Is this why people hate the Star Wars prequels?!

[Timotei]

The reason is because George Lucas basically fucked up the entire canon to Star Wars. The worst being The Force.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda explains to a an ignorant Luke that the Force is not something you manipulate, but much rather let happen.
This scene is extremely powerful because it when these words were uttered that The Force was not something bound to the silver screen, but something real. We could all use the force so long as we knew it was there, and that's what The Force so great, so long as you believed in it.

And than Lucas takes this canon and decides to give a scientific explanation that The Force is caused by the presence of microscopic organisms.

 

[Kingsman]

There are a LOT of people who realize that although it was absolutely gorgeous, Avatar was nothing but another Noble Savages Fight the Evil Advanced People story that wasn't even a very GOOD Noble Savages Fight the Evil Advanced People story (I'm one of them). James Cameron is great for advancing film technology, but shit for story most of the time.

Is that why it's so hard for me to find a review from someone who didn't give Avatar "Movie of the Year" designation completely on its graphical prowess?

Back on topic, I didn't even notice the midichlorians line until you people kept bringing it up. The things were mentioned maybe several times in the entire 1-3 trilogy, if you hadn't been so damn obsessed with canon you might've just glossed over it.

 

[Loonerinoes]

You do know what's worse than episodes 1-3, don't you?

Fanboys who get hung up on midichlorians.

Stop being such manchildren by seeing all the negatives, missing out on the good stuff of the prequels and watching the original trilogy with rose-tinted glasses. Sure, episodes 4-6 were better overall, but you know what? They weren't so good to warrant fanboys declaring jihad on the prequels.

Always did like the Expanded Universe a lot more anyway.

 

[xchurchx]

i sense that this has been a great disturbance on the escapist

 

[eljohan]

Item 1: George Lucas is a great ideas man, but a dreadful director. Of the 3 originals "A New Hope" was the lesser, whereas "Empire" & "Jedi" stood out as darker & more desperate.

Item 2: Killing off Liam Neeson, the only genuinely good actor in "Phantom" who, through sheer personality, bought credibility to some of the awful dialogue.

Item 3: Jar Jar Binks. Enough said.

Item 4: The original trilogy had subtext & characters you could relate to in one way or another, Han with his "I like you but i may leave you to die" mentality, Luke with his "I'm so vulnerable but I may as well try to be a bad ass" stoicism, & Liea being one of the first ever strong independent female leads. The new trilogy had nothing but cardboard cutout heros spouting nonsense about "Maintaining the balance" & a villain who's only real motivation was power. To what end? More power. The Emperor was a mysterious, malicious force who's motives always seemed unknowable, in the newer films he was just some senile codger with a rubber face trying to nick everyones sweets.

Item 5: CGI does not look real, no matter how much money you throw at it, further more it is harder to act against green-screen then it is on an actual set. Because of this the acting in new trilogy always felt disjointed, partly in bad casting & partly down to the CGI.

Item 6: All the bad guys in the original trilogy had English accents, which just makes for a better bad guy.

Item 7: Darth Vader's god awful "Re-Birth" in which he cries "NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
Gash

Item 8: There is no Item 8

Item 9: Hayden "plank" Cristensen's inability to deliver even the most basic of lines, but i suppose we should hold Lucas responsible for writing dialogue in which a F@#KING JEDI says "He never listens! It's not FAIR!!!"
Sort it out Lucas

Well I hope that's pissed enough of you new trilogy fans off, as to be honest, the new trilogy is, as Simon Pegg once said, "A jumped up fireworks display of a toy commercial."

Peace

 

[Kwaren]

The girl at the end looks like Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh.

Spoiler

OT: I think that comic sums up why people hate them so much.

 

[maninahat]

For me, it's more a combination of bad acting and poorly written dialogue.
If they show those prequels on TV, I will still watch them as I don't think they are THAT bad.
They are entertaining, but they lack the feel of the original movies.

Seriously, Natalie Portman CAN act, but WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED THERE?

I cringe whenever I hear her say: "Please Anakin! You are breaking my heart!" It's just so unnatural.

" I don't like sand...its rough and course. Your not like sand though. I love you."

