ABSTRACT
Star Wars is part of a very special club. Few movies have captivated and amazed audiences around the world like the Star Wars movies have. Even fewer movies have spurred the creation of toys, games, and literature to the extent that Star Wars has. But what is Star Wars really? Stripped down to it’s most basic parts, Star Wars is essentially just six movies that chronicle a hero’s journey in a galaxy far, far away. Hopefully, you’ve watched all six of these movies, but in case you haven’t, let me explain the situation. The first three films of this six-part galaxy were created between 1977 and 1983. The second set of three was shot and released between 1999 and 2005. While each movie was created under the supervision of the same man, George Lucas, due to various reasons the original three films and the more recent set of three films carry significant differences. These differences are so striking, in fact, that Star Wars fans have effectively separated the two sets into two categories: The original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. Furthermore, it may surprise you to learn that an alarmingly high percentage of Star Wars fans out there believe that the prequel trilogy, the three movies created between 1999 and 2005, are garbage. I’m here today to not just disagree with that sentiment, but attest that there is just as much enjoyment and value to be found in the prequel movies as there is in the original trilogy.
DISCLAIMER
Before I dive into my arguments, I’d like to add a small disclaimer. Outside of the above introductory paragraph I intend to address this article toward those who already know a significant amount about Star Wars and it’s universe. If you are unfamiliar with these things, you may struggle to understand some of the items I will discuss. Furthermore, I welcome any rebuttals or counter-arguments you may have as everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
INTRODUCTION
When the first Star Wars movie was released in May of 1977 it was met with awe and admiration. The continuation of the trilogy was impossibly more successful and Star Wars quickly cemented itself as an icon within American culture. Much to the dismay of many fans, however, after the release of the third installment of Star Wars more than 10 years passed before the series saw any more additions (16 years to be exact). The prequel trilogy, which began in 1999, was possibly one of the most anticipated movies in recent history. Despite the hype, or even more likely as a result of it, the prequel trilogy was received with significantly less enthusiasm than expected.
In fact, the prequel woes were sung from the housetops. People couldn’t complain enough about the movies’ “awful,” acting and the “horrible,” plot. Everything about the prequels was battered, bashed, bruised and belittled. The prequels quickly became nearly as hated as the original trilogy was loved. In truth, however, there is an awful lot of things that the prequels actually do right. Though I will no doubt be hated for even suggesting it, there are many ways in which the prequels actually do a better job than the original movies. While the prequels by no means constitute a “perfect,” story, neither were the original trilogy. What the prequels lack in most regards, plagues the original trilogies as well. While many Star Wars fans out there would have you believe that the prequel trilogy isn’t worth your time, I’m here today to not just disagree with that sentiment, but attest that there is just as much enjoyment and value to be found in the prequel movies as there is in the original trilogy.
HISTORY OF THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY AND THE PREQUEL TRILOGY |
| I really like this image. It has nothing to do with my article though. |
The original trio of Star Wars movies was released in 1977, 1980 and 1983. These movies certainly surpassed George Lucas’ wildest dreams in terms of success. People literally couldn’t get enough of them. While there are certainly many different factors that contributed to the wonder and majesty of the movies, a large portion of the success of the films belongs to the special effects that were used. Star Wars put things on the screen that people had never seen before and created a universe so lifelike that it almost felt real. Then, after 1983, George Lucas stopped producing any Star Wars movies for a very long time.
That’s not to say that Star Wars stopped being popular, quit the contrary in fact. While trading cards, video games, books, toys and other collectibles continued to sell like wildfire, there was simply no new on-screen Star Wars representation. For better or for worse, this was the situation that precluded the arrival of the prequel trilogy.
The Prequel Hype and Disappointment. With the announcement of a new film being released in 1999, fans were drooling in anticipation. George didn’t even have to advertise his next film, it advertised itself. Before the movie was ever released, millions of dollars were spent and made through merchandising and advertising for the Phantom Menace, and none of it came from George’s pocket. For example, Newsweek ran a package of stories (that’s right, more than one) just analyzing the hype the film was receiving. Everyone wanted in on the Star Wars action. Even TV guide, who, as you might guess, typically only dabbles in things related to television, ran a cover story on the Phantom Menace.
Scott Donaton, a writer for the magazine Advertising Age, put it this way: “The hype, the build-up, the manipulation [was] all too much. When I turned down tickets to the New York premiere of Phantom Menace you would’ve thought I had declined a private audience with the Pope! People literally gasped when I told them. “How could you...?” they sputtered incredulously.” He continues to describe the hype and publicity that preceded Episode One as a “buzzkreig,” or a blitzkrieg of buzz, and one that ultimately hurt the brand. When you pay for marketing, you get to control the message, but in the case of Star Wars the hype got so out of control that neither George Lucas, or anyone for that matter, could contain it. “In the case of Star Wars,” Scott adds, “the tidal wave of hype grew so large it had to crash. Expectations were so high that when the movie turned out to be, well, a movie, [fans] came away disappointed.”
The hype was a serious force to be reckoned with when it came to the launch of George Lucas’ second trilogy. Only this time his series opener didn’t do so well. In fact, it was received horribly. It was so bad that in my extensive research I was hard pressed to find any review that didn’t bemoan the prequels at least a little (Susan Stark for the Detroit News was, however, overly positive in her review: “Phantom is fantastic: Menace lives up to its hype as a visually stunning, engaging Star Wars prequel,”). It wasn’t just the critics though. Millions of Star Wars all fans all over the world soon had a bitter taste in their mouth in regards to the new movies, and towards George Lucas in general. Indeed, the film tugged on every Star Wars nerds heart string and inspired many spirited and geeky debates as to whether Lucas’ new film had, in fact, ruined our childhoods.
Why everyone hates the Prequels. It’s actually not uncommon for a sequel or a prequel to be received poorly. This could be because sequels are never as “good,” as the original, but there may be some other factors influencing it as well. I mean, outside of the 1974 sequel to The Godfather, can you think of any sequel or prequel that critics have liked more than the original? I couldn’t, and there are some good reasons why. In 2001, Todd Berliner wrote in the Journal of Film and Video about this very subject. He said “the almost inescapable failure of sequels results from the fact that, at the same time a sequel [or prequel] calls to mind the charismatic original, it also recalls its absence, fostering a futile, nostalgic desire to re-experience the original aesthetic moment as though it had never happened.” In other words, if you were to re-watch Luke blow up the Death Star in Star Wars Episode Four you would be taken back to the same feelings you had when you first watched that climactic moment. Second viewings of a movie restore the original film to us, in some cases leading to an increased feeling of amoration as we notice new details and insights. When you watch Episode One, however, you are similarly reminded of your initial pleasure with Luke and the Death Star, but also reminded of its absence. As Todd puts it, “sequels, by contrast... continually and conspicuously fail to reinvoke that initial pleasure.” Is it possible that one of the things we hate so much about the prequels is the fact that it reminds us of the originals? Yes, it is.
A similar phenomenon to this is something that I like to call “Nostalgia Goggles.” As you may be able to guess from the name of the syndrome, it is my way of describing the natural human tendency to feel a devotion to a certain thing and dislike further iterations of of the same thing. For example, when I bought my Xbox several years ago one of the first games I played was called The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Hopefully some of you have heard of it. Regardless, I loved that game like I had never loved a game before. While I will vehemently defend the merits of that game (and many will agree with me), for a lot of people out there it wasn’t very much fun. Subsequent iterations of the game, however, have drawn in a much wider appeal and been even more successful (Oblivion and Skyrim, maybe you know them?). I’ve tried the newer iterations of the game, and they are certainly enjoyable. The graphics are better, that’s for sure. But guess what? I like Morrowind a whole lot more and there is nothing that will ever change that. This is because of my nostalgia goggles. Now apply that analogy to Star Wars. For millions of Star Wars fans the original trilogy marked a new chapter in their life, the start of an obsession and in some cases, a radical change for good. Then, add on to that the countless number of times each fan watched, studied and dreamt about the original trilogy and you’ve already got yourself some pretty thick nostalgia goggles. No matter how “good,” the Phantom Menace and subsequent films were, for many fans, they could never have been good enough.
If we are all being honest to ourselves, Star Wars: Episode One never really had a chance to receive a fair critical review. Let’s take a look at everything the Phantom Menace, and the other prequels, had stacked against them coming out of the gate:
- Nothing could live up to so much hype
- Sequels remind us of the original, but also remind us that they aren’t the original
- Nothing could likely ever beat the original trilogy that we had all watched and studied for years
These weren’t the only things plotting the prequels demise before they ever even aired, but they are the major points. One could say that the prequels were destined to be poorly received.
Why everyone really hates the prequels. The aforementioned reasons are certainly evidence as to why the prequels may have received more negative attention than they deserve, but the truth is that many people vehemently and venomously hate the prequels. I once attended a prequels marathon one weekend and posted to a few different social media outlets that I had enjoyed the experience. Care to guess how my posts were received? Here are some quotes:
“Burn in hell.”
“You should edit this post to read “Hey guys! I have horrible taste!”
“Are you mental?”
“You can go F*** yourself.”
“Nah they were Sh**.”
“Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. You and all your opinions are wrong.”
“You can’t polish dog****.”
“Just... no.”
“Then you can go die with Jar Jar.”
That’s not to say that all the comments were bad or vulgar, but a vast majority of them were.
This isn’t isolated to my experience either. Bryan Young, prolific Star Wars writer and podcaster, has written several articles in defense of the prequels. In one of his articles he also ponders the reason so many people take it upon themselves to lower the reputation of the Star Wars prequels. He even quotes a man that states “I would rather pour snow-cone syrup all over my body, knock over a giant fire ant hill and lay down on the ground than have to watch this movie again.” Somehow, I don’t believe him.
Now, as far as I know, everyone is entitled to like and dislike anything they want. This is especially true for movies (or so I thought). If I want to like a movie that you think is “bad,” why should it have any effect on you? Well, I did an experiment. I took another film well known for being bad (Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), and posted a similar comment to social media after watching it. If you can believe it, I didn’t get a single negative comment, and a few people even had nice things to say (though the comment total was much lower). It seems we judge Star Wars by a very different standard. Now I don’t care what you believe about the prequel movies or the Mortal Kombat movies, the vicious hate people have for the prequels is uncalled for. Back to the Future II and III score similar to the Star Wars prequels on metacritic. You may not care for critic’s reviews, but no one is going on a tear about those movies. The Jurassic park sequels are the same. Even the Hobbit (prequels to the Lord of the Ring series) don’t score much above the Star Wars prequels, and yet no one feels “betrayed,” by those films. My point is this: People don’t hate the Star Wars prequels because they are bad movies. Fans take the Star Wars prequels personally.
The big question is then, why do people fiercely hate the prequel trilogy so much? Essentially, I believe it comes down to two reasons. The first is response bias. Response Bias (or more accurately “socially desirable response bias”) is defined by Miami University as the phenomenon where people respond in such a way that is accepted as socially normal or as is expected of them. This response bias can not just inform a decision, but also an opinion. For example, someone who liked or disliked a particular book might forego their opinion in favor of what’s expected of them, or in favor of the opinions of those around them. This particular response is most commonly seen among spouses. If one spouse really dislikes Harry Potter, for example, the odds that the other spouse does as well, rise significantly.
Keep that in mind as we think back to the critical backlash that the prequel trilogy received. If one person, a critic, a friend, or just someone you trust, started to tear into one of the prequel films, even if you enjoyed them, would you not join in on the fun? It’s always fun to hate things, of course you’d join in! You’d probably join in until you wholeheartedly agreed with them, because, why not? We as a society love hating things. It somehow vindicates and validates us. Just think for a second about the sheer amount of time and energy that goes into hating Justin Bieber. It doesn’t matter how bad of a person he may actually be, the hate towards him, or any other celebrity, is ridiculous. But we do it, and we like it. It’s the same reason you are still friends on Facebook with that one person you can’t stand. They only post the most insufferable political nonsense and reading their posts infuriates you, and yet you love hating them. Katie J.M. Baker of Jezebel calls it “hate-reading.” I call it hate-loving. We like to hate. Thus when the Phantom Menace was released to disappointing reviews, it was only natural to join the sea of slandering tongues and regurgitate the prequel’s faults and shortcomings. It was sort of like a downward spiral of hatred, or an ever-expanding, swirling vortex of anger, all towards George Lucas and the prequels.
At any rate, it didn’t take long before irreparable damage had been done. Even those who hadn’t seen Episode One were predisposed to hate it. The same goes for Episode Two and Three. Let me illustrate this point using a metaphor. Have you ever given a specific food to a child that you know they have never tried before, but as soon as they see it they say they don't like it? “You can’t know you won’t like it until you try it,” you’ll say. But what happens when you force that child to eat it? They hate it. Even if in reality, they might like it. That's Star Wars. Even if someone might have actually liked the movies, they had made up their mind before ever seeing them that they were going to hate them, and thus it was.
