Print Page - The starwars prequals

Over the weekend me and a couple of friends got together and watched all star wars movies.We started from episode 1 and went to 2 and so on, and came to relise just how crappy the prequals are.
Now im not a starwars nut, but do have a great love for the movies I would say im a purist and hate it when directors f**k movies up.
The first 3 starwars movies were great.Likable interesting charectors,one of the greatest villans ever,good acting,good story and most of all you actually care about the people in the movie.
Now the prequals have none of the things I just mentioned.Greatly under used villans,(honestly do any of the villans from the prequals really stand out?Darth Maul was the only one that really stood out and he was killed in episode 1!)Bad acting(that kid from episode 1 I hope never works again) boring charectors,dumb ass story,and a dumb love story.Sure it had great special effects but what good are special effects if you can hardly watch the movie because its so bad.
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I just wish they stop this rehashing crap... Like Darth Vader made C3-PO and later the same damn robot was sold to his son... now think about the odds of that...

I did like the old cartoon Droids and thought it could play very well as if they kept it like that... there for R2-D2 and C3-PO would run from one hot spot to another... (it sure would be better)

Also... Jar-Jar is a street punk rapper... He dresses like the act and waves his hands like the act and talks like the act... (I do think he is the best character from the story because it kept me from leaving the show... I was too intrested on seeing how bad they did this and thought what a bunch of sell outs)

Also... sorry but no way I can imagen a 12 year old holding a love intrest to an older girl (she was like 15 or 17... and then she was a queen [Elected Queen]... Yea, right... I've remember seeing Gary Comen being President in Buck Rogers... which made more sense then epsode 1) And then lets not also add that Young Darth Vader was a slave... what did he do in the shop... swept the floors... Damn if your going to make the make a slave, make him a slave... did they ever see Roots? Ten Commandments? or even Ben Her??? Those slaves worked there ass off and got whiped to work faster...

Now... I could understand that the story is at risk because they need to make a quick buck...

But this is Star Wars...

Its World War 2 with a SF makeover...

Any WW2 movie... "Midway" "The Dirty Dozen" or even "The Longest Day" tossed in space will be a kick ass movie...

But no... we a story line that was made to attract the "Home Alone Audience" and that kind of sucks...

You know, my main problem with the prequals is that you can kind of figure out how they are going to end. Look back to the first films: Obi-Wan dies in part 4. So, now matter what kind of danger we see in the Clone wars, we know he'll be ok. Same goes for Darth-we know damn well he's going to evil and die in part 6. I think it would have been better if Lucas just ignored the timeline in the first three. I still like the films, but I fear I can no longer considered myself a fan. Jar-Jar is what did it for me. I can no longer respect Lucas for doing that.
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Hello everyone... I'm new to this forum and by the looks of it, it's an interesting place.

On the subject at hand, I agree with what you guys have said. I can't stand the prequals either.

Are we to believe that Darth Vader grew up with Credo, was in the presence of Jabba the Hut and outgrew Padme? What's next, Han Solo as a flight instructo and Chewie as a pet? I thought this was Star Wars, not "Rugrats All Growed Up?"

Yeah, the acting is subpar compared to the originals and the charaters don't hold much interest only. The only marketable character (Darth Maul) was killed off.

I can forgive him for Jar-Jar, we all make mistakes. I don't mind knowing how things turn out (look at any Shakespeare play), as long as the story is compelling. What I got from episode #1 was a sense "the fans want more movies, so I'll give them some." It just wasn't compelling enough (I didn't even go see Clones, the desire just wasn't there.)

Young Vader's descent to the Dark Side, is what I'm interested in, but then the Star Wars saga is an action-adventure genre, so there's less time to character development.

Perhaps Lucas needed to broaden the question as to why the Republic fell, show more scenes of things (politics, culture) falling apart.

Plus, I think the prequels have an impossible task-- too be better than the originals.
The originals didn't really have any expectations on them, they were an unexpected delight. Now, with all the expectations of the originals, the prequels needed to be just that much better.