 

[SonicWaffle]

Is this really the reason?! Are Star Wars fans really pissed off by this?! Really?! This is insignificant to me. I didn't even notice it when I watched Phantom Menace the first few times. Please help me here, I'm completely lost.

Personally, I hate the prequels for being very bad films. Badly acted, awful dialogue, crappy characters and shoddy plots. They were so up their own arses, trying to make as many in-joke references as possible. "Hey, let's put C3PO and R2 in there, those guys were popular! Hey, maybe we can turn Yoda into an action hero in stark contrast to his image in the original trilogy! Chewbacca? Why the fuck not?!"

The thing is, and this is the part the hardcore Star Wars geeks (of which I am one) really hate to hear, the original movies have aged terribly. They were fantastic at the time, and the first time I saw them I wanted nothing more than to be a Jedi, but watching the trilogy again recently I noticed all the cracks that the mind of a little kid just papered over. For example: the lightsaber duels were boring as hell; we were all so entranced by the idea of laser swords that we failed to notice that they barely move them. The Princess Bride had a swordfight, whereas Star Wars had some guys waving glowing sticks around quite slowly.

The action scenes in the prequels were far better, but by that point the hardcore fans are all 20, 30, 40, whatever years old. We'd all forgotten that Star Wars is aimed at children, and we expected the movies to have grown with us. They didn't, so people scoffed, which was very unfair to George Lucas. It's a bit ridiculous to hate a children's film for not living up to an adult's expectations, but it's perfectly acceptable to dislike them for being shitty, shitty films. Just because it's aimed at kids doesn't mean you don't have to make an effort, George.

 

[Knight Templar]

Besides Episode I, there is nothing fucking wrong with the prequels.

Oh, I think Redlettermedia would disagree.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RedLetterMedia

Wonderful videos.

 

[Jimmyjames]

IN A NUTSHELL (Or, "This Is Why the Prequels Sucked, In Order"):

Episode 1:
1. Midichlorians
2. 8-Year-old Anakin (this was the man that was a "great pilot" when Obiwan met him?)
3. Everything that should have been heroic happens by accident.
4. Darth Maul DIES (WTF- He was the cool new villian!)

Episode 2:
1. Whiny ***** Anakin.
2. Godawful, awkward "love" story.
3. A Yoda that seemingly enjoys contradicting everything he preaches.

Episode 3:
1. An Anakin that never really falls for the Dark Side, he literally has a hissy fit into it.
2. Dying of a "broken heart". Uh huh.
3. Ruining the great lightsaber duel with a bucket-ride.

All three Episodes: Squeezing characters from the classic Trilogy into the films that didn't belong there or make sense (R2, 3P0, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, etc.) Should have been Obi, Anakin, Yoda, Palpatine AT MOST. Lucas should have remembered that there is TONS of fiction out there that covers the other characters.

And... my vote for the number one thing that ruined the prequels: LOUSY DESIGN!!! While the original trilogy featured familiar landscapes redressed that we can identify with and believe, the prequels went apeshit with the most bizarre, implausible bullshit CGI-vomited, cartoony, godawful environments ever put to film. Awful. Simply horrible.

 

[confessor]

No I'm pretty sure if we forget that 2 ever, existed...wait scrap that.
It's not hate, it's just, they seemed to really make us have to...endure them rather then enjoy them.
The prequel trilogy was highly disappointing, but they're pretty much out of luck considering the sequel trilogy was worshiped and The Empire Strikes Back may as well have been a god.
They had to deal with a premise outside of the rather harrowing, intense nature of the first 3. They were political at heart and probably didn't help people to get into them.

 

[maninahat]

The reason is because George Lucas basically fucked up the entire canon to Star Wars. The worst being The Force.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda explains to a an ignorant Luke that the Force is not something you manipulate, but much rather let happen.
This scene is extremely powerful because it when these words were uttered that The Force was not something bound to the silver screen, but something real. We could all use the force so long as we knew it was there, and that's what The Force so great, so long as you believed in it.

And than Lucas takes this canon and decides to give a scientific explanation that The Force is caused by the presence of microscopic organisms.

www.RedLetterMedia.com pointed out how this scene shows it wasn't the lightsabers or the fighting that made a jedi awesome. Yet in the prequel films, the jedi were wapping the lightsabers out every five seconds.The last nail in the coffin is when Yoda pulls out his own baby lightsaber, thus negating all that important shit he said about not being a great warrior, and how the force is more important than his size and strength.