The internet, especially YouTube, only made the issue worse, as it was the perfect sacrificial altar to slaughter and offer up anything and everything “wrong,” with the prequels. Many of you have probably watched Plinkett's reviews of the prequels or the "What if Star Wars were good?" movie series. They are very popular videos on YouTube, though I’m not a fan. I understand why people like them. They're (for the most part) well produced movies and they rip apart the prequels. Like I mentioned above, everyone likes ripping apart the prequels. Despite the thousands of likes these videos have received, however, I feel that they are largely just baseless opinions. Go ahead; go watch Plinkett’s review of Star Wars on YouTube right now. You’ll be surprised at how many of his complaints are simply “blank sucks,” or “blank is stupid,” without any supporting evidence.
Okay let’s take a break. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I maybe (just maybe) have made a couple of good points, but so far nothing I’ve said really applies to you. You, my distinguished reader, dislike the prequels for valid reasons. You weren’t predisposed to dislike it and you gave it a fair shot, but it’s just a bad, awful movie. Right? Is that what you’re thinking? Well I have two things to say to you. First, continue reading. Second, “you can’t know you won’t like it until you try it.”
PREQUEL TRILOGY MISCONCEPTIONS
Let’s dive into some of the actual complaints that are levied against the Star Wars prequels. There are only a few majors issues (vomited on the internet over and over again) and so I should be able to address them all.
Jar Jar Binks and Anakin. Earlier I brought up Justin Bieber and all the hate that is drummed up against him. As crazy as it may sound, there is probably more hate felt in regards to Jar Jar Binks. First I should start off by saying that I like Jar Jar Binks. Don’t mistake me, he’s annoying, but also important. Bryan Young, who I mentioned earlier, wrote an excellent article in defense of Jar Jar Binks where he illustrated the value to including a Jar Jar Binks-like character in the Star Wars universe (and it’s not because Episode One is a kids movie).
Jar Jar Binks, as Young explains, is supposed to be obnoxious. He’s not just annoying to us viewers, however, even the characters in the story can’t stand to be around him. In fact, for most of the film Jar Jar is demoralized by almost everyone else on screen. Despite this however, as Young illustrates, Jar Jar is intricate to bringing two nations of people together to ultimately save the day. There is an important lesson to be learned from this. Similar themes to this one can be found in the original trilogy through the often-more-annoying antics of C-3P0 (though for whatever reason no one seems to complain about C-3P0).
As for Anakin I have to ask if Jake Lloyd’s acting can really be considered bad? As Bryan Young points out, “at the end of the day, saying that you didn’t like Jay Lloyd’s acting isn’t much of an argument.” Young continues, “have you met an 8-year-old? That’s EXACTLY how they act.” While no child is the same, I know that my niece, who is about that old, does certainly share some similarities with little Annie. Everything from the seemingly obvious questions that would all-too-obviously set up a perfect movie exposition (yes, this is a reference to Anakin’s question about Midichlorians) to verbalizing everything they do, even when no one’s listening. Sure, I realize that some of the lines from Episode One are indeed pretty bad, but I have found them to be both inconsequential and few in number. But go ahead, why don’t you smash on your keyboard a couple of times and remind me of a couple of those particularly bad lines that you are so fond of repeating.
Anyway. In Episode Two we are introduced to a much older Anakin played by Hayden Christensen. As is the typical complaint, Anakin is simply too whiny. Ignoring the fact that Luke was also incredibly whiny, I actually don’t see this as a problem. First of all, Anakin shouldn’t be expected to be incredibly mature and second of all, most of Anakin’s complaints are about Obi Wan. This actually makes sense because Anakin spends almost all of his time with Obi Wan. I spent two years working as a missionary and during that time I frequently had to spend weeks at a time living constantly with another missionary. It didn’t matter who the missionary was, before long I had a list a mile long of all the things he did that bothered me. I imagine Anakin had a lot to complain about and almost no one to complain to. Would it be far-fetched to suggest that when you were younger you also complained regularly about the people you were forced to spend time with? Keep that in mind before you jump to judgement.
Padme and Anakin. A lot of people have a problem with the love story between Padme and Anakin. I won’t go into much detail about this because I believe it is more a matter of personal opinion, but I think the love story is plenty believable. It’s not hard for someone to believe that Romeo fell in love with Juliet at first sight, but somehow people can’t seem to get over Padme and Anakin’s cheesy lines (which aren’t that cheesy). It helps if you place yourself in their situation and think of how they are feeling. How would you act if your personal feelings and your personal code disagreed? I’m the first to admit that Han Solo and Princess Leia had better chemistry, but Anakin and Padme’s acting is not bad.
There, I said it. It’s not bad acting. Just because Anakin is creepy or awkward doesn’t mean that it’s bad acting. Is it possible that his character was supposed to be that way? I mean, the guys been a slave most of his life, and a Jedi for the rest. You think he’s had much social interaction with the opposite sex? I think it would have made far less sense to see an Anakin played by a Han-Solo type actor. Not to mention, do you remember when Anakin pretends to get hurt by the Shaaks and plays a prank on Padme? I think that was smooth (despite what you say Mr. Plinkett).
What is the plot? Yet another thing you’ll hear people complain about over and over again is that the plot is either too difficult to understand or just plain stupid. This one makes me laugh actually because neither argument holds weight for any of the prequel movies. First of all, the plot in EVERY movie is clearly stated in the opening crawl. Maybe people are too lazy to read?
In Episode One the trade federation sets up a blockade to stop all trade in and out of Naboo. The blockade is just a ruse, however, so the Trade Federation can invade. That’s the plot. The only part of the story that may be difficult to understand is the question: “Why would the Trade Federation want to invade in the first place?” That mystery is actually part of the genius of the first episode, however, because you don’t understand that reason until you realize that Palpatine is a Sith lord. You see, Senator Palpatine needed to become Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The only way for that to happen was if someone who could sway the vote of the senate with a sincere plea for help (like Queen Amidala) was to suggest a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum. It’s a devious, sinister plan. The beauty of the plan is that at the end of Episode One you are left feeling uneasy because while the Jedi were technically successful in killing Darth Maul, they were completely unsuccessful in stopping Darth Sidious from inching closer to destroying the Jedi.
In Episode Two the plot thickens. Many planets are leaving the republic to follow a political idealist named Count Dooku. With tensions rising, Palpatine tries to persuade the republic to create an army (so he can later use that army to kill all the Jedi--shhh!). Former-Queen Amidala is certain that this a bad idea and thus, in an effort to both quell her voice and prove that there is a need for an army, Palpatine tries to have Amidala killed. The resulting investigation leads to the discovery of the clone army, the discovery of a separatist army and the start of a war. That’s about four sentences. Easy enough to understand? The beauty of this plot, again, is how it shows Palpatine as an evil puppet-master manipulating Jedi and senators alike to orchestrate the rise of his Galactic Empire.
Episode Three is the easiest to understand of the trilogy. We’re at war. Palpatine senses Anakin’s potential and begins to poison his mind all the while laying the trap for his eventual galactic take-over. Spoiler alert, Palpatine wins (for a brief moment anyway). Am I missing something, or are these plots very simple to understand?
The Main Character(s)? Another misconception about the Star Wars prequels is that they lack a main character! Not only is there no main character, but the characters are frequently ridiculed for having little-to-no depth, and being totally unrelatable. Boy I could not disagree more!
Let’s start with the main character. While an argument could be made that Anakin is the main character of the prequels, I would disagree. I think that Anakin is the main character if you look at the Star Wars movies as a whole (Episodes 1 - 6), but not the main character of the prequels. Just as Luke was the hero of the Original Trilogy, I believe that Obi Wan is the main character of the prequels. There are holes in my logic, but hear me out:
Episode One shows Obi Wan transition from learner to teacher as he has to defeat a great evil in Darth Maul. Similar to how Luke later loses Obi Wan, Obi Wan loses his wise old master Qui Gon Jinn, and thus must step up and take charge. Obi Wan is later the main driving force in Episode Two while Anakin and Padme are falling in love. Almost every plot development revolves around Obi Wan, in fact. Obi Wan’s story climaxes in Episode Three when he has to fight to the death against someone he sees as family. This is an interesting parallel to Darth Vader and Luke’s final confrontation in the series last installment. Now of course there are long portions of the Star Wars story in which Obi Wan is not present, but not only is that consistent with the storytelling from the original trilogy, but it also adds to Obi Wan’s character development. Imagine, for example, that your beloved mentor left you alone to watch a ship while he goes off on an adventure. You probably wanted to go with him, but he asked you to stay. While waiting on the ship your mentor tells you about his day and casually mentions that he may have found a new apprentice (to replace you!). I don’t know if I’d take that with a smile on my face, and that may explain why Obi Wan refers to Anakin unwittingly as a “pathetic life form,”. While this explanation does get a little muddy when you look more closely at Episode Three (which features Anakin more heavily than Obi Wan), I think it still stands.
At any rate, let’s move on. In my research for this article, I made sure to watch Mr. Plinkett’s prequel reviews in their entirety. One of Mr. Plinkett’s most compelling and frequently used arguments is that he doesn’t care about any characters and that the characters have no depth. He even runs a fun little experiment where he asks several people to describe certain characters from the Star Wars universe to someone who has never seen the movies. Only they must do so without describing what the characters look like and without saying what their job or role was in the films. When asked to describe Han Solo, these volunteers easily rattled off a number of buzzwords like “scoundrel,” or “rogue,” or “dashing.” This isn’t surprising considering that they’ve likely watched the original trilogy many times and because Han Solo has become a pop culture icon himself. When those same people, however, were asked to describe Qui Gon Jinn, they couldn’t come up with a single word beyond “stoic.” The same results occurred when Mr. Plinkett asked them to describe Queen Amidala.
As I’ve already alluded to, this experiment was incredibly flawed. Not only are there more movies showing the character development of original trilogy characters like Han Solo, but Han Solo has been an icon in pop culture since the early 80’s. Add to that fact that the people in the experiment probably had only seen Episode One once compared to watching the original trilogy several times and you’ve got yourself an experiment that tells you almost nothing! Regardless, I thought I’d do Mr. Plinkett’s experiment myself (only in reverse). I’m going to list some attributes of Star Wars characters from the prequels, and I want to see if you can guess who I’m referring to.
First, I’m thinking of a stylish woman who is a political idealist. She’s very rational, but not afraid to follow her gut instinct on occasion and even give in to her passion. That’s Padme Amidala. Next, I’m thinking of a man who is a master builder and a skilled pilot. He’s very confident in himself, bordering cocky. He whines a lot, but you get the feeling that he respects authority. More than anything, he wants to protect those he loves. I’m describing Anakin. Finally, I’m thinking of a master manipulator. He’s cunning and smart, but worst of all he is disarmingly kind. He seems frail but is actually very spry. Palpatine. Hmm. Didn’t seem too difficult to me.
The Little Stuff. There are countless other complaints living on the internet that I like to call “the little stuff.” Some people claim that CGI Overload ruins the Star Wars epic. Some people complain that the explanation of midichlorians destroys the mysticism of the force. Some people can’t get over the final “No!” that Darth Vader screams at the end of Episode Three. To these people I have one thing to say: Calm down.
I don’t see how the amount of CGI used has any part to play on the story whatsoever. It has no effect for better or for worse. So why not just enjoy the story, and the interesting architecture/scenery/alien in the background? Why do you care that they extended the dance scene in Jabba’s palace? It doesn’t change the story. Why does it matter that they added extra creatures in random scenes? And does it really ruin your childhood if Han Solo didn’t shoot first!? Some people will say yes, and I doubt I will ever understand why. Another complaint I’ll never comprehend is the one about the CGI fight scenes that “ruin,” Yoda’s character. If not jumping around, then how did they expect him to fight? Regardless, the CGI hate is, as I see it, pointless. CGI even has some very valid uses. Did you know that in all of Christopher Lee’s fights they used CGI to recreate his arms? Apparently he wasn’t very easy to choreograph.
As for midichlorians, I have to repeat myself. How does adding them to Star Wars change anything? People cry that midichlorians “demystified,” the Force. Uh, what? Someone’s force potential is somehow tied to strange organisms living in their blood. Awesome. I still have no idea how the force works.
As for the other stuff, like when Darth Vader screams “No!” at the end of Episode Three, or when Anakin yells “Yipee!” in Episode One, just plug your ears. It lasts a few seconds and if you can’t enjoy Star Wars because of a few seconds than that is your problem, not the prequels.
The Prequels aren’t perfect. I do want to clarify that I don’t think the prequel movies are perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I do think that mistakes were made. It’s a movie, mistakes are always made. The original trilogy also had mistakes. I personally think that the costuming choice for ewoks in Episode Six was a mistake. They should have looked more fierce.
