Please give your opinions based on facts so that I can make a multiple choice poll about it later.
What Are the Ways the Star Wars Prequels Could Be Improved???
- Thread starter VulcanMindBlown
- Start date
Based on what I know of the scripts and deleted scenes, here's my personal take on what, realistically, could be done:
- Rewrite the opening crawl to provide a smoother, less confusing intro to the story.
- Tone down Jar Jar just a little. Lose the 'icky goo' and farting Eopie bits - the rest I can live with. Restore Boss Nass's line that Jar Jar would have been beaten to death by his fellow Gungans had he stayed in the underwater city.
- If at all possible, create a new scene showing half-built Threepio and Artoo getting to know each other/establish their bickering buddy act.
- Slightly extend the 'Watto's Bet' scene, to show Qui-Gon at least putting up more of a fight to free Shmi (albeit unsuccessful).
- Add the deleted fight with young Greedo (while NOT identifying him as Greedo). Show some of the cracks in Anakin's personality. Throw in the probe droid scene too.
- Same in the scene with Anakin's interview with the Council - extend it to show he flunked out as much because of his fear/anger as his age.
- Wherever possible, using whatever leftover footage there is, beef up Darth Maul's role. Extend the three-way lightsaber duel.
- Tone down Jar Jar just a little. Lose the 'icky goo' and farting Eopie bits - the rest I can live with. Restore Boss Nass's line that Jar Jar would have been beaten to death by his fellow Gungans had he stayed in the underwater city.
- If at all possible, create a new scene showing half-built Threepio and Artoo getting to know each other/establish their bickering buddy act.
- Slightly extend the 'Watto's Bet' scene, to show Qui-Gon at least putting up more of a fight to free Shmi (albeit unsuccessful).
- Add the deleted fight with young Greedo (while NOT identifying him as Greedo). Show some of the cracks in Anakin's personality. Throw in the probe droid scene too.
- Same in the scene with Anakin's interview with the Council - extend it to show he flunked out as much because of his fear/anger as his age.
- Wherever possible, using whatever leftover footage there is, beef up Darth Maul's role. Extend the three-way lightsaber duel.
- Finish and restore 'The Lost Twenty' scene. We need more of an explanation of who Count Dooku is.
- Restore all the deleted scenes where Padme is front and center (The Senate, Extended Arrival on Naboo, Padme's Family, Padme's Bedroom, Chat with Threepio on Tatooine). This trilogy should be as much her story as Obi-Wan's and Anakin's.
- Flip the order of the 'Waterfall Picnic' and 'Lakeside Kiss' scenes. That, plus the above reinstated scenes, go a long way toward making the Anakin/Padme romance more believable.
- Restore a scene showing Anakin/Padme saying goodbye to the Lars family, including a voiceover line from Owen that he's giving Threepio to Anakin. As it is now, our 'heroes' just leave them in the lurch with one less droid.
- Restore and combine the two alternate Anakin/Padme scenes on Geonosis, placing them after the droid factory. After Dooku's line 'I've done all I can for you' in the first, cut immediately to Poggle sentencing them to death in the second.
- Finish and restore the 'Raid on the Droid Control Ship.' As it is now, the Jedi (namely Mace) appear suicidally stupid rushing into an obvious death trap; at least before they were trying to outmaneuver their enemies, only this time the Trade Federation was a step ahead of them and had learned from the Naboo fiasco.
- Trim the final lightsaber battle to remove those ridiculous shots of Anakin and Dooku just twirling their swords over their heads in the dark.
- The final Sidious/Dooku scene is WAY too short. Frankly, this is the moment in the Saga when Sidious should have been officially unmasked as Palpatine, and the connection to Sifo-Dyas explained. But nothing to be done now on this, sadly.
- Restore all the deleted scenes where Padme is front and center (The Senate, Extended Arrival on Naboo, Padme's Family, Padme's Bedroom, Chat with Threepio on Tatooine). This trilogy should be as much her story as Obi-Wan's and Anakin's.
- Flip the order of the 'Waterfall Picnic' and 'Lakeside Kiss' scenes. That, plus the above reinstated scenes, go a long way toward making the Anakin/Padme romance more believable.
- Restore a scene showing Anakin/Padme saying goodbye to the Lars family, including a voiceover line from Owen that he's giving Threepio to Anakin. As it is now, our 'heroes' just leave them in the lurch with one less droid.
- Restore and combine the two alternate Anakin/Padme scenes on Geonosis, placing them after the droid factory. After Dooku's line 'I've done all I can for you' in the first, cut immediately to Poggle sentencing them to death in the second.
