What Ruined the Star Wars Prequels? (If you didn't like them?)

[babinro]

I'd actually put Episode 1 up with the quality of the original trilogy...or rather with Return of the Jedi.

Over the top CG really hurts the movies as it does so many other flicks like Transformers. The movies focus more on delivering a fun combat sequence than making us care about the events or the characters.

The movies try way to hard to be comedic be it through the obvious relief character Jar-Jar, and all the droids. Movies shouldn't have 28 comic relief characters and this really took away from the immersion factor.

The romance had excellent potential given the forbidden love and doomed destiny storylines. Unfortunately, bad writing, corny acting and poor execution completely destroyed what could have been a meaningful build up throughout the prequels.

 

[GoGrapefruit]

Redlettermedia has said everything that can be said on why the Star Wars Prequels sucked

 

[The Night Shade]

George Lucas

Why? most of the ideas that George lucas had for the first 3 movies were rejected he help most with other people's ideas so when he gets total control in the director's chair he didn't do a good job, he gets to much credit for the original trilogy which is a shame because a lot of great people that worked on those movies are a lot better than lucas

 

[Ashendarei]

Jar Jar Binks, and the HORRIBLE acting of the Anikin Skywalker character, from kiddy status to Vader.

 

[NathLines]

Just Anakin. I really don't mind anything else. I don't mind that he had a love interest, but to make him slaughter children/blame Obi-Wan for Padme's "betrayal" was just bad writing.

I still like the prequels.

 

[Something Amyss]

Bad writing and bad acting. CG is fine, Jar-Jar wasn't a problem, the big fight scenes were cool, but Star Wars was well-written and well-acted. not always the most serious thing....But still, well-written within the genre

 

[repeating integers]

This character came from the Clone Wars TV series, right? So they wrote him in the film as if everyone has already seen the clone wars and knows who general grievous is. But that is just such a huge flaw in the writing, it frustrated me that they had this cool villain and just wasted him because old Jorje can't write for crap.

Except the movie came before the series, and the series assumed everybody knew who he was because they had seen the movie. He's sort of obnoxious so I'll admit to not paying too much attention to him, but I still have no idea what his backstory is.

I'm pretty sure the traditionally-animated TV series came before the third prequel, actually. Grievous was so much more badass in that.

 

[Shinclone]

George Lucas. His writing and direction is horrendous, i think it was Liam Neeson who bashed him in the press saying his directing method was "Faster, more intense." With the original three all Lucas did was provide the story, other people wrote the scripts and directed them. With the prequels Lucas was just surrounded by yes men who did nothing more than cradle his balls and say "Yes Mr Lucas, Jar Jar Binks is an excellent idea." Or, "This dialogue between Padme and Anakin, the 'I love you more than a loving river of love' is just.... oh Shakespeare wishes he'd come up with that for Romeo And Juliet." George Fucking Lucas ruined Star wars and will continue to do so until he dies.

 

[TheBelgianGuy]

The whiny fanboys who simply can't shut up about how much the prequels raped their childhood.

Look, we get it. You didn't like the prequels. Fair enough. Not everyone is going to have the same tastes after all.

But for the love of God, can you please stop going on and on about it? It's not funny anymore. It's kind of pathetic. The movies are nearly ten years old now, and people still haven't gotten over it. It's like talking to that guy you know who likes to spend every conversation telling you he still doesn't give a shit about that ex-girlfriend who broke his heart back in high school.

You're making the rest of us in the science-fiction community look bad. For the first time in history, science-fiction has moved away from being a stigmatised, heavily lampooned niche genre, and somehow managed to get honest-to-god mainstream appeal. I no longer have to hide my collection of SF books as if they're some sort of banned filth, and can actually share my favourites with even the most ardent non-geeks among my friends. Critics, journalists and commentators are starting to give real praise to works of science fiction for their prescience about the way the world around us has evolved. Pretty much every mainstream blockbuster film is either a work of science fiction, or a fantasy/comic book movie. Us sci-fi nerds have finally arrived, and we've taken over the entire entertainment industry.

And you guys are shitting all over that! You're making the entire science fiction community seem like a bunch of whiny, spoiled, entitled five year old brats. You had one bad run with a series of films a decade ago, and you're determined to shout and scream about it until your lungs give out.

