No, you’re not the only one. I totally agree with you. It was stupid. In the Clone Wars Multimedia Project there wasn’t any chip, and it was done Better.
if it’s 1993 or whatever and you’re trying to write the Prequels from scratch, what would you focus on? Suppose your goal is to generate the maximum amount of drama and audience emotional investment possible. What is the most effective way to achieve that?
If I were in 1993 and I had to rewrite the Prequels from scratch, then I’d keep the actual story, but I wouldn’t develop it in a movie trilogy. Rather, I would just make the Prequels to be part of the EU, because the Prequels have an incredible amount of story to tell, and three simple movies are not enough to tell it. So, I would basically create a whole multimedia project similar to the already existing Clone Wars Multimedia Project, but starting from the early PT era when Obi-Wan was still a Padawan. I would tell Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon’s adventures, until we get to the events of The Phantom Menace and the discovery of Anakin, then going forward and forward until the Clone Wars start. Then I would explore the Clone Wars in detail, like in the CWMMP, and then I would end everything with the events of Revenge of the Sith and Order 66. The story would remain the same, but it would just be more developed and explored better, since it would be developed in comics, books and video games instead of movies.
Being italian and having watched the PT for many years in italian only, i can safely say he comes out a bit better than the original, it’s by no extent of the imagination a perfect dubbing, mostly because the voice actor still needs to emulate at least sometimes his tone, unfortunately we traded a better performance for Anakin for the clearly superior acting that Ewan McGregor gave for Obi-Wan in original language, not to mention McDiarmid’s priceless Palpatine acting.
I’m Italian too, and I love Francesco Pezzulli’s performance better, for sure. I love Hayden’s too, though. I never had any great problem with Hayden’s performance.
Sometimes it seems to me that the different categories of Star Wars fans find themselves arguing about non-existing problems. I mean, the fandom and the Saga are big enough to accommodate everyone’s opinion. But despite this, we find ourselves having endless arguments among the fans when it’s absolutely not necessary, as there are simple solutions that can satisfy everyone.
For example: if you don’t like the Sequels, then there is the EU; if you don’t like either of them, then there are a lot of fanfictions that can replace both. If you don’t like the Prequels, then there are a lot of fanfictions and rewrites out there, or maybe you can create something on your own; if you like the ideas but not the execution, then there are the novelizations. If you don’t like TCW, then there is the Multimedia Project; if you don’t like either of them, then there are a lot of fanfictions that can replace both. If you like the EU but not the current Canon, then just ignore the current Canon, just pretend it doesn’t exist; if you don’t like either of them, then again, there are a lot of fanfictions that can replace both.
There’s a ton of simple solutions that can satisfy everyone, and make everyone happy. But despite that, it seems that people don’t care, it almost seems that people like to attack each other for no reason. I don’t understand that…
I’ll probably still make fan-edits of the Prequels tho, just so that when I do watch them they’ll be more enjoyable experiences. And for what it’s worth, I still enjoy ROTS a lot.
I want to create fan edits of the Prequels as well. I already have my Attack of the Clones edit completed if you’re interested.
Will never be a fan of pining the blame of Anakin’s turn on the Jedi. Darth Vader should be a villain with agency responsible for his own actions. Makes him a more powerful and badass villain.
This may be driven by the fact that I’m a Vader fanboy, but it’s just my opinion.
And I’m a Anakin fanboy, so I defend him a bit.
I don’t blame the Jedi entirely, of course. I blame Anakin, Palpatine and the Jedi equally. All of them were 1/3 of the problem. But we already had a lot of discussions about it when I still had my old account, so it’s better not to start again.
I’m having a dirty Star Wars RPG with one of my (female) friends, and I’m writing this reply.
The cult-like behavior comes from their sheer commitment to the greater good. The Order is socially engineered so all of its members always prioritize the greater good. They train Jedi from birth so they never meet their family and prioritize them over the greater good of the galaxy. They don’t allow Jedi to fall in love or even have friends because the galaxy’s history books are full of Jedi who turned to the dark side for their friends. It’s dehumanizing, but the Jedi justify it because the Force gives you an immense amount of power, and if you can’t give up your own humanity for the greater good, you don’t deserve that power. Anakin, the one who wasn’t brainwashed from birth, who will fall in love and have a child, is going to be the one who ultimately destroys the Jedi Order and hands the galaxy over to Palpatine.
