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[ManaByte]

...and I think Episode I could be really good if they just re-edited it and "special edition"ed it up (i.e. less jar jar, yippe's and cg yoda). Right now it's barely average.

One of the three is already done.

 

[Tabris]

That's good. Now I guess if I just mentally block the yippe's and Jar Jar, I'll be content.

 

[ManaByte]

In the ROTS Making Of book (which is really, really good btw) it says that Lucas had the ROTS Yoda group at ILM replace the stoned Yoda puppet in TPM with the digital version as a "warm up" for doing Episode III. It was done before any work on ROTS started and when they do a re-release of the Episode I DVD (probably in the Saga set) it'll be the digital Yoda.

 

[Triumph]

The entire PT was trash. That's really the only answer that applies. I openly scoff at anyone who tries to justify it otherwise. All 3 movies were terrible movies at their core, and isn't that what matters? No, they do NOT get a special pass for being Star Wars movies. If they suck, they suck. Period.

And oh, did all three ever suck.

 

[Ash Housewares]

The entire PT was trash. That's really the only answer that applies. I openly scoff at anyone who tries to justify it otherwise. All 3 movies were terrible movies at their core, and isn't that what matters? No, they do NOT get a special pass for being Star Wars movies. If they suck, they suck. Period.

And oh, did all three ever suck.

you don't know what else Lucas could've been spending his time on
rererereremastering more movies or reremaking them, I'd rather have new shit than replace the old with shit

 

[xsarien]

I'm going to preface this by stating that I'm not a huge, die-hard fan of any of the Star Wars movies. Enjoyable? Sure. Easy to follow? Yup. Man's triumph of storytelling that will someday rank among the "giants" of fiction? No fucking way. If they do, it will be because of bombastic presentation, not the by-the-numbers plot. About the only redeeming quality is that thanks to the prequels, Vader is a much more complete character, despite Hayden's "acting."

So, my opinion of the prequels:

Episode 1:
Wholly unnecessary. While it's certainly interesting to see the details of Anakin's youth, there's nothing in the movie that's dreadfully important to understanding the origins of Vader. That is unless you actually care that he's a child prodigy who built C3PO. It's George Lucas showing you Darth Vader's home movies from when he was a tot, and my reaction was precisely the same to it as when friends force me through their old family albums and camcorder tapes. It's "how kids act?" That has no bearing on the quality and relevance of the movie's story, which, I think, is at the heart of the hate more than the "kiddie" nature of it all.

Episode 2:
Toss episode 1 & 2 in a blender, and you'll probably have what the first movie should have been. A brief look at Anakin's youth, and then a fast-forward of sorts to his later years under Kenobi. A lot of people bitch about the sappy stuff, but what makes those areas of the movie painful is Lucas' complete inability to write dialogue, not the situation itself. Every saga has a beginning, right? Well, even conflicted heroes/villains-to-be fall in love, kids.

Episode 3:
Arguably, the only prequel that matters; the only prequel that - if you only get to see one - should be watched prior to the original trilogy. It's at times pretty hard to sit through, but when no one's talking, when George is just showing us dramatic scenes, it does remarkably well. You can kind of hear the sound of no one in the theater breathing when

Spoiler

Anakin is put into the Vader suit, and when Amidala names the children.

It puts everything and everyone into place for episode 4 to take place, even with the shoehorned scene of

Spoiler

Organa ordering C3PO's memory wiped clean.

I did think the

Spoiler

forced cameo by Chewbacca

was nothing but fanwank material of the highest order, but what're you gonna do?

Building off of what I said about episode 2, a proper episode 3 would give us 90-120 minutes of what happened right before the events of A New Hope, and maybe put the kibosh on the whole

Spoiler

"Mr. Turtle: How many years DOES it take to build the Tootsie Roll center of a Death Star?" debate.

 

[Tabris]

To incriminate myself as having "bad taste"...

I really liked the anakin/padme scenes of Episode II. Except for the end with Padme confessing her love for Anakin and the whole "sand" thing (those were just bad), I thought it was done well.

 

[Kai]

So I just have to say to all the people that were clowning on the Yoda/Sidious fight and how Yoda just ran out....

