Star Wars Prequels (a tired perspective)

[gh0ti]

I won't bash you for liking the prequels... I like a lot of bad films too. But that's kind of the point; in the minds of most, Star Wars enthusiasts or otherwise, the prequels ARE bad films.

Hercules in New York could be your favourite film ever, but you can't dismiss the legitimate issues people have with SW I/II/III as some kind of rose-tinted fanboyism. If they didn't carry a Star Wars label at all, they'd still have been critically panned.

 

[Datalord]

I'd love to see a movie about Luke, Leia, Anakin, and Jacen fighting Yuuzhan Vong soldiers while Han and Jaina shoot it out with a worldship over Coruscant.

And Chewbacca dying? George Lucas isn't going to kill off the walking carpet. It'd destroy the poor kiddies, etc.

That said, there is way too much story in those books to fit into just three movies. Far too many characters too; they work as books, but streamlining them to movie form would just cut out too much for what was left to be a coherent narrative.

Plus, again, Chewie can't die. He's too hardcore.

What are these prequels you speak of?

There are only three Star Wars movies.

Also, only three Indiana Jones movies, only two X-Men movies, and just the one Matrix.

In my head, reality is a nicer place...

Oh no, what visible hairy alien will roar and growl unintelligibly now? Oh screw it, just get Lowbacca on screen, introducing a Jedi wookie outweighs a cherished wookie dying

Oh, and that one alien Jedi whose name i can't remember, she talks about hunting, refers to herself as "this one" instead of "i", and hisses slightly.

Heck these sequel movies would require a badass costume/special effect/cgi department, but you can't deny that they would be awesome.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Fine then.

4 and a half

They never got to finish the first season after all.

Buffy's first series was only a half-season, remember. Let's not dick about with the magic formula...

And I thought the first season was intended to finish with the bounty hunter episode?

Technically it was intended to end with The Message. The final scene when they bring out the body in the snow with the pretty music was the goodbye moment of firefly. Maybe at some time they intended Objects in Space to be the final episode, but that had to have been before they made the Message.

 

[Withall]

Hubliub: I don't know. I assume it is, but seeing as I don't really care about how people think about the prequels, it is, much to your correct observation, a weak argument. But that is because I don't put much stock in trying to mix up some cement for the broken base that is the Star Wars fandom.

Thanks for your reaction, though.

 

[Flames66]

I enjoyed the prequels and I personally think the whole midi-chlorian adds a bit of maturity and science to the series. It is science fiction after all.

 

[SonicWaffle]

I don't believe George Lucas held a gun to your head and forced you to watch. Unless he actually did, in which case I seriously misjudged the mild mannered old guy I saw on the interviews.

Somebody missed the joke...

Oh no, what visible hairy alien will roar and growl unintelligibly now? Oh screw it, just get Lowbacca on screen, introducing a Jedi wookie outweighs a cherished wookie dying

Lowbacca was a bad idea from the start. Giving him a little translator droid? Making him a Jedi? It was just a silly way of ensuring that Star Wars: The Next Generation had a fluffy pet along. He's like the dog from the Famous Five, but with force choking...

Technically it was intended to end with The Message. The final scene when they bring out the body in the snow with the pretty music was the goodbye moment of firefly. Maybe at some time they intended Objects in Space to be the final episode, but that had to have been before they made the Message.

That episode lost so much emotional impact for me after the actor appeared in Buffy and Angel. He played cool characters, and he's a good actor, but it's hard to feel bad over Tracey's death when you can put in a different DVD and watch him as a geeky scientist or a psychologist vampire. Not his fault, really, but I can still blame Joss.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

I don't hate The Phantom Menace. I find it hilarious. I hate Attack of the Clones, for the most horrendous sci-fi romance I've ever seen put on film.

 

[Cherry Cola]

snip

That episode lost emotional impact for me when he started acting like an obnoxiously drunk douchebag.

Really hard to feel sorry for a guy that annoys me to no end.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Hubliub: I don't know. I assume it is, but seeing as I don't really care about how people think about the prequels, it is, much to your correct observation, a weak argument. But that is because I don't put much stock in trying to mix up some cement for the broken base that is the Star Wars fandom.

Thanks for your reaction, though.

No problem. Hope I didn't upset you or anything, my comment was more directed at everyone than just you. Didn't want to come of as hostile, so I apologize if I did.

 

[CJ1145]

Plus 5 extra seasons of Firefly and Heath Ledger living long enough for a third Batman film.

The mind doesn't just have to be about excluding stuff.

Whose Heath Ledger? The only names I saw on the poster were Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill...

But yeah, I love the prequels. I'm rather young, and my first Star Wars movie was Episode 1, in theaters. I fucking loved it. Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi Wan, Darth Maul, BOSS NASS, hell even Jar Jar were all great fun to me. And then I was shown the Original Trilogy. I didn't go into the movies with a biased mind set and ended up loving them. Maybe I'm biased in a way, but that says to me there is a lot less to the arguments of the prequel haters than they'd like you to believe.

 

[Melancholy_Ocelot]

I - III had a chance, but just didn't work. It's the same story with all prequels. Ya, you can enjoy the ride, but there's no tension because you know how it'll end.

I just found many of the characters lacking in basic common sense, which really destroyed the immersion and empathy that I felt from the original 3.