In terms of the prequels however, I feel there are some unfortunate oversights. For example, Boba Fett’s story was changed. Boba Fett had a pretty cool back story written about him before Episode Two was released, and while the whole “unaltered clone,” thing isn’t particularly bad, his old story was much better. Furthermore, I think the additions they made to R2-D2 were over the top. Since R2 didn’t have any of those fancy things in the later movies (like rocket boosters), I’m sad to see that he had them in the prequels. Also, I think they could have brainstormed a better way for Padme to die at the end of Episode Three. She died of an emotionally broken (but physically functioning) heart? There was probably a better solution. No movie is perfect, but I’m not here to dwell on the prequels faults, but rather its successes.
WHAT THE PREQUELS DID RIGHT
Despite what you may believe, the prequels did some things really well. Some things were done so well, in fact, that they are better than their original trilogy counterpart. In a recent article by Star Wars Insider Magazine, there was even a list of “50 Reasons To Love the Star Wars Prequels.” Let me tell you though, there’s a lot more than 50 reasons to love the prequels.
Palpatine the Puppet Master. The Emperor is pretty cool in Episode Six. You get a sense that he is evil and very powerful. In the prequels, however, you really get to see that power. As I’ve alluded to earlier in my paper, you get to see Palpatine in action. You see him manipulate and deceive and totally out-play the Jedi order. It’s awesome! On top of that, we get to see him pull out his lightsabers and fight. The prequels did Palpatine right.
Politics in Star Wars? This is something I’ve already talked a bit about, but the politics in Star Wars is another thing the prequels did well. In the original trilogy you get a sense of a galaxy being oppressed by an evil empire, but in the prequels, you actually get to see that galaxy. You see the hundreds of different sentient races and you get to catch a glimpse at how society could operate in a galaxy nothing like our own. Furthermore, a lot of the problems that happen in the senate mirror problems that occur in the real world. That’s pretty cool.
Parallels Between Anakin and Luke. After you watched Anakin’s fall to the dark side, Episode Six really takes on new meaning. The parallels between the two are fantastic and we have the prequels to thank for that. I mean, think about it, they both grew up on Tatooine and had no idea of their eventual destiny. Both were whiny. Both were mentored in the ways of the force and both flirted with the dark side. Both were presented with the option of love/friendship or duty and both chose love/friendship (Luke going to Cloud City, Anakin marrying Padme). Finally, both of them had to make the critical decision of joining the Emperor in order to save the ones they loved (Anakin believed the Emperor’s power could save Padme, Luke thought the Emperor would save his friends if he joined). The only difference is that Luke chose wisely when he said: “I’ll never turn to the dark side.”
Music, design and more! The prequels have a lot to offer. The music is fantastic, as it is in the original trilogy. Beyond that, however, the movies are seriously beautiful to look at. I mean, you’ve got to give them credit, they created entire worlds with striking architecture, incredible landscapes and even entire species. To me, that’s impressive. Take away the story completely, and I’d still be interested in watching the Gungans and the Droid army fight. I’d still be interested in seeing vehicles fly around Coruscant, and I’d still be interested in listening to some classic John Williams.
On top of that, however, the prequels provide fans with something that originals lacked (in my opinion): Lightsaber duels. Don’t get me wrong, the lightsaber fights between Luke and Darth Vader were intense, but they can’t hold a candle to some of the fights we see in the prequels. The space battles, the pod racing, and more are gems brought to us by modern technology.
THE HATE HAS TO STOP
My arguments have almost come to an end, but I have one last thing that must be said: Give the prequel movies a chance. It would be so easy for you to continue hating the prequels, to ignore everything I’ve said (half of it’s probably hearsay anyways) and go on thinking that George Lucas ruined Star Wars... But that would be a mistake. There truly is a wealth of value and enjoyment to be had in the prequel movies. Can there ever be too much Star Wars?
Forget the bias. Step one. This is your homework: You need to let go. You need to forget everything you know about the prequels and watch them again. Watch Episode One and seriously think about the plot line. Think about Palpatine, and his role. Put yourself in young Anakin’s shoes and think about how he must be feeling. Laugh at Jar Jar Binks even if you don’t think it’s funny. Watch Anakin and Padme’s love story from Episode Two. Maybe even quote some lines they use to your significant other and see if they appreciate it. Ignore the fact that it’s computer generated and enjoy the incredible scenes of different worlds and outer space. Let your imagination go wild.
Do it again. You’ve watched the original trilogy how many times? If you really want to give the prequels a chance, you have to be willing to watch them more than once. There’s always something to enjoy in any of the films, whether it be intense lightsaber battles, pod racing or some seriously cool force lightning. Don’t give up, even if you feel like your biases are making Star Wars hard to watch. Be patient.
Wait. Finally, I want to make you a promise. If you honestly give the prequel movies a chance and earnestly watch them more than once, only looking for the good in them, you’ll find it.
CONCLUSION
I started writing this article ten months ago. It’s taken me a long time and a lot of thought has gone into presenting my case. I set out to prove that there was just as much good in the Star Wars Prequel trilogy as there was in the Original Trilogy. After countless hours of research, I stand by my thesis. I know that the Prequels will never be as popular and I know that most people who read this probably won’t change their mind (you stubborn fool), but I also know this: More Star Wars is on its way, and it’s those people who hate the prequels now who will have the hardest time accepting the new movies. As for me, I’ve already made up my mind: The 2015 release of Star Wars is amazing.
Works Cited
Baker, Katie. "The Art of Hate-Reading." Jezebel. N.p., 30 Jan 2012. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. <http://jezebel.com/5876891/the-art-of-hate-reading>.Bedford, Stuart. "15 Reasons Why Star Wars Prequels Sucked." What Culture. What Culture, n.d. Web. 11 Mar 2014. <http://whatculture.com/film/15-reasons-why-star-wars-prequels-sucked.php>.
Berliner, Todd. "The Pleasures of Disappointment: Sequels and The Godfather, Part II." Journal of Film and Video. 53.2 (2001): 107. Print.
Brown, Michael. "10 Reasons Why the Star Wars Prequels are Underrated." Sabotage Times. (2013): n. page. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/jar-jar-binks-and-9-reasons-why-the-star-wars-prequels-are-underrated/>.
Calhoun, John. "Origins of the Jedi." Entertainment Design. (1999): 34 - 41. Print.
Donaton, Scott. "Galactic hype-storm spawned by 'Star Wars' prequel has a price." Advertising Age. 70.23 (1999): 44. Print.
Hammer, J. "Why all the prequels and sequels?." Florida Times [Jacksonville] 2012, n. pag. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. <http://search.proquest.com/mlaib/docview/455986617/40DB98D11C6C4197PQ/4?accountid=4488>.
Lancashire, Anne. "The Phantom Menace: Repetition, Variation, Integration." Film Criticism. 24.3 (2000): 23. Print.
Leane, Rob. "Positive to take from the Star Wars Prequels."Den of Geek!. (2014): n. page. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/star-wars/232175/positives-to-take-from-the-star-wars-prequels>.
Miami University, , dir. Response Biases and sampling. YouTube, 2011. Web. 8 Apr 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10_vUZltnZg>.
Shefrin, Elana. "Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Participatory Fandom: Mapping New Congruencies between the Internet and Media Entertainment Culture." Critical Studies in Media Communication. 21.3 (2004): 261-281. Print.
Stark, Susan. "Phantom is Fantastic: Menace lives up to its hype as a visually strong, engaging Star Wars prequel." Detroit News [Detroit] 18 May 1999, n. pag. Print.
"Star Wars." Wikipedia. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars>.
Stoklasa, Mike. Star wars: The Phantom Menace Review. 2012. Video. RedLetterMedia Web. 11 Mar 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI>.
Stoklasa, Mike. Star wars: The Clone Wars Review. 2012. Video. RedLetterMedia Web. 11 Mar 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI>.
Stoklasa, Mike. Star wars: Revenge of the Sith Review. 2012. Video. RedLetterMedia Web. 11 Mar 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI>.
Torres, Vanessa. "Crix weren't always Lucas' Darth Vader."Variety. (1999): 4. Print.
Vary, Adam. "George Lucas says he's done with 'Star Wars' movies." Entertainment Weekly. 18 Jan 2012: n. page. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. <http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/01/18/george-lucas-star-wars-retiring/>.
Young, Bryan. "In Defense of Jar Jar Binks." Den of Geek!. (2009): n. page. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/14165/in-defence-of-jar-jar-binks>.
Young, Bryan. "Why all the prequel hate?." Examiner.com. (2009): n. page. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://www.examiner.com/article/why-all-the-prequel-hate>.
Young, Bryan. "In Defense of Jar Jar Binks." Den of Geek!. (2009): n. page. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/14165/in-defence-of-jar-jar-binks>.
Young, Bryan. "Why all the prequel hate?." Examiner.com. (2009): n. page. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://www.examiner.com/article/why-all-the-prequel-hate>.
Next time I see you remind me to give you a huge high five. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI dig this, sir.
ReplyDeleteVery well thought out, and I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteI'll never judge or disparage you for your opinion on the Star Wars movie, just wanted to come in and disagree with...most of what you said.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, it's clear you've put a lot of thought and research into this and that's awesome! I'm glad to finally read a well-written defense of the prequels to stand up to the criticisms.
...I couldn't find a way to write this that didn't come off as condescending to me, so I hope you don't think that's what I was doing.
Don't worry, I don't think you sound condescending at all. You're entitled to your own opinion just as I am to mine. I'm glad that you said that you disagree with only "most," of what I said. That means we could at least agree on some things :)
DeleteEven so, the main purpose of this article was to get some people who simply hopped on the Prequel Hate Band Wagon a reason to reconsider their opinions. I may have exaggerated some points and trivialized others to that end, and so I knew there would definitely be a lot of disagreeing along the way. That being said, thanks for reading.
I agree. I think most of the hate stems from the "nostalgia goggles" argument you brought up, in addition to the fact that it has become "cool" to hate the prequels. I saw the prequels first, starting with the Phantom Menace, then Attack of the Clones, as I wasn't alive when the originals came out and I wanted to see the movies in chronological order. (born in '95). I had to skip Revenge of the Sith, as it wasn't out yet, so I saw that one last. I know I am going to get a lot of flak for saying this, but I like the prequels better than the originals for a lot of the reasons you used to defend the prequels (Politics, Palpatine the puppet master, etc.) I mean, the originals are still masterpieces, don't get me wrong, and I understand why people might like them a LOT better than the prequels. But for me, since I started with the prequels, they are what I think of when I think Star Wars: Palpatine's rise to power, the clone wars, etc.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I refuse to defend Jar Jar haha.
Also being born after the release of the original trilogy I can understand what you're getting at. I view all Star Wars as equal, but the prequels definitely hold a very special place in my heart. I'm glad you do to :)
DeleteIf you step off the poo poo train and you really think about Jar Jar, you begin to see the possibility that George Lucas may have actually been an insane risk-taking genius. No one likes Boss Nass and the other unforgiving Gungans, but haters sure are quick to pass the same judgment. Adding Jar Jar to the films was a stupid, bold move, but his character arc illustrates one of the most important lessons of all: the world is full of annoying people, yet all are irreplaceable. Who is vain enough and wise enough to say who deserves to live and who does not? Here you can begin to see a lot of parallels between Jar Jar and Gollum, although for some reason it is much easier to comprehend sparing a twisted cave-dweller, than sparing a good-hearted but bumbling amphibian. The sad truth is that rather than seeing what difficult people have to offer, we stubbornly believe that life would be so much better without them.
ReplyDeleteYou can draw a similar parallel between Jar Jar and Yoda. Remember how weird and annoying Yoda was in episode V? He stole Luke's fish sticks and messed with his equipment! Remember how Luke thought he was wasting his time with a senile, washed out, little toad? Remember how Yoda totally blew Luke away when he lifted the X-Wing out of the water? Remember how sad Yoda was that Luke didn't "get it?" If you wish Jar Jar didn't exist, then you don't "get it."
DeleteI completely agree with you :)
DeleteI'm thankfull i ''get it''!
DeleteKudos sir!
Please don't compare Gollum to Jar Jar. One is a complex, tortured character with an actual story arc, and the other one, you like it or not, is just (cheap) comedy relief.
DeleteWhether you like it out not, there are a lot of similarities between the two. Gollum has had much more story and screen time to develop as a character, but in many parts of the movies he is just "cheap comedy relief."
Delete"“Why would the Trade Federation want to invade in the first place?” That mystery is acutally part of the genius of the first episode, however, because you don’t understand that reason until you realize that Palpatine is a Sith lord. You see, Senator Palpatine needed to become Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The only way for that to happen was if someone who could sway the vote of the senate with a sincere plea for help (like Queen Amidala) was to suggest a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum. It’s a devious, sinister plan."