And just to poke the crap a bit more lets hammer the Frogger vs Dracula scene in Episode 2. Watch that again and then get yourself a copy of Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (based on the Destroyer series). Watch the conflict between Remo and Chuin. Chuin is making the minimal movements necessary to cause Remo to defeat himself, the sign of a true master. Now think how stupid it would have looked if he had started spinning around like a frog with a rocket up his ass. I would have loved to have seen Frogger . . . er, Yoda do the same.

Ok, something to think about...

Do you think your going to see Darth Vader kill all those Jedi's in part 3... Sorry, think again... 75% of the movie is going to be how and why he turns...

also, here is what bugs me the most... Baby Darth Vader did save the day at the end of epsode 1... do you think they could of reward him by freeing his mother... I mean if you were a kid and you saved the planet... and lets not also forget that the queen herself was there (so she know that his mother was a slave)

I dont think his mother costed that much?

And if they didnt... Dark Side right there (that means If I was baby Darth... I be killing everybody on part 2) [Major plot hole I tell you]

At least Solo was given a reward...

As far as the Republic allowing slavery, Tatoinne(sp) was not a part of the Republic. Remember that Qui-gon could not use Republic money to fix the ship.

For the most part I like the prequals, but the more I think about them the more I realize just how stupid the Jedi Council was in dealing with Anakin. A potentially very powerful Jedi-to-be entrusted to a just-made-it-himself Jedi trainer who does little more than parrot Jedi rhetoric without really trying to understand him. It's no wonder Anakin ended up rebelling

They didnt used Republic money because they didnt have enough to fix the ship, and also they didnt want anybody knowing that the queen is there.

Also... they could trade a ship or something smaller for is mother...

What was the deal?

Fix the ship and gain Young Darth Vader vs lose the ship... Odd, but after all do you think the queen could at least spare a ship to trade for his mother after all... Young Darth Vader did do it all and got nothing in return... He risked his life to get the ship fix (he didnt even know he was going to be free untill after it was all done) and then he stoped all those robots... gee... after all that and no reward (I dont think he was even under jedi training either... So this wouldnt fall under any stuped code either)

Sorry... This plot hole is too big to over look... And its going to be one of the reasons why he's becomming the dark side...

I seem to remember Watto telling Qui-Gonn something along the lines of "Republic credits are no good out here." Whether that is meant to infer that Tatoonie is not a part of the Republic or just to hint at the instability of the economy, I don't know.

As far as the prequels themselves go, I thought The Phantom Menace was all boring set-up padded with some impressive effects and an entertaining battle sequence. Attack of the Clones is every bit as entertaining (for me) as Star Wars or Return of the Jedi, but it was the first Star Wars movie I waited until it hit video to see. As to the movies not having the look or feel of the first three movies. Given the time between the two, I'm not surprised.

Lucas made a telling comment on The Directors (at least I think it was an episode of the directors) where he made the admission that he had never really intended to do the first three movies. But when he decided to climb back behind the camera he felt he faced two options. One, go back and make more experimental movies like THX-1138 or finish up Star Wars. He opted to finish what he had started.

Hey I forgot some to mention some more things about these movies that I hate.
1.Do you honestly expect me to belive that Anakin Skywalker made c3po.Come on.Im mean why didn't obi wan remeber c3po or r2d2 when he saw the in episode 4.He was around them all through the f**king first 2 movies.
2.The devine birth of Anakin Skywalker.What the f**k was that about.Im mean at least they could have said his father had died or run off with a whore, but no they have to make him have a divine birth.Whats they point of it.Hes not going to be a savior, hes going to be DARTH VADER FOR CHRIST SAKES!!!
3.Now Im very good at figureing out movies.Hell I understood what was going on in the Final Fantasy movie.But can some one explain to me what was going on in episode 1 and 2.They made no sense. I don't understand what was the point of the war in episode 1 or why all the clones were made in episode 2 or even why there was a war in that one either.What was going on.
4.Does any one else fine the age diffrence between Anakin and Amadala a little striking.How old is he supposed to be in episode 2 like 14 or 15(yet he looks nothing like those ages,great casting Lucas.Dumb ass)and how old was Amadala 18 or 19.Whats going on with these freaking ages.

