Poll: Why do you hate the Star Wars Prequels?

[Hides His Eyes]

I don't hate them. The first one is pretty poor, although it has a few good things about it. The second one is rather good, and the third one is brilliant.

I think a lot of Star Wars would have hated the prequels no matter what they had been like. Some people just love to hate, especially sci-fi fans.

 

[Mouse_Crouse]

The appearance of Mos Eisly in the prequels looked exactly the same as it did in the original, as did Coruscant at the end of Return of the Jedi.

I could be mistaken, but I believe the ending to RotJ Celebration scene was added in the remake in the 90s. I don't remember seeing those planets in the original release.

As for the Leia thing, I still don't buy it. They way she talks in that scene gives the impression that she actually remembers her mother, not just a 'force impression'.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Because George Lucas couldn't even direct his ass out of his chair during the production of these movies, let alone the movies themselves.

And they even managed to make Samual L. Jackson boring: If that isn't an achievement in shitty movie making, I don't know what is.

 

[Veylon]

Okay, gotta pick this apart here.

Y'know for every example of love and betrayal, I thought of a perfect example from the prequels. Easy as pie. The betrayal of Anakin to the Jedi, his wife and ultiamtely himself, was portrayed excelently, I really felt like he was torn between his love for Padme and his commitment to his dream of being a Jedi, and all the burdens that come with that dream.

First off, how much did he love Padme? So much that he would never harm her? His almost casual slaying of her does not speak of any deep love, certainly not the kind that would impel him to overturn everything else he cares about. Dovetailing with my original point, much more screentime is given to the elaborate and overblown lightsaber fight than to this key moment. Heck, as much time is given to him offing Nute Gunray as Padme Amidala.

Jango was FFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR more essential to the plot than Boba Fett was in his film than Boba was in his film.. Still cool, but Jango was more fleshed out. I'm presuming were excluding the Expanded Universe which turned Boba into a wholly fleshed out character...

This is true. Boba Fett was an intriguing character precisely because he wasn't fleshed out. He had only a handful lines of dialogue and exactly one action sequence. Fans loved him because he was mysterious and they wanted more, but mostly because he had a cool helmet.

Yes, Boba Fett is extensively fleshed out in the Extended Universe. He is now a runaway prince from a world where the national uniform is the Mandalorian armor that he wears. It's called Mandalor. They have a honorable warrior code, a tradition of self-independence, and have retroactively been heavily involved in galactic history for millenia. It's all very stupid, it erases whatever individuality Boba had, and the Star Wars Universe is worse for it existing.

Jango exists solely as a shrine to Boba. Now, the universe is teeming with Fett clones because Fett DNA is genetically superior to all others. He exists because Boba Fett fans want more and Lucas is foolish enough to cater to them. He was more important to the plot, that's true. But in a story supposedly about Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, why is the plot stretching to give extra screen time to some guy he never meets?

You think people would've loved more story on the enslaved Naboo? Don't be naive.

I probably am being a bit naive here. But at least "Episode I: Escape from Naboo" would have a focal point.

Look at your precious originals and you'll see a gross step on external drama. The destruction of Leia's home planet, Alderaan. It got Leia to say, 'No' and Ben to flesh out how vast the power of the force stretches out. Thats it. Fucking ridiculous. All of her family and fiends, everything GONE. And all we hear is a no and a sad face.

You're right. Can't argue that. I will point out, though, that the story centers around Luke, which is why his parents get names, dialogue, and screen time. If the story were about Leia, all we'd get is an off-hand mention that his parents were killed by stormtroopers. And a sad face.

Fans whine and moan about the new trilogy because thats what they are. New. And something new begets change. And people hate change. So thats why I hate them.

Fair enough. Hating something for being new is bad. I hate the prequels for not being new enough. Too much is shoehorned in from the later movies. C-3PO and R2-D2 didn't need to be there. Nor did Jango and Boba. Nor did imitation stormtroopers. Tatooine didn't need to visited once, let alone twice. Even the casual lesson Ben gave Luke on the Millenium Falcon is copied. Even the pointless (and baffling) title of Princess for Leia is dragged into this movie because Amidala is a Queen. These movies needed to be doing anything but parasitizing the originals.