The book explained this soo much better. Basically, Yoda vs Sidious was a battle of light vs dark.... and during the battle Yoda realized that even if he beat Sidious, he still lost. He was too strict and overconfident in the ways of of the Old Jedi and Knights of the Republic. The Sith had evolved with time, understood social engineering and were smarter as time passed. This is capped off with Yoda then talking to Qui Gon explaining to him that he had failed and was too overconfident and apologized for not listening to Qui Gon (Qui Gon was pretty defiant and knew the Jedi needed to change in Episode 1.... which was why he wasnt on the council).... and Qui Gon explained to him that although the Jedi had not changed with time... they hold the key to true power... becoming one with the force.... forever life.... not by extending your life unnaturally like the sith... but by complete and utter unselfishness and for goodness. Yoda then explains he gladly becomes Qui Gons apprentice....


This along with the description of Anakin's transformation in the book (dragon metaphor)... made much more sense and gave meaning.... that is what I was truly pissed off about how it wasnt displayed on film and simply made it look like Yoda just gave up and ran......

 

[Naked Snake]

I saw Episode 3 last night and really enjoyed it.

Ep 3 > Ep 1 >>> Ep 2

 

[Vandalier]

All prequels are out of time.

Mi answer is NO

BUT JAR JAR IS COOL SUCKAS

 

[Drozmight]

I like the 1st one... aside from the bad acting of the kid and the annoying voice of Jar Jar, I thought it was pretty solid. Liam Neeson was awesome and so was Obi Wan. I thought Darth Maul was the best villian of the three, aside from Vader of course. The latter two are full of politics and other boring shit that just makes me feel like I'm not watching a Star Wars flick.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Whoa, when did it all of a sudden become cool to praise Ep1? Is this a "backlash to the backlash" or something? Ep3 is the best prequel and Ep2 has it's moments, but in my opinion is still better than 1.

Through the magic of time, The Phantom Menace is now retro-friendly! The fact that they've started altering it with CG additions groups it in with the Special Editioned original trilogy.

 

[Ghost]

Im glad that they made more star wars movies, i think the universe Lucas created is amazing and it would have been a shame to only ever get 3 movies out of it, but in retrospect i wish they'd focused the new movies on something other than Vader...I really liked episode 3, bar a couple of scenes, but watching them together with the OT theres a gulf, not in quality but in how the films feel, its very hard to think of them as one series.


Theres so many amazing star wars stories that would have made better movies than the 3 prequels i think.


Still i hope they do more at some point in the future, they have like 4000 years of stories to choose from and theres no other Sci-fi franchise that can sell like star wars.

 

[TAJ]

>>>So, no. Waste of time, and while I don't feel like they "contaminated" the real trilogy, they permanently crippled my love of Star Wars.<<<

Isn't that a good thing? Personally, I had an unhealthy love for Star Wars, and I thank George for curing me.

And, I think Ian McDiarmid, like every droid except R2-D2 and C3PO, may have been a victim of the sound designers. I'd like to hear his post-change Emperor dialogue without the silly "Satan" voice filter.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I'm glad the prequels were made. They are, for the most part, not as good as the orginal trilogy, but they did flesh out the Star Wars Universe, offered more insight into the Jedi, and the Clone Wars, as well as showing us how Palaptine took power, and Anakin fell.

However, if I had made the films, I would have had Attack of the Clones be Episode I. We really didn't need much from TPM to get the story going. The second film, in my trilogy, would have focused more on the Clone Wars themselves, ending with Anakin's fall, and the third film would have focused on Palpatine taking power, with Anakin's help, and showing them hunting down the last of the Jedi.

That said, I am one fan that enjoyed the PT on a number of levels. They have their problems for sure, but they are still fun. For me, Revenge of the Sith is by far the best, Attack of the Clones is second, with Phantom Menace coming in last.

 

[whytemyke]

Hm. Saw this review and it actually fits in really well here.

As Good As Lord of the Rings, Except for the Writing

Uncle Orson Reviews Revenge of the Sith
19 May 2005
The Star Wars saga seems to have been the dream of George Lucas's childhood. In his mind's eye he saw great starfleets in battle, mighty armies sweeping their enemies before them, ruthless politicians outmaneuvering each other, and in the midst of all, the powerful Jedi knights, each one the match for an army, wielding the power that lies hidden within the fabric of all life in the universe.

