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

The fact that there were redeemable characteristics in the prequels only makes it worse.

They were terrible. Even forgetting the older three movies they were just bad. yuck, awful.

poop.

They should have at least kept Darth Maul alive so he could reappear later. But NO, bam he is dead. gone.

Nerd rage to warp speed!!!
 
I dunno, I liked them. 2 and 3 have some really bad editing on the lightsaber scenes with too many quick cuts and massive closeups but they do have good points. They're not my favorite movies and they're quite different from episodes 4-6 but taken by themselves they're ok. I definitely like them more than the Mission Impossible franchise.

I think most people put the original Star Wars movies on a pedestal and venerated them for so long that they've forgotten that they had flaws. Nothing can match up to that remembered perfection that never existed. Sure, there are some issues I have with the newer 3 movies, but they're not the worst movies I've seen, or even really close to it.
 
Quix said:
I dunno, I liked them. 2 and 3 have some really bad editing on the lightsaber scenes with too many quick cuts and massive closeups but they do have good points. They're not my favorite movies and they're quite different from episodes 4-6 but taken by themselves they're ok. I definitely like them more than the Mission Impossible franchise.
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That's true. I'd definitely take the Star Wars prequel trilogy over the Mission: Impossible movies. Although the first Mission: Impossible did have Emmanuelle Beart - what a fox she is.
 
SeymourGore said:
That's true. I'd definitely take the Star Wars prequel trilogy over the Mission: Impossible movies. Although the first Mission: Impossible did have Emmanuelle Beart - what a fox she is.
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I'll take the Mission Impossible movies with JJ involved over the prequels. The last one wasn't quite as good as the first 2, but definitely more enjoyable than the prequels, but again, with proper editing, the prequels might have been in the ballpark for me.
 
I really like all of star wars and have for years. Having just watched all 6 in preparation.. I like episodes 1, 2, 3, more than 4, 5, 6. And worst of all.. I like them in this order. 3, 2, 1. With episode 3 being my favorite of them all..general grievous is my favorite character and his battle with obi-wan is the absolute best.. ending with the death of my favorite character. I'm glad Anakin turned and filled the void general grievous left.. serves obi-wan right for killing grievous.
 
HardUp4HardWare said:
They should have at least kept Darth Maul alive so he could reappear later. But NO, bam he is dead. gone.

Nerd rage to warp speed!!!
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Darth Maul didn't die, and still hasn't been officially declared dead.

According to the Clone Wars TV show declared canon by Lucas and Disney, Maul stayed alive at least another 12 years through sheer force of will and dark side magic. His lower body was remade with cybernetic parts. He was eventually found by his brother and they went on a short reign of terror before getting their asses kicked by Obi-wan and then later by Palpatine himself who killed his brother and imprisoned him. I'm guessing there are comics and books that described what happened after this, but he still isn't declared dead.

What's so sad is that the Clone Wars animated movie, Clone Wars TV show (100+ eps), and now Star Wars Rebels on Disney are lightyears ahead of all 3 of the prequel movies in writing and acting. Fortunately, they also fill in all the plot holes of the prequels with very little attention given to Jar Jar.
 
The prequels just had so few memorable scenes (I mean 'good' memorable). Even the big fancy explodey stuff just trailed off my memory so fast. It's bad enough I really can't remember much about the pod race, or the end of TPM, but the second and third movie are just one big blur of "there was a thing on a rooftop in rain.. with Boba Fett I think?" Which movie that was in, I don't really remember.

One thing I do remember clearly, I remember in the theater watching TPM, when they rolled out C3PO I was like "oh jeez.. *facepalm*"
 
SuperSubZero said:
The prequels just had so few memorable scenes (I mean 'good' memorable). Even the big fancy explodey stuff just trailed off my memory so fast. It's bad enough I really can't remember much about the pod race, or the end of TPM, but the second and third movie are just one big blur of "there was a thing on a rooftop in rain.. with Boba Fett I think?" Which movie that was in, I don't really remember.

One thing I do remember clearly, I remember in the theater watching TPM, when they rolled out C3PO I was like "oh jeez.. *facepalm*"
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The only things that stand out to me as jaw dropping amazing happened in Ep. 3.
1. The first 30 seconds of the battle of Coruscant. No acting, no dialogue. For that 30 seconds I was in absolute awe as you watched the two starfighters zip around massive starships to get a sense of scale and the insane amount of detail put into them and then you almost cream yourself with nerdgasm as the two tiny starfighters make a turn and you see hundreds of massive starships blasting each other. Then Anakin opens his mouth and the rest of the movie shits the bed until...
2. Final battle between Obi-wan and Anakin with the duel of fates music. Once they stop bitching at each other like little girls and the actual fight starts, it was pretty damn cool. But then the buzzkill ending with a 1/2 second blur of Anakin getting his limbs chopped off ruined it.
 
