"Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars prequels

[ColeMercury]

The inspiration for "Reviews From Another World" came about when I started wondering -- how much of our common frustration with the Star Wars prequel trilogy was due to the faults of the movies themselves, and how much was actually due to our perceptions and expectations being coloured by the original trilogy? (And to a lesser extent, the expanded universe?) Furthermore, what would Star Wars actually look like if you really did start with Episode 1 as George Lucas appears to prefer?

Thus, Reviews From Another World was born. Basically, they're video reviews of the Star Wars prequels from the perspective of a world where the original trilogy does not exist. In-character, I watch each of the three Star Wars movies in order, discussing my impressions, likes, dislikes, and expectations for the sequels before moving on to the next one.

Here's a video explaining "Reviews From Another World" properly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocs0hfFcO8I

Here's an in-universe in-character introductory video for Star Wars itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gVtbUwHon8

And here's the review of The Phantom Menace:
Part 1 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL7e8XATGVA
Part 2 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWEwX1PQsdo

At the moment I haven't made video reviews for Episodes II or III yet.

(Why, yes, this is a shameless plug.)

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

I guess if you have the time and enthusiasm, you might as well join the bajillions of people attempting to do magnum opi on the Star Wars prequels. I'll leave comments when i get a chance to watch what you've done so far. Keep in mind, my bar is set at RLM.

 

[davejames]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

It's a noble attempt, but frankly it's only my nostalgia for the original movies that makes the prequels remotely worth watching in the FIRST place.

Take away any foreknowledge of who Anakin is, and all you're left watching is the journey of a really annoying and unlikeable asshole for three movies. I'm not sure why anyone would even bother or care at that point.

 

[O'Dib]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

I didn't watch most of this, but apparently it's just you talking into the camera the entire time? I never saw the point of doing anything in video if that's as far as you take it. Like, right at the beginning there's a huge missed opportunity to actually show what you mean when comparing SW and FG, that might help explain why you thought this was a relevant point. Might as well save yourself and others some time and do written reviews instead. But that's just me.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

It's a noble attempt, but frankly it's only my nostalgia for the original movies that makes the prequels remotely worth watching in the FIRST place.

Take away any foreknowledge of who Anakin is, and all you're left watching is the journey of a really annoying and unlikeable asshole for three movies. I'm not sure why anyone would even bother or care at that point.

Exactly.

It's only the "original trilogy" touchstones that make the movies worth a damn. the rush of nostalgia at the hum of a lightsaber. Oh look it's Yoda! Yoda is fighting the Emperor! Hey they put the Darth Vader breathing in the background! etc etc.

Without them, you have a CG tech demo, with horrible dialogue, and absolutely NO HEART AND SOUL.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

Once and for all: The reason the PT sucks is not because of anyone's expectations. It's because they are bad movies.

The best way to prove this is to point to The Clone Wars, in which the core of the PT - why did Anakin fall to the dark side? - is being explored in an intelligent, interesting and plausible way. Anakin isn't being portrayed as a sullen, stupid punk in order to make his fall plausible. He's heroic, likable, and reasonably sharp.

In order to get a guy like that to fall, the storyline needs to be better than "he was stupid enough to believe a Sith would save his wife." And it is better. They've spent several episodes building up a psychologically, politically and even metaphysically believable storyline that has provided a perfectly good rationale why a heroic, likable, and reasonably sharp guy would fall to the dark side. They don't even need Palp's bullshit about Padme to make the story work at this point, although it still works as a straw-that-broke-the-camel's back precipitating factor for something that was 99% already there before ROTS even begins.

In short, The Clone Wars is "the PT, the way it should have been told." So if there's actually an existing story that shows the right way to do the PT, then it becomes more obvious that the original movies are the wrong way. (Or, one wrong way. I'm sure Lucas could have come up with others.)

Here's one of the many, many ways that the PT is a bad story: when you strip away all the surface baggage and get down to the story's core, it's basically the story of a bunch of chumps who have no clue what is going on until it is too late, and then the bad guy wins.

That's an idiotic story that would only have a prayer of working if it were a comedy. As drama, it's a nonstarter. It has no dramatic tension. We know the bad guy is going to win going in, but even if we didn't, there would still be no dramatic tension because the good guys never had a chance.