Lucas saw one child, born in an obscure corner of the universe, but touched with power and shaped by destiny. He did not know who fathered him, but he was adopted by the Jedi and trained to be the mightiest of them all. Alas, he turned to the dark side of the force and became the tool of pure evil; but a son and daughter conceived when he was still within the circle of the Jedi would grow up to defeat his master and liberate him from the darkness that had swallowed up the goodness that was always innate within him.

It was an epic of breathtaking scope and George Lucas could not forget it. He became a filmmaker; his first major film, American Graffiti, become the touchstone of a generation and gave him the power to make whatever film he wanted.

He wanted to make his epic dream come to life on the screen, in all its majesty and power -- and humor, and love, and heroism, and sacrifice ...

He labored over the special effects to make it all seem real, and he succeeded. The dream of his childhood was there on the screen.

Too bad his inner child never learned how to write.

He did fine with American Graffiti -- those characters spoke with the voices of his own teenage years. But Star Wars required heroic dialogue and Lucas never acquired an ear for it. It's as if someone who once heard a few passages of Shakespeare decided to write the sequel to Romeo and Juliet.

Worse and Worse

On the first Star Wars film he had help. He was not yet so powerful that no one would criticize his work and help him get rid of the most embarrassing clunkers. On the next two films, better writers helped him even more, so that, at least in The Empire Strikes Back, his saga matched his vision aurally as well as visually.

Then he went sixteen years without making a movie before returning to write the true beginning of his epic.

But by now he was a legend. Fans not only worshiped him, some actually believed in the Force and listed "Jedi" as their religion. In Hollywood, a land where the only signs of divinity are fame and money, he had so much of both that there was no one left who could say to him, "George, please, get some help on that scene, it's going to make people laugh in the theaters, and not the right way."

Instead, it was apparently all "Yes, Mr. Lucas" and "Wonderful, Mr. Lucas" and the result was two of the most successful wretched films in history.

Now the saga is complete. The end of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith introduces the three prime movers of the original three movies: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and the black-masked Darth Vader.

And here's the interesting thing. Even though the characterization is nonexistent, the relationships like a seven-year-old's impression of how grownups act, the politics clearly the product of a mind that has never grasped history, and the science at the "How can rivers flow north?" level, the underlying saga still manages to touch a chord.

Don't misunderstand. I laughed along with the other people in the theater at those horrible moments when the poor actors were forced to say some of the most appalling lines ever spoken on the screen. I could not possibly care about characters who were never for a moment believable as human beings.

But the story itself, the epic that had so inspired Young Mr. Lucas, does have grandeur in it that his own ineptness was unable to destroy. There is power in the sheer ambition of it. Sitting in the flickering light of a dying fire, listening to the old man tell us the tale he learned in his youth, we are captivated despite the cracking of the old man's voice and the fact that everything he says is a cliche. For we know, at some level, that the tale has some truth in it.

That people rarely embrace evil for its own sake, but rather because they think they can accomplish something good.

That once you cross certain moral lines, it becomes almost trivial to cross others.

That no matter how much you tell yourself you're doing it for someone you love, ultimately ambition is always selfish, and "love" is self-deception.

That those who have the power always think they have the right to decide for everyone, and the wisdom to know what ought to be done.

That technology does not change human nature.

That there is something inside us more powerful than machines or muscles, something that by force of will and mind can change the world around us, if only we learn the secret and master it.

What Do We Make of This Film?

The actors are heroic in every sense. The "characters" they play are larger than life, striding like giants across the screen -- that takes enormous presence and power on the screen, and these actors had it.

But the actors are heroic in another sense. To be handed a script with dialogue like the lines Mr. Lucas wrote for them is one of the worst nightmares actors have. (The worst nightmare is to arrive at a theatre and learn that you have to go on stage right now and no one will tell you what the play is and you don't know any of the lines. You're also in your underwear.)

Yet these actors took those lines and made them into something. I think they must have seen Episode I and realized that the lines really were as bad as they thought, and their director had no clue. So if anyone was going to save them from humiliation, it would have to be themselves.

As a result, they all worked hard to create line readings that took some of the curse off of Mr. Lucas's leaden ear for heroic speech. And most of the time they succeeded. At times it was almost possible to believe that humans might have spoken that way. Maybe. Somewhere.

There ought to be an Oscar category for Best Acting with a Desperately Bad Script. I'd give it straight off to Hayden Christensen, because despite all he made the brooding Anakin Skywalker's a vigorous, compelling presence on the screen. And we almost never laughed at his lines, which is quite an achievement, considering that Mr. Lucas meant almost all of Annakin Skywalker's lines to be in deadly earnest, which practically guarantees they'll get a laugh.

But Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz, Ewan McGregor, and Jimmy Smits are close runners up.

Ian McDiarmid, as the conniving politician Palpatine, had a special challenge. His lines were so over the top that there was no way to deliver them naturally. Besides, he almost certainly had Mr. Lucas telling him, "On this next take, Ian, let's have more." So instead of seeking even a trace of naturalness, McDiarmid plunged right in and gave his idiotically evil speeches with such fervor that I only thought of Snidely Whiplash, the melodrama villain, two or three times.

Here's the strange thing. Even though that opening day audience largely understood how bad the writing was -- and laughed out loud and even cheered for the absolutely worst lines -- they still got a sense of fulfilment out of watching everything come together.

I'm glad I saw it.

And, incredibly enough, I will almost certainly see it again. And buy the DVD.

So many of us will do that, in fact, that Mr. Lucas will no doubt think that we think his movie was triumphantly good.

Well, that's one of the nice things about having supreme power over your own kingdom, as Mr. Lucas has: You can so easily convince yourself that the people love you.

 

[COCKLES]

I loved the bit in Episode 3 where Anakin is going on about his 'My new Empire' - that's what the prequels should have been about...Anakin lusting for power, not this bullshit about losing Padme.

 

[callous]

I haven't watched the third movie yet. So far I feel the movies have cheapened the Star Wars brand a little bit. I'd much rather have seen sequels than prequels. Following the Marvel comics after the fall of the Empire was good shit.

 

[btrboyev]

I enjoyed all three prequels so yes I'm glad they were made.

 

[suikodan]

I liked Episodes 1-3

 

[Naked Snake]

I clapped when Yoda owned the 2 clones that tried to assasinate him.

 

[SickBoy]

I'm in the camp that would have liked to see them unfold differently -- that there's not enough value in Episodes I&II separately that really makes them important chunks of the story that needs to be told. Re-pacing the entire trilogy, in particular vastly editing down Ep. 1 and chunks of Ep. 2 into one or one and a half tighter, more relevant movies would have done a lot for me. It also would have cleared the way for a meatier approach to the rest of the story.

Cutting down on the so-called fan service would have done a lot, too. I don't really care or see the value of original trilogy characters like C3P0, R2D2, Chewbacca and Baby Boba appearing in the prequels (although I do find it amusing that Jango dies a similarly chumpy death to his "son's").

Am I happy the prequels were made? Honestly, I'm not really sure. I don't mind (big picture) what Lucas did with the story, even though I think the execution was off and elements were annoying or, at times, sucked. But I can still think how disappointed I was after Eps. 1 and 2. If I went into Ep. 3 with the same anticipation would I have been as unhappy with it? I'm not sure... just because I liked Ep. 3 better, does that redeem the whole prequel trilogy? I don't think so... But if the option is this or nothing? I don't know....

 

[Warm Machine]

Prequels are amazing visual fx shows with wonderful production values. The storys are not as concise and gripping s the first 2 of the OT but still manage to do far more than other films of their ilk.

I am more than pleased with what was done. I'm glad they didn't just regurgitate the OT into new films and instead gave us a different era and a differnent perspective on the universe of the series.

If I could go back and fix things that bothered me sure I would but I didn't come up with the plots of the movies in the first place which is far harder to do than critique after the fact.

 

[Prince of Space]

I'll just say this: the prequels had great stories. At their core, they had damn good plots. Palpatine's overall plan is really quite ingenious. If Lucas had done the smart thing and let someone else write and direct based off his core story, the prequels could easily stand up to the OT.

 

[Ghost]

I'll just say this: the prequels had great stories. At their core, they had damn good plots. Palpatine's overall plan is really quite ingenious. If Lucas had done the smart thing and let someone else write and direct based off his core story, the prequels could easily stand up to the OT.

I agree.

 

[Manders]

yes i'm happy they were made. they were fun to watch. ep1 not really though. pretty lame. that qui gong or whatever the fuck his name was was a really bad character. jar jar blew. ep2 was cool. ep3 rocked. w00t

 

[Willco]

Yeah, I agree completely. The concept of the prequels were great on paper (before Lucas wrote the dialogue that is), but the execution was horrible. It's a shame they couldn't get a guy like Spielberg in there to stop the trainwreck.

