Why are Star Wars episodes I-III deemed so bad?

[Marowit]

I actually liked the 3rd one.

I agree with everyone who says there was entirely too much green/blue screen CGI. One of the things that was so great about the original ones was that everything looked gritty and garage-built - it gave the universe a much greater sense of realism in my opinion.

 

[tehroc]

Believe it or not the hate begins with VI - Return of the Jedi when Lucas decided to shift his target demographic to children.

 

[The Root Beer Guy]

I'll admit: I'm a prequel apologist. I just wish people would take them for what they are, rather than what they hoped them to be: corny and poorly acted, but tons of fun all the same. Kinda like the originals.

 

[Desert Tiger]

Darth Maul was introduced and was badass. Then he died.

Who pulled up the slack? Count Dooku.

Yeah.

 

[Tomster595]

They weren't bad films, they were just bad by Star Wars standards. Though personally, I really did like Ep. 3

 

[Shippy]

i think the main problem comes from the characters, the slightly campy space opera style works best when you have solid character actors, just look how they work off each other especially harrison ford he manages to make you believe in han solo, alec guinness was the image of the noble knight now weary with age and darth vader was just a symbol of power.

now who do they have? well ok i thought ewan mcgregor did a really good job of playing a young obi wan, i was unsure about him in the first film but his development through out the series really worked and apart from that christopher lee, samuel BMF jackson and perhaps Ian McDiarmid are just about the only actors you could really get behind and if you don't like the character you never really care what happens to them. the love story was poor not only due to the writing but also due to the fact you really don't feel anything for either anikin or padme

and finally... it just wasn't epic it didn't feel movie epic... it sorta felt like game cut scenes because the CGI just didn't really work look at how well weta did the battles in LOTR and then compare it to the battles in the prequels... just doesn't really work something about the model work really feels better... i think it's got a lot to do with the texture of the models

and this leads me back to one point.... the CG characters felt like they weren't there yoda wasn't in the film and you knew it... that puppet yoda was so much more real and it's the same for r2d2 and c3po


but...

the films are ok.... it's just they are in direct competition with films that are epic and are part of many people childhood so naturally there will be comparisons... and they just don't fare well when compared

 

[Mr Pantomime]

the fight scenes sucked.

Dont suppose you also think the Empire Strikes back is "the most boringest one"?

Actually that was my favourite film in the series. I really liked the battle on Hoth, the character of Lando, and the surprise of Darth Vader sitting at the table in cloud city. The whole father thing wasnt shocking as it had been deeply embedded into popular culture by the time i watched those films. I havent watched any star wars films for a while though, so they original series tends to run together a bit, especially after playing Star Wars Battlefront 2.

All I was saying was the lightsaber battles in the original series were not very impressive compared to the fight scenes with Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.Good for the time maybe, but they didnt age well compared to the rest of the film, especially th space battles and the death star.

Btw you dont need to patronize me, were all friends here.

 

[zHellas]

- Liam Neeson.
- Darth Maul.
- Podracing.

These three things are awesome. Hell, Liam Neeson alone can make anything great.

 

[Zing]

Meh, the third film is my favourite, and the other two are my least favourites. My main problem like others is Hayden Christensen and the sappy badly written love scenes with that character. Also the CGI is pretty bad in the first film. Not that there wasn't some good to the prequels, I found the Lightsaber battles to be more exciting then the originals, especially the ones with Darth Maul, who is by far the coolest Sith ever.

 

[Dorian6]

1.Shitty acting

2.a terrible villain

3.retarded heroes who seem surprised that the clearly evil Supreme Chancelor is actually a Sith Lord

4.crappy CGI

5.unbelievable dialogue

6.killing off all the ancillary characters and expecting us to care despite the fact that they had about 20 minutes of screen time collectively

7.An unwatchable romantic subplot

8. Killing off main characters with crappy excuses like "she lost the will to live"

9. Boring, predictable plot, riddled with cliches

10. Giving Boba Fett a retarded back-story

11. Casting that HORRIBLE Jake Lloyd as baby Anakin Skywalker.

12. Jar-Jar

I'm sure I forgot some, so feel free to add to my list

 

[quiet_samurai]

Becaue anything that gives fans 20 plus years to sit around and fantasize about will never live up to the epic and perfect image they touch themselves to nightly.