*CASE AND POINT*

Luke shoots the controls that extend the bridge. WHOOPS, not very smart, now we have a tense shoot-out and swing across a chasm.
LESSON LEARNED Don't shoot random control panels. RESULT Luke is human and makes mistakes

Obi jumps out of a window and grabs a flying toaster sized assassin droid. WHOOPS, should have been cut to shreds, could have bounced off the window and broken his nose, toaster sized droid could have fallen to their doom. ect...
LESSON LEARNED against all logic, dumb idea pans out. RESULT Obi is in not very wise after all, his logic is brought into question.

One was a simple WHOOPS with consequences, the other was stupid and could have easily ended in death.

 

[wadark]

I don't believe George Lucas held a gun to your head and forced you to watch. Unless he actually did, in which case I seriously misjudged the mild mannered old guy I saw on the interviews.

Somebody missed the joke...

Sorry, seriousness and kidding are hard to discern from text. Apologies.

 

[snogard77]

Actually, why can't they make a movie about the new repblic? It would probably have been more interesting than the prequels, just from the story line, although it would be even better now that the prequel has been released, seeing as Darth Caedus is a direct throwback to Vader.

I'd love to see a movie about Luke, Leia, Anakin, and Jacen fighting Yuuzhan Vong soldiers while Han and Jaina shoot it out with a worldship over Coruscant.

The reason they wont ever make those is that the actors are either a) too old now for their characters, or b) some Mark Hamil have stated they wont do their roles again.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I rather enjoyed the prequels and I truly don't understand why people complain about the remastered originals.

 

[sharks9]

I loved the prequels, they had sweet lightsaber battles instead of the lame ones in the original trilogy. And the space battles were way cooler, i didn't even mind the actor for Anakin.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Plus 5 extra seasons of Firefly and Heath Ledger living long enough for a third Batman film.

The mind doesn't just have to be about excluding stuff.

Whose Heath Ledger? The only names I saw on the poster were Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill...

I have over a dozen animated films featuring Kevin and Mark. I came prepared!

John DiMaggio has even earned himself a few. He was great in the new Under the Red Hood film.

Maybe I'm biased in a way, but that says to me there is a lot less to the arguments of the prequel haters than they'd like you to believe.

It would only be biased if you hadn't heard and analyzed most arguments against the prequels, like if, say, you've heard some people say how they dislike the relationship between Anakin and Padme but never bothered with asking them what's so wrong with it or why they think so.

I'd say that if you've watched the entirety of this review as well as the one on Attack of the Clones and still think there isn't as much to the arguments as haters claim, you're pretty much in the safe zone.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

My point is that while many people seem to think it's clever to dwell on, what they consider to be the negative parts of the movie, they forget that these movies weren't meant for an aging cranky bunch farts, these movies were meant to bring the story of Star Wars to a new audience and I respect that.

As another "aging cranky fart"...allegedly...I've never felt that way about myself; there's a point you're missing.

These movies didn't bring the magic of Star Wars.

Without going over all of RedLetterMedia's astounding takedown of the prequels you can just round it down to that.

There's no magic.

There's a lot of CGI, there's a lot of explosions but there's no real "Star Wars" magic.

If you remember back to '77, munching on your Texan Bar while shuffling through the dark, sweaty arcade in front of the cinema; there was nothing like this before.

This was, quite possibly, the first Summer Blockbuster. School had just ended, you'd packed away your copy of "Guess Who" for the next end of term, and the folks were trying to get you to calm down enough so that they could sleep.

So they brought you to see this new film, because you'd quite liked Star Trek, Doctor Who and all that other silly stuff that the BBC had started showing.

The lights dimmed, someone farted and you all laughed.

And

Then The

Magic Started

From the First Shot

With the TINY Rebel Ship

Disappearing in the VAST RUMBLING,

where the entire cinema was suddenly a memory.​

That's the magic of Star Wars. That's something the prequels didn't have. You never really lost yourself in them.

Look at the first ten minutes of Star Wars IV against the first ten minutes of Star Wars I, and imagine you've drank an entire pint of coke.

Which of those are you going to risk wetting yourself for? It really isn't Phantom Menace.

No matter what people say, it's not just about the nostalgia, that's the bit where we get pissed off about the "Special Editions" that fuck up the original.

It's just devoid of magic.

 

[Phlakes]

It's not that the prequel movies are bad (excluding 2, which is just shit), it's that they're not nearly as good as the original ones. And that's what they were. Original. They were a trilogy of epic space operas with revolutionary effects. The prequels are just more of the same, but they rely on the effects to make people go "ooh sploson i liek sploson n ligtsabrs".

The post above me mentioned RedLetterMedia's reviews of the first two. Watch those.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Actually, why can't they make a movie about the new repblic? It would probably have been more interesting than the prequels, just from the story line, although it would be even better now that the prequel has been released, seeing as Darth Caedus is a direct throwback to Vader.

I'd love to see a movie about Luke, Leia, Anakin, and Jacen fighting Yuuzhan Vong soldiers while Han and Jaina shoot it out with a worldship over Coruscant.

Yes, divert any attention from the Old Republic. Leave the good series alone, damnit! <_<

OT: The prequels just didn't seem to par for me. But that's just my opinion. Your free to your own, nonetheless.