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[plasmawave]

Episode 1 at least had Darth Maul fight scene and pod racing. Can't think of a single stand out moment in Episode 2.

 

[NekoFever]

Clones. TPM is sometimes dull and suffers for some bad ideas, but it does have redeeming features. Clones is just terrible.

Plus I have some fond memories of TPM, even if the movie itself was a disappointment. The hype that summer and following the production from the SEs in 1997 through to release was so much fun.

 

[MindGamingMantis]

The Phantom Menace suuuuuucked. I can deal with AotC.

 

[Cat Party]

Phantom Menace is a good movie underneath, ruined by poor direction. AotC is just bad.

 

[D6AMIA6N]

AotC is just terrible, almost every scene is ruined with unnecessary CGI, and stiff dialogue. OG and sequel trilogy (so far) for life!

 

[Staal]

Reading the thread I can understand the viewpoint that TPM might be the better movie.
I just think it's the most disappointing Star Wars movie, way worse than AotC.

 

[Neff]

obi-wan says that jedi can directly feel the force flowing through them, while in tpm it is said that jedi only know of the existence of the force due to midichlorians

"Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force.

I took this to mean that they wouldn't understand what it is, or how it works, without Midi-chlorians, but not necessarily that not knowing about Midi-chlorians would prohibit Force use.

Anakin, Luke, Leia and Rey all did Force stuff, presumably without ever knowing about Midi-chlorians, and in cases without even knowing what the Force is.

Of what did Lucas create in terms of what's on screen during the X-Wing scene?

It was his idea, basically.

Although you're right, it's just one of many brilliant moments which comes together due to a variety of talents. Still, Lucas is the primary creative force behind the first six Star Wars movies.

The prequels at least had a story to tell. Well AotC and RotJ that is. TPM is just as inconsequential as TFA.

The Prequels are interesting in that, in a lot of ways (and in Attack of the Clones particularly) they're less about decisive events and more about the uncovering of events which have already happened, and what the repercussions of those events are. They basically tell the story of a hugely elaborate chain of events set in motion many years before the films take place, and I-III showcase the catastrophic payoff.

 

[CharminUltra]

I don't know and don't care enough to rewatch either film in order to find out

BUT

I will always love/hate TPM because its sheer suckyness taught me to reevaluate my favorite works of fiction and to think critically about them (and all future media I consume) rather than assuming popularity = quality.

So in that sense, TPM holds a special place in my heart, whereas AotC is just another bad movie to me.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

TPM feels the most like a Star Wars movie to me, but it's also more consistently flawed despite its other pros. AotC has the highest highs (Kamino was great) and the lowest lows (so many unbearable Anakin and Padmé moments). I think overall they're about the same just in very different ways.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Phantom Menace is watery shit with cherry flavoring and Clones is a log of shit

 

[DorkLord54]

watery shit with cherry flavoring

If you or anyone you know have shits like that, maybe you should go see a doctor.

 

[watershed]

TPM is a bad movie but still a movie that was produced competently.

AOTC is like watching a bad movie made by amateurs.

 

[Chemo]

Couldn't tell you, sadly. The Phantom Menace was so bad that I never saw the other prequels.

Maybe that makes The Phantom Menace worse, for killing my love of the franchise? Who knows.

 

[Big One]

The Phantom Menance is better, easily. I've always liked how the characters in this movie looked like stuff you'd see from Moebius art. There's some really nice aesthetics and ideas sprinkled about, but it's bogged down but a weak story.

Attack of the Clones has some of the worst written dialogue in film history. As in it's so bad it's not good, just straight up bad. Then when the movie tries to incite OT nostalgia it just clashes with the Moebius style established by The Phantom Menance and makes everything disjointed and meh. Like The Phantom Menance, Attack of the Clones also has a weak story. The only credit I'll give to Attack of the Clones is that it did feel like the "real start" to the Darth Vader story arc.

 

[QuantumZebra]

Clones is the bottom of the barrel.

No. actually, its the sewage that has leaked outside the barrel and is now poisoning the water supply and giving you Cholera.