A good story should be more like a tennis match, where each side can serve and volley and the sides are more or less evenly matched. In the PT, Palps is the only one with a tennis racket or even knows that they're supposed to be playing tennis.

If the OT didn't exist, then there would be no reason for the PT to be made at all. If Anakin Skywalker were some newly invented character, why would his story matter? The premise is interesting only because we know Darth Vader is Evil, yet Anakin Skywalker was apparently Good (Obi-Wan seemed to like him, and Obi-Wan is no fool, or so we would assume).

This sets up a big question: how did it happen??? The Clone Wars tells the story well; the PT told it badly, or if we're being kind about it, incompletely. The Clone Wars contains essential information that needed to be put on screen so that the story would work at all.

 

[Set Harth]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

"he was stupid enough to believe a Sith would save his wife."

Is it still "stupid" if the same Sith

Spoiler: Plagueis

had once seen another Sith use his powers to save someone from death?

We know the bad guy is going to win going in, but even if we didn't, there would still be no dramatic tension because the good guys never had a chance.

That doesn't make sense. If we didn't know the bad guy was going to win going in, we wouldn't know that the good guys never had a chance. And because we did know the bad guy was going to win going in, what you're really saying is that you don't accept prequels in general. Because any hypothetical prequel trilogy imaginable, no matter how good it had turned out, would have run afoul of the "dramatic tension" charge regardless of quality. ( Of course, if the films had been considered good by a majority, you'd never hear the words "dramatic tension" come up in the context of the trilogy at all, because the fact that we knew the bad guy was going to win suddenly wouldn't matter anymore. )

 

[O'Dib]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

If Phantom Menace was the first Star Wars ever produced, it's safe to assume it would've had a much smaller budget, which would've led to a realer looking film. I've seen bits and pieces of the prequels on TV in the past few days, and the CG aged terribly. The originals kick their ass even visually, which is amazing. Also, there would've been no guarantee of a sequel. I've seen studios bring some horrible horrible shit to the big screen, but I'm also thinking this would've had more creative oversight. Is this why the originals worked in the first place? 'Cause it's now clear Lucas is a hack.

 

[Christopher]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

It's only the "original trilogy" touchstones that make the movies worth a damn. the rush of nostalgia at the hum of a lightsaber. Oh look it's Yoda! Yoda is fighting the Emperor! Hey they put the Darth Vader breathing in the background! etc etc.

I don't see it quite that way -- my nostalgia for SW is not that intense -- but I do think the most effective thing about Revenge of the Sith was that palpable sense of inescapable tragedy that came from knowing what was going to happen. It lent a weight and impact to the film that it might not otherwise have had. And the first two films are less effective partly because they're more removed from that tragedy.

I've seen studios bring some horrible horrible shit to the big screen, but I'm also thinking this would've had more creative oversight. Is this why the originals worked in the first place? 'Cause it's now clear Lucas is a hack.

The difference is that Lucas had good collaborators on the original trilogy. Producer Gary Kurtz deserves a lot of the credit for the original film, and he even did a lot of the work that a director would normally do. And the second and third films were scripted and directed by people other than Lucas, with Lawrence Kasdan probably deserving the lion's share of the credit for their merits.

But you're right -- if it hadn't been for the OT, then Lucas wouldn't have had the huge Lucasfilm empire that let him have complete creative control over his projects. And that complete creative independence is the worst thing that could've happened to him as a filmmaker, because it's insulated him from anyone who could point out his weaknesses and mistakes or help compensate for them. Even his old friend Spielberg didn't have enough clout to override Lucas's bad decisions on Indiana Jones IV.

(Not that that's unique to Lucas. Just about any creators suffer when they become successful enough that nobody dares to edit them anymore. It's always valuable to have someone who can point out your shortcomings and rein in your excesses, no matter how innately talented you are. Although Lucas is less talented than many, at least where things like story and character and directing actors are concerned.)

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

I appreciate anyone who attempts a good review of these films but this was just all kinds of boring. RLM did raise the bar quite a bit. Even confused Matthew had more wit in his take.

 

[VulcanJedi]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

The inspiration for "Reviews From Another World" came about when I started wondering -- how much of our common frustration with the Star Wars prequel trilogy was due to the faults of the movies themselves, and how much was actually due to our perceptions and expectations being coloured by the original trilogy? (And to a lesser extent, the expanded universe?) Furthermore, what would Star Wars actually look like if you really did start with Episode 1 as George Lucas appears to prefer?