Yea the opening scene of 3 is so awesome.. I can look past bad acting. If ur watching star wars for acting you are doing it wrong :)
 
farscapesg1 said:
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?
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Unless I'm mistaken, your experiences may not be relevant to the fictional experiences of potentially the most powerful Sith, who was right hand to the Emperor of an entire galaxy.

If you're an incredibly powerful space wizard who controls billions of lives and immense responsibility, I'm sorry to offend.

Picturing Vader crying himself to sleep listening to The Cure is entertaining, though.
 
What a pathetic way for a site to get clicks. Any movie watcher can see they are objectively bad movies.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Darth Maul didn't die, and still hasn't been officially declared dead.

According to the Clone Wars TV show declared canon by Lucas and Disney, Maul stayed alive at least another 12 years through sheer force of will and dark side magic. His lower body was remade with cybernetic parts. He was eventually found by his brother and they went on a short reign of terror before getting their asses kicked by Obi-wan and then later by Palpatine himself who killed his brother and imprisoned him. I'm guessing there are comics and books that described what happened after this, but he still isn't declared dead.
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That sounds retarded. Dude got chopped in half, falls down a hole to China, and somehow survives? How'd he breathe with his torso chopped in half? Vader needed a ventilator even with an intact diaphragm.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
That sounds retarded. Dude got chopped in half, falls down a hole to China, and somehow survives? How'd he breathe with his torso chopped in half? Vader needed a ventilator even with an intact diaphragm.
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I kind of agree, that should have been a killing blow.
If you watch the clip again, he is cut at the waist line, not diaphragm. A lightsaber would have immediately burnt the wound shut so he didn't bleed out. At this point any normal person would immediately be dead...but this is Star Wars. Combine that with dark side powers he would have been able to keep himself alive. If you recall, even Palpatine knew of dark side powers that could keep someone alive which he used to trick Anakin, and Maul was Palpatine's apprentice. There are also several non-canon references in video games, books, and comics of how dark lords could extend their lifespans by leeching off the life force of others.

Yes, I agree it's kind of stupid to be able to just drop random stuff like this into the lore to make something happen. But Star Wars is full of that stuff. If they can locate Anakin/Luke's lost lightsaber from Bespin in Empire Strikes Back to show up in a trailer for Episode 7...then surely it isn't too much of a stretch for Star Wars lore for Maul to survive getting cut in half.;)
 
DeathFromBelow said:
That sounds retarded. Dude got chopped in half, falls down a hole to China, and somehow survives? How'd he breathe with his torso chopped in half? Vader needed a ventilator even with an intact diaphragm.
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The Force works in mysterious ways.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
That sounds retarded. Dude got chopped in half, falls down a hole to China, and somehow survives? How'd he breathe with his torso chopped in half? Vader needed a ventilator even with an intact diaphragm.
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Anakin was human. Maul was...I don't know what he was, but he may be more resilient than a human.
 
My future dream for this product.

Luke and Rey save Kylo, Leia is the new emperor, kills Luke and turns Rey to the dark side. Kylo will reform the Knights of Ren to hunt her down and save Rey. Lando will return to take back the Falcon since it was his originally and fly it as the lead ship to destroy what ever plot device they put in place for the last movie.
 
I didn't know where to put this. I do like 2 and 3, especially 3, but the below is hilarious.

Natalie Portman, just gorgeous.

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Holy Necro Batman!

1.) Yes she was attractive

2.) Yes, John Williams is still a great composer, and his work for these films was still very good.

3.) The CGI just looked so plastic compared to the models of the originals.

4.) And the writing kind of sucked.

4.a) A large part of the appeal of the original star wars was the ancientness and mystery associated with the Force, and they pooped all over that (midichlorians, lol).

4.b) Wunderkind Anakin able to do anything was too much in Episode 1. Here is a goddamn 6 year old able to show up expert adults in their own fields. Yeah, I know, force and all that but still. It was way too much.

4.c) Teen angst Anakin was just too goddamn whiny and annoying in Episode 2.

4.d) Jar Jar Binks

The three original films featured a somewhat subtle writing style. They allowed the viewer to come to their own conclusions on things, and while the Force was this thing that helped Luke, it felt like this ethereal thing he had to learn to grasp and take advantage of, whereas the prequels were a blunt instrument, no subtlety at all, and the Force was just an instant get out of jail free card, having a child do things like instantly beating armies.