ReplyDeleteIf this is true, why did Palpatine send Darth Maul to stop them on Tatooine? Doesn't he want Amidala to make it to Coruscant?
Excellent question. I can understand your confusion. The answer requires a slightly more in-depth explanation and a little bit of conjecture. Despite what I implied in the statement you quoted above, I don't think Sidious actually planned for everything to happen exactly as it did. He's the perfect example of plan precisely, execute flexibly.
DeleteIn other words, I suspect that his original plan was to have the Trade Federation invade Naboo and attempt to force Queen Amidala to sign a treaty to make it legal. Should the invasion be made legal I imagine Palpatine would have prompted Queen Amidala to call for a vote of no confidence similar to what actually did happen. Or perhaps Senator Palpatine figured Queen Amidala would never sign such a treaty and would be killed. From there he would use the Queen's death to serve the same purpose I illustrated above. Either way, Palpatine's main plan, to have a vote of no confidence be called, would succeed. I think him sending Darth Maul to "stop," Queen Amidala was more of a test for Darth Maul and a way for Sidious to reveal the Sith's existence to the Jedi. Either way, I'm not sure he cared whether or not Queen Amidala lived or died. Perhaps I made it sound too matter-of-fact in my paper.
Regardless, whenever you're watching Ian McDiarmid I think it's important to remember that Palpatine is the absolute embodiment of evil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjdycGgeaIY). He lies to everyone. That includes Anakin, the Trade Federation, and even his apprentice Darth Maul. Never take anything he says at face value.
Neither the PT or the OT were perfect. All six movies had their flaws. But all were fantastic. By the way, you do realize you're just inviting the hateboys to trash both the PT and your article . . . right?
ReplyDeleteOh yes. I realize this :)
DeleteOk, so here's the thing. I agree with some of what you wrote, but I still think the prequels were not good movies. And my reason for thinking that is because I intensely agree that Obi-Wan is supposed to be the hero of the prequels. In Lucas's earliest outlines, Qui-Gon is not ever mentioned, and much more space in the outline is devoted to the events from the third movie. At some point, Lucas decided to spend more time with Anakin as a kid, and thus gave large parts of Obi-Wan's story in Phantom Menace to a new character called Qui-Gon. IMO, this hurt the arc of the trilogy a lot.
ReplyDeleteAnd then, as Plinkett says, we don’t spend enough time with Qui-Gon to actually care about his death, so the emotional beats at the end don’t really land, and we don’t actually see Obi-Wan doing anything fun or interesting because Qui-Gon really propels most of the plot. And this reverberates throughout the entire trilogy - the tragedy of Obi-Wan not preventing Anakin's downfall in part three should be an mirror image of Obi-Wan realizing how special this boy was in Phantom Menace. That's not there, cause Qui-Gon realizes it instead.
I think Plinkett was right when he said Qui-Gon's part should've been Obi-Wan this whole time, because to me, it unfocuses the entire prequel trilogy, which is really the story of Obi-Wan and Anakin.
You raise some good points. The prequels could have worked without Qui Gon (though I have to admit I quite like his character). That being said, I think it's interesting to analyze and compare Obi Wan from the OT and Qui Gon from the prequels. Both die in the first installment of their respective trilogies. On one hand, Qui Gon's death is seen, as you say, as meaningless and we don't care about it. Obi Wan's death in Episode 4, however, is somehow more meaningful?
DeleteInteresting to think about.
What I would say about that is the difference is in the relationship to the hero, and the manner of the death.
DeleteIn A New Hope, Obi-Wan's connection to Luke is forged over the space of the entire movie. From Obi-Wan's first appearance, he and Luke are constantly together, and Luke is growing and learning and trusting him more all the time. Since Luke is our surrogate, we also grow to like Obi-Wan. In Episode 1, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan already have a pre-existing relationship. What's more, as soon as they get to Tatooine, they separate and spend about an hour apart from each other. You might say that Anakin becomes the audience surrogate, and we grow to love Qui-Gon through Ani's eyes. But even that doesn't work, because Anakin doesn't witness Qui-Gon's death and (as far as I can remember) never finds out about it in the movie at all. I like Qui-Gon, but his death has no meaningful impact on me at the end of the first movie because I didn't grow attached to him in any real way.
The other big difference is that Qui-Gon dies fighting Darth Maul, a kind of cool-looking bad guy, but ultimately completely disposable and meaningless. (The entire prequel trilogy has this problem - the secondary villains are unremarkable at best, silly at worst. It's like Lucas couldn't come up with any great villains other than Palpatine and Vader.) Obi-Wan dies fighting Darth Vader, who is one of two main antagonists in the entire OT. Every time Luke comes face to face with Vader, we are reminded of Obi-Wan's death. It resonates throughout three movies, whereas by Revenge of the Sith, pretty much everyone on screen has seemingly forgotten Qui-Gon and Darth Maul.
That's my analysis of those two parallels. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas meant for Qui-Gon's death to parallel Obi-Wan's in A New Hope. But IMO, I don't think he pulled it off.
You're analysing it through the eyes of a total stranger to the series which is a fair point. But to me, being born in 1981 and having watched the OT for quite a few times that on screen build up becomes unnecessary and I immediately realize how much of a shock it was for Obi-Wan to see his master being killed at the same time it also gives us a slight feeling of how even he can sometimes be tempted by the dark side.
DeleteI enjoyed many parts of the prequels. in fact, I have used the same argument of the political drama and Palpatine's manipulations to show that there is a worthy story. Although I must point out here that Palpatine recognized Anakin's potential from the beginning, and immediately began cultivating him for the eventual seduction to the dark side. This adds to the strength of the Palpatine's manipulations argument for the series. Many people say that Anakin's fall to the dark side was too fast, but it started even before the Jedi took him in. And then Palpatine was there every step of the "guiding" him. There are many mentions of this throughout the movies.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you why I cringe at JarJar, and all the Gungans for that matter, and I believe it is the same for many. It is also why we accept 3PO's annoying traits. The voice. If the accent wasn't so ridiculous and infantile, JarJar wouldn't be so bad. not only does he help bring the two peoples together, he helps Palpatine gain more power by proposing the wartime act that suspends his term limit. He also unknowingly supports Order 66 in so doing.
I will say that I hate the idea of midiclhorians. It does take away from the mysticism by giving a scientific explanation. Scientific explanation and hokey religions don't mix.
Aside from that the only real disappointment for me was how Lucas felt the need to insert every possible character from the OT in a blatant "recognition link" between them. Including characters like R2 and 3PO with questionable origins didn't help propel the story, it only created plot holes. building a pod racer from scrap was enough to show Anakin was good with machines. Older Anakin could have had a different mech unit, perhaps that he has to fix more often than not, and that would have been better. In the OT, 3PO was state of the art, as witnessed by other protocol droids, and R2 was only a couple of series behind the more current mech units, not 30 years older. How could Obi Wan possibly forget those 2 droids? How could Vader forget them when he sees them? It doesn't make sense.
anyhow, solid argument. nicely done.
Great points. I won't argue with anything you said :)
DeleteI feel like you are making some assumptions about the people who think the prequels are bad. I am one of those people, so I feel like I need to defend myself a little. It seems like you think people like me only watched them once or twice and just went with popular opinion. That's not true. I have watched them countless times. I own all of them. I watched Episode I at least four times while it was still in theaters. After I watched it the first time, I could not stop talking about how awesome it was. The lightsaber fight with Darth Maul was amazing. But by the third time I watched I started to see all of the flaws. I realized it wasn't really as good as I thought after watching it the first time. Every time I've watched it since I've liked it less. The cardboard acting, the flat and uninteresting characters. The nonsensical plot points that you are probably already familiar with (Darth Vader made C-3PO? Really? Anakin is supposedly the only human that can podrace AND he has also never finished a race? How does that make sense? I would categorize him as another human that can’t podrace.)
ReplyDeleteBut you know, I wasn't going to give up on Lucas or Star Wars just yet. There isn't any non-living thing that I have loved more than Star Wars. So when the trailer for Episode II came out, I couldn't have been more pumped. I felt like I could easily forgive Lucas, after all, it had been decades since he directed a movie. Give the guy a break. But then I watched the movie. I liked the same stuff I liked in the first one. The lightsaber fights were amazing. Yoda fighting was amazing. All of the Jedi with their lightsabers out was amazing. The acting was still bad, though. And these were good actors. Natalie Portman is a good actress. Hayden Christensen had been really good in other roles. I kept trying to figure out where things went wrong. Maybe George just isn’t very good at giving actors directions? Maybe the green screens were hard for the actors to work with? But you know what? That’s ok. I can deal with bad acting.
But what really made it bad was the horrible plot points with horrible pointless characters. Dexter Jettster might be a worse character than Jar-Jar Binks. There’s a blue Boba Fett for some reason. Oh and all stormtroopers are clones of blue Boba Fett?
Even after Episode I & II, I was still excited to see Episode III. And you know what? Episode III was the best one of the prequels, but it is no where close to the originals. And I guess that’s what motivated me to write all of this. When I see a title that says, “The prequels are just as good” I lose my mind. I don’t understand how anyone could objectively think that. It’s ok for people to have different opinions about things. It’s ok with me that you like the prequels, but to say that there is no difference in quality between the two trilogies is unfathomable to me. I wonder how bad they would have to be for you to admit that they are even the least bit inferior to the original trilogy. I’m sorry that people have demeaned you for saying you like them. It’s ok to like them. Those people sound like jerks.
But I also feel like you think everyone who doesn’t like them didn’t give them a fair shot. I wrote this to show that is not the case. I was not convinced by other people that they were bad. I never heard anyone say they were bad before I realized it for myself. I was not swayed by popular opinion. I judged them that way for myself, the way I do with every movie.
DeleteYou also wrote, “It’s actually not uncommon for a sequel or a prequel to be received poorly. This could be because sequels are never as “good,” as the original, but there may be some other factors influencing it as well. I mean, outside of the 1974 sequel to The Godfather, can you think of any sequel or prequel that critics have liked more than the original?”
I have one for you: The Empire Strikes Back.
Here are some others: Terminator 2, Aliens, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Dark Knight, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Spider-Man II, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It is totally possible to make good, well-received sequels.
At the end of your post you implore your readers to give the prequels a second chance: “Laugh at Jar Jar Binks even if you don’t think it’s funny.” This sounds like you want me to brainwash myself into believing they are good. This is how people get you to join their cult. You ask that I only look for the good. Why? If they are just as good as the originals I shouldn’t have to only look for the good. The films should stand on their own, and be judged honestly by their merits and their faults.
Lastly you said this: “More Star Wars is on its way, and it’s those people who hate the prequels now who will have the hardest time accepting the new movies.” This was kind of insulting to me. Really? I am so blinded by nostalgia goggles I can no longer judge good from bad? If they are good I will like them. If they are not good I will not like them. That is how movie opinions work. I already know what you will think of the new trilogy: It is just as good as the prequels and the originals, because there is no such thing as objective quality. I feel like I’m reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Anyway, I would just like to say from one Star Wars fan to another: I like you. I admire your passion. Anyone that spends this amount of time writing about Star Wars has my respect. My favorite thing to do is argue about movies, so even though your article made me kind of mad, it made me think and I really enjoyed responding to it. Peace, brother.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. I think I can address a few of the things you commented on. First, I think you consider exactly who I'm targeting with this article. There are, I believe, people who have legitimate reasons for disliking the Prequels. There are people out there who watched the prequels and made up their own opinion about the prequels and weren't swayed by public opinion. However, there are a lot of people who were swayed by said opinion and just hopped on the Prequel-Hating Band Wagon (though next to no Star Wars fan would ever admit to this). My article is directed to the uninformed Star Wars fan who may have made their opinion, subconsciously or not, based off of popular opinion. If you have ever studied persuasive argument then you'll know that in many cases it is more effective to "make assumptions," (as you say) in order to draw out the target audience. Does that make sense? If you remember that while reading my article it may relieve a little of the anger you allegedly felt while reading it.
DeleteThat being said, I do think you are being very harsh on the prequel movies. Boba Fett, for example, is a character with very little screen time in the OT, and yet a fan favorite. While I think his written back-story was awesome before Episode II, I don't think Episode's II inclusion of Jango and young Boba were unreasonable. In fact, I think many fans were happy to see it. Furthermore, very few storm troopers were clones, actually. There are many years in between Episode Three and Episode Four. Most clones were dead by the point. Storm Troopers were recruited from various planets that the Empire held dominion over.
"When I see a title that says, “The prequels are just as good” I lose my mind. I don’t understand how anyone could objectively think that. It’s ok for people to have different opinions about things. It’s ok with me that you like the prequels, but to say that there is no difference in quality between the two trilogies is unfathomable to me."