The Jedi are still flawed though, and if I were to actually write this I’d like to frame it to make the argument that the greater good itself is not for the greater good. The Jedi and the Republic tolerate slavery because the effort to end it would cost many times more lives than it would liberate, and (temporarily) tolerating some evils is for the greater good. But you can’t exactly tell a slave that their slavery is a good thing, and if it turned out that the Chosen One is a former slave, you’re going to make a natural enemy of him by continuing to tolerate slavery, even if he recognizes ending slavery would let out more evils than it would abolish.
That’s the way I interpret the actual Prequels as well, even if it’s not what George Lucas thinks, and blah blah blah.
There’s a lot of ways you can retool the plot to be better structured.
Maybe you should rewrite the Prequels instead of doing fanedits, then. Have you ever thought that?
If you prefer the Prequels just as they are, that’s excellent for you. I’m glad you find them fulfilling where I don’t. These are just my ideas and my opinions.
That wasn’t the point of my replies. The point of my replies is: for the story they have to tell, the Prequels are intrinsically not good for a movie format, because there are a lot of things to explore, and there’s not enough screan-time to do it. So, it would have been better if they had been part of the EU. However, even with their limited amount of screan-time, I’m still capable of getting everything necessary to appreciate them.
So, the summary of your criticism is this: in the first two Prequel films there is not much story to tell, so you lose a lot of time behind secondary things. Am i right? If so, then great, it’s a very acceptable critique. But my reply is this: not every movie in a Saga has to be fundamental to understand the Saga itself. In my opinion, sometimes it’s nice to have movies where the plot is a little calmer, without necessarily having action and important things happening all the time.
But a 1 minute scene in which they recount old adventures didn’t do enough to make people feel they’re such good friends.
It was enough for me. That scene was really enough to make me feel that they are good friends. Especially because being friends doesn’t necessarily mean not arguing or having a good chemistry all the time.
just the beginning of the clone war and Anakin and Padme falling in love
Do you realize that without the assassination attempts there’s no investigative plot, that without the investigative plot there’s no Clone Army, and that without the Clone Army there’s no Clone Wars, right? How do you think they should have used the screan time instead? The movie shows exactly what it’s supposed to show: the beginning of the Clone Wars, and Anakin and Padmé falling in love. The investigative plot leads to the beginning of the Clone Wars and the romance leads to…the romance.
a part of The Phantom Menace
It is not “a part”, it is the whole movie! Again, without the Trade Federation blockade there is no Naboo crisis, and without the Naboo crisis there is no Palpatine’s election. How do you think they should have used the screen time instead? The movie shows what it’s supposed to show.
Obi-Wan is an overrated character
Besides, being told he was a slave and seeing how it effects Anakin would’ve been much more effective. It’d allow the audience to fill in the blanks
Sure, but that’s your opinion. There’s people who would have complained about what you say as well. In fact, I’m sure that if they had really done this, then the Prequels would have been criticized anyway, by using statements like: “They told us about how Anakin lived in slavery and how it was horrible, but it’s impossible to directly relate to it, because we weren’t shown. Please George, show, don’t tell.” I mean, if you really want to find problems, then it’s virtually possible to criticize the Prequels by using every possible argument and counter-argument.
Well that’s the issue, isn’t it? They’re too convoluted. They don’t work as films on their own. George should’ve cut down the story to make it less complicated.
It’s not complicated if you pay attention to the movies and notice the details, like the facial expressions, etc. For example, last year I showed all 6 original Star Wars movies to a friend of mine, and when he saw Attack of the Clones for the first time he knew right away that Sidious and Dooku were behind the creation of the Clone Army. When I told him there were people who had trouble understanding it, he literally said: “Really? But how? It’s so obvious…” So, not everyone finds the story complicated. Sure, I think that some parts could have been explained better, but the story is not so complicated to understand if you pay attention.
how Palpatine became the Chancellor
That’s the whole point of The Phantom Menace. Unless you wanted a single line where they say something like: “Palpatine became Chancellor because he was elected.”
A few scenes with Dooku in the background of TPM, talking with Qui-Gon about his deteriorating faith or belief in the Jedi, then leaving the Jedi after the death of Qui-Gon shouldn’t add-on too much to the run-time.