- Finish and restore the 'Raid on the Droid Control Ship.' As it is now, the Jedi (namely Mace) appear suicidally stupid rushing into an obvious death trap; at least before they were trying to outmaneuver their enemies, only this time the Trade Federation was a step ahead of them and had learned from the Naboo fiasco.
- Trim the final lightsaber battle to remove those ridiculous shots of Anakin and Dooku just twirling their swords over their heads in the dark.
- The final Sidious/Dooku scene is WAY too short. Frankly, this is the moment in the Saga when Sidious should have been officially unmasked as Palpatine, and the connection to Sifo-Dyas explained. But nothing to be done now on this, sadly.
- General Grievous being all CGI makes him easier to reprogram for the screen. Make him less of a jokey, mustache-twirling pantomime villain and more the Jedi killing machine he was in the original Clone Wars animated series.
- Again, restore the scenes where Padme was front and center (and instrumental in the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance). Doing so also restores Mon Mothma and adds more Bail Organa, strengthening ties to Rogue One.
- The single worst moment of acting in the entire Saga doesn't belong to Anakin or Jar Jar; it's Mace Windu's totally emotionless "A Sith... Lord?" reaction to Anakin's revelation about Palpatine. Find a better take or redub the dialogue, please. If it can't be done, chop it out and return to the original shot version of the posse scene (Mace and company unaware of who Palpatine is) while leaving Anakin stewing away in the Temple chamber before returning to Palpatine's side.
- Get Liam Neeson to record some lines and reinstate the originally intended conversation between Yoda and Qui-Gon's Force ghost. Such a scene should include an explanation of why Qui-Gon didn't warn Yoda what was coming.
- Redub the medical droid's line. Either they just don't know why Padme's dying, or it's heart failure caused by extreme emotional/psychological trauma. "She's lost the will to live" sounds ridiculous coming from a droid.
- Do I even have to say it? "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" A agonized, heart-rending, speaker-shaking PRIMAL SCREAM, put through the Vader voice filter, would come off far better.
- Again, restore the scenes where Padme was front and center (and instrumental in the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance). Doing so also restores Mon Mothma and adds more Bail Organa, strengthening ties to Rogue One.
- The single worst moment of acting in the entire Saga doesn't belong to Anakin or Jar Jar; it's Mace Windu's totally emotionless "A Sith... Lord?" reaction to Anakin's revelation about Palpatine. Find a better take or redub the dialogue, please. If it can't be done, chop it out and return to the original shot version of the posse scene (Mace and company unaware of who Palpatine is) while leaving Anakin stewing away in the Temple chamber before returning to Palpatine's side.
- Get Liam Neeson to record some lines and reinstate the originally intended conversation between Yoda and Qui-Gon's Force ghost. Such a scene should include an explanation of why Qui-Gon didn't warn Yoda what was coming.
- Redub the medical droid's line. Either they just don't know why Padme's dying, or it's heart failure caused by extreme emotional/psychological trauma. "She's lost the will to live" sounds ridiculous coming from a droid.
- Do I even have to say it? "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" A agonized, heart-rending, speaker-shaking PRIMAL SCREAM, put through the Vader voice filter, would come off far better.
- CGI has come a long way since 1999. Just look at the difference in '97 Jabba and '04 Jabba in ANH:SE. Time to redo all the VFX for Ultra-HD, to make it look much more solid, realistic and less... well... CGI. (Not much can be done with the 1080-only live-action elements of AOTC and ROTS, but they should at least look like they share the same space as the aliens, clonetroopers and battle droids!)
- Once all the final edits are locked in, bring in the London Symphony Orchestra to redo the entire soundtrack for all three films. Lucas tinkering with the films up to the last split-second meant John Williams' score was butchered (especially in the battle scenes), making the whole thing feel incomplete and unpolished.
- Once all the final edits are locked in, bring in the London Symphony Orchestra to redo the entire soundtrack for all three films. Lucas tinkering with the films up to the last split-second meant John Williams' score was butchered (especially in the battle scenes), making the whole thing feel incomplete and unpolished.
Why stop with the Prequel Trilogy? What are ways that the Original Trilogy, "The Force Awakens" and "Rogue One" can be improved?
Please spare me the "Original Trilogy is perfect" argument, because I don't think it is and I don't buy it. None of the eight movies are perfect to me. Which is why I don't see why this thread should solely be focused on the Prequel Trilogy.
Please spare me the "Original Trilogy is perfect" argument, because I don't think it is and I don't buy it. None of the eight movies are perfect to me. Which is why I don't see why this thread should solely be focused on the Prequel Trilogy.
If you want to see a different take on the OT, you might like "The Star Wars" comic book series.
Why not, is my question?
I'll not deny any of the films have flaws. I think the PT's stick out more obviously to myself and others, so it gets more discussion fodder. I see a similar trend with Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit as well, so it certainly is not unique to the Star Wars franchise.