Well here's the possible reason on why you struggle to fathom my title: You're trying to say that movies can be objectively good or bad, when in reality they are entirely subjective. The term "good" is be definition subjective. Hence my title (which in large part, I will admit, is click-bait). If I were to write a second article that was something more specific like, say, "Why the Prequels Are Better Screenplays," then you could start to move into more "objective," areas of argument (though even that is still subjective).
My article, however, hardly touches upon film techniques, or even acting for that matter. My article is meant to provide those who made a hasty and uniformed decision about the prequels an opportunity to rethink things. Thus, when I say that I believe that the Prequel Trilogy provides just as much enjoyment and value as the Original Trilogy (see the abstract), I deeply, truly mean it. Is that still hard for you to fathom?
It appears you had more to say.
DeleteYou aren't the first person to comment that ESB was an "improvement," upon Episode 4. While you are correct, since I was comparing the Prequel Trilogy as a sequel to the OT, I didn't think this was a very appropriate comparison to make. In regards to the other movies you listed, I haven't seen many of them. Sorry, I'm not a movie buff. I'm a Star Wars buff. As such I apologize for not being able to list more well-made sequels. Regardless, I think my point still stands.
The reason I ask people to "laugh at Jar Jar," even when he isn't funny is not because I want people to force themselves to like something. If you remember who my target audience is (see my previous reply for more information) then you'll remember that I'm trying to communicate something to someone who has made an uniformed decision about the prequels. Hence these people would typically watch Jar Jar Binks with a predisposition to dislike everything he does. Hence my comment is meant to be read more along the lines of "give Jar Jar a chance." Think of it as over-compensation, maybe?
I'm sorry that I offended you. That was never my intent. Maybe you aren't blinded by your nostalgia goggles, but I know a lot of people who are. You might not be as connected to as many Star Wars circles as I am, but in my experience, I have met a lot of people who already have extremely negative opinion of Episode Seven. It may surprise you to learn that all of these people also hate the prequels. Maybe it's too much for me to assume a correlation? I apologize.
You are correct, however, that I will likely find the new movies to be just as "good," as all the other movies. In my mind, more Star Wars can never be a bad thing. However, you are wrong that I don't believe in "objective quality." I do. Just, not in regards to all things creative, like film.
At any rate, I'm glad you like me. I'm sorry my article made you angry, but I appreciate you sharing your opinion. I'm always wanting to improve this paper and your feedback certainly helps.
My hopes for Episode VII are very high. I will admit that they have some tough obstacles to overcome, the largest of which is integrating the old cast with the new one. They need a story that will incorporate both casts in a believable, exciting way. These things aren’t easy, but if they accomplish them, then I couldn’t possibly ask for more.
DeleteI do have a question for you though. You love anything that is Star Wars. Is it possible for someone to make a bad Star Wars movie, hypothetically?
Let’s say I am a huge Superman fan. I love Superman. I grew up on the comics, I loved Superman I & II. And then Superman III & IV come out. Would I not be disappointed? I don’t know if you’ve seen them, but they are horrible. They are two of the worst superhero movies ever made. They are so bad I honestly can’t tell which one is worse. Do I not have the right to call them bad? Or should I try to find the good in everything?
Is film criticism even a worthwhile endeavor? Why do we care what is good and what is bad? Why do I feel the need to have an opinion about every movie I see?
Excellent questions. Since you ask, I'll share my thoughts (though I don't think my answers will surprise you). Film Criticism is a worthwhile endeavor. Through film criticism one is able to identify and share new insights in regards to a movie and its potential meaning. We care what is good and bad because we as a people try to share what we think is good (or rather, what we think has value) and we try to persuade others to avoid what we think is bad (or rather, lacking in value). Your opinion is important so far as others value it. Thus I believe in forming opinions and sharing them. The hope is that my opinion will help others to understand new insights in the formation of their opinions through what I have shared.
DeleteAs far as your Superman analogy goes, you have every right to call them bad. But your version of bad/lacking in value is different from the next guys. You should probably try to find the good in everything (for reasons), but if you can't, then by all means you should call it bad and tell everyone to avoid it.
In this sense, I do believe there can, and has been, a bad Star Wars movie. The Animated Clone Wars movie (which preceded the TV series that is awesome) is a bad movie. I've only watched it 3 times but I have yet to find anything that I deem "good," and thus I would say that it's bad. Terrible, awful and mind-numbing even. If someone were to tell me that I'm wrong and that I should give it another chance for whatever reason, however, I would be willing to try again.
I took a poetry class in college actually and the main focus of the class was whether or not there is "universally true," or "universally good," poetry or not. A similar subject. It's an interesting idea because we often ascribe value to a certain style of writing or manner of film making and then proceed to judge other creative works by this standard we've created. The point is, however, that we are the ones who have created the standard. The point is though, the standards aren't universal truths of story-telling, but rather something that we had imagined. As such, they are only as useful as you place value in them.
Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is this: Saying this movie is bad because So-and-so's acting was bad is only a valuable opinion so far as you a) agree with their sentiment and b) consider So-and-so's acting an integral part of the story. Does that make sense? Sorry I'm ranting.
This isn't something I've been able to devote a lot of time to, however, and I feel like my opinion is still forming. I'm interested to hear your thoughts?
I should have proofread before I published that response. So many errors. Sorry. Hopefully you can make sense of it.
DeleteYou know Brian, I think we're on the same page. You make some good points. I think I get where you are coming from. I tend not to criticize acting so much, because it seems like a criticism that is easy to make and defend. If someone says Harrison Ford gave a bad performance in Cowboys vs. Aliens how do you argue? Pretty much your argument just boils down to a petulant “No he didn’t”.
DeleteBut seriously, how bad was that Clone Wars movie? I was so excited to take my son to a Star Wars movie (he was born two days after Episode II came out so he missed all the prequels in theater). I wanted to finally watch the opening crawl on a big screen with him. What a piece of garbage. I never even gave the show a chance based on it. Though I am catching up with it now and it is pretty good.
Superman 3 had one redeeming scene, where Supes battles himself. Superman 4 is just terrible.
DeleteGreat debate on Star Wars!
Your article is so good that I want to get out the Prequels & watch them again - well done ! .... the only thing I can say is remove Jar Jar or tone him down , change his voice then that would stop a lot of hate...the Prequels are visually stunning & for me EP3 is my fav Star Wars movie.....
ReplyDeleteI, for one, entirely agree with the article. The Prequels are great movies, but people have tried to criticize them for countless illegitimate reasons. Your article is one that has taken the honest truth and made it visible to the world (and I thank you for that)! The world needs to know that Episodes I-III are just as good (if not, better) than Episodes IV-VI. Hopefully, in time, people will understand this, and look back on their ridiculous behavior and recognize their faults.
ReplyDeleteI would, however, like to express one disagreement with the comments about the animated Clone Wars movie from 2008. I believe that this movie was great entertainment, but it was perceived in the wrong fashion. When I entered that movie theater, and the opening sequence began, I felt as though I understood that this movie shouldn't be viewed as an episode to the Star Wars saga. The movie was an incredible pilot to the spectacular TV series, but it wasn't a very strong chapter in the overall saga. It wasn't meant to be, though. The story in the movie isn't that important compared to the episodes, but the movie itself did a great job of re-introducing us to some of our favorite characters. Plus, it gave us our first look at some new characters to the story of Star Wars, including Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, Asajj Ventress, and a few other minor characters in the movie (who we would learn more about throughout the series). In conclusion, the Clone Wars theatrical release wasn't a good episode/chapter, but it was a great pilot/introduction to the TV series. I would highly recommend that you view it as a "kick-butt" TV pilot!
I do agree with the comment questioning if there is "universal goodness", and this can be easily related to Star Wars. There have been bad Star Wars movies/stories. I didn't enjoy the "Ewok Adventure" movies one bit, and I think that most people can agree with me when I say that the old "Holiday Special" was horrific. I would also like to mention that different pieces of the Expanded Universe didn't feel like genuine Star Wars. Nothing in the world is "totally perfect", and this is still true with Star Wars.
The Clone Wars was truly extraordinary, however, (both the movie and the series), and you could easily say that it took the best of IV-VI and the best of I-III and made a series out of them. The movie was rough, but just because the animation wasn't as breathtaking as later Clone Wars episodes were, this didn't make it a bad movie. I believe that it was: A) a decent movie, B) a weak episode/chapter, but C) an outstanding pilot to the series. The Clone Wars was, undeniably, a worthy story to be labeled 'Star Wars', but it must simply be approached in the right manner.
All of this said, I was very upset to see the show being ended prematurely. There were so many great stories left to be told, and the show had grown more and more beloved in the Star Wars community. I'm really interested in seeing if the new show "Rebels" will continue the Clone Wars' plots, and I hope that the new show continues the tradition of great entertainment in Star Wars.
I may not agree with everything Disney has done with the Star Wars franchise yet, though. I was heartbroken to see the Clone Wars cancelled, I was disappointed to see Lucasarts shut down, and I was very discouraged to see the entire Expanded Universe discarded. There were some great stories in the EU (Thrawn Trilogy, Force Unleashed, Old Republic, etc.), and I just didn't think they needed to get rid of ALL of it.
That being said, I'm still excited to see Episode VII. I do hope that the production team isn't too reverent of the original trilogy, and instead can find the perfect balance (between the OT, PT, and CW) and make an extraordinary film. Maybe, after the new film is released, fans will grow to recognize the Prequels' greatness, and enjoy every aspect of all of the stories in the saga!
Qui Gon's death was not meaningless. To a first time viewer of Star Wars, his death would be much more meaningful than if ObiWan had been killed by Maul instead. Qui Gon saved the queen, saved Anakin from slavery, stood up against the council and was the central peacemaker in the whole conflict. In Star Wars, Lucas is extolling the virtues of individualism and instinct, not obedience or structure. So, when Qui Gon dies, we wonder how Obi Wan will do training the boy. We're skeptical because Obi Wan clearly struggles with being as virtuous as Qui Gon. By Episode 2, we see the toll Obi Wan is taking on Anakin, and we are meant to sympathize. Obi Wan is a stern master. "You will learn your place." Contrast that with Qui Gon's "I will do what I must." Qui Gon disobeys the council, and Obi Wan sees this as foolish, since Qui Gon "would be on the council" if he would just learn his place. Well, the lesson is, if you put very intuitive people in their place like that, that will contribute to them wanting more power.
ReplyDeleteI sympathize with your sitting through Plinkett's inane reviews. I also much appreciate your actually typing your own argument in a coherent and respectful manner that doesn't waste my time with lowest common denominator banalities that are a true crime against humanity that Plinkett claims the prequel trilogies to be.
ReplyDeleteYou are right that there is room for further defense/elaboration on your points but this essay is a good, concise introduction as to the alternative view of the prequels. Although I am not your target audience since I also like the prequels, I don't know if it can cut through the emotional blocks that some of these people have to liking the prequels.
What's funny is that they are, like Anakin, overly attached and simply won't let go. Their love of Star Wars is a good thing but when it is a selfish, obsessive love, it is destructive to not just the Star Wars fandom but also to themselves. Some of the prequel-haters just seem like such unhappy, bitter people to me and I really pity them for spending so much energy on inconsequential stuff that they would shrug off if it happened in any other franchise. But here we are, people still pouring all this hate and anger over a decade later.
Agreed...such a pity...
DeleteDid you watch ALL of Plinkett's reviews? Not just the first part of The Phantom Menace?
DeleteJust came across this page from a "lack of models in the PT" thread on some site.
ReplyDeleteAmazing, intelligent and thoughtful article - well said Brian !
Thanks! I really appreciate you taking the time to read my article!
DeleteI'm sorry but all your well-intentioned points can't erase the fact that the movies sucked ass so bad I still have not gotten over it. Almost everything about them was poor. Where do I begin?!...the acting; some of the worst I've seen ever, with a notable few exceptions; Liam Neeson, Jimmy Smits, Ian McDiarmid and Christopher Lee. All the others...painful to watch. The dialog was some of the worst, a lot of used-up cliches, the situations, all rushed. a lot of non-sense, a lot of cheese ("Are you an angel?")...omg!.. The CGI took away much of the real feel of the original movies. Obi Wan's silly jokes and comments were so uncharacteristically of a Jedi.... We say that necesity id the mother of invention. Well, I have the need to invent a time machine to go back in time and sabotage these prequel movies!!
ReplyDelete''Used-up cliches''?
DeleteI guess you mean mythical archetypes of characters and situations described in J.Cambell's ''hero with 1000 faces''...
Guess what...ep.4-6 were ''based'' on that book too...