 

[ManaByte]

It's a shame they couldn't get a guy like Spielberg in there to stop the trainwreck.

Yeah, as if Spielberg would leave the DGA.

 

[Prince of Space]

Indeed. It's still a shame though.

 

[Willco]

Yeah, as if Spielberg would leave the DGA.

I didn't say it was possibility, I said it was a shame that couldn't get him or someone of his talent to direct an episode or two.

 

[Sapiens]

I didn't say it was possibility, I said it was a shame that couldn't get him or someone of his talent to direct an episode or two.

Sorry, dude. Having no credits at the start of the movie is more important than a well directed film. :lol

 

[Panajev2001a]

I am happy.

 

[shantyman]

I just watched Collateral- it had zero credits if I remmeber correctly.

 

[Troidal]

Glad to see Episode III was made, but the first two were almost unnecessary.

The only things you really needed to know prior Episode III is that (1)Anakin is a powerful Jedi (2) he and Padme really loved each other, and that (3) the clone wars was a setup to prepare the Jedi annihilation and the creation of the Empire.

If you want to watch a kid taking on a futuristic pod race, thats the first movie.
If you want to watch a sappy long-winding love story, the second movie.

 

[Shig]

Okay, since we're getting a little bit of it anyway, how would you have set up each movie, what changes would you make?

Episode 1:

Redo the Gungans in general. They should have been more warlike, not rastafarian tribal. Flesh out their conflict with the Naboo people more, have them both really seem like they're at each others' throats, rather than just "we don't deal wit da Naboo". That way their putting their differences aside to combat the droid army would seem much more signifigant.

Still have a Gungan taken in by the heroes, but do a 180 from the comic relief role. Perhaps make him a tragic hero type, wrongfully outcast from the Gungan society because he stood in the way of a higher-up's ambition. And then of course use the resolution of this and restoration of his credibility as the crux for the Gungans' agreeance to help in the defense of Naboo. Maybe even make Boss Nass found out to be a pawn of Sidious, who is using him to create conflict on Naboo and weaken it or eliminate it as a threat to his ambitions.

Less stupid, outlandish aliens as a whole. The Podracers should have been menacing, to make it feel like Anakin was in over his head (or to reinforce how good he was at it). Instead we got a bunch of goofy ones that were more suited to be plush toys. And give the Nemoidians somewhat menacing voices, not ones that make them sound like Japanese businessmen having trouble with English.

No midichlorians. Have the Jedi find out about Anakin's force affinity by having him do something with it initially, like levitate something into his hand or something. Have Qui-gon train him to use it a little. Then during the podrace, have Sebulba try to take Anakin out; in retaliation Anakin uses the force in anger to drop a boulder on him, to foreshadow his turn to the dark side. Also would give better justification for why Obi-wan is wary of training him.

In the space battle, have Anakin's defeat of the Trade ship be much more obviously a result of his force power, rather than "whoooops!" being played as a big accident.

I'll do the other movies later.

 

[Warm Machine]

With EP II there is only 1 thing I would have done to it aside from getting more takes from the actors and having another digital camera for more coverage.

I would have altered the Anakin/Padme romance to be told through action as opposed through dialouge. When she talks of summer retreat and swimming to the island or whatever I would have had Anakin dare her to swim the distance again. The 2 are later are on the beach preparing to swim when Padme says to Anakin that he won't need his lightsaber. He leaves it in the sand and the two proceed to swim the distance.

They had already established that creatures live in the waters of Naboo in phantom so I would have done an action scene where by a water beast is attacking the 2 of them and Anakin needing to save Padme with his own abilities. Basically the two of them go through a high intensity event and they become closer as a result.

 

[Shig]

With EP II there is only 1 thing I would have done to it aside from getting more takes from the actors and having another digital camera for more coverage.

I would have altered the Anakin/Padme romance to be told through action as opposed through dialouge.

Actually, I think just adding in the deleted scenes that were on the DVD would have helped tremendously. If you haven't seen them, there's an extended arrival on Naboo scene where Padme talks more about her responsibilities as queen and senator, and one where they go to her home and have dinner with her family. They both worked quite well as scenes that were a bit more subtly formative of their affections for each other through normal conversation, and I have no earthly idea why they were cut in favor of, for example the "sand is rough" scene.