Question to those most disappointed with the SW prequels

[suarezguy]

Do you like the Expanded Universe novels (in general or those by Zahn and Stackpole) more than the OT or the original film? It seems to me that the books and the films had pretty different audiences and tones (the books, especially by Zahn and Stackpole, trying for a more adult/realistic view of war and politics and focus a lot less on the Force) and while it's fine to prefer the books, it seems a little unfair to compare the prequels to the books rather than the original films given that Lucas would naturally use a tone closer to what he was involved with. In particular, a lot of the criticism of the prequels, aside from the romance and CGI, seems to be that that weren't dark enough and had too much comic relief.
I myself was disappointed with Jedi and the prequels but think they're still pretty good.

 

[BillJ]

I always found the novels dull. They lack the sense of fun that was there in the original trilogy.

 

[Saga]

i enjoy reading Star Wars novels...but its always a shot in the dark. i either really enjoy or struggle to finish an extended universe book. though, i will say i haven't read any of the recent stuff like when Jaden becomes a Sith Lord or any novels beyond that. i should really read those.

i have enjoyed most of the comics from Dark Horse though. especially Legacy.

 

[zarkon]

Empire Strikes Back is my favourite Star Wars related thingamajig.

Then A New Hope & The Thrawn Trilogy.

Then ROTJ

Then some of the other EU stuff - the Stackpole X-Wing books, the other Zahn books (though now sadly he had to contort around the stupidity of the prequel films), some of the short stories, the bounty hunter trilogy, the black fleet trilogy, the corellian trilogy, the two han solo trilogies, the allston wraith squadron books.

Some of the comics were quite good - I distinctly remember one where vader's about to kill luke, but the citizenry of a planet(who luke aided) shield him, and say to vader(who was alone for some reason, forget why) "can you fight a whole planet?" And there's a moment where you can tell that he's considering it before he walks off through a parting crowd. Ace.

I don't like any of the Yuuhzen Vong stuff(it made me stop reading the books except for whenever zahn brought something out), most of the books I didn't mention above, or the prequel films.

With that out of the way, to answer the main thrust of your question, the problem with the prequel films is that they aren't fun. I remember thinking some of the special effects were nice - especially AOTC - when I watched them in the cinema, but that's about it. They do nothing for me even as dumbfun action films. That arnie film from last autumn where he was a small town sheriff? I'd rather watch that again then any of the prequel films, because it actually had some charm to it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Are we still talking about the prequels?

FWIW, I fell out of reading the EU stuff about 15 years ago...up to that point, I found that there was a lot more chaff than wheat in the mix.

I'd say that the biggest problem with the prequels was the casting of adult Anakin...a mixture of weak acting and unlikeability that was very bad for the character whom we should have been most invested in. If they'd gotten somebody of Ewan McGregor's quality for that role, it would have elevated the films substantially.

 

[Captain April]

The novels are very hit and miss. Some are fun, others are drek. I gave up on them after the prequels came out.

 

[Set Harth]

I was a huge Zahn fan for a while because his first trilogy of books was very good. Unfortunately the later books by various authors ( and that includes later Zahn ) were hit-or-miss, with a lot of misses.

In particular, a lot of the criticism of the prequels, aside from the romance and CGI, seems to be that that weren't dark enough

I'm not so sure. From a certain point of view, a Senate willingly sacrificing freedom and democracy in the name of security is kind of dark ( see: real world ).

And I'd say killing little kids is pretty dark, but YMMV.

 

[Gaith]

I myself was disappointed with Jedi and the prequels but think they're still pretty good.

The late Gene Siskel liked to say “There is a point when a personal opinion shades off into an error of fact.”

Calling the SW prequels good, IMO, is an error of fact. They're bad movies, plain and simple.

 

[cooleddie74]

In my opinion the greatest of all the Expanded Universe books were Shadows of the Empire, The Thrawn Trilogy and Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (which chronicles the immediate aftermath of Anakin's transformation into Vader and a cyborg as well as the continuation of the Jedi Purge and the subjugation of Kashyyyk and the Wookiees). Much of the rest has been either so-so/adequate at best or just not interesting at all, with some real crap thrown in for good measure. The video games have been fun, though, and retconned a few great characters into the Lucas universe. If we categorize The Clone Wars (both Tartakovsy and the current incarnation) as EU, I like it and quite a lot.

Xizor and Thrawn remain my two favorite EU characters.

 

[Sindatur]

Phantom Menace - My biggest complaint is that damned Pod Race, that seems to go on for hours and hours (How long is it in actuality...can't be less than 20 minutes long?) And then Jar Jar did get annoying.

Other than that, and the poor chemistry between Anakin and Padme, for the most part, I thought the Prequels were alright. Many complain about the tediousness of the Politics, but, I thought that was fine. I actually enjoy Political and Religious machinations in my SciFi (Some of my favorite parts of Babylon 5 and DS9)

The only part of the Extended Universe I am familiar with is The Clone Wars cartoon, which I liked quite a bit.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Do you like the Expanded Universe novels (in general or those by Zahn and Stackpole) more than the OT or the original film?

No.

 

[DWF]

Phantom Menace - My biggest complaint is that damned Pod Race, that seems to go on for hours and hours (How long is it in actuality...can't be less than 20 minutes long?)

Roughly ten minutes, it was shorter in the theater than on DVD though.

 

[Sindatur]

Phantom Menace - My biggest complaint is that damned Pod Race, that seems to go on for hours and hours (How long is it in actuality...can't be less than 20 minutes long?)

Roughly ten minutes, it was shorter in the theater than on DVD though.

Honestly? Wow, talk about skewed perception of time

I'm sure the Harry Potter Quidditch Games aren't any shorter, but, they just never annoyed me, like the pod Race (And in a lot of ways the Quidditch Scenes are pretty much retreads of the pod Race, which in it's way, is, kind of a retread of the RotJ hover bikes in the trees scenes )

 

[Hound of UIster]

I think the ROTS novelization is superior to the movie and certainly makes Anakin's fall more plausible.

 

[Set Harth]

Many complain about the tediousness of the Politics

Which personally I think is ridiculous.

There simply isn't enough running time devoted to politics in the PT for it to get to a level where it would fairly be called tedious.

 

[Gaith]

There simply isn't enough running time devoted to politics in the PT for it to get to a level where it would fairly be called tedious.

Rubbish; political plotlines are prominent in all three films. Added up, they probably get more screentime than the romance does.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Considering how cringeworthy the romance was, I wouldn't consider that a bad thing....

 

[cooleddie74]

I am haunted by the Hayden romance scenes that should never have been filmed, hoping those scenes will not become a scar.

Oops, too late.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Yes he needed a script editor for that.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Many complain about the tediousness of the Politics

Which personally I think is ridiculous.

There simply isn't enough running time devoted to politics in the PT for it to get to a level where it would fairly be called tedious.

How much time was dedicated to political plotlines running through the original trilogy?
Anything more than that is tedious.