Star Wars prequels vs. original trilogy

B_henry miller

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Harrison Ford himself said that the two sets of movies are "very different," though he didn't elaborate. I remember reading an article in Vanity Fair that said that the original trilogy of the 70s/80s are like "comedic folks tales" whereas the prequels have interwoven plot lines and lush backdrops like "19th century novels."
 

Xcuze

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I think theyre all as dull as each other. I dont get this whole star wars thing at all. The way grown men brag about being into it is just embarrassing.

Its the complete opposite of sexy. :rolleyes:

 

B_JasonDawgxxx

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Maybe it's because you're gay. Maybe Star Wars is a geeky straight guy thing. Actually, I think that's exactly what it is. Sad, I know. But I'm watching Episode III as I type this. lol


What does being Gay have to do with liking or not liking Star Wars??
 

Xcuze

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Well Gay people usually love bad acting, crap dialogue & tacky costumes...

Star wars has all of this. But it still grips like teflon.
 

B_henry miller

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Well Gay people usually love bad acting, crap dialogue & tacky costumes...

Star wars has all of this. But it still grips like teflon.

You got that right. Some of the dialogue in Episode III is unbearable. "No, it's only because I'm so in love with you." "So love has blinded you?" "No, that's not what I meant...." yikes. :eek: Carrie Fischer said they used to say, "You can write this stuff, George, but you can't say it."
 

Sklar

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The main difference between the two trilogies is that the Original Star Wars was character driven and the pre-quel Star Wars was special effects driven.

The frist three, by far, even with the cheesy effects, were a much better set of movies than the ones that came next.

I heard one critic state that George Lucas had a love affair with special effects and I can't really disagree with that.

Plus, the casting for Darth Vader was horrific in the first movie. Can we find anyone with less acting ability to play the pre-teen Vader? Hayden Christiansen, for the last two movies, wasn't that much better. To be fair, he was great in Jumper. But as Darth Vader, he had no personality. The Anniken Skywalker in the animated series Clone Wars is a better character.

Just my two cents,

Sklar
 

ZOS23xy

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I liked the original three; the prequels lacked something essential--like suspense (because we all knew where it was headed), and unlike the initial set, all the prequels are geared to have as much junk spun off of them as possible. How could you not watch THE PHANTOM MENACE and not see the plotting for a video game?

The prequels were nice to look at. They lack substance. In my video library, I've seen HORROR OF PARTY BEACH more than the prequels.
 

finlandboi

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Always been a huge fan to anything Star Wars related and to me the original trilogy will always be the better one without a doubt. And I agree on what Sklar said; Hayden Christensen was a big minus for me with the new trilogy and it was too special effects driven all though Lucas tried to get some attention to the characters with big name actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee and Liam Neeson.

And the reason I think why grown men still like Star Wars is the same reason they like comics. They want to feel a bit more "childish" and younger and I've once read somewhere that the older you get and the more you feel like a kid, the older you're going to live. I also think that people who are into SW/comics etc. have a higher than average imagination.
 

jason_els

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Oh the original, no question. It's mythic, operatic, and really, IV and V complement each other as well as Godfather I & II. The acting and dialogue may have been questionable in the originals, but never was it so terrible as in I & II which had actors that couldn't make it sound good. The original cast had a chemistry that went unmatched in the prequels. There was the score, the effects, and the storyline. I'm not big on the Ewoks, but there we are.
 

tim36

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I love Star Wars and Im not geeky *though i am bi*, but though many in the media overall have trashed the prequels, I rather enjoyed them, especially Episode 3, to me one of the best Star Wars movies period (prequel or original).
 

Meniscus

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I agree that the original Star Wars trilogy was more character-driven and the prequels focused too much on special effects, but the prequels have bigger problems. The main problem revolves around the central character, Anakin Skywalker. It's not just a casting problem. I don't think George Lucas really knew who Anakin was, not the way he knew Luke and Leia and Han Solo, and the other original characters. He didn't know what kind of person could be a hero and yet fall so deeply into darkness. I don't blame him for that. It's not an easy character to imagine, let alone translate to the screen. But without finding that character (and the right actor to play him) nothing else in the story really works. The result is that the story of Anakin's fall is neither convicing nor compelling.

There are several other weaknesses to the prequel trilogy. For example, the love story between Anakin and Padme is forced and unconvincing, so the idea that Anakin turns to evil because he's so desperate to save her just doesn't work for me. As Jason says, there's little chemistry between any of the characters.

Lucas seems to have a tendency in these films to write himself into corners and them come up with absurd ways out. In Episode 2 Anakins confesses mass murder to Padme and she forgives and comforts him with some trite remark about, "It's understandable that you were upset." Oh yeah, that's realistic. Having Padme meet Anakin as a little boy in Episode 1 makes it difficult for them to fall in love convincingly in Episode 2. I wouldn't have introduced Padme until Episode 2, and I would have allowed a real love story to have developed there. I wouldn't not have bothered with that silliness about Jedi being forbidden romantic love. It's an unnecessary complication to the plot which Lucas handles poorly.

I don't like the "Rule of Two" for the Sith. It would have been more interesting if several young Jedi had been seduced by Palpatine and were plotting against the Jedi, then to have had Anakin turn on them and eliminate the competition--his final test to prove that he and he alone is worthy to stand at the new Emperor's side.