As far as CGI...nothing more realistic i guess than a 1foot plastic model of a 1mile long spaceship that looks like a toy hovering in outer space that can only go one direction in a single shot...ughhh
I was 12 when the original Star Wars movie came out. I thought it was okay, but not great. I thought that The Empire Strikes Back was much better, but despised the Ewoks with a passion. They flat out ruined Return of the Jedi. I find the prequels, with the exception of Jar Jar, and the necessary adding of useless characters like the female Yoda,, to be far superior. Jar Jar disappears as the prequels go on which shows that the creative talents could spot a loser when they wrote one. They also ignored the execrable Ewoks and featured more of R2D2, rather than C3PO. The creative talent explored more about the Sith and their origins, and also introduced Darth Maul, a truly great character, but unfortunately we see too little of him. Christopher Lee's character (except for his silly name) was a far more interesting character than Yoda, who is stolen from Zen Buddhism and whose silliness becomes off-putting at times. Mr. Miyagi was a far better and far more interesting version of this Buddhist archetype than Yoda ever was, although the differences between the characters is not great.
ReplyDeleteThe prequels are darker, much more well written and far more complex. The prequels make clear that it is Obi-won, and no one else that the six movies are ultimately about.
What? Obi-won is barely in episodes five and six, but like Moses, who never made it to the promised land, Obi-won remains the focus rather than Josuha, who finally led the Children from the wilderness.
The unacknowledged secret (to many) about the Star Wars Universe is that it is the Dark Horse Comics which reign supreme. The Dark Horse stories (and their accompanying old time radio versions) are far more interesting, far more nuanced and far more creative than the simplistic dualistic universe of the movies.
Nevertheless, Revenge of the Sith was a singular achievement in terms of complexity. Even though Obi-won is the hero at first glance, a closer look shows that there is a quite convincing argument that Anakin was right and the Jedi were wrong in the film, at least in terms of Republican political theory. This makes Anakin a tragic character, rather than just a humongous jerk.
The Jedi appear to lack all legal authority for their actions at the end of Revenge of the Sith and attempt what can only be called an illegal coup. Palpatine's actions, although evil, appear to be entirely constitutional, while those of Yoda and Mace Windu appear well-meaning but violently illegal. This is what makes a story interesting, not Ewoks and mindless witty reparte.
Find me any scene from any action file ever that compares with the final battle between Anakin and his mentor who loves him dearly in terms of excitement and pathos, not to mention that the dialogue during the battle is incisive and full of double entendres.
Going forward, however, I am not sure what the future holds. Why Lucas and Disney ignore the far superior Dark Horse version of the Star Was Universe is unclear. I have seen two recent cartoons dealing with the Star Wars Universe. One was a Lego version which had a verve and humor much like Star Wars 4 at its best. The second is called Star Wars Rebels and is simply not good at all. I have four children who love all 6 Star Wars movies and who sort of enjoyed the Clone Wars who have told me to cancel the season's pass for Star Wars Rebels. The animation is terrible. The characters are hackneyed and appear to be drawn to resemble other Disney characters with a bit of anime thrown in.
Anyone interested more in what is possible going forward, should check out the audio versions of the Dark Horse Comics which deal with the return of the Emperor, Luke's loss of innocence and origin of the Sith Order. These stories are far better than anything that I have seen in the 7 movies which have come out so far.
:) Yes! Someone who sees the same things I do regarding the prequels. I think bullying someone into disliking something is just a form of 'group think' and I refuse to like something (or dislike) because everyone else does!
ReplyDeleteI think it's totally unreasonable to judge Anakin and Padme based on our societies norms because they weren't the norms in there case. For Anakin its forbidden, he had nothing to go by on expressing his feelings for her.
My only disagreement is on the Han shot first bit, for 2 reasons: 1: No explanation given for Greedo missing (with those big eyes, at that distance. ) 2. If you know Boba's backstory (no matter what Disney thinks), then you should know Han had one invented too, in 2 trilogies by Ann Crispin and Brian Daley. Who shot first (and why) had a big effect on character development and growth at the time. Since Han was a main character, that mattered. Otherwise I didn't mind the changes at all.
I really think this must have a lot to do with when you watched them. I personally was about ten or so when episode I came out so it was the first one I saw and I loved it. Had the Padme barbie doll and everything. By the time episode II came out I was just entering that teenage girl interested in romance stage so of course absolutely fell in love with it too partly thanks to the forbidden romance storyline. By the time Episode III rolled round I was more mature and educated and absolutely loved it, but for different reasons including the fact that it dealt with two things that were huge passions of mine- Politics and Different Cultures. At the same time on tv they were replaying the original trilogy for all those who wanted a refresher before seeing Episode III so I decided to watch them.
ReplyDeleteCall me too young and naive or stupid or whatever else you want but I actually turned to my mother when it came on and said "There's something wrong with the TV, all the colours and graphics are funny" I'd never seen a movie that old before and from the get go I felt disconnected from the story because it wasn't bright and beautiful the way the Prequels were and to me the special effects were horrifyingly laughable, I couldn't understand how people could have considered them cutting edge.
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the original trilogy but my biggest complaint was the storyline was just lacking in scope. It made comments about Galactic Empires and the whole universe yet all we ever really saw were small bands of individuals. It seemed like a group of people forging a small rebellion against a small ruling party, a ruling party that was apparently so weak that a handful of annoying little teddy bear like creatures could bring it down. There was no discussion of politics, of alliances, of uniting planets. It was as if the majority of the universe simply didn't exist whereas the prequels it truly felt like you were beholding an incredible, complex universe with political systems fascinating enough to rival the Caesars of Rome and Hitlers Germany.
So as someone who watched the prequels first and is only 25 to me they will always be the superior movies and I truly believe that you are right about the two main reasons why people dislike them. Everyone of the previous generation was enraptured by the original trilogy as children or very young adults themselves and lets face it we all get nostalgic about our favourite things from childhood. They expected the prequels to fill them with the same sense of wonder and amazement not taking into consideration that they had grown into cynical, jaded adults in the meantime who would never experience the world with the same childlike wonder. They blamed this on the movies but instead it speaks to what exists within their adult hearts and minds.
And for the people my own age and younger who dislike them I agree that its most likely just jumping on the hate bandwagon because under questioning they can't seem to ever provide decent arguements. The one I most often here is that it had bad acting and annoying characters but as you mentioned the originals have it just as much as well. Good god some of the creatures that hung out with Jabba or in the bar on Tatooine were hideously cringeworthy in the originals and Luke was just as annoying and whiny for the first two movies but I found him less forgiveable because at least Anakin was gorgeous to look at with Christiansen's big puppy dog eyes and sweet smile.
I think most of it is a generational thing and as we get further into the millenium and younger and younger people discover star wars without any bias the view of the prequels will slowly be rewritten to be much more favourable.
Too much CGI puts me to sleep. I don't want to watch a cartoon. End of discussion.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, have you watched any recent blockbusters? It may surprise you to learn that movies like The Avengers, Interstellar and even Guardians of The Galaxy had much more CGI than the prequels. Perhaps those "cartoons" also put you to sleep?
DeleteI actually didn't much care for The Avengers, but Guardians of the Galaxy was an exception because of how good the story was. The prequel just didn't have good stories.
DeleteThe Prequels have better stories than Guardians of the Galaxy.
DeleteBefore writing my comment I want to apologize for any misunderstandings connected to the wrong usage of words. (My mother tongue is German)
ReplyDeleteWhere to start? First of all, I want to thank you for this article, because it served me with explanations for my inner disagreement with all the bashing and hate towards the prequels. It took me a long time to think about why I just couldn't cope with people repeatedly stating how bad almost everything about the prequels is OR (in my opinion even worse) trying to make up totally ridiculous suggestions on how they could have been made better. Yet, I barely had any reasons to underline my opinion. Those you wrote about in this article, some of them I never even thought about, help me understand myself why I would never rate the prequels any worse than the original trilogy. So once again, thanks.
But now I want to share my own experience as Star Wars to me isn't only a global collective phenomenon, but also a highly personal thing for each of the fans due to the heterogeneity of the fanbase in age, origin, background etc.
I was born in 1995, 12 years after the release of "Return of the Jedi" so of course my first encounter with Star Wars was amazing and inconsiderate towards anything connected to the storyline, backgrounds. Being born to a Star Wars-fanatic father I was lucky enough to watch the original trilogy at the age of 3, preserving me from the incredible anticipation many of you guys must have felt waiting for the saga to return. Until the age of 10 all six movies that have been released so far were released, so still even after having watched all of them at that time, I didn't have any negative feelings towards the one or the other trilogy, everything was just AWESOME.
As my love and fascination for Star Wars remained and evolved I dove into the matter of books, games and films concerning the expanded universe as well as the actual Star Wars canon.
Only years ago I began recognizing the given subject of disregard of the prequels. So at this point I won't be reciting your article, but just share one essential thought on why the prequels were almost exactly what they were supposed to be.
Thinking about the necessity of a prequel trilogy, you have to be really certain about what they were supposed to do:
Explain the tragedy of Darth Vader, clear up the WTF when it comes to understanding how Darth Vader is the father of Luke AND Leia, being an evil badass, yet not being able to kill Like, how the galaxy got to be controlled by the empire and what the actual hell Jedi are. And that is exactly what Episodes I-III did. I mean, how would Darth Vader/Anakin have become so bitter without the fear of loss and the actual loss of Padme? And that's only one of the many solved questions, the first three movies left all of us with.
Nothing more to say, just thanks for the very decent and profound article. :)
Thanks for the response. I am glad you liked my article and I appreciate you sharing your Star Wars experience.
DeleteCommon sense is strong with you!
ReplyDeleteHave you considered making a narrative youtube-video (static images in the background would suffice) of this to share with the sad haters?
Things could be added to this like the allusions to J.Cesar's rise to power or Sidius being an allusion to a King Philosopher in Plato's Republic controlling the ''shadows of truth''...
It really saddens me that one of the best parts of ep1-3 (politics/philosophy) are bashed so much by haters (maybe lack of education...but that is too harsh...)
I'm really sick and tired of them acting as if they're the majority/real fans...they're not...
Sincerely thank you!
P.S. English isn't my native language, so please excuse any mistakes
Thanks for the kind words! I hadn't thought about making this into a video, but now that you mention it... Maybe I should!
DeleteSad haters? You mean people who actually use rational thought and actually think about the films they're watching? Instead of just blatantly accepting anything that has "Star Wars" slapped on it?
DeleteI made this using Plinkett's PT ''reviews'' and applied the same ''arguements'' to the OT's ''The Empire Strikes Back''...the result is quite the same...
ReplyDeleteYou might like it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0jeBZShGiA&spfreload=10
Firs of all i want to congaratulate you on this brilliant article. In my opinion the prequles are awesome, Revenge Of The Sith is a masterpice and i loved Hayden Christensen as Anakin/Vader. Also i think that the prequel hate is not as big as it used to be. All the people that i talk to about Star Wars think that the prequels are great and they even prefer them over the original movies. Just ignore the trolls and enjoy STAR WARS :).
ReplyDeleteI would just like to thank you for putting this all together for other people to read. Previous to this I had never really given the prequels a chance, and now I can't even think of a good reason to why I was passionately hating a part of something that I really loved. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree any more to this. Even though I was born in 1994 and didn't fully understand Star Wars until Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith in 2005, I still kept an unbiased, open mind to ALL six current films. I even went back to watch "A New Hope"; "The Empire Strikes Back"; and "Return of the Jedi"- all with an appreciation equal to that of the prequels. I will always consider myself a true SW fan by looking at the overall scope of the franchise. :)
ReplyDeleteVery well spoken. :)
ReplyDeleteStar Wars forever, no matter if original, prequel, or sequel!! A true SW fan would respect ALL 6 (soon-to-be 7...) films! :)
For all the critique of the prequel "haters," do we not also have an equally passionate group of prequel "apologists" who bend over backwards to defend every criticism aimed at the prequels with the same type of devotion a religious person would have if his faith were under attack? They view any criticism of Star Wars as being completly misguided and without merit, refusing to believe anything could possibly be wrong with Star Wars, even dreaming up elaborate explanations to cover the most beguiling and nonsensical aspects of the prequels and the way they were made. If you want to defend the films, fine. But don't pretend they were perfect and that anyone who criticizes them is an idiot, crazy or a mean, heartless person.
ReplyDeleteI never said the Prequels were perfect. In fact, I went out of my way to mention in my essay that they aren't perfect. Had I been in charge, I would have done things very differently. But even so, there is a lot of good in the movies. A lot of good that I think some Star Wars fans are missing out on .
DeleteThat is fine if you disagree with me. That doesn't make you an idiot, crazy, mean or heartless. I'm sorry if I implied that it did.
Just want to say that I think this article is fantastic - I completely agree.