Give me Gray Jedi. Give me Biological Ships. I'll take new Force Powers and traditions other than Jedi and Sith. I like new things and I would've liked to see more of them.

 

[DAPLR]

Okay, gotta pick this apart here.

Y'know for every example of love and betrayal, I thought of a perfect example from the prequels. Easy as pie. The betrayal of Anakin to the Jedi, his wife and ultiamtely himself, was portrayed excelently, I really felt like he was torn between his love for Padme and his commitment to his dream of being a Jedi, and all the burdens that come with that dream.

First off, how much did he love Padme? So much that he would never harm her? His almost casual slaying of her does not speak of any deep love, certainly not the kind that would impel him to overturn everything else he cares about. Dovetailing with my original point, much more screentime is given to the elaborate and overblown lightsaber fight than to this key moment. Heck, as much time is given to him offing Nute Gunray as Padme Amidala.

Jango was FFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR more essential to the plot than Boba Fett was in his film than Boba was in his film.. Still cool, but Jango was more fleshed out. I'm presuming were excluding the Expanded Universe which turned Boba into a wholly fleshed out character...

This is true. Boba Fett was an intriguing character precisely because he wasn't fleshed out. He had only a handful lines of dialogue and exactly one action sequence. Fans loved him because he was mysterious and they wanted more, but mostly because he had a cool helmet.

Yes, Boba Fett is extensively fleshed out in the Extended Universe. He is now a runaway prince from a world where the national uniform is the Mandalorian armor that he wears. It's called Mandalor. They have a honorable warrior code, a tradition of self-independence, and have retroactively been heavily involved in galactic history for millenia. It's all very stupid, it erases whatever individuality Boba had, and the Star Wars Universe is worse for it existing.

Jango exists solely as a shrine to Boba. Now, the universe is teeming with Fett clones because Fett DNA is genetically superior to all others. He exists because Boba Fett fans want more and Lucas is foolish enough to cater to them. He was more important to the plot, that's true. But in a story supposedly about Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, why is the plot stretching to give extra screen time to some guy he never meets?

You think people would've loved more story on the enslaved Naboo? Don't be naive.

I probably am being a bit naive here. But at least "Episode I: Escape from Naboo" would have a focal point.

Look at your precious originals and you'll see a gross step on external drama. The destruction of Leia's home planet, Alderaan. It got Leia to say, 'No' and Ben to flesh out how vast the power of the force stretches out. Thats it. Fucking ridiculous. All of her family and fiends, everything GONE. And all we hear is a no and a sad face.

You're right. Can't argue that. I will point out, though, that the story centers around Luke, which is why his parents get names, dialogue, and screen time. If the story were about Leia, all we'd get is an off-hand mention that his parents were killed by stormtroopers. And a sad face.

Fans whine and moan about the new trilogy because thats what they are. New. And something new begets change. And people hate change. So thats why I hate them.

Fair enough. Hating something for being new is bad. I hate the prequels for not being new enough. Too much is shoehorned in from the later movies. C-3PO and R2-D2 didn't need to be there. Nor did Jango and Boba. Nor did imitation stormtroopers. Tatooine didn't need to visited once, let alone twice. Even the casual lesson Ben gave Luke on the Millenium Falcon is copied. Even the pointless (and baffling) title of Princess for Leia is dragged into this movie because Amidala is a Queen. These movies needed to be doing anything but parasitizing the originals.

Give me Gray Jedi. Give me Biological Ships. I'll take new Force Powers and traditions other than Jedi and Sith. I like new things and I would've liked to see more of them.

Ugh...this is too long...gotta learn how to snip or whatever....