I'll fully admit that since the original films were ones I was first exposed to as a child, it was going to be pretty difficult for the prequels to ever live up to my memory of them. No matter what they did I was likely going to be disappointed. But they didn't have to shit all over the franchise and try to turn it into a cheapened cash grab.

I was excited to see the prequels when they first came out. I saw Episode 1 on or near launch day in the theaters (can't remember exactly) and walked away thoroughly disappointed. By the time the second one came out I was already disillusioned. I wound up waiting until the DVD was released and then just pirating it in my dorm room, and it disappointed me even more. I then actually didn't even see the third one when it was released. It wasn't until something like a decade later, right before the sequels were about to come out, I even bothered watching it for good measure. I hated it less than the first two. I don't know if it was because of the passage of time, or because my expectations were through the floor, or because it was actually better than the first two, but I didn't hate it as much.
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
I'll fully admit that since the original films were ones I was first exposed to as a child, it was going to be pretty difficult for the prequels to ever live up to my memory of them. No matter what they did I was likely going to be disappointed. But they didn't have to shit all over the franchise and try to turn it into a cheapened cash grab.
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I saw the star wars movies very recently (after getting a smart TV in 2024 & slowly running out of stuff to watch)

I watched the prequels first, then the original 3 finally the last 3 rubbish

the first 6 movies as a whole had a consistent theme/idea. I would classify it as a new religion of the modern world

the last 3: a purely cynical cash grab by means of Franchise exploitation.
 
Marees said:
I saw the star wars movies very recently (after getting a smart TV in 2024 & slowly running out of stuff to watch)

I watched the prequels first, then the original 3 finally the last 3 rubbish

the first 6 movies as a whole had a consistent theme/idea. I would classify it as a new religion of the modern world

the last 3: a purely cynical cash grab by means of Franchise exploitation.
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This. We all need to put aside our feelings for the prequels and demand a proper sequel trilogy. 😂

Portman was worth ignoring jar jar for. At least they gave him appropriately small roles in the second two.
 
Marees said:
I saw the star wars movies very recently (after getting a smart TV in 2024 & slowly running out of stuff to watch)

I watched the prequels first, then the original 3 finally the last 3 rubbish

the first 6 movies as a whole had a consistent theme/idea. I would classify it as a new religion of the modern world

the last 3: a purely cynical cash grab by means of Franchise exploitation.
Click to expand...

Eh. I felt all 3 trilogies had different consistency amongst them. They were all made at different times, with different cultural environments, and different technological capabilities available. The viewers got older and older and their views on even the first trilogy changed. Like all art, it is difficult to take it out of the context of the time. There were some pretty bad things in the first trilogy but most of us were kids when they came out so we didn't notice them and, now that we can see them they're coloured by the joy of our youth so we can't judge. I suspect if the first trilogy came out today it would get torn apart and you'd have just as much screaming. But, the 4-6 came out without an online audience and no facebook/instagram rants and dissections. You watched the movies and talked about them with your buddies, that was it. Today that dynamic would be very different.
 
I remember seeing more than once that many younger fans consider the prequels the best as that's what they grew up with; their fond memories overcome the sometimes over-the-top characters. I can't really fault them.

As for the newer trilogy... more than anything, it needed consistency. If either JJ Abrams or Rian Johnson directed all three it would've likely been fine; we'd either have a straightforward swashbuckling adventure (possibly without the ridiculousness of Rise of Skywalker) or a slightly subversive take on the whole saga. Instead we got wild plot changes and tone shifts that didn't satisfy either camp.

I'm very interested in Starfighter and other post-Skywalker movies and shows, as they'll hopefully learn lessons from the past and finally, finally expand beyond the core timeline. I loved Rogue One and The Mandalorian, but you can always tell that they're bounded by the Skywalker movies and virtually obliged to make references.
 
Revenge of the Sith was an excellent movie...stop the hate...Phantom Menace had its moments as well- pod race sequence, Duel of the Fates soundtrack and the absolutely bad ass Darth Maul...the choreography in the Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon vs Maul fight was masterful

the prequel trilogy is getting a lot more love as the years have passed...people are now realizing it's not as bad as people remember...it also gave birth to the excellent Clone Wars animated series and almost every live action series afterwards continued the story
 
I initially misread the title as "Sequels" and was about to start a flame war...

Glad I took a moment to breathe.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Holy Necro Batman!

1.) Yes she was attractive

2.) Yes, John Williams is still a great composer, and his work for these films was still very good.

3.) The CGI just looked so plastic compared to the models of the originals.