The wars were calculated manuevers by Palpatine/Darth Sidious to give him leverage to create an armed force with which he may later sieze power, thus creating The Empire. The clones were created to supply a ready made army to fight the insurrection that Palpatine himself is leading, all so he may declare himself Emperor. Watching Palpatine cold bloodedly con everybody into breaking down the Republic makes it watchable for me. I still love one line from The Phantom Menace, when Palpatine knows he has the Chancellor licked and can take his seat..."Now they will elect a new Chancellor, a strong Chancellor." It just worked for me.

Still, The Phantom Menace was, maybe, thirty minutes of story stretched over two hours. The 'devine' nature of Skywalker's birth was a lame attempt to make the story mythic. Well, Darth ain't rising from the dead or anything, so what was the point? Proof that The Force worked on a cellular level? Great, Wireless Jedi. Whoopee. Annakin making the droid is also stupid. Frankly I think the story would have worked better without the droids. There are other logic problems that just further show why Lucas needs to hire better writers to tell his stories.

Lucas warned that Episode III will be the darkest of the bunch and probably do the most poorly at the box office because of that. Frankly I think there are other reasons for it to do poorly as well.

You know, hte thing that bothers me the most about Episode One is that apparently the entire populaion of non-gungans on Naboo are content to let their government be controlled by a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD. Now, I've met some pretty exceptional kids in my day, but there's just no friggin way... As long as we're on the subject, who ever heard of an elected queen?

To answer the age question earlier, Anakin was 9 in the first one, and 19 in the second. Amidalla was 14 in the first and 24 in the second.

Finally, IMHO the movies sucked because Lucas wrote them himself. Check the writing credits on Empire and Jedi (both better than A new Hope, again, IMHO). You'll find that - ta-da - George let someone else write them. He should have done the same here. Maybe then we wouldn't have Anakin Christ (with his turning away from the Dark Side at the end of Jedi equating to the ressurection), and Jar-Jar Iscariot (who suggested the granting of special powers to Palpatine, thereby bringing about the fall of the republic).

But, hey, that's just me.

On a side note, how in the hell do you think of Darth Maul as being an even interesting character? He says, quite literally, FIVE WORDS in the entire movie. His only real strengths? He looked cool, and... ummm... Sorry. Just one strength. He looked cool. I was rather glad he died. I was hoping he'd be replaced by a villan who was more than an empty fighting machine, more remenicent of Darth Vader.

You know, hte thing that bothers me the most about Episode One is that apparently the entire populaion of non-gungans on Naboo are content to let their government be controlled by a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD. Now, I've met some pretty exceptional kids in my day, but there's just no friggin way... As long as we're on the subject, who ever heard of an elected queen?

As I said before... Gary Coman was president in Buck Rogers and it made more sense from that show then it makes in Star Wars...

It would be funny that the people on Naboo are like Mork (from Mork and Mindy) maybe they age backwards... then this whole age thing would make some sense that a 9 year old could be some old dude.

I do think Lucas is trying to please eveybody in this movie... and the fact is you cannot please eveybody...

He says that part 3 would be very dark... yea, right, and they will bring Chewiee back? (sure I know the story that he is like 200 plus when he was with Solo... and I cannot believe... But Solo should also be in this movie too... because Luke Skywalker was like 17 or 19 in New Hope and Solo was like 25 or 27 and then Old Ben was like in his late 60's or early 80's...

What p**ses me off the most, is that there are lots of "Star War books" that were written far better then this crap...

I seem to remember Watto telling Qui-Gonn something along the lines of "Republic credits are no good out here." Whether that is meant to infer that Tatoonie is not a part of the Republic or just to hint at the instability of the economy, I don't know.

He said that and "I need something more real"

Also, at the dinner scene, Amadela, especally, and the others were talking about slavery on Tatoine contrasted with no slavery in the Republic.