O.k....Anakin and Padme's relationship was that Anakin felt partially responsible for his mothers death since he arrived too late to save her. So when he got prophetic dreams of her (padmes) death, he couldn't bear to see her die too. This lead to his turn to the dark side, which was all an attempt to protect her. But when he felt that she betrayed him, he was so enraged that he actually physically hurt her. This rage was amplified by the fact he had been acting purely on his darkest emotions recently. And he didn't kill her, she lost the will to live after she gave birth. Ridiculous? Well, in a galaxy of frozen carbonites, 'talking' furballs, planet destroying battleships and magical space samurai, I think this is the most ordinary thing in this series. And her death had as much screentime as Vaders, since Vaders final peptalk to Luke is roughly as long as the birthing scene, so no, her death isn't over too quick.

Can't say much about Boba...since its hard to say much about a character with about as much screentime as Greedo -_-. So, fuck it. I can't really argue about a character thats a blank slate and for that reason, people love him. Its me saying, 'He isn't a real character', and getting the response, 'Thats why we love him'.I can't say shit, so whatever...

If the story was more focused on Naboo, you know what would happen?....'Wah wah, why are they talking about the people that everyone hates?' Everyone apparently hates Jar-Jar(I don't), so do you think spending MORE time with the Gungans would help!? And what would the story be ABOUT? Boring sob tales about stolen freedom with subliminal messaging of how people should value their freedom? We get enough of that from the first 3 Star Wars...

Epsiode 1 was an origin story. If they didn't go to Tattoine, how would they find Anakin? And if Anakin wasn't on Tattoine, why the HELL would Luke have any relatives on Tattoine!? The originals got away with a lack of origin stories because they weren't the start of the story. Were did these space Nazi's come from? Well, apparently episode 2 was ignorant enough to answer the question.

You may have a point about the drama thing...but Luke gets over his 'parents' death pretty quickly. At least Anakin showed some kind of REAL reaction. And theres a difference between, 'My parents were murdered', and, 'My home planet was destroyed'...just saying.

I feel genuinely sorry for George Lucas, LucasArts and the entire Star Wars film franchise for having to put up with fans who want and WANT AND WANT but give fits when they get it.
Seriously.

 

[scorptatious]

Why do I hate the Star Wars prequels? I don't. I actually liked all the Star Wars films. I even liked Jar Jar Binks. (Problem Escapists?)

The only thing I will admit is that Anakin was a bit of a whiny *****. His eventual transformation to Darth Vader made up for it though.

 

[Radoh]

I hate them because they killed my dog.
I never really had a problem with them other than they seemed to drag a bit with "romance" subplots that were entirely unnecessary in a Space movie with Samurai.

Oh, and Jar Jar. At least he kept his mouth shut in the third one.

 

[Klondisco]

Hmm, why did I hate them? Well, I didn't. I was six when I first watched them, and I loved them. I really didn't understand the story, or why some people had the force and I didn't, but I saw lots of explosions. Lots. I knew that it was all Jedi V. Sith in the end, and that Anakin was important somehow. I laughed at some of the jokes and I actually did enjoy the movies.

Then I watched them again, and thought they were pretty stupid. I mean, R2 taking out the two droids in the hanger? The little puns that Obi-Wan has in the 3rd one? I still enjoyed some of the fight scenes, but it all seemed kind of unexciting to me now.

You do have to remember they were always intended to be kids movies, and still are. Just because you don't enjoy them now doesn't mean that some kid wont. I do still like the story, but really to me it just seems like I grew out of it. And I was a major, major Star Wars fan when I was a kid.

Just my two cents.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

Episode 1 was toe stomping BORING >:O

 

[DarthScorpio11]

i don't. i love all of the star wars movie

 

[chaosyoshimage]

I do not hate them but they are not good. I am on the internet talking about the Star Wars prequels. I have lived this moment many times before.

 

[Womplord]

I loved the prequels. maybe I liked them because I saw the phantom menace the same time I saw the original ones, so the tech seemed to mesh together well. I didn't mind the story and the action scenes are amazing. that said, the originals are really good as well. the story is simpler and interesting and funny. I think a slightly different mindset for each set of three would works well. Although the last time I watched them all I gained a renewed appreciation of the old ones. maybe I just like the flashiness of the new ones because I was in my mid teens last time I saw them.