Newsflash: some of us actually like the prequel films. Some of us managed to look past their flaws and enjoy them for the no-nonsense entertainment they provided. Some of us have accepted that Star Wars, old or new, was never in the same league of science fiction as the works of Dick, Clarke or Asimov. The original Star Wars films were simplistic morality tales with dodgy acting and craterous plot-holes, but they provided good popcorn entertainment. Why is it so impossible to treat the prequels as such?

All the incessant bitching achieves is giving others the impression that the science-fiction community would rather spend time berating and moaning about one perceived failure, rather than celebrating and enjoying the incredible stuff the genre has to offer, both classic and new. This is the millionth 'SW preuquels r teh crap!1' thread I've seen. I can't remember the last time I saw a thread about 'Moon', or '2001: A Space Odyssey', or 'Blade Runner', or 'Primer'. There is so much on offer within the genre, and if people spent more time celebrating that than bitching about the prequels, science-fiction as a whole would be better for it.

Welcome to the Escapist, the home of band-wagon kids who say they hate something to act cool to the other kids on the playground/forum.

Yeah I liked the prequels. I also liked Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I also think George Lucas owns his property, unlike all these "fanboys" (they call themselves fans, they're also the biggest haters in the franchise) who somehow think they were handed the rights of the IP when they bought a movieticket (or downloaded it online, more likely).

 

[quantumsoul]

It was those stupid droid soldiers. There is no way you can take Star Wars seriously after that. Why would anyone program robot soldiers to be cowardly. Last time I check fear was a detriment to a soldier. Oh that stupid voice they had too.

Seriously, Star Wars' target audience was small children. The movies only existed to sell toys. Lucas sucks. Despite my complaints there's still a lot I enjoyed about the movies.

 

[WanderingFool]

Well, I liked the first prequel, to be honest. The other two just went kinda "meh". I think what really killed it was the Jedi. In the originals, the Jedi were mythic fighters, and the only real reqiurement to being one was to believe in the force. With the new three, that changed into people being destined with becoming Jedi based on genetics. Aditionally, in the orginials they never painted the Jedi as this "holier than art thou" kind of group.

Thats what killed the originals for me.

 

[Darkasassin96]

The first thing wrong with this post is that your assuming that the original trilogy was written first. Wrongo. All nine movies were written in chronological order. Thats right NINE. theres still three more movies after the original trilogy. Why they decided to do it in a choppy order like that I dont know. So get yoru facts straight before you start complaining about the prequals being written for a yournger audience.

 

[agent_orange420]

George Lucas directed it.

Also, a lack of Han Solo or a Han Solo like character.

hit the nail on the head there, every (main) character is either jedi, soldier, politician. There is no-one to appear as a normal joe. i really wish they had done the trilogy after return of the jedi, those books kicked ass.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

I think what killed the prequels was Anakin. we grew up thinking of Vader as a symbol of evil. The worst of the worst and yet in the end he sacrifices himself to save his son. Vader was an incredibaly powerful character and to see him reduced to a tantrum throwing teenager is just sort of a disapointment. I originally thought Vader was a good man that was corrupted by evil but really all the Prequels taught me was that he was a selfish brat. He spends the movies lying to people, keeping secrets, breaking rules, back stabbing, snitching, and when anyone calls him on it he rages out on them. going so far as to "beat" his pregnant wife. These are not the actions of a good man.

After seeing the prequels i don't belive that Vader would have saved Luke. He'd have walk away while the emperor was frying Luke, picked up his saber, or a gun and took off the the emperor's head. With Luke and Sidious dead he'd rule the galaxy by himself like he always wanted.

 

[VoidWanderer]

For me it was the way Lucas portrayed Anakin's 'Rise and Fall'.

As the person whose life the movies literally revolved around, not a whole lot is explained in a way that seems to fit.

 

[Evil Alpaca]

The plot did it in for me. It always felt like the films took the approach of "If you're in the theater, you're a Star Wars fan and we don't need to tell you whats going on." Since I haven't seen the originals in years, I kept feeling like I was supposed to have watched the first trilogy before going into the theater.