ReplyDeleteWhat you wrote about response bias is spot on, I wish more people would try to form their own opinion on these movies, rather than just listening to what everyone else says.
I believe Revenge of the Sith is one of the greatest films ever made because it is so tragic and complex. It also has an awesome soundtrack.
Hopefully over time people will start to judge the prequels more fairly.
Great article I agree with all that was said and it is very refreshing to finally read something positive about the PT (which I love as a movie trilogy). My personal feeling is that although I enjoy the whole Star Wars Universe my personal preference for an interesting political struggle in the background of movies meant that episode 1-3 really resonated with me. I watched the original New Hope the other day and although I enjoyed it immensely (as always) I couldn't help but feel like compared to the prequel movies there just wasn't quite the depth and pace of story that revenge of the sith has for example. When you consider the movie as a whole you move from Tatooine to the Death Star and then to the rebel attack back against the Death Star. In comparison, in a movie of the same length Revenge of the Sith has a much more diverse story and settings.
ReplyDeleteOf course without the original ground breaking trilogy there would be no prequels or comparison. Maybe my love for the prequels exists because they are really what I grew up with (born in 1992) and I will be as cynical as the original trilogy fans about the sequel trilogy. I really hope I won't! Looking forward greatly to The Force Awakens!
I don't why people think the prequels are bad I mean they might be a few mistakes ,but to be honest I love epiaodes I-VI and I think the prequels were great.
ReplyDeleteThe reasons why I think they were good are below.
1. Its involve in politics
2. Maul's death is not that bad and he didnt really died.
3. Revenge of the sith
3.people say that Anakin was a baby but dont you think that was part of his journie to the dark side, rebember when yoda said your in great danger.
4. The CGI Yoda was maybe because he was younger.
5. Everybody makes mistakes
6.I think it fits with the original triology
7. If you dont like the faxt that mostly everything was in politics than I'll like to let you know that the original triology talk abour politics because remember Princess Leia was part of the imperial senate. Also The empire was a govermment, watch star wars episode 4 and you might find all of this.
8. The age of the characters does not matter anyway that was only episode 1
9. Remember that Maul was not the only sith lord on the prequels
10. Cool planeets
11. Teachnology
12. George Lucas did some things write.
13. The clone wars was a nixe thing about the prequels
14. You get to see how C-3PO meet R2-D2
15. Its nice to see how everything started
16. The lightsaber battles are awesome
17. All the action
18. Its was nice to see suspense and how plapatine hide his identity.
19. There was comedy
1 morrowing was better then both oblivion or skyrim based on depth and design, everywhere you went felt like it had immense depth, there was alot more factions to choose from, armour was alot more customisable (8 peices in morrowind vs. 4 in skyrim) they also had like 100 more weapon types skyrim only had 1 hand sword and a 2 hand sword but morrowind had like 4 types of japanese swords alone + at least 6 or seven regular varients, and that's just swords never mind multiple maces war hammers, you could levitate the entire map and jump (like actually jump) litterily miles in a direction or into the sky.
ReplyDelete2 I did feel betrayed when it came to the way the hobbit was done, watched a few clips of it but will never watch the entire thing the original LOTR trilogy cannot be beat.
3 The question of the trade federation invading wasn't about palpatine's goals of the invasion, but about the Federations themselves goal, however that i think is explained in movie or at least in the EU about trade sanctions put on them by human planets or something along the line of that, similar to Russia or Iran right.
Anyways I do want to say fucking thank you, no one in this world seems to be able to think for themselves in this day and age, and I will admit the quality of EVERYTHING this world produces has gone down immensely since the year 2000, I still thoroughly enjoyed the star wars prequels even though it's blasphemy to say this, as much or slightly more then the OT, only because of some of the cringeworthy ewok battle scenes though.
I will say however I will not accept or enjoy JJ abrahms new movie this 2015 like I will the other movies, this is solely because of the disney canning of the EU, star wars after XI is all kyle katarn and the remnent for me unfortunatly. We will see what they do with it, but so far rebals, the new not made by free-radical battleftont, and the canning of the EU which I came to love as much as the movies themselves has already put me into a negative mood for it. we'll see but i doubt I will like these movies as much as the pre-quels.
Thank you for this article. I actually grew up a year after the phantom meance and I've loved Star Wars ever since its been apart of since childhood and I grew up with the prequels begin my "originals" and I later watched the classics and I still love Star Wars equally its so great. But I hate it when people just talk so much trash about the prequels even though they're not the originals still a great direction. But either way thank you for this great argument. Have a good day everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe Prequels are unwatchable in my opinion.
ReplyDeletethat's real harsh man . they weren't unwatchable . you should give them a chance.
DeleteWe have given them a chance. They're atrocious.
DeleteThank you for this article!
ReplyDeleteGood read. Very accurate. PT bashers are idiots. I'm saying it because I know you want to say it but can't because you need to keep your impartiality.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't idiots. They have plenty of reason to think those films are terrible.
DeleteI applaud you, sir. It's nice to see more people who don't despise the prequels. As for the new upcoming movies, I'm still feeling a little sketchy since they abandoned the EU, but I think I'm willing to give them a chance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the article! I had written a long reply of 1500+ words, only to discover that I couldn't post it because it was too long. /: In short, I wrote about how I believe that the plot of the Prequel trilogy could be improved, and thus I disagree with you about that point. Otherwise, I enjoyed reading your article and consider myself a Star Wars fan who loves both trilogies.
ReplyDelete-- Stian
Nice article. Love it! :)
ReplyDeleteSomeone had to defend the prequels :)
Go ahead; go watch Plinkett’s review of Star Wars on YouTube right now. You’ll be surprised at how many of his complaints are simply “blank sucks,” or “blank is stupid,” without any supporting evidence.
ReplyDeleteUhhhh, did you watch those videos? He has PLENTY of evidence, looking at behind the scenes footage, referencing the original trilogy, talking about other films, including classics like Citizen Kane and Indiana Jones, and looking at George Lucas' decisions about the prequels. You clearly did not watch them.
I did watch them. He did talk about some of those things you mentioned. I hardly say he used them as "evidence," but I'm willing to be proved wrong. Post some timecodes or direct quotes and I will check them out.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, you literally put every thought I've had for the prequels on paper, you deserve an award! Thanks once again!
ReplyDeleteThis. Everybody should read this. I've been a Star Wars fan for the better part of my life and have always preferred the prequels to the originals. I don't deny the nostalgic value of the originals and their place in the history of filmmaking. But as you said, a lot of the praise they've received indeed stems from the nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteI was 9 when Phantom Menace came out. I grew up watching Star Wars, and was immediately enchanted by the story of a huge republic crumbling in the hands of an evil genius. To me the Jedi have always been an organization and not just one single hero. I've read tons of literature on the history and workings of the Jedi order, and all the thought Lucas put into it gives a whole another depth to the word Jedi. Did you know there are 7 different fighting styles the Jedi use? Each Jedi pick their own according to what suits them best. Obi-Wan's is strongly based on defence, while Mace Windu uses a more aggressive style of combat. Yeah, no wonder the duels looked great.
As far as main characters go, I agree with you on Obi-Wan being the main character of the prequels. In fact, if you watch Episodes I, II and III purely from that point of view the story takes on a whole new meaning. You get to watch a young man grow up to take responsibilities for others and battle with his caring towards his loved ones and what he knows to be right. The difference between Obi-Wan and other movie heroes is that he actually, based on a lifetime of learning to do so, ignored his personal feelings and did his duty. Too bad he was still up for a disappointment.
What I've always found fascinating is people's disappointment in Anakin's character. I mean, based on everything you learn in the original trilogy, you already knew he was once good but gave in to the temptations of the dark side. We knew the reason he turned was that he was too weak to fight it, yet for some reason people are outraged to learn weakness was indeed what caused him of succumb. Yes, Darth Vader was one of the coolest movie villains of all time. But before that he was a whiny, insecure, and easily manipulated kid. And like you pointed out before, he had every reason to. People just have to deal with it.
I could ramble on forever but I think I'll just stop here. The point here is, that you sir, are right, and everybody should hear what you have to say. Thank you.
I like this article a lot. With all the hype surrounding THE FORCE AWAKENS people seem to be amping up the trash talk about the prequels... and maybe I've been living under a rock because my response has always been "Wait... since when do people hate the prequels?" Obviously I'm aware that people (including myself) had some pretty big bones to pick with The Phantom Menace... so I get that. But I was under the impression that Episodes II and (especially) III were pretty well received. Everyone I knew was psyched as hell to see them and many I know even saw them multiple times. Yet, suddenly, they're being referred to everywhere as unquestionable and absolute rubbish. WTF? Here's what I think: PEOPLE HAVE DREADFULLY SHORT MEMORIES.... and discontent is infectious. I also wouldn't be surprised if there's a little more to this than meets the eye. Is it possible that Disney's been planting seeds of hate since their acquisition of Lucasfilm? Maybe that sounds nuts... but what better way to make The Force Awaken seem like THE REAL Star Wars sequel. The trilogy everyone MUST SPEND ALL THEIR MONEY ON!! Perhaps I've taken this too far. But I'm sick and tired of hearing nothing but trash talk about the prequels and I can't figure out for the life of me when this became the world we were living in.
ReplyDeletereally amazing movie i like it
ReplyDeleteThank you for this very well thought out article. I agree with your conclusions wholeheartedly. I have no doubts that with the passage of time, the prequels will find greater favor as they begin to be judged thoughtfully on their own merits as works of art.
ReplyDeleteGreat article, and great job delivering your opinions in a very respectable tasteful way. The majority of the opposing view is usually filled with hateful negative comments that harbors nothing constructive. It just blows my mind how much hate and negativity these movies receive. How many of these people have ever made a movie themselves? How many of these people have ever created something from their imagination. Would you stare at a painting and criticize every color and brush stroke the painter made? SMH People really seem to enjoy sharing their hate of something and reinforcing it with one another.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me you're either obsessed with the phenomenon that was the original star wars and nothing else will do or you're a Fan of the World of Star Wars. People lost their $h!t over the remastered original trilogy because of the new added scenes and the modern CG that was used to Complete scenes. George Lucas created this trilogy you hold so dear and if he wants to create a vision he feels more satisfied with then he has every right to do so. The original films are there for you watch anytime you want. Because honestly I think that people are so obsessed with the Originals that they expected the exact same mood and setting of the originals for the prequels. The Prequels cover a completely different time and series of events in the story and therefore should reflect that in the portrayal on the screen and I think they did an Outstanding job in doing so.
The Prequel Trilogy (in my opinion) was Amazing, sometimes flawed but Amazing. Loved the originals as well, but the Prequels were full of much more complicated and intricate interactions and meaningful insight of the Star Wars story and Mythology.
I was born in 78. I've seen all 6 several times and just saw the 7th, and episode 3 is still my favorite of all of them. It was a Phenomenal film! There wasn't one scene one world of dialogue that wasn't important to the story or wasn't driving the story forward. The film had so much Power, Emotion, and Information.
More star wars is awesome! Just saw 7 the force awakens, loved it, and looking very much forward to episode 8. Star Wars Rocks!!!!!!!!
Thanks again for writing this article. It's always nice to see someone sharing, spreading some Love, Positivity, and appreciation, and I appreciate that for these films. Well done!
The biggest problem with the prequels begins and ends with two C words. Consistency and Continuity.
ReplyDeleteProblem #1 - Obi Wan and the aging of characters. At the beginning of The Phantom Menace, Obi Wan's around 20. By the end of Episode 3, he's 13 years older. Fast forward of A New Hope - he's 53. That desert air must age people rather quickly because Owen and Beru Lars age even more rapidly considering how they looked in Clones and Sith.
Speaking of Obi Wan, think back to the conversation his force ghost had with Luke in Jedi. None of it adds up to the events that transpired in the prequels. Either Obi wan went really senile of Lucas is guilty of some really bad story telling.
This brings us to the biggest gaffe of all - Leia's memories of her mother. Very sad, very beautiful. Padme died shortly after giving birth. How could Leia possibly have any memory of her? Please do not try and explain this away by saying she's thinking of her adopted mother because your credibility will into the toilet.
Overall, you do make some valid points. At the same time the points mentioned above cannot be ignored or dismissed.
Really? The fact that Leia remembers her mother (but Luke does not even though they were twins) is why the PT is terrible? Some infants do have memories of their mother in the womb you know. I would say that the story in ROTJ was messed up to begin with if they are twins but only Leia remembers anything. Lots of good movies have way worse continuity issues that this one.
