Phantom Menace is the best Prequel.

[sidious618]

I fucking love the Star Wars films. There are no movies I enjoy watching more than them. However, there are tons of flaws in each and every one of them including the originals. I don't see that much of a difference quality wise between the prequals and the originals (AotC being an exception as that is noticeably the worst even if it did have good moments). I've never understood the worshipping of the originals and the hatred of the new ones.

 

[Mach5]

I fucking love the Star Wars films. There are no movies I enjoy watching more than them. However, there are tons of flaws in each and every one of them including the originals. I don't see that much of a difference quality wise between the prequals and the originals (AotC being an exception as that is noticeably the worst even if it did have good moments). I've never understood the worshipping of the originals and the hatred of the new ones.

Gaith, don't do it! DON'T DO IT, GAITH!

 

[Dream]

I can't stand the "romance" in AOTC. My problem is that there are scenes with it that just go on FOREVER. It doesn't help that Anakin and Padme have zero chemistry.

In ESB you got the idea that Han and Leia had the hots for each other but it's not a huge part of the movie.

I have a hard to believing both movies had the same writer.

 

[Mach5]

I have a hard to believing both movies had the same writer.

They didn't. Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan wrote Empire, based on Lucas' 15-page story treatment.

 

[TheLobes]

I've never understood the worshipping of the originals and the hatred of the new ones.

Well, the originals are only superior in terms of dialogue, character, tone, story, direction and pacing.

I have a hard to believing both movies had the same writer.

They didn't. Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan wrote Empire, based on Lucas' 15-page story treatment.

If you watch any interview with Harrison and Carrie (that is not on a Star Wars DVD, or course) they always start talking about how great everybody but Lucas was during ESB, and you can really tell how much they dislike the guy, and hate his taking all the credit.

In one, the interview asks Harrison whether or not George considered putting Han in the prequels. Harrison looked really uncomfortable with the subject, and simply said:

'I guess George didnt see a big future in Han Solo toys'.

 

[DarthPipes]

I have a hard to believing both movies had the same writer.

They didn't. Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan wrote Empire, based on Lucas' 15-page story treatment.

Read The Making of The Empire Strikes Back. Leigh Brackett's first draft was completely discarded. She died shortly thereafter. Lucas only kept her name on the script as a tribute to her and so her family could collect royalties.

Lucas wrote the entire second draft of the script, which is basically the Empire Strikes Back as it appeared on the big screen. Lawrence Kasdan was brought on and greatly improved Lucas's terrible dialogue for the film. The screenwriters for ESB were really Lucas and Kasdan.

 

[RodrigoBrowncoat]

YES! I'm not alone! TPM is the best prequel!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The Phantom Menace is, by far, the Prequel film I enjoy the most. Revenge of the Sith is, without question, the least entertaining of the six Star Wars films.

The problem is that if Lucas really wanted to do the Prequels, he needed to do them backwards. Doing them in chronological order was a bad move. The reason Phantom Menace works is that, in 1999, we had no real idea how the Star Wars saga began. We knew things that had to happen before A New Hope, but otherwise it was a blank slate. And Phantom Menace had that blank canvas to work with. It could do new and original things.

Unfortunately, by marking out where the saga began, you can draw a line between Phantom Menace and A New Hope. You begin to see that Anakin will have to impregnate a woman to bear his children, you see that Anakin will have to fall, you see that Palpatine will have to usurp power. Combined with what we thought we knew, plus the starting point that Phantom Menace gave us, the broad outlines of a galactic crisis were drawn, and once we reached Revenge of the Sith, that movie did absolutely nothing unexpected.

 

[Stevil2001]

Aha! I knew it had to be out there on the web somewhere. I once appeared on a Star Wars radio show to mount a defense of Episode I: http://www.starwarsfanworks.com/swab/swab4.html

I think I claim Episode II is better in the show, but even then, I didn't really have a good reason for this. I came to my senses eventually.

EDIT: Oh God, six-years-younger self, I hate you.

 

[RoJoHen]

The Phantom Menace is, by far, the Prequel film I enjoy the most. Revenge of the Sith is, without question, the least entertaining of the six Star Wars films.

The problem is that if Lucas really wanted to do the Prequels, he needed to do them backwards. Doing them in chronological order was a bad move. The reason Phantom Menace works is that, in 1999, we had no real idea how the Star Wars saga began. We knew things that had to happen before A New Hope, but otherwise it was a blank slate. And Phantom Menace had that blank canvas to work with. It could do new and original things.

Unfortunately, by marking out where the saga began, you can draw a line between Phantom Menace and A New Hope. You begin to see that Anakin will have to impregnate a woman to bear his children, you see that Anakin will have to fall, you see that Palpatine will have to usurp power. Combined with what we thought we knew, plus the starting point that Phantom Menace gave us, the broad outlines of a galactic crisis were drawn, and once we reached Revenge of the Sith, that movie did absolutely nothing unexpected.