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

Darth Maul was introduced and was badass. Then he died.

Who pulled up the slack? Count Dooku.

Yeah.

...

Are you saying Christopher Lee isn't badass?

OT: Personally, I enjoyed watching the prequels more than the originals. For one, I found the acting from CERTAIN CHARACTERS(Mcgregor for one) to be better than any in the original, which quite honestly was either flat or heavily exaggerated. The fight scenes in the prequels were also far superior, as they should be, frankly.

Plotwise, I would say they're about the same. Pretty good on the whole but nothing spectacular.

As for the reason for the hate, Woodsey has it right.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

The acting, the directing, the writing, and the over-use of special effects as a stand-in for those three.

 

[kingcom]

the fight scenes sucked.

Dont suppose you also think the Empire Strikes back is "the most boringest one"?

Actually that was my favourite film in the series. I really liked the battle on Hoth, the character of Lando, and the surprise of Darth Vader sitting at the table in cloud city. The whole father thing wasnt shocking as it had been deeply embedded into popular culture by the time i watched those films. I havent watched any star wars films for a while though, so they original series tends to run together a bit, especially after playing Star Wars Battlefront 2.

All I was saying was the lightsaber battles in the original series were not very impressive compared to the fight scenes with Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.Good for the time maybe, but they didnt age well compared to the rest of the film, especially th space battles and the death star.

Btw you dont need to patronize me, were all friends here.

Quote from RedLetterMedia, dont worry you missed it. The lightsaber duesl are not supposed to be "fights". If you watch them they are actually mroe conversations, with the swings of the saber being outpouring of emotion or punctionation to a sentence. The new movies are chereographed to perfect precision. I feel uncomfortable in the new movies and their flashy scenes, mainly because i dont really care who wins the fights but to each his own. The old movies are not supposed to be fights is what im saying anyway.

 

[LightOfDarkness]

Because it's new, and because having some room for discussion is always nice (although some people can't figure out the difference between room for discussion and gaping plot hole)

 

[kingcom]

Stupid convoluted plots, weak characters and the fact that every scene uses a blue screen.
watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

jesus that video is 10 minutes long and there are 7 of them just watch the movie it take less time.

OT:meh they were okay probably not as bad as everyone makes them out to be, but there not as good as they should have been.

Emphasis on the 2.3 million views, potentially one of the best review series ive ever seen.

obviously not, since it's tl;dw

The Escapist, i give you the pinnicle of human evolution.

 

[katsumoto03]

The Phantom Menace had Liam Neeson and Darth Maul. Episode 2 was just atrocious and Episode 3 felt like it was trying too hard.

 

[FlameUnquenchable]

I thought about responding to this thread in detail, but it would be a long rant. Lots of people have summed up some of my problems with the prequels so I'll let those stand in place of my proposed responses.

Suffice to say, the Prequels had problems, major problems, and while the Originals weren't free of their own problems, they flowed much better and the story made sense.

I will expound on one thing though, people always say that there was some unrealistic expectation of what these prequels were supposed to be, I call that bogus. The Originals built up the story of a powerful Jedi who turned to the Dark side and hunted down and killed all of the Jedi. They made us believe that Vader was evil, and powerful and unmerciful. They gave us a sense of doom when he was near, and the only thing that could save him, was love for his own son. The Prequels were supposed to be about 'that' guy, and they weren't.

Anyway, I think the prequels fell short. I went in with the expectation of getting Star Wars movies, and I watched them and enjoyed them some. What I didn't get however was good Star Wars (which I think is a reasonable expectation since Lucas had 20 odd years to prepare and refine his story), and the more I compared them to the Originals, the worse they became.

Not because I'm nostalgic and only want to live in the past, but because I wanted Lucas to add something to the story, and these really didn't (other than a couple of cool planets, props to Timothy Zahn) space ships, and some neat lightsaber fights. They fell short of the epic that was the first movie, but they could have been so much more.

 

[DarKye]

I'm tempted to say Jar Jar Binks, but since his speech supporting Palpatine is basically what gave the Empire (and thus the REAL movies) momentum, I'm gonna give him a free ride and go with midichlorians instead.