 

[Crazy_Dude]

Jar-jar alone is reason enough to hate them.

 

[CrashBang]

EDIT: For the record I was 6 in 1996 when Lucas relesed the special editions and Episode 4 was the second movie I ever saw (The first being Toy Story) in a cinima and I was 9 or 10 when Episode 1 came out so I was the same age as the target audience but still hated it.

Ditto, man, I was the same age and the VHS Special Editions are the only editions I've ever seen and I love them so much. When I was 9 and I saw Episode 1 I was disgusted. Usually, when you're that age, you don't really notice if a film is good or bad, you just kinda enjoy the bits you enjoy but there's nothing to enjoy about Episode 1 at all!

Side note about remastering: I looked up the theatrical version of the song at the end of Return and I do think the remastered song is much better and that is the only thing about the remastered version I like.

 

[Urgol]

I never thought the old Star Wars was worth all the praise it got.
Or at least I don't think it deserved the level of reverence required cause so much whining about the prequels.
For exampel, are you aware that the ewokes were actually made up as a joke? The scanario should supposedly been a fight between the empire and the wokees but George Lucas thought the ewokes were so much funnier that he choose to change the scenario.

 

[JoJo]

To be honest the only episode I didn't think was that great was the 2nd one, because the "love" acting really was bad. However I liked 1 and 3 and I love Jar Jar because it reminds all the hardcore fans that they are watching a children's film.

 

[Random Argument Man]

I do believe that if we take the story with point-by-point and take the basic structure, it wouldn't be that bad. It's metaphor time!

Imagine a skeleton. That's your basic story. They find Anakin, they bring him along to be a Jedi, he becomes a great Jedi, falls in love with Padme, things get dicy, Palpatine is revealed to be evil (duh), Anakin becomes evil and the set pieces are set for the original story.

Not that bad. Granted, a few rewrites would've made this better, but the basic story is something that I would watch.


Now imagine the rest of the body. It does feel like everything is else is rotting.
-The writing is catastrophic and manages to put good actors in bad roles.
-Poor actors have main roles.
-Too much CGI is shown.
-A lot of characters feel like they don't belong.
-The atmosphere of the original trilogy is not there. (The original felt we were part of a ragtag group against a giant big bad).
-Nothing felt real.
-And much much more!

My point: It does feel like a fail from the director/writer/actors. If all of things would've been improved (better script, not so much CGI, competent actors, etc.), I think the opinions would've been better.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

A few things, really.

- Using CGI as a crutch. The effects in the original trilogy may seem hokey compared to today, but back then they were absolute eye-candy. The fact that the effects team were so constrained by the technology they had access to forced them to be clever and creative to get around it. Hence, styrofoam and cardboard models became X-Wings and TIE fighters zipping along the surface of the Death Star at breakneck speeds.

Contrast that to the prequels, where Lucasarts basically had a blank check and more creative freedom than God. What did they do? Blow their wad on completely uninteresting battles. It was as if, given the ability to represent almost infinite scale, they forgot all about making all those pyrotechnics matter.

- Merchandizing over storytelling. Jar-Jar Binks was a ploy at marketing a new toy, plain and simple. The backlash over the character was so scathing that Lucas severely cut back his screentime in Episode II. And Darth Maul- you saw his face all over the merchandise, but he got all of six lines in the movie before his chances of appearing in any of the sequels was... cut in half.

- Terrible acting. I'm not saying that Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher were any great shakes acting-wise, but they were Hamlet and Ophelia material compared to Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman. Combined, their acting was more wooden than an entire petrified forest, and Christensen in particular turned what could have been a slow, conflicted slide towards the Dark Side into an emo pout-fest. How Ewan McGregor managed to play off of that in any way astounds me.

George Lucas made these movies his way. Maybe that was the worst thing about them.