4.) And the writing kind of sucked.

4.a) A large part of the appeal of the original star wars was the ancientness and mystery associated with the Force, and they pooped all over that (midichlorians, lol).

4.b) Wunderkind Anakin able to do anything was too much in Episode 1. Here is a goddamn 6 year old able to show up expert adults in their own fields. Yeah, I know, force and all that but still. It was way too much.

4.c) Teen angst Anakin was just too goddamn whiny and annoying in Episode 2.

4.d) Jar Jar Binks

The three original films featured a somewhat subtle writing style. They allowed the viewer to come to their own conclusions on things, and while the Force was this thing that helped Luke, it felt like this ethereal thing he had to learn to grasp and take advantage of, whereas the prequels were a blunt instrument, no subtlety at all, and the Force was just an instant get out of jail free card, having a child do things like instantly beating armies.

I'll fully admit that since the original films were ones I was first exposed to as a child, it was going to be pretty difficult for the prequels to ever live up to my memory of them. No matter what they did I was likely going to be disappointed. But they didn't have to shit all over the franchise and try to turn it into a cheapened cash grab.

I was excited to see the prequels when they first came out. I saw Episode 1 on or near launch day in the theaters (can't remember exactly) and walked away thoroughly disappointed. By the time the second one came out I was already disillusioned. I wound up waiting until the DVD was released and then just pirating it in my dorm room, and it disappointed me even more. I then actually didn't even see the third one when it was released. It wasn't until something like a decade later, right before the sequels were about to come out, I even bothered watching it for good measure. I hated it less than the first two. I don't know if it was because of the passage of time, or because my expectations were through the floor, or because it was actually better than the first two, but I didn't hate it as much.
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If you think those movies sucked, just wait until you find out what Disney did! I saw Episode 7 on opening day since my wife's boss was a Star Wars nut and invited us out. I sat in the theatre wondering why half the movie was basically a remake of A New Hope. I recall sitting there saying to myself "please tell me there isn't some sort of death planet with a giant laser that gets taken out by a small wing of starfighters...OH COME ON!".

Suffice it to say, similar to your Episode 3 experience, I didn't bother seeing Episode 8 or 9 in the theatres. Ended up watching both on an airplane because I was curious after my Star Wars fan buddies told me how bad they were. Despite being on an airplane, I still almost walked out. Comically bad.

Episode 3 was comparatively good at least. The rest of the prequels...not so much. Rifftrax help a lot if you want to get through them.
 
Marees said:
I saw the star wars movies very recently (after getting a smart TV in 2024 & slowly running out of stuff to watch)

I watched the prequels first, then the original 3 finally the last 3 rubbish

the first 6 movies as a whole had a consistent theme/idea. I would classify it as a new religion of the modern world

the last 3: a purely cynical cash grab by means of Franchise exploitation.
Click to expand...

I read the Disney abomination didn't even have a consistent story arc by design. There wasn't any overall plan for the story for all three movies, they just added things as they went along. They appear to be a disorganized mess because that's exactly what they were.
 
HockeyJon said:
This was the biggest giveaway that they never had a plan for the story at all. Made zero sense.

Palpatine returned? How? Don't know, just run with it so the rest of the plot can happen.
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AFAIK JJ apparently had a plan during 7 and hints of it were in that movie (Rey was obviously supposed to be Skywalker) but the dude who wrote and directed Ep 8 tossed the original idea into the bin and did his own thing to "subvert expectations". Nobody told him that subverting expectations does not automatically mean good, in fact it is very risky if not planned from the start... Episode 7 was at least entertaining despite being average but Episode 8 was not only terrible but it also wrote the whole story into a corner. The original baddie was now dead so they did not know how to move on from there to finish the rest of the story bits. Somebody pulled the Palpatine Returns rabbit out of a hat out of desperation.

To this day I have not seen Ep 9 so I have no idea how bad it truly is. Ep 8 was enough to snuff out my internal Star Wars fan. Only Mandalorian managed to flame the embers somewhat but just for couple of seasons.
 
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MaZa said:
Only Mandalorian managed to flame the embers somewhat but just for couple of seasons.
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Ironically I watched the entire Mandalorian stuff before starting the star wars binge.

never liked the disney like image of star wars characters and I was looking for some 4K content for my smart TV — remembered the Mandalorian reviews; thats how I got into the Star Wars universe !!
 
