How to make Star Wars Episode 1 2 and 3 better

[DarkRyter]

Instead of being about the perilous adventures of Anakin Skywalker, it would be instead be about George Lucas slowly devolving into something slightly less than a human being.

That's way more interesting.

 

[RuralGamer]

Make them more like the book version of Revenge of the Sith. Seriously though, I read that about two years after the film and thought "Well that was better than the film, considerably." The book goes a lot more into the minds of the people and helps explain Anakin's dilemma much more clearly; sure a book can always get away with that better, but I would, as a few have already suggested, cut out the Phantom Menace crap; have all three film centred around Anakin's realisation he has feelings for Padme and grappling with them with the Clone Wars as a backdrop.
Oh and don't cast Hayden as Anakin, or Portman as Padme.

 

[gigastar]

Well for starters i wou-

Rule of this thread: The movies HAVE to be made.

Dammit.

Well, failing that, get rid of Jar-Jar Blinks, get rid of trying to explain the Force and make Anakin about 5 years older in all installments.

Its far from perfect but its a damn good start.

 

[babinro]

1) Make all the droids serious. Align them with how humans already perceive a futuristic robot to function. There could of course be exceptions to this rule, but as is, the droids in Ep 1,2 and 3 are all 'comedy relief'.

2) Eliminate the need to scientifically explain the force. I'm not actually bothered by the idea of midichlorians, but there was no need to introduce this. The less we know, the more inherently fascinating it is.

3) Shorten nearly all the action sequences (pod race being the main one)...particularly ones that haven't had a proper build up to create tension.

4) Have more characters and events that tie in with EP 4, 5 and 6. I hated EP2...despite this I couldn't help but love seeing the death star plans in that short scene. Poor utilization of wookies would be another example. Replace the Gundan planet with a Wookies (Kashyyk) planet and fans would have been happier (albeit equally annoyed by the voices)

5) Focus more on Darth Vadar. I just assumed the character would have been 'created' in Ep 2...not the conclusion of Ep 3.

6) Completely re-write and re-work the relationship between Anakin and Padme. This concept and story is excellent. The execution was boring, cheesy and lacked tension.

7) Do NOT give characters new abilities. Why could R2 fly? Why did he never fly again?

8) Make technology feel older. This was a prequel of movies whose technology came across as more advanced than the old movies.

9) Focus less on CGI where reasonable. Only utilize CGI when a sequence or scene demands it. The more you have actors acting with other humans, the better your performances and action sequences will be.

I'll stop there. I should note that I actually really enjoy Ep1 and place it along side EP 6 in terms of quality. EP 2 put me to sleep by the mid point and Ep 3 felt rushed but had potential. EP 4 and 5 are the classics.

 

[CommanderL]

in number one make anakin around 15 and a already a great pilot but with a lot of anger due to his slave up bringings

two make number one focus more on obiwan
three keep darth maul alive till the start of the second and have master obi face of the against the sith that killed his master all them years ago when he was a padawan
four introuduce doku in number one as a great and repected jedi
five make jar jar less annoying maybe have him lead the fight on naboo
six show hints of anakins slow desenct to the dark side from first movie
seven make the sence when he get the suit on with no sound until his first breath
eight no midochlorains
seven keep the born from the force but get rid of the chosen thing he was made by plaguis in his experments
nine second half of the third will be about the jedi getting killed out
ten more windu
eleven give jango something to
12 make boba not a clone but jango's only son
13 in the duel of mustafar let obi wan lose sight of anakin and think he was dead not burning alive and shouting at him
14 show the bond between anakin and obi wan more to show thier true friendship
15 more bail organa that guy is awsome
16 make grevious less weak
17 show the effects of the war

 

[dancinginfernal]

Let Bioware make them.

I think you mean Obsidian.

 

[Racecarlock]

Less talky, more fighty. In spacey.

 

[SycoMantis91]

Well considering half of Obsidian was on the KOTOR team, touche.

 

[The Madman]

Less fighting, less characters, more focused narrative, smaller budget, don't over-explain.