TPM at least has Darth Maul and decent effects that hold up to this day unlike the PS2 games that are AotC AND RotS.

All of this

The people saying The Force Awakens need a lobotomy

 

[Anticol]

For me the third one felt the least shitty when I saw it at the time.

I don't know m8, that fight at the wnd of the third one is so bad and that ending, god it is harder to choose which one is worse between TPM and the third one, but clones is the worst of the three, no doubts there.

 

[Spieler Eins]

There's a Simpsons gif for everything.

What's worse, the prequels or new Simpsons.

 

[Draxyle]

I remember leaving the theater of Attack of the Clones convinced that I was just too young to understand what was going on with the plot.

Nope.. that wasn't it.

 

[Sheroking]

The Phantom Menace is such cloying, condescending kiddy shit, I can barely stand to think of that flick. Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar are such a potently bad combination that whatever virtues it may have underneath are not worth much. I'd rather be bored to death by Clones than enraged by Menace.

So I'm going with The Phantom Menace.

 

[xealo]

All of this

The people saying The Force Awakens need a lobotomy

Anyone saying TFA is worse than the first 2 prequels is just plain misguided.

I can understand not liking it because of how much OT ground it retread, but as a film standing on it's own, there's just no way its worse than PM and AOTC.

 

[Xilo]

Episode 1 wins because of Darth Maul and Liam Neeson. Attack of the clones is the only star wars movie i dislike and refuse to watch. In my opinion there is nothinmg redeeming about episode 2.

 

[necrosis]

I took this to mean that they wouldn't understand what it is, or how it works, without Midi-chlorians, but not necessarily that not knowing about Midi-chlorians would prohibit Force use.

Anakin, Luke, Leia and Rey all did Force stuff, presumably without ever knowing about Midi-chlorians, and in cases without even knowing what the Force is.

not knowing about midichlorians does not prohibit force use, and that's the issue at hand. taken at face value, qui-gon's statement suggests that no knowledge of the force can exist without midichlorians, and yet numerous characters from the series are able to manipulate and know of the force in a vacuum

so in a best case scenario, throwing the idea of them into the mix muddles statements from the original trilogy. in a worst case scenario, it completely contradicts them

 

[necrosis]

there is also a quote from yoda saying that size is not relevant to ones ability to use the force, but in theory, if two beings with identical levels of midichlorians per cell but physically different sizes were put side by side, the larger being should have greater force abilities

 

[disappeared]

I'm almost in the mood to re-watch the Plinkett reviews again.

 

[jonezer4]

Phantom Menace was vapid, but at least entertaining on first watch. Clones was just fucking unforgivably boring.

 

[ajb1888]

"This party's over"

 

[daevv]

It all depends....you want to be annoyed by Jar Jar's antics or Hayden Christensen trying to act out that horrible dialog Lucas barfed on the script?

 

[CazTGG]

Attack of the Clones, not even a debate. The writing was even worse than Phantom Menace, the acting was awful save for Obi-Wan's actor and the action, which was one of the saving graces of Phantom, is dull and hard to be invested in the characters that partake in them, especially when we know they'll all survive for at least one more film.

 

[Oersted]

Episode 1 at least had Darth Maul fight scene and pod racing. Can't think of a single stand out moment in Episode 2.

The fight was really bad to be honest.

 

[Matthew23]

Overall TPM was like a 6/10, for a Star Wars movie about a 3/10. Clones was shit/10.

 

[sgjackson]

phantom menace has the podrace scene (which is too long but cool and birthed a sick video game) and like the three seconds of the final lightsaber duel where everyone pulls the blades out to the choral music, which is better than anything in aotc

having rewatched the prequels recently i think there's an interesting idea and aesthetic hidden beneath all the lucas and a competent script and director could have manhandled these ideas into something cool and unique.