MaZa said:
AFAIK JJ apparently had a plan during 7 and hints of it were in that movie (Rey was obviously supposed to be Skywalker) but the dude who wrote and directed Ep 8 tossed the original idea into the bin and did his own thing to "subvert expectations". Nobody told him that subverting expectations does not automatically mean good, in fact it is very risky if not planned from the start... Episode 7 was at least entertaining despite being average but Episode 8 was not only terrible but it also wrote the whole story into a corner. The original baddie was now dead so they did not know how to move on from there to finish the rest of the story bits. Somebody pulled the Palpatine Returns rabbit out of a hat out of desperation.

To this day I have not seen Ep 9 so I have no idea how bad it truly is. Ep 8 was enough to snuff out my internal Star Wars fan. Only Mandalorian managed to flame the embers somewhat but just for couple of seasons.
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Tossing original ideas into the bin was a theme of Disney Star Wars and is the primary reason it sucked. Hollywood's going to have to know that an existing property is popular with an existing audience FOR A REASON, and you're not going to adapt it to people who otherwise aren't watching it because they generally don't like that type of content. My wife loves any TV show that has anything to do with dating, for example (Love Is Blind, etc), and I couldn't care less. If Netflix decides to modify that show in an attempt to appeal to me, they will lose her and not gain me, because she won't like it anymore and I've never cared. This is what's going on with Star Wars, LOTR, Star Trek, etc. It's a same, really.

In any case, I left the theatre after seeing Episode 7 thoroughly disappointed. I found the characters to be very wooden and unimaginative, and the plotline was too similar to A New Hope for me to feel like I'd see anything new. I was optimistic about Disney Star Wars after watching Rogue One, because the people who made that movie clearly understood the assignment. JJ Abrams was never the right choice for a Star Wars movie, and Kathleen Kennedy was a disaster.

You're not missing anything with Episode 9. I also gave up after 8, but ended up watching 9, again on a plane, out of curiosity to see how bad it was going to get. They were obviously flailing trying to resuscitate the rotting corpse of the franchise and failed miserably at it. The "somehow Palpatine returned" thing was the chef's kiss of the entire failed operation.
 
The criticism against the prequels has aged poorly... especially considering how bad all of the crap is that Disney has put out so far Star Wars related. The prequels are great! The CGI is better than the garbage (and weird depth perception issues now that they film everything against a CGI backdrop in a small room) they pump out today...

The lightsaber battles in the prequels are exciting and fun. The pod race is still exhilarating to watch. It makes me feel like I'm there and doing it!

But then again, the three original Matrix movies will never be topped. Pure perfection there. I haven't seen any movie that is better than the Matrix. The first three Pirates of the Caribbean were also well done (and really pushed CGI forward). There's really nothing else that has stood out for me...

Movies suck now. No one has any original ideas (OK actually a lot of fans / people do, but they're not the ones pulling the ropes), and it's all about generating money rather than telling a good story with good acting. I'm tired of the worsening and backwards direction the world is heading in regarding pretty much everything. Bring back quality, pride of workmanship, and actual CARE, and things could be much better...
 
polonyc2 said:
Revenge of the Sith was an excellent movie...stop the hate...Phantom Menace had its moments as well- pod race sequence, Duel of the Fates soundtrack and the absolutely bad ass Darth Maul...the choreography in the Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon vs Maul fight was masterful

the prequel trilogy is getting a lot more love as the years have passed...people are now realizing it's not as bad as people remember...it also gave birth to the excellent Clone Wars animated series and almost every live action series afterwards continued the story
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We're thinking it's better because it is compared to what is being released today as a whole, but yeah, it was good back then too. 1-3 are solid movies... they really are.
 
earnolmartin said:
We're thinking it's better because it is compared to what is being released today as a whole, but yeah, it was good back then too. 1-3 are solid movies... they really are.
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Eh, I would not go that far. 1 is objectively bad and obviously made for kids but 2 and 3 are actually quite decent to an extent, the world building is great but they are just held back by the abhorrent dialog writing of Lucas. The novels based on the prequels (yes, I was that much of a fan) improve the writing tremendously, IMHO, and are worth a read. Attack Of The Clones novel was written by fricking R.A Salvatore of DnD books fame and I liked those a lot back in the day, still love his Dark Elf Trilogy.
 
First half of episode 7 was quite great (specially if you saw it in theater in the first couple of opening weekends in a big crowd), energetic, frantic, best of abrams.

Bringing back the old character extreme fan service brought it to an halt to me, terrible action scene to accomodate them (do not bring the Raid 1-2 crew to make your action scene if they are to involve injured 70+ years old).

The prequels were good (outside Williams incredible work) seem a bit of strong nostalgia revisionism to me, no they are not. They were a reminder that independent cinema with total director control is not automatically better than the very messy having to fight for everything compromised result that created the first one.
 
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