see The Force Awakens, or any of the following films either.

"The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones" just completely ruined the Star Wars universe for me, and I doubt anything can pull me back in.
Click to expand...


You really missed out by skipping the old Battlefront games. They are great fun and all you have to do is ignore the parts of the franchise you don't like.
 
Zarathustra[H];1042016953 said:
I absolutely hated The Phantom Menace. It completely lacked the depth of the original films, screamed sellout, and child-Anakin was annoying as hell. Not to mention Jar-Jar...

Attack of the Clones was better, but I still felt it lacking in depth compared to the original films. A few things bothered me a lot. The turning of the mysticism of the force into some sort of science with blood tests, and the fact that Anakin was so intolerably whiny that he annoyed the hell out of me.


The truth is, these two films ruined star wars for me. I loved the original Star Wars. I grew up with them, thought they were amazing, I used to play X-Wing and Tie Fighter all the time in the DOS days. The Star Tours ride at Disney World was my favorite ride. I was a HUGE Star Wars fan. I saw the first two prequels and then I became completely turned off from Star Wars. I never saw Revenge of the Sith as a result. I had kind of planned on it at some point when I got around to it, but 10 years have gone by and there was always something more interesting to do with 2+ hours of my life.

I also have stayed away from the Battlefront games. Again, other things have been more interesting to me, and I just couldn't be bothered after having it ruined for me,.

Chances are I won't see The Force Awakens, or any of the following films either.

"The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones" just completely ruined the Star Wars universe for me, and I doubt anything can pull me back in.
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The originals were definitely better, but aside from Empire, I don't see a lot of depth, though the first 2 acts of Jedi are good. Sadly it falls apart in the last 45 minutes (just a retread of the first movie). None of this means that the prequels were good. They weren't, but I don't think it's anything that some judicious editing couldn't have fixed.
 
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