The Phantom Menace contributes little to the overall story arc. I think the intent behind introducing us to Anakin as a little boy is to give us some insight into his early life so that we can better understand the man he grew up to be, but there's little connection or resemblance between little boy Anakin and grown-up Anakin. The most interesting part of the story is that we get to see a little of Palpatine's early machinations, but there isn't much there, either. If I could rewrite the story, I'd scrap the whole storyline about the invasion of Naboo and tell a different story about a gifted problem child entering Jedi training. I would have liked to have seen Obi-Wan as a Jedi instructor with several students, and perhaps show some of the tension and rivalry between the Jedi trainees. (For example, Anakin is arrogant because he knows he's the best, but he falls behind the other students because he's undisciplined and impatient. Perhaps we see him sabotage or manipulate the other students; perhaps we see him get violently enraged when he loses a competition.) Obi-Wan is sure that he can get the boy under control, but the other Jedi are worried. The boy's first adventure should be tragic and traumatizing, such that we see the seeds of Darth Vader sewn in the boy.

On the Web site linked below, you can read several early drafts of the Star Wars script, written and revised over a period of several years. Some of the early drafts are very different from the movie that was ulimately made. Lucas had enough sense to recognize that something wasn't working in his earlier drafts, so he kept working on them until he got it right, until he had a movie worth making. I just don't think he put the same amount of time or effort into the prequels.

S T A R K I L L E R - The Jedi Bendu Script Site
 

B_henry miller

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I have never seen any of them...no interest whatsoever.

Woah. :eek: That is RARE -- someone who's never seen ANY of the movies.

I envy you, though. I'd love to have never seen any of them and then to know that I have something to look forward to. It's sad to be a Star Wars fan and know that I have no further movies to look forward to. :(
 

ZOS23xy

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I've never seen a James Bond film.

Anyway, one thing that irks many Star Wars fans:-- Jar Jar Binks.

There were fans who claimed they'd seen versions of the film with JJB trimmed out and it was better. I'd prefer to have him replaced with Pee Wee Herman. Or Herman Munster.
 

B_henry miller

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When you put it that way, it occurs to me that in fact the prequels are all TERRIBLE. There is no story anywhere. Let's be honest, even in the original movies there is little to no story. It's always very vague.

I agree that the original Star Wars trilogy was more character-driven and the prequels focused too much on special effects, but the prequels have bigger problems. The main problem revolves around the central character, Anakin Skywalker. It's not just a casting problem. I don't think George Lucas really knew who Anakin was, not the way he knew Luke and Leia and Han Solo, and the other original characters. He didn't know what kind of person could be a hero and yet fall so deeply into darkness. I don't blame him for that. It's not an easy character to imagine, let alone translate to the screen. But without finding that character (and the right actor to play him) nothing else in the story really works. The result is that the story of Anakin's fall is neither convicing nor compelling.

There are several other weaknesses to the prequel trilogy. For example, the love story between Anakin and Padme is forced and unconvincing, so the idea that Anakin turns to evil because he's so desperate to save her just doesn't work for me. As Jason says, there's little chemistry between any of the characters.

Lucas seems to have a tendency in these films to write himself into corners and them come up with absurd ways out. In Episode 2 Anakins confesses mass murder to Padme and she forgives and comforts him with some trite remark about, "It's understandable that you were upset." Oh yeah, that's realistic. Having Padme meet Anakin as a little boy in Episode 1 makes it difficult for them to fall in love convincingly in Episode 2. I wouldn't have introduced Padme until Episode 2, and I would have allowed a real love story to have developed there. I wouldn't not have bothered with that silliness about Jedi being forbidden romantic love. It's an unnecessary complication to the plot which Lucas handles poorly.

I don't like the "Rule of Two" for the Sith. It would have been more interesting if several young Jedi had been seduced by Palpatine and were plotting against the Jedi, then to have had Anakin turn on them and eliminate the competition--his final test to prove that he and he alone is worthy to stand at the new Emperor's side.

The Phantom Menace contributes little to the overall story arc. I think the intent behind introducing us to Anakin as a little boy is to give us some insight into his early life so that we can better understand the man he grew up to be, but there's little connection or resemblance between little boy Anakin and grown-up Anakin. The most interesting part of the story is that we get to see a little of Palpatine's early machinations, but there isn't much there, either. If I could rewrite the story, I'd scrap the whole storyline about the invasion of Naboo and tell a different story about a gifted problem child entering Jedi training. I would have liked to have seen Obi-Wan as a Jedi instructor with several students, and perhaps show some of the tension and rivalry between the Jedi trainees. (For example, Anakin is arrogant because he knows he's the best, but he falls behind the other students because he's undisciplined and impatient. Perhaps we see him sabotage or manipulate the other students; perhaps we see him get violently enraged when he loses a competition.) Obi-Wan is sure that he can get the boy under control, but the other Jedi are worried. The boy's first adventure should be tragic and traumatizing, such that we see the seeds of Darth Vader sewn in the boy.

On the Web site linked below, you can read several early drafts of the Star Wars script, written and revised over a period of several years. Some of the early drafts are very different from the movie that was ulimately made. Lucas had enough sense to recognize that something wasn't working in his earlier drafts, so he kept working on them until he got it right, until he had a movie worth making. I just don't think he put the same amount of time or effort into the prequels.

S T A R K I L L E R - The Jedi Bendu Script Site
 

B_henry miller

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I've never seen a James Bond film.

Anyway, one thing that irks many Star Wars fans:-- Jar Jar Binks.

There were fans who claimed they'd seen versions of the film with JJB trimmed out and it was better. I'd prefer to have him replaced with Pee Wee Herman. Or Herman Munster.

I've never seen a James Bond film either. Or a Rocky film for that matter. So, I guess it's possible to not see those big films.

I'd heard of Jar Jar being trimmed out of the first film. I hated him. I think everyone but the children hated him.
 

Sklar

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I'd heard of Jar Jar being trimmed out of the first film. I hated him. I think everyone but the children hated him.


In the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, there is a room that has Jar Jar Binks frozen in carbonite. It's on the wookie home world in an office of an imperial officer.

I felt that was a nice touch.

Sklar