Deleteactually obi wan was 24 in episode 1 and 38 in episode 3 and 58 in a new hope so alec guiness was around 60 61 about the age of obi wan
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ReplyDeleteA great article, well posed and cited. I also happen to agree 100%. I also would like to add one observation. I saw the OT when I was 7-14 in the theaters. I had never seen a movie like that ever and it was very impressionable. It was revolutionary at the time. I feel like everyone my age thinks the OT was perfect in every way. It was not. As I grew older and watched it over and over again, I noticed bad dialogue, bad acting, plot faults, etc. But I still loved it because the story was fun. The PT was bigger and bolder, but the flaws were still there..I overlooked them because the story is still great. But most from my generation expected to go to the theater and be awed like when they were 7. That just wasn't going to happen. I would take your nostalgia glasses even further and call them "youth glasses". We tend to accept all movie flaws when we are young and that translates into nostalgia when we are older.
ReplyDeleteI also notice that the younger fans love the PT but just think the OT is ok. Well, let's face it...the effects in the OT are dated and the light saber duels are boring compared to what's in the PT. So I can understand their feelings. Again, youth glasses seeing a modern effects movie then watching a movie with dated effects and duels.
I also agree that people love to hate. I know so many who seem to think that they are a great movie buff if they find a way to hate everything. No movie is ever good in their "expert opinion". Whatever. If I stayed awake and wasn't checking the time, it was a good movie. If I want to see it more than once, it's a better movie. If I see it over and over again, it's a fantastic movie because I am entertained every time. No movie is perfect.
Could go on and on but then nobody would read this. But I will say that a comment like, "the movie is atrocious" is a pretty silly comment..would like to know why you think this.
So, we can have endless philosophical discussions about this topic, but in the end they are all moot.
ReplyDeleteLike a previous poster, I did not go into the prequels with any preconcieved notions. I saw the first one on opening weekend. I also did not go in with a chip on my shoulder thinking there was no way they were going to compare to the originals. I wanted them to be great. And I honestly did not hate the first of the prequels - I was disappointed in it, but I didn't hate it. My hatred of the prequels was a progressive slow process that grew with each movie. But that isn't my point.
If you have to spend 10 months writing a paper to explain to folks that a set of movies is good - you've already lost the battle. Loving a movie or hating one is not in the end an intellectual process. It is visceral. I absolutely love the original trilogy, but I could sit down right now and write several pages detailing all of its flaws, all of the reasons it just should not have worked. But it did. Regardless of everything that was wrong with the original three, they worked. And the reasons why are amorphous and undefined - an alchemy of ingredients that came together in just the right way to produce something magical.
I respect the intellectual perspective of your paper, but regardless of all the reasons why we should have liked the prequels, the fact is that large majorities of us just didn't. You can take the movies apart and look at all the pieces individually and make valid arguements about why many of the ingredients of great movies were there, but when all is said and done, when you put it back together and watch it on a screen the whole is just missing something - that amorphous, undefinable something that would have made it great. You cannot change the fact that we don't love it by telling us why we should.
The best analogy I can think of is a relationship. When you are dating someone, you cannot make yourself love them by sitting down and writing out a list of all of their wonderful qualities. If you do not love them, it does not matter if they are good looking, successful, kind, great with kids and small puppiies, etc. If that ellusive something isn't there, it just isn't, regardless of whether it should be or not.
DeleteFirst, I’m not sure you know what moot means, unless you actually did intend to say that “we can have endless philosophical discussions about this topic, but in the end they are all [debatable].” Which is technically true, I suppose.
Second, everyone brings bias to the table. While I don’t know your particular flavor, my article pointed out what many fans were likely feeling before seeing the Prequel trilogy. Of course it’s possible you never felt any of those “preconceived notions” or had a “chip on your shoulder,” but then again, you’d never readily admit that you had felt them, would you? Would you have even been aware of it?
Third, I suppose you can’t talk someone into “loving” a movie (something I never claim to try, by the way), but I definitely would disagree that you can talk someone out of hating one. Take a look at your relationship example. Instead of using a list of someone’s best qualities to try and fall in love with them, imagine writing a list of someone’s greatest features to see if they are worth a second chance. Isn’t it a much better analogy now?
Finally, you keep talking about movies as if there is this invisible something (throw in amorphous and elusive if you like) that glues all great movies together. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but no such thing exists. Sure, your first reaction to a movie is anything but intellectual. But looking at a 15-year-old trilogy and trying to figure out what made people hate it so much? That certainly is intellectual and I promise you there is answer (and it isn’t because they lacked “the magic.”). Similarly, I can promise you that the original trilogy’s success has specific and defined reasons that have been discussed in hundreds of peer reviewed articles. I know because I’ve read at least a dozen myself. The reason they worked is in no way mysterious.
PS. I especially liked when you said: “If you have to spend 10 months writing a paper to explain to folks that a set of movies is good - you've already lost the battle.” What would count as winning the battle? I’ve had hundreds of people send me emails saying my posts made them re-watch the Prequels and see something good in them when they had nothing but hate before. I see that as a pretty big win.
Wow! I thought since you spent so much time and effort on your article and then chose to present it on an open forum that you were inviting discourse. I have re-read my post and cannot fathom what there was about it to invite such a negative reply. I obviously disagree with much of your paper, but I did not feel the need to insult you over it. I did not imply that you are too ignorant to know the meaning of the vocabulary you use or suggest that you are so dense that you cannot possibly know your own opinion, nor did I feel the need to ridicule your thoughts although I do not agree with them - all of which you have chosen to do in your reply to me. I was able to express myself respectfully - it is unfortunate that you could not return the courtesy.
DeleteI honestly did not hate your comment at first - I was disappointed in it, but I didn't hate it. My hatred of your comment was a progressive slow process that grew with each paragraph. But that isn't my point.
DeleteI am being very harsh on your comment. I don't know. I guess while previous comments and replies have just had an alchemy of ingredients that worked, yours just didn't. Sorry.
Dear Connie,
DeleteI'm sorry I was so mean in my responses to your comments. I was having a particularly bad day (not a good excuse) and I took my frustrations out in inappropriate way. Your post and opinion are great, but I was looking for a reason to be angry and found it in your comments. For that, I am sorry.
Thanks for taking the time to have read my article/blog in the first place. Hopefully I didn't give you more reason to dislike the Prequels by not respecting your opinion.
Rest well my friend. I love your article. Despite some of these atrocious replies you've received (and fully expected) you decided to point out some good in this world. We need more men like you. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteRest well my friend. I love your article. Despite some of these atrocious replies you've received (and fully expected) you decided to point out some good in this world. We need more men like you. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteRest well my friend. I love your article. Despite some of these atrocious replies you've received (and fully expected) you decided to point out some good in this world. We need more men like you. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! Most of the hate for the prequels does come from my generation who grew up with the original movies. Talking to people at work (who are in their early twenties) has been interesting because the disdain for the prequels is inexplicably absent in our Star Wars discussions.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Padme's death isn't as odd if you consider Palpatine might have had something to do with it. Was it coincidence she died just as Vader is put in the suit? How did Palpatine even know she was dead at that time unless he was behind it? I believe he took her life force to save Vader. If Plagueiss was so powerful he could create life, surely Palpatine was powerful enough to take it away.
Great job! Most of the hate for the prequels does come from my generation who grew up with the original movies. Talking to people at work (who are in their early twenties) has been interesting because the disdain for the prequels is inexplicably absent in our Star Wars discussions.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Padme's death isn't as odd if you consider Palpatine might have had something to do with it. Was it coincidence she died just as Vader is put in the suit? How did Palpatine even know she was dead at that time unless he was behind it? I believe he took her life force to save Vader. If Plagueiss was so powerful he could create life, surely Palpatine was powerful enough to take it away.
I'm with you, fellow prequel fan. I made a blog post pertaining to this very same subject.
ReplyDeletehttp://roganu.blogspot.com/2013/12/7-criticisms-of-star-wars-prequels-and.html
This is absolutely the most hilarious thread I have ever had the grace to read. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing this article! I am 25 this year, and grew up watching Episodes I and II in the cinema first, followed by the OT on TV, and finally III. Personally I feel that both the PT and OT are unique in their own way, making it hard to selectively choose one over the other as there is no fixed set of criteria on which to evaluate both trilogies.
ReplyDeleteI would like to highlight a couple of insights I've gleaned over the years, after multiple viewings of both trilogies.
Firstly, regarding your point about Nostalgia/Youth Goggles which explains why some older fans favor the OT over the PT, I'd like to add that it is important to consider the filming technology available to Lucas and his team at the time of production of each trilogy. When A New Hope was released in 1977, it was lauded as an unprecedented breakthrough for (and redefinition of) sci-fi cinema in terms of special effects, eclipsing previous stellar films such as Logan's Run (1976) (which were now abruptly seen as being ridiculous/inferior). This breakthrough in filming technology was clearly a major factor that contributed to the hype and mystical awe of the OT at that time. When The Phantom Menace came out in 1999, however, such an overwhelming technological breakthrough was conspicuously absent (recall the wealth of 90s sci-fi films with comparable, modern special effects such as Independence Day (1996)), and I feel this may have been a major reason why a good portion of Star Wars fans found Episode I (and by the psychological conditioning you mentioned in your article the rest of the PT as well) inferior to the OT.
Secondly, I find that the disparity between the onscreen visuals of both trilogies (undoubtedly a consequence of continuous progress in filming technology over the years) as pointed out by several readers (i.e. the OT's visuals are somewhat toned down VS the PT's) may have inadvertently served to illustrate an underlying theme in the entire saga--- the oppressive, conformist, Human-centric and xenophobic nature of the Galactic Empire in contrast to the liberal, democratic, multicultural Galactic Republic. In the PT we see marvelously rich worlds teeming with various alien races and cultures of various colors (no doubt made possible by modern CGI), including the bright red and white colors of Republic vessels during the Clone Wars, whereas in the OT (made in a pre-CGI era) the Empire rules with an uncompromisingly dead shade of grey (pun unintended!), enslaving alien races and snuffing out the vibrant multicultural atmosphere that so dominated the PT. I find this to be an interesting and in a way beneficial consequence of the time gap between the production of both trilogies.
Peace to all!
so mr plinkett knows everything anybody can their opinion and they are better then the originals pure fact
ReplyDeleteand you prove the articles point
ReplyDeleteI think you comically missed the point, you seem to think people are displeased with the idea behind the main story, that is not the reason why this movies are dispised, but because how the realization of these ideas were an astronomical missfire, the prequels could have been succesful if they had hired a different director and screenwriters, but George Lucas was so lazy he chose to fulfill his lifelong dream of having the entire control, that he ended up with a mess of a film with no plot or characters motivations, Anakin and Padme lovestory could have been good had they hired different screenwriters, everything in the prequels is a representation of whe could have been, and you seem to dismiss this flaws, and not watch the reality that it is infront og you which is a bad movie, you may have liked the idea behind these plotpoints, but you seem to have ignored the rest, like a failed relationship in which you only tolerate being with someone because you've been blinded and all you want is the idea of being with that someone, when you now is not true
ReplyDeleteTHE DEFINITIVE DEFINITION OF MEDICLHORIANS FOR ANYONE WHO COULD GET PAST IT:
ReplyDeleteThe Medichlorians are a plot device introduced by George Lucas to place the upmost importance on Anakin Skywalker's necessity to be trained as a Jedi and be understood as the reason why Darth Vader can't over-through the Emperor by himself.
As they reside within the cells of living beings who are composed of various amounts of biological tissue, Yoda, for example, is smaller than the average human jedi but has one of the highest Medichlorian counts of any Jedi on record. If Yoda had the equivalent injuries Anakin had after his battle on Mustafar he would have lost the same percentage of his Medichlorian count that Anakin did.
Being the son of Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker has inherited the biological amount of Force potential that his father had. This reinforces the entirety of Luke's importance in the original trilogy because the Rebellion now has someone fighting for them as powerful in the force as Anakin had been during the Clone Wars. Thus, it gives Obi-Wan and Yoda a reason to want Luke to be trained as a Jedi , Palpatine has a reason to fear Luke, and a reason for Vader to convert Luke to over-throw the Emperor.
Watch Plinkett!!!!
ReplyDeleteCan't remember how I got here, but when I went to see the original episode I in the theatre a whole theatre of people were not disappointed. It was a big huge life event for many. And the two movies that came out after it were better than that one, each for different reasons. Throw an amazing lego game into the mix, and even my kids loved it.
ReplyDeleteHi just stumbled upon your blog and I love to see that I'm not the only person who felt this way about the prequels, I actually like jar jar but I can be as annoying as him, that's why I like C3P0 too. They aren't perfect but yes they are good movies.
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ReplyDeleteThe big question is then, why do people fiercely hate the prequel trilogy so much?
ReplyDeleteSome guy - I forgot his name - had put it in a nutshell. The Original Trilogy revealed what moviegoers want to be - heroic freedom fighters who defeat evil in the end. The Prequel Trilogy held up a mirror to society and revealed what we truly were - a society that would allow someone like Palpatine to become the supreme political power.
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