Star Wars was originally more or less a cheesy but nevertheless endearing fairy-tale in space. The characters were simple and predictable but sympathetic while the story akin to a traditional fable with the rising hero from obscure origins facing off against an overwhelming enemy. Not mind blowing perhaps but relatable and fun. It was a fairy tale for a whole new generation!

The new movies are just an excuse for highly choreographed but soulless fight sequence and flashy graphics. That's it. Seriously. Ask anyone who's a fan of the new movies and they'll say they like it for the fight scenes and the CGI because that's all the movies had and nothing else. Hollow husks of a movie without heart or soul blundering around aimlessly and relying solely upon shiny visuals to distract from its empty core.

 

[Smiley Face]

Wouldn't it be more pertinent to talk about how a more recent franchise could be improved, like the Marvel movieverse or Twilight or something?

Honestly, even 12 years after the fact, it is still more pertinent to talk about how to improve Star Wars than Twilight. Because I can understand people caring about Star Wars. And I'm sure people talk a great deal about the Marvel movieverse. People talk about everything. Let's talk about this. And to be honest, I don't think I've ever properly discussed this, so even if it's been done to death for you, that's not true for all of us.

To deal with the actual topic,

1: Better Casting. Liam Neeson, Good. Christopher Lee, Good. Jimmy Smitts is good and I honestly can't say why he isn't used more. Ewan MacGregor is a good actor and played a good part but I don't know if he pulls off the Alec Guinness vibe, he's a bit too solemn, but that's just me. Natalie Portman is a fine actress, but a character whose primary role is a love interest has to be cast depending on their opposite number - not that she wouldn't be. It's sometimes hard to tell whether to blame bad acting, direction, or writing, but Anakin could almost definitely have been cast better, and the best way to do that would be to have had one actor through all three films, which would also him to have more of a character beyond EXTREME PUBERTY (Really, Anakin's character is just a caricature of teenage cliches), and allow the Padme/Anakin relationship to develop realistically, rather than heavily, heavily change gear in Clones. Which brings us to:

2: The Padme/Anakin relationship. I don't entirely remember, but when I saw this at what must have been the age of 10 or something, I'm pretty sure I could tell that something was off. Now that I have a more developed critical sense, I can tell that it fails on many levels. I can't be entirely sure of the writing, because I haven't seen it acted in a convincing way, but on an acting and directorial sense, it seems forced, cliched, and contrived. That needs to not happen. I don't know how it should happen, that would take more thought, I just know that it was BAD. I winced in Clones, and in Revenge it was just tacked on and silly.

3: Villains could have been used to better effect. Maul barely said anything, Grievous commits a cardinal sin by just being introduced as a bad guy without demonstrating his badguyness, and all within 5 minutes screentime of Dooku and Palpatine being their evil/conniving selves. Dooku was handled pretty well though, as was Palpatine - however with Palpatine, there was a problem in that he was the only continuous villain of the series - but he wasn't REALLY a villain - he was a scheming, puppetmaster-y, EVENTUAL villain, but the original trilogy had Vader front and centre all the time as the bad guy everyone was focused on. Maul and Grievous, and even Dooku to a point, all fill that role, but we're never really given a reason to care about them like we did Vader - all the care about the villain stuff is shunted towards Palpatine.

4: Make Jar-Jar better. In retrospect, using something like Jar-Jar Binks was something the new trilogy had to, and should have done - a CGI alien as a supporting character. Part of Star Wars' uniqueness has always been about having aliens that are very clearly not human, but act like it. In the original trilogy, we had Chewbacca along with the main group because it was essential, but he's unintelligible - which is a good thing, because to make him intelligible would either have required having a walking bear inexplicably making human noises, which couldn't be done believably, or altering the design so it was human enough to be believable, which defeated the purpose. With the advent of CGI, there's a solution - you can make an out there looking alien who can nevertheless speak and emote believably. Having one as part of the main group was essential. They just made one who was weird, irritating, and unbelievable as a character, and that's where it needed to be fixed. On a semi-relevant aside, imagine a Star Wars with BRIAN BLESSED'S Big Boss Nass instead of Jar Jar. Yes it's not a good idea, but it's a funny one.