 

[mrkgoo]

I rewatched TFA again just yesterday (<3 Netflix <3), and, I think you're crazy, but I also see your point. For me TFA brought the overall quip filled derring-do with major Star Wars themes back, that were lost in the prequels. And it looked absolutely gorgeous, and suitably worn-in, whereas TPM especially had a bad plastic sheen over everything. TFA felt like proper Star Wars, whereas the prequels were something else entirely, just happened to be in generally the same universe.

But you're right that the story is just trash, even worse than I remembered. It's simply a greatest hits album of the OT that's thick with pandering and doesn't do anything new. The prequels at least had a story to tell. Well AotC and RotJ that is. TPM is just as inconsequential as TFA.

I think TFA is great, and as a pseudo remake and reboot, it kind of is really smart following the prequels. It sort of HAS to be the way it is.

Now if episode 8 were a rehash of empire in a similar way, I'd probably be disappointed.

One of my main gripes with TFA feeling sort of a bit rehash-y is where are all the cool new ship designs? Something I always look forward to.

 

[rootbeerafloat]

Phantom Menace KINDA, ALMOST feels like Star Wars at times. Clones has zero redeeming qualities.

 

[QuantumZebra]

Anyone saying TFA is worse than the first 2 prequels is just plain misguided.

I can understand not liking it because of how much OT ground it retread, but as a film standing on it's own, there's just no way its worse than PM and AOTC.

It shits all over RotS too

AOTC is by far the worst though... that film was horrid... I adore SW and I cannot sit through it

 

[Violence Jack]

Clones was fucking terrible and pointless. The only thing I can remember from that movie is the Yoda/Dooku lightsaber fight at the end and Anakin murdering some sand people.

 

[Tevious]

Attack of the Clones is WAY fucking worse. Fuck that movie. I haven't watched it since seeing it at the theater it was so bad. The Phantom Menace had some issues, but it was a decent movie; a bad Star Wars movie, though.

 

[Sectorseven]

I wish I could wish away these films.

 

[beyond_death]

Attack of the Clones is definitely the worse of the series.

 

[Mistake]

Even if they're both bad, at least we least we got pod racer and battlefront 2. At the time I thought Episode 1 was just ok, except for jar jar of course, but if I watch it again I'm sure I'll regret it.

 

[ZeroCDR]

AOTC is hands down the worst, pure stupidity packed into every frame. Nothing makes sense, the Jedi sign their death warrant without so much as a question in regards to using clones ordered by a dead man, conveniently ready just in time for the war about to start.

TPM is frankly still pretty fun for me, despite its problems.

 

[Cormano]

What's worse, the prequels or new Simpsons.

New simpsons.

 

[HiiiLife]

Spoiler

sand

 

[Lynd7]

The acting alone makes AOTC's worse, I remember thinking that while I was watching it as a kid.

 

[brandonh83]

I wish I could wish away these films.

But you can't.

The acting alone makes AOTC's worse, I remember thinking that while I was watching it as a kid.

I honest to god think the acting is the worst in TPM even regardless of the love scenes. There's quite a lot of McGregor being awesome in AOTC and Hayden doesn't specifically bother me as much as the lines given to him.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Attack of the Clones is as bad as a massive blockbuster movie can get.

 

[FafaFooey]

Plot, dialogue and acting aside, Phantom Menace was at least shot on film. Attack of the Clones became a victim in the visual department of Lucas' hard-on for digital cameras. Sure, 95% is shot on digital these days but in 2002 those things looked AWFUL. In fact, isn't AotC only 720p and upscaled for Bluray?

 

[brandonh83]

Attack of the Clones is as bad as a massive blockbuster movie can get.

It's better than all four Transformers movies.

 

[partyphone]

Phantom Menace is a good movie underneath, ruined by poor direction. AotC is just bad.

this is untrue to the highest degree. the plot makes no sense on any level.

 

[partyphone]

the prequels get progressively worse. the plots get bigger and the stakes get raised as you go along. at least episode 1 doesn't matter.

 

[brandonh83]

the prequels get progressively worse. the plots get bigger and the stakes get raised as you go along. at least episode 1 doesn't matter.

ROTS is way ahead of what came before it.