Sure, but Dooku wasn’t even a thing when TPM came out. It’s like saying: “In ANH there’s no clue about who Luke’s father is.” Besides, in TPM you already have to think about Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Anakin, Padmé, and Jar Jar. So, adding Dooku as an extra-character you have to think about is just too much. However, I grant you that they could have added the AOTC deleted scenes where Dooku’s story and motivations are explored better.
I don’t expect “everything” to be covered, but I do expect to see certain events and relationships to occur on screen in the Prequels. The friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is an important major aspect of these films, and also to the Saga itself.
That’s your problem, not mine. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve always found more than enough what’s shown at the beginning of ROTS. From that beginning only, I’ve always been able to derive, to understand everything and I’ve always been able to grasp the emotion of the final duel. Their friendship is something that I’ve always imagined in my head, I’ve never felt the need to deepen the dynamics so much. Their friendship is a “fill in the blanks” case, at least for me.
Showing Anakin and Obi-Wan’s friendship makes it way more devastating when Anakin turns and they have to fight. I think that’s more important then showing him as a young kid.
Showing an innocent child who turns into an inhuman monster who kills children is very impactful as well, and showing Anakin’s childhood and his life in slavery is important to understand his character.
As I said, everything in the Prequels is important, the problem is just that there’s a limited amount of on-screan time, which prevents you from showing everything in detail. That’s why I said that the Prequels would have worked better as EU. I mean, imagine if the Prequels were an EU multimedia project, consisting of books, comics and video games. It would have been great, because in a EU multimedia project everything can be shown in detail and you don’t have to worry about on-screan time at all.
Man, you guys don’t like Legacy?
I just hate the fact that they used the Sith as the bad guys again. I mean, yeah, I’m the first who doesn’t always agree with George Lucas, but in this case I prefer to stay on his side and to say that there are no more Sith after Return of the Jedi.
We can think everything we want about the Prequels, but they exist, so why can’t we just try being consistent with them? The Prequels say that Anakin would have destroyed the Sith, and he did destroy the Sith when he killed Palpatine and Vader in Return of the Jedi. So, there should be no more Sith after that. The authors should have just been creative and come up with new enemies instead of using the Sith again and again and again. We already have 5,000 years of Sith history in the EU, so it becomes boring if you continue to use the Sith after ROTJ as well, it just shows you’re not creative.
Hell, they could have just said that Kreyt founded a random Dark Side cult revolving around his persona without being a Sith. But no, it was better to revive the Sith just because. And don’t even make me start talking about what they did with Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi, because it’s just stupid and depressing.
But when people say TCW Anakin is a completely different character or that Filoni fixed him, it isn’t really correct. He’s the same as ROTS Anakin, we just got to see more of him.
Meh… I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the way Lucas directed Hayden Christensen, or perhaps Christensen’s own creative choices, but his portrayal of Anakin often bordered on eerily unstable or psychotic, like he’s channeling Malcolm McDowell in a Clockwork Orange. Even during the opening sequence of ROTS, where Anakin is arguably the most level-headed and closest to what I would have imagined him to be, Christensen still occasionally injects this underlying element of borderline personality disorder that comes out sometimes in a facial expression or line delivery.
In contrast, Clone Wars Anakin is a lot closer to something like a Han Solo/Luke Skywalker hybrid. Basically a typical “hot shot” hero character who sometimes also functions as an anti-hero when he wants to be expedient. This portrayal is definitely closer to how I imagined Anakin to be prior to the Prequels, but I also think it loses a lot of the vulnerability that Christensen’s portrayal offered.
Regardless, it’s hard to reconcile the two portrayals as representing the same character.
Agreed, and I genuinely prefer Hayden’s Anakin over TCW Anakin.
Emre1601 said:
For example, I really enjoyed the Dooku segments of 2022’s Tales Of The Jedi. But I could not help but question just why we were not shown such material in the Prequels themselves, which would have made his character and story arc far more compelling.
There’s a thing called limited amount of on-scream time. The Prequels are supposed to be three films, so you can’t expect everything to be explored in detail in three simple films, unless you want to see 10 hours-long Prequels. But I sincerely doubt you would have liked to see that, wouldn’t you?
Though I still don’t understand why Obi-Wan and Anakin’s friendship, them becoming a team, and then closer like “brothers”, wasn’t shown in the Prequel films themselves; that it needed “a footnote” such as TCW to explain or show this.