 

[Veylon]

O.k....Anakin and Padme's relationship was that Anakin felt partially responsible for his mothers death since he arrived too late to save her. So when he got prophetic dreams of her (padmes) death, he couldn't bear to see her die too. This lead to his turn to the dark side, which was all an attempt to protect her. But when he felt that she betrayed him, he was so enraged that he actually physically hurt her. This rage was amplified by the fact he had been acting purely on his darkest emotions recently. And he didn't kill her, she lost the will to live after she gave birth. Ridiculous? Well, in a galaxy of frozen carbonites, 'talking' furballs, planet destroying battleships and magical space samurai, I think this is the most ordinary thing in this series. And her death had as much screentime as Vaders, since Vaders final peptalk to Luke is roughly as long as the birthing scene, so no, her death isn't over too quick.

I neglected the birth sequence. You're right. And I'm not saying it's ridiculous, so no need to be defensive. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on how believable his turn was; I found it too quick and unsatisfying, but if you were okay with it, I won't argue.

Can't say much about Boba...since its hard to say much about a character with about as much screentime as Greedo -_-. So, fuck it. I can't really argue about a character thats a blank slate and for that reason, people love him. Its me saying, 'He isn't a real character', and getting the response, 'Thats why we love him'.I can't say shit, so whatever...

I think I'm not making myself clear here. There isn't much to say about Boba. There shouldn't be; he's just a background character like Akbar or Mon Mothma. I don't care whether Jango or Boba gets more screentime or who likes who. My complaint is with the fans' fetishization of Boba Fett and Lucas's indulgence of them. I'm actually in agreement with you here.

And what would the story be ABOUT? Boring sob tales about stolen freedom with subliminal messaging of how people should value their freedom? We get enough of that from the first 3 Star Wars...

It must have been very subliminal, because I missed it. I doubt we saw more than a tiny handful of oppressed citizens in the entirety of the Original Trilogy. In any case, the Episode I I'm envisioning wouldn't be about how people should value their freedom, but about the shock value of having one's world turned upside down. I'd start Anakin out in his teens and give him a good chance to develop the anger that any young rebel feels. That would be the start of his darkness, the fear of once again going through the terror and trauma of his formative years. And a screed about freedom would be out of place, the goal is to focus on Anakin's rise and fall, not the occupation of Naboo, which only provides the context. He helps out a Jedi who was there to investigate, but was ambushed and is now stuck on the planet. He senses latent talent in young Anakin and together the two manage to escape the planet. Of course, leaving everything and everyone he knows on the other side of what is soon to be a war front isn't particularly healthy for Anakin's psyche either...

Epsiode 1 was an origin story. If they didn't go to Tattoine, how would they find Anakin? And if Anakin wasn't on Tattoine, why the HELL would Luke have any relatives on Tattoine!? The originals got away with a lack of origin stories because they weren't the start of the story. Were did these space Nazi's come from? Well, apparently episode 2 was ignorant enough to answer the question.

It's very simple how Anakin could have relatives on Tatooine if he wasn't. The galaxy is teeming with starships and travelers. It's not exactly impossible to travel from one planet to another in this universe. Space Nazis and Stormtroopers, like real Nazis and Stormtroopers (are we Godwinned now?) can be recruited from the general citizenry. All that's needed is a demagogue.

You may have a point about the drama thing...but Luke gets over his 'parents' death pretty quickly. At least Anakin showed some kind of REAL reaction. And there's a difference between, 'My parents were murdered', and, 'My home planet was destroyed'...just saying.

Every movie character ever gets over this sort of thing too quickly. They've only got an hour and half to do so. It's a real limitation of the medium that enough time cannot be devoted to allow the psychological space for acceptance of loss and grief. The best that can be done is a montage.

I feel genuinely sorry for George Lucas, LucasArts and the entire Star Wars film franchise for having to put up with fans who want and WANT AND WANT but give fits when they get it.
Seriously.

This franchise has some of the worst fans I've ever seen. I'm more of a "plague on both their houses" mentality, though.

 

[Ooga600]

One dimensional characters, and a sad, desperate attempt at humor and romance