anth
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# Posted: 21 May 2005 17:19
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Ok, now the saga is all over ( I know the upcoming TV show's are set in the SW Universe, but i don't count that as part of the film saga. ) I'd like to hear your thoughts on a few things.
Are the prequels better than the Original Trilogy?
If you felt the Prequels were not as good as the Original Trilogy how could they have been improved?
Were did Lucas go wrong? If he did go wrong.
I'd like to say, i definately enjoyed the prequels. I've seen them at least 20 times each, Episode III only once so far, ( but i'll be watching it a few more times now i have just burned it to DVD  )
Even though the prequels were filled with some of the unique imagery that Lucas can amaze us with, they were not cram filled with that certain special something that made the older movies so fantastic for me at least.
I think the best way to know for sure is, imagine you have to introduce somebody to SW who's never seen it. You really want to get them hooked. Which set of trilogy's do you show them first? I'm pretty sure i would'nt run them eps 1,2,3,4,5,6. It would be 4,5,6,1,2,3
How would Episodes I -III have been better?
Lucas knowing his strenths and weaknesses
First off, lets look at the OT, what's the best movie? Empire Strikes Back, of course. Lucas did not direct, he did what he does best, he did not direct Jedi either. He wrote a great story for both movies. He watched over and picked out the looks and designs that make the films so special. He did alot of editing that is his strong point, you could say genius infact.
Others wrote the dialogue, other director's have got the best out of his actors.
Lucas cannot direct actor's, and he can't write dialogue. He can write fantastic stories. He can instruct those responsible for creating the look of the film that's in his head. The combination of Lucas's strenths combined with, let's face it, the best screenplay writers and director's money could buy would have got the prequels off to one hell of a start.
To simply say Hayden can't act, or to say natalie Portman can't act, is not fair. Ewan is a fantastic actor. So too is Liam Neeson a great actor. And both appeared wooden at times. Proof that things are not right. Too much green screen? Or bad directing? or just plain bad dialogue? Something is wrong when great actor's are not doing their job well.
One things for sure, nobody had those problems in the OT.
The Look
I understand, and even agree with Lucas's explanations on the look of the PT ( Prequel Trilogy ), and how things deteriate towards Episode IV and the time of the Empire.
But, having said all that, the sparkly clean and colourful images, the immaculate carpets of Coruscant, and the chrome space ships etc, of the PT don't feel like SW to us old time fans. And no matter how its explained to us, we won't budge.
Who thinks political intrique is exciting?
Smugglers, bounty hunters, cool imperials, action! That's what we want to see in SW ( or, i do at least. ) The PT is full of long scenes of politics, and long scenes of jedi sat around talking.
Episode III had bags of action. I liked it alot. But Episodes I and II had alot of this Political wrangling and slow Jedi discussion.
That's why Episode III is the best PT film. And that's why it's the closest to the OT in many ways.
Characters and places
In the OT we met alot of characters and saw some memorable places. But in the PT we met thousands! Lucas's budget and his floods of CGI meant he could jump about all over th galaxy, and introduce us to as many characters as he has time to cram into a film. As a result they became diluted and lost in the sheer weight of numbers we see in the PT. More budget has meant Lucas can skip all over the place, and he's not constrained at all.
Even characters such as Darth Maul, Jango Fett, and the Wookie warriors of Episode III have hardly any screen time at all, and they are character's which we were bombarded with running up to those films. Characters which, had they appeared in an OT type film would now be legends.
The PT has no stand out new planets, places, or characters because of Lucas's lavish amount of scene skipping due to his enormous budgets and bottomless CGI resources.
How i would have done it
I'm no writer. But it seems to me alot of character's in the PT were pointless. Dooku, Grevous etc. Why kill Darth Maul? Why could'nt he simply escape in Episode I? Grevous was an attempt to bring back another cool bad guy like Maul anyway, but he was not needed. Or he could have been included in Episode II along with Nute Gunray as the seperatist leadership, no need for Dooku. Grevous and Maul would then probably have gone onto to the kind of status we are familiar with in OT characters.
The PT should have been able to stand on it's own too, with the plotline we all knew woven into it. It cannot stand on it's own at all. It needs the OT to prop it up. Where as the OT can be watched in its own right. And really, when you think about it, the OT's story telling completely removes the need for the Prequels any way.
Not having the PT tell a good stand alone story is a big waste IMO.
Not bashing
Don't get me wrong, i enjoyed the prequels immensely. I'm just kind of sad it's all over. And sad i have not got six films totally full of the magic of the OT. I wanted that badly. I got the magic plenty of times in the PT, i'm just greedy i suppose. I wanted another set of films that did it ALL over again for me.
I was sad on wednesday evening. I told Jadz, it's like knowing it's the last ever Christmas Eve or something. 
I think that's the problem, i'm not alone in being so passionate about a set of films. The saga changed my life, it almost alone gave me a childhood from 1978 onwards that i look back on with so much warmth and nostalga now.
The PT was never going to bring back those feelings, cos they can't be brought back. It'll never be like being 8 years old again and seeing Episde IV in 1978, no matter how young i try and stay. And the films won't have that magic i suppose.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on all this. Maybe you think i'm full of BS, or you agree. let me know. *L*
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goose
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# Posted: 22 May 2005 23:30
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Anth,
The new Star Wars TV series is set in the SW universe, otherwise it wouldn't be SW. ..The TV series is going to be the 20 years between Eps 3 and 4, but no main characters will be in the series so it should be interesting to see how this is done.
Are the prequals better than the originals? That depends on who you ask, some will say the prequel trilogy, some will say the original trilogy. It doesn't matter what was better, it matters that the saga is complete, we know how the story goes. It doesn't matter that Eps 1 and 2 were crappy, if its how the story is, its how the damn story is.
Lucas didn't go wrong, thats his story and he told it the best he could. Sure he could have done much better, but its his vision, his dream, his creation. *l*
I know this isn't my complete thoughts on your questions, your passage was just waaaaay to long, ask me specific questions if you want to.
Goose
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