More tellingly, Qui-gon told Anakin's mother that if Anakin has been born on a Republic world, he would've been identified as a potential Jedi much younger

You know, the thing that bothers me the most about Episode One is that apparently the entire populaion of non-gungans on Naboo are content to let their government be controlled by a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD

It's happened before in history, usually there's a regent to guide the monarch until the monarch is older.

As long as we're on the subject, who ever heard of an elected queen?

Britain has a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliment and a prime minister. *Shrug*, who's to say some group of people wouldn't decide on an elected monarch?

To quote another message board:

'I'm actually puzzled by the number of folks out there who have a problem with the elected queen thing. I find it odd that people could accept a setting which involves things like lightsabers, mystical energy fields, and hyperspace travel, but then get all bent out of shape when that setting involves an elected queen. It's like "you know, I'd buy the Wookies and the giant gangster slugs, but this elected queen business is just too tough to swallow." Bizarre'

For some historical information:

Sweden elected a kibng, King Gustav I, in 1523.
Norway elected a Dnish prince to be King in 1905

I was always under the impression that Palpatine and Sidious were 2 completely different characters...just played by the same actor.

All of my other friends however say that Palpatine IS Darth Sidious.

I've always disagreed with that.

Does he run into his bathroom and quickly throw some black robes on and paint his face a milky white?

And besides....In Episode 1 it showed Sidious and Darth Maul walking together on that highrise in that huge city talking about how they were at last going to reveal themselves to the Jedi.

If Sidious IS Palpatine then how can he be messing around in the Senate helping Queen Amidala AND on another planet scheming with Darth Maul?

What is the truth?

ASHTHECAT wrote:

> And besides....In Episode 1 it showed Sidious and Darth Maul
> walking together on that highrise in that huge city talking
> about how they were at last going to reveal themselves to the
> Jedi.
>
> If Sidious IS Palpatine then how can he be messing around in
> the Senate helping Queen Amidala AND on another planet scheming
> with Darth Maul?
>
> What is the truth?

Sidious and Palpatine are one in the same, all this insurrection stuff is simply his gambit to seize power. Also, the huge city you're talking about IS the Republic Captial Planet of Coruscant, which is where Amidala met Palpatine for counsel and where the Senate convenes. Palpatine sent Darth Maul off to do the dirty work and never went off to 'another planet' himself. Palpatine was probably just stepping out onto his balconey to dicuss matters. Heck, even the EU novels mention the moment that 'Senator' Palpatine (these being written prior to Episode 1 when it is revealed he was, in fact, Chancellor) declared himself Emperor. Undoubtedly there will be a big unmasking moment in Episode III (probably one the moments that makes Annakin go over to the dark side of the force) when his plan comes to fruition and both the Jedi and the Republic it defends falls into his hands and he molds the Empire from its debris.

Dang, the stuff I know...and I'm not that big a fan of the series to begin with.

Post Edited (06-05-03 19:39)

I've disliked both of the prequels, but I have to temper that by saying that I saw the re-release of the first film in 1997 and realized it just wasn't my thing anymore. So the prequels could have been great and it probably wouldn't have floated my boat.

I don't know why I even bothered to see ATTACK OF THE CLONES. I wanna say that I won't see the last one, but hmmm, it might be nice to have one with a dark ending a la EMPIRE, but I doubt Lucas will have the guts to do it, or the capability to handle any kind of serious emotion in his characters. I read that book EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS about the 70s filmmakers and even way back then, Lucas was uncomfortable with the human side of filmmaking.

jmc wrote:

> I read that
> book EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS about the 70s filmmakers and
> even way back then, Lucas was uncomfortable with the human side
> of filmmaking.

One thing that came through loud and clear in A&E's Lucas Biography and Encore's The Directors. Lucas is a gifted producer, able to spot talent and create a vision. But you can just forget his skills as a writer or director. He really needs to have other screenwriters and directors on board to better flesh out his vision.

That said, I enjoyed the prequels as brainless popcorn movies. Palpatine makes it worth sitting though.

Post Edited (06-06-03 14:56)

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