This is a pretty good point. I think that, while TPM may be the best of the prequels, it's a completely unnecessary installment in the Star Wars saga. You're right; it just gives too much away. We didn't need to see the child Anakin in order to see that he was originally a good guy.

 

[Holdfast]

TPM is definitely my favourite prequel; it has an actual story, and the story more or less hangs together. Plus, it was great seeing the Jedi in their full pomp for the first time.

AOTC, set-pieces apart, is dreadful. Even with the set-pieces, they're only impressive the first couple of times you see it. Yoda had me literally doubled-over in laughter the first time I saw the movie which was great. I genuinely think it's the closest I've ever come in my life to actually "rolling on the floor laughing". And it wasn't laughing at the character, but laughter in sheer joy at the chutzpah of the film daring to portray him bouncing around like that. But that joy only happens the first time you see the movie and isn't enough to sustain the whole film on rewatching.

ROTS is fun, because it completes the cycle without missing too many beats, and again, the action is very well-choreographed. But there isn't really much more to it than that, and because you know where the story is going, there's a sense of sadness pervading the entire second half of the film, which doesn't make it fun to rewatch.

TPM has a proper story, and a great performance by Ian McDiarmid, effortlessly radiating his false but engaging charm as Senator Palpatine. I especially love the bouncy joyful air he projects on landing on Naboo at the end of the movie, acting for all the world like a simple country squire out touring his estate on a spring day.

 

[Gaith]

I fucking love the Star Wars films. There are no movies I enjoy watching more than them. However, there are tons of flaws in each and every one of them including the originals. I don't see that much of a difference quality wise between the prequals and the originals (AotC being an exception as that is noticeably the worst even if it did have good moments). I've never understood the worshipping of the originals and the hatred of the new ones.

Gaith, don't do it! DON'T DO IT, GAITH!

Why not? I really want to make breakfast!

The Star Wars Prequel Rejection Society doesn't begrudge PT-embracers their fun. It saves all its bile for shit like putting asinine Vader Noooos into the OT.


Edit: this thread requires more babeage:

 

[Worf2DS9]

One of the reasons I like TPM is that it feels more "real" to me, and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that every indoor set isn't a bloody computer graphic. Actors performing on an actual set just adds to the believability of what we're watching.

Of course, the movie still has cringe-worthy performances, stilted dialogue, a lethargic pace at times and bits I skip over (when Qui-Gonn, Obi-Wan & Jar-Jar arrive at the underwater city, I jump ahead to when they're leaving!). The other prequels have these issues as well, and in the case of AOTC mostly, there's just a lot of nonsense that gets in the way of the story that we want to see.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I think I might be a little forgiving of Clones because I read the novelization first, and as a book the story wasn't bad. Maybe in the hands of a halfway competent director, it might've turned into a watchable film. I don't hate Clones totally -- it actually has some interesting character work, especially on Padme -- and it's not the total waste of time that Sith was.

I suspect that in twenty-five years the revisionist take on Sith will be that it's an artistic triumph because it's two hours-plus of anti-climax, and it takes a bold and visionary director to make a film in which the audience always knows what's going to happen.

 

[Gaith]

I suspect that in twenty-five years the revisionist take on Sith will be that it's an artistic triumph because it's two hours-plus of anti-climax, and it takes a bold and visionary director to make a film in which the audience always knows what's going to happen.

Well, sure. I mean, if Howard the Duck can develop a belated but passionate cult following, then why not Revenge of the Si-

Wait, what?

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Revenge of the Sith is my favorite Star Wars film.

(Now to sit back and watch heads explode ... or dive into a palm or two ....)

 

[Trekker4747]

I liked Revenge of the Jedi myself.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

But in ROTJ we've got the stuff at Jabba's place, the stuff around the Sarlacc pit, the speeder-bike chace, and everything on the Star Destroyer with Luke, The Emperor and Darth.

Don't forget the hilarious burp jokes!

If anybody has read the early SW novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, you get an early genesis of what eventually became the Ewoks in a cave dwelling race of primitive aliens who help Luke and Leia defeat the Imperials. However, the big difference there is those aliens were not portrayed as cute teddy bears. The Ewoks were clearly the beginning of the kiddification of Star Wars.

Further, the dialogue and character interactions were simply not as sharp or original as in the previous two movies.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, ROTJ is certainly not without its flaws and probably doesn't quite live up to the others and certainly shows Lucas' decent into absurd kiddyness. But it's hardly terrible. I'd rather watch it than any of the prequels. I can barely watch ROTS without wanting to take a nap after reading some tax forms.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

Well, ROTJ is certainly not without its flaws and probably doesn't quite live up to the others and certainly shows Lucas' decent into absurd kiddyness. But it's hardly terrible. I'd rather watch it than any of the prequels. I can barely watch ROTS without wanting to take a nap after reading some tax forms.

Agreed. At least Jedi had the great characters from the original!