I've always believed that the prequels as they currently exist are one good editing job away from being much, much better movies, as evidenced by some of the various fan edits. I've seen a Phantom Menace re-edit that eliminated all but plot-essential Jar-Jar dialogue and some of Anakin's more cringe-worthy lines that came in at under two hours and was much more entertaining.
Likewise, the same fan made an edit of Attack of the Clones that eliminated the whole silly sequence with Threepio's head being attached to a battle droid and replaced the worst parts of the Anakin/Padme "romance" scenes with deleted scenes where Anakin met Padme's family that actually worked much better than we got.
Likewise, the same fan made an edit of Attack of the Clones that eliminated the whole silly sequence with Threepio's head being attached to a battle droid and replaced the worst parts of the Anakin/Padme "romance" scenes with deleted scenes where Anakin met Padme's family that actually worked much better than we got.
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I think that Lucas is a great story writer but a terrible director, so I would start with new director for the PT
The flaws of the OT, "Rogue One" and especially "The Force Awakens" sticks out to me. So why not include these films in your question? If you're trying to indicate that they're better than the PT, I can't buy it, because I don't believe it.
And we can do the same with the other films.
The last I had checked, this message board was about expressing our own individual opinions. Since when are we all expected to follow the same opinion?
I can't make you believe anything. It's a matter of story constructs, and filmmaking that stands out to me more egregiously than in the OT, RO or TFA.
Also, it's not my question. I just asked "Why not?"
You can do that with any film. Again, the PT stands out because there are aspects that are more egregious to audience members than the other films.
[Warning: the following is an opinion, not stated as fact]
For me, it's the characters, and the lack of emotional investment I feel for any of them, in success or failure. It creates a negative view on the Jedi that colors the rest of the saga in a more negative way, because the Jedi are so incompetent in handling a crisis. Anakin isn't sympathetic as a character, and entitled and special and powerful because the films tells us he is, not from anything he actually does.
Again, in my opinion, but one I have heard from multiple sources not just fan boards.
Since we have multiple topics on the PT, this seems to be a bit of a rehash.
Why not start such a thread if you'd like to discuss them rather than criticizing the OP for no apparent reason?
I feel like this is the third or fourth thread in the last few weeks by the same op, on this subject.
Does the BBS have a "Kicking a dead horse" Claus? I have a most novel idea. I think I will hop up to General Discussion and start a new thread asking if Starfleet is a military.
Does the BBS have a "Kicking a dead horse" Claus? I have a most novel idea. I think I will hop up to General Discussion and start a new thread asking if Starfleet is a military.
Absolutely agree. My favorite thing about the various AOTC fan edits was that they made me fall in love with the entire Battle of Geonosis.
I feel like this is the third or fourth thread in the last few weeks by the same op, on this subject.
Does the BBS have a "Kicking a dead horse" Claus? I have a most novel idea. I think I will hop up to General Discussion and start a new thread asking if Starfleet is a military.
If you believe that to genuinely be the case, I'd recommend Mod involvement.
I feel like this is the third or fourth thread in the last few weeks by the same op, on this subject.
Does the BBS have a "Kicking a dead horse" Claus? I have a most novel idea. I think I will hop up to General Discussion and start a new thread asking if Starfleet is a military.
I know exactly how you feel.
I believe there are reasons to criticize the OT, the PT, "The Force Awakens" and "Rogue One". I just get tired of encountering those endless number of threads asking about how the PT could be fixed or rewritten, while pretending the other five films were not flawed or requiring fixing of some kind. Some might believe that the OT, "Rogue One" and "The Force Awakens" did not require fixing or were flawed. But I'm not one of those fans.
Frankly, I find those fan edits of the movies to be a bore and never as good as the original films. And I do get sick and tired of fans complaining about the deletions of those scenes with Padme's family . . . especially since the OT never featured scenes regarding Leia and Han's pasts. I found these complaints rather hypocritical.
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Sounds good. I'll post in it.I feel like this is the third or fourth thread in the last few weeks by the same op, on this subject.
Does the BBS have a "Kicking a dead horse" Claus? I have a most novel idea. I think I will hop up to General Discussion and start a new thread asking if Starfleet is a military.
I love the battle of Geonosis. One of the highlights of the PT.
It's not that the other films are flawless. Just that the PT is more egregious.
It's not about the past-those scenes give insight in to Anakin and Padme's relationship and why she falls in love with him. It's actually character development, something the PT often lacks.
It's my experience and my opinion. I do not think it is necessary to put a disclaimer before every one of my opinions. I'm not writing a treatise or a paper for publication on Star Wars studies. Though, I certainly can if that would be preferred.
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