Again, it’s a matter of limited amount of on-screen time. The Prequels are not supposed to be about Anakin and Obi-Wan’s friendship, the Prequels are supposed to be about Anakin as a character, his motivations for joining the Sith and becoming Darth Vader, and the fall of the Republic. It’s only natural that they can’t show everything about Anakin and Obi-Wan’s friendship, as it’s not what they are supposed to show in detail. Unless you want to see 10 hours-long Prequels, again.
In general, I think that the Prequel Era would have worked better as part of the EU, being developed through books, comics and video games. This way, the authors wouldn’t have worried about limited onscreen time and could have developed and explained everything in detail.
Okay, the intro was the only thing I watched, because it was the only thing I really cared about. And… I didn’t find it convincing. I think the difference between the added clips and the original clips can be noticed a lot. I’m sorry, but I didn’t find it convincing.
The Legends timeline ends at 19 ABY
29 ABY for me.
After Luke’s death, Tatooine became a major pilgrimage site for people around the galaxy wanting to see where “the Son of Suns” was raised.
Nice headcanon. I think I’ll add It too.
The link doesn’t work for me, I can’t open it.
Google drive takes a few hours to load the video online. You can download it too
How?
The link doesn’t work for me, I can’t open it.
The last movie I watched is Give It A Year, with Rose Byrne and Rafa Spall.
There will be spoilers of the movie, so don’t read if you don’t want spoilers!
Man, what I can say? I really loved Rose Byrne since I saw her playing Dormé in Star Wars. But this… This is too much. I can’t stand this movie at all.
The thing is… Basically, there’s this married couple. They really want to make the marriage work, but they really can’t, because they have feelings for other people. Now, a good ending would have been them overcoming all of this and learning that, while marriage is about compromise and sacrifice, in the end it’s worth it. But no, in the end they just break up and go with the other people they have feelings for. Ugh… I just hate this!
I am one of the few romantic people left in the world, and I still believe in love and marriage, so I REALLY hate when stories end like this. I mean, I understand that you can’t control your heart and everything, but it would have been waaaaay better if the movie made you understand that there’s no hope for them from the beginning. Instead, the movie makes you have hope for them until the very end, and then destroys every hope in the last scenes, where they just break up and go away with their other love interests. It just sucks.
I want a link only to see the alternate intro
I think Lucas himself kind of debunked that. He said that Yoda couldn’t really have done anything different. He was just manipulated into a no-win situation.
Yes, because Lucas has a fetish for the Jedi, so the Jedi can’t be wrong and saint Yoda is always right, especially when… well… he tells you to just do nothing but be happy when people around you dies.
Not saying I agree with Lucas. Just saying it wasn’t an intentional character arc.
Yes, I know you don’t agree with him haha. Well, I think that even if it’s not an intentional character arc, it’s still a nice way to see It.
I think Lucas himself kind of debunked that. He said that Yoda couldn’t really have done anything different. He was just manipulated into a no-win situation.
Yes, because Lucas has a fetish for the Jedi, so the Jedi can’t be wrong and saint Yoda is always right, especially when… well… he tells you to just do nothing but be happy when people around you dies.
Pre 1999 Yoda: Spiritual guru living in harmony with nature.
Post 1999 Yoda: Deadbeat father and military leader of a child-kidnapping cult who advocates for book burning.
I don’t think it is a contradiction, rather just character development. That is, Yoda became what he was before 1999 because he learned from the mistakes he made in post-1999 media. For example: yes, in Empire Strikes Back he says that war makes no one great. But why he says that? Because he made a lot of mistakes, and by participating in the Clone Wars he learned first hand that war his shit and makes no one great.
Have any of you ever read the comic adaptations of the Prequel Trilogy? If so, how are they? And what changes they have in regard to the movies? I’m talking about the 1999-2005 adaptations, not the new ones.
The primary reason why I have the Hand of Thrawn duology as my cut-off point. The Galactic Civil War is finally over, Luke and Mara are engaged to be married, and Leia has that sweet ruby lightsaber. The best possible ending to the Expanded Universe, I say.
I prefer to end the Expanded Universe with the NJO series and the end of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. But if I have to put myself in your place, then, wouldn’t it be better to end the Expanded Universe with the Union comic in which Luke and Mara get officially married and the war is officially over? I think their wedding ceremony could be a nice ending for the universe as well.