 

[Jimmyjames]

The last nail in the coffin is when Yoda pulls out his own baby lightsaber, thus negating all that important shit he said about not being a great warrior, and how the force is more important than his size and strength.

/\THIS.

 

[DarkLight523]

Midichlorians were a bit of a saving grace for some fans. One side argued that the Force was something that fate arbitrarily gave to people. One side argued that it was something more biological (The Force runs strong in my family, my father has it, I have it, my sister has it... but why?).

Ultimately, each installment had something that made it stand out:
A New Hope: Best original story
The Empire Strikes Back: Best Soundtrack
Return of the Jedi: Best Space Battle (Yes, better than the new trilogy. It wasn't so much of the cluster fuck with the space battle... also, Green Leader going kamikaze was Awesome!)
The Phantom Menace: Best Villain (Darth Maul Lives! Why? Cause I say so!)
Attack of the Clones: Best Single Fight Scene (Yoda Vs. Dooku)
Revenge of the Sith:... ... uh... um... Wait! I got it! Driving in the last nail for this franchise's metaphorical coffin...

Spoiler: ...or did it?

FUCK! IT'S STILL ALIVE!

 

[Audio]

The original starwars was fine how it was. George Lucas saw the huge fanbase and milked starwars (and still does) for every penny. The prequels explained things that didnt need to and screwed things up for the originals.
/moan

 

[aithilin]

I grew up with the Originals, so the nostalgia alone dictates that they're better in my mind. But, as said before "YMMV."

The prequels weren't bad, just badly written. It was supposed to be Darth Vader's story from beginning to end, and they managed to make one of the most iconic and interesting villains in media dull. The political backdrop of the Senate takeover lost a lot of older viewers who are used to the originals' action and pace. Explaining the Force away as some biological phenomenon rather than a far-stretching, all-inclusive mysticism practically negates Han Solo's scepticism in "A New Hope" and how the Force was later built up as separate from the science.

As a story itself, compared to the original trilogy's hero-journey and mythology, the prequels are practically "Twilight." (yes, there was romance in the originals, but back seat story, never being set up as an actual driving force for the characters).

I'm ambivalent towards the prequels. If they were on TV, I wouldn't change the channel, but I wouldn't go out to buy them.

 

[Krunkcity3000]

Hayden sucks balls for 2 movies. The end. Horrible acting, especially when he's supposed to be crying. The scene in the second movie always comes to mind, "I killt dem all... like animals". Also, the battle with Obi wan was stupidly anticlimactic, Anakin: "OOOOOOOO Man, I'm so strong. I'm like infinity strong" Obi: "Naw man I got the high ground" Anaking:"But I'm stronger than that too." And Anakin gets turned into a nugget. I won't even mention my feelings on Jar Jar. Samuel Jacksons character dies in a kinda stupid way also.

 

[Leadfinger]

That comic was spot on. That being said, of course the midichlorian issue is only one factor among a veritable perfect storm of suckitude that the Star Wars prequels represent. But hey, don't take my word for it. Check out this review from Red Letter Media:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

 

[Deviluk]

I prefer the books and games to the prequels. Even some elements of the originals were worse than what was in the extended universe.

 

[seamusotorain]

I disliked the prequels for the following reasons:

? Shitty acting. Hayden Chriswhateverthecrapyournameis, I'm looking at you.

? Incoherent plot - seriously, who is the main character in Episode 1?

? Terrible script - "I don't like sand...", and the big no at the end of the third.

? One-dimensional characters - Padme is a pretty princess and...Jar Jar cocking Binks. "Me-sa Rastafarian frog!".

In short, Gerogie didn't listen to anyone's constructive criticism, making the final call on every element of the movie.

However I liked:

? Balletic lightsaber fights, though the ones in the first movies were more like the combatants were testing each other mentally, rather then seeing who can do the best backflip.

? Samuel L. Motherfuckin' Jackson.

? Yoda being kickass, rather than a semi-retarded Muppet.

[sub]Disclaimer - this is all said as a casual Star Wars admirer, not a die-hard fan.[/sub]