5: Better Direction. When I think back to these films, I can imagine the same scene being done better, over and over again. That could have been more ominous, that shot could have communicated that clearer. Some of this, of course, comes down to acting and writing, but it's the director's job to manage that into compelling and effective storytelling. It just doesn't click enough.

Now, I've mostly dealt with logistical aspects rather than creative ones, because I'm not really clear on what the artistic and creative tone/direction of Star Wars is supposed to be. I first experienced it as a kid, and I enjoyed it because it was simple and cool, and in retrospect, for those reasons, it seems to be pretty much made for kids. I don't know how deep or complex it should've gotten, I don't know what direction it should've taken, because I don't know what the intent was.

The one creative gripe I'll allow myself is this: An opportunity was missed for more chill time in space. Yes, there are many scenes IN space. No, there are very few occasions where there's important character stuff going on, and where they are is quite obviously in a spaceship/spacestation. The Royal Yacht looks like an unusually styled room, whereas the Millenium Falcon Cockpit looks like it's either a very cramped submarine or IN SPACE. If there had been some decent time spent in, say, a space station above Coruscant, that WASN'T a tense situation, it would have really driven home the STAR part of Star Wars.

EDIT: I also agree with everything the post above me says.

 

[RussetRanger]

Don't market them to kids

Wait...... what? I thought these essentially were for kids.

I would curb the tax talk and Federation stuff from the first one and instead focus on Anakin's training. Jar Jar Binks would get toned down a bit.


A better actor than Hayden Christensen and the third one I don't think would need much more.

 

[iwinatlife]

Re shoot it with the script of Darths and Droids the movies make much more sense as a tabletop adventuring party

 

[JoesshittyOs]

For Star Wars? I honestly didn't care about them. They weren't bad, they weren't that good. Uhh, yep, nothing. Though I did like how they had the different assortments of Clones armor. I liked some of the outfits in the game.

A movie I would make better? Red State. It was a great movie by itself, but it could have been even better if Kevin Smith hadn't tried to avoid every common trope in a movie. Maybe if he had stuck with one or two cliche's instead of making it a shit-fest of randomness, it wouldn't have been such a messy movie.

My thought.

Edit: Oh, I guess for Star Wars they might have not tried so damn hard to make the Sith seem like the bad guys. Because in reality, they're much more human than the Jedi.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Could it be made better?
For me I would return the Force to its mystical element by NOT EXPLAINING it, especially in away where you could cure Jedism!

That would be item one.

Next: Dying of Childbirth should NOT be an issue. These people have the tech to replace hands, fully functionally, in a few hours. They should be able to handle a bleed in the female reproductive system. [sub](and yes, I realize being beaten first was a factor, but his entire motivation was the belief that his wife was going to die in child birth, which was an absurd fear to have in the first place)[/sub]

And finally - better actors please? At least for Anakin.

 

[Deathmageddon]

Um what? Episode 3 was badass...

I don't get why people dislike the prequel trilogy anyway. Sure, Episode 1 was a little kid-freindly, but what makes the original trilogy so great? Han Solo? He's just some guy with a gun. Anakin Skywalker, however, banged Natalie Portman. Which deserves more praise?

 

[DarthSka]

Honestly? To me, I just say leave them the way they are. Maybe tone down Jar Jar a bit, since the original trilogy's humor was much more subtle, but other than that, nothing.

 

[Snotnarok]

Okay they have to be made, so instead show eps 4,5,6 in their original makes in HD out instead but advertize 1,2 and 3, everyone will be raving about how amazing they were! Because they're not the poorly written, poorly planned, derpy prequels.

 

[Goro]

I thought Anakins fall to the dark side was very weak, and he fell far too easily, I would've liked Palpatine to find out about the killing of the sand people, and congratulate Anakin on his power, and how he's made sure no one will be hurt again. The Jedi are weak because of their compassion, they'd rather watch Padme die then trangress *a little* to help... The light side is misguided, they want to help to everyone but not everyone deserves it... Not this "i can help her, now go kill everyone becaus ~spoiler! (har)~ I'm a Sith Lord.
That, and the extended scene of Jar-Jars excessively violent torture and killing.