Thus, Reviews From Another World was born. Basically, they're video reviews of the Star Wars prequels from the perspective of a world where the original trilogy does not exist. In-character, I watch each of the three Star Wars movies in order, discussing my impressions, likes, dislikes, and expectations for the sequels before moving on to the next one.

Here's a video explaining "Reviews From Another World" properly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocs0hfFcO8I

Here's an in-universe in-character introductory video for Star Wars itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gVtbUwHon8

And here's the review of The Phantom Menace:
Part 1 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL7e8XATGVA
Part 2 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWEwX1PQsdo

At the moment I haven't made video reviews for Episodes II or III yet.

(Why, yes, this is a shameless plug.)

With Star Wars, the bar is so out of this world, it's hard to be objective. The prequels were far more B movie, Sunday afternoon cinema schlock than comedy satire, but they still were much of what the original trilogy were about; especially for kids and young people. When I was a kid, I could have cared less about the snappy one liners--it wasn't until I rewatched them as an adult, I realized this second level of success the films achieved.

But, we don't have to guess about the prequel's value, this question has already been answered. People, who never saw the classic trilogy, have sat down to watch the whole saga. Entertainment Weekly did an article on a person who just did that and he loved it.

There are plenty of people out there you could experiment with. If they saw the movies fresh, with no expectations, I'm sure they'd enjoy them; unless they were simply not a sci-fi or fantasy fan. Each one gets better. Imagine if the first three were better than the last? That'd be terrible! Folks who have watched the prequels with no outside influence, have actually seemed baffled at the criticism; they aren't that different.

Take Attack of the Clones for example. Many cite this as the "worst." Compared to what? I'll take Attack of the Clones over 95% of the science fiction movies EVER MADE! You think Aliens is better? Ha ha. Dated 80s action movie; good yes, but not as good as the devotees espouse. Planet of the Apes? Lol. Apples and Monkey Oranges; great film, but not the same genre. Blade Runner. A Vangelis CD would be better. Star Trek 5? ha ha ha ha ha aha

Jurrassic Park 2? ha ha ah ah

Terminator 3? Claire My so called movie

need I go on?

I'll take Gunships and Count Dooku anyday over Matrix blah blah or 5th element Chris whoever in drag and that runway model with the guy from Moonlighting; thanks.

Face it, the prequels are more entertaining than 95% of the sci-fi out there. For it's specific genre; fantasy space opera: nothing comes close.

There is no other film or film saga that has even attempted to compete.

 

[Broccoli]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

"I don't like sand."

 

[Christopher]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

Oh, the prequels are great if you like action, spectacle, special effects, John Williams music, and thinly veiled allegories about the suppression of dissent in the post-9/11 era. Not so much if you like competently written dialogue and well-acted, well-directed performances by human beings.

 

[Broccoli]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

Oh, the prequels are great if you like action, spectacle, special effects, John Williams music, and thinly veiled allegories about the suppression of dissent in the post-9/11 era.

Wow...you got a hellva lot more out of the prequels than Lucas actually wrote in!

 

[Christopher]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

^Oh, no, Lucas was definitely going for political allegory and grand historical theorizing. Like Roddenberry, he started out doing something just for the sake of being entertaining, but decades of fan adulation convinced him it had to be something grand and important and philosophically deep when he finally returned to it.

 

[xortex]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

To me Lawrence Kasden is the original Star Wars. Putting words together is very important in future speak and he does it better than anybody. Story's plot and metaphysics ties into it just as much as dialogue does. The action is meaningless without a good story concept. The third one for me was unwatchable despite the music. It does go to show you that Lucas thought his previous success was all him.

 

[Broccoli]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

^Oh, no, Lucas was definitely going for political allegory and grand historical theorizing. Like Roddenberry, he started out doing something just for the sake of being entertaining, but decades of fan adulation convinced him it had to be something grand and important and philosophically deep when he finally returned to it.

Perhaps, but I think you are giving him a bit too much credit by claiming the prequels were allegories surrounding 9/11, especially considering that two of the films were in the can before 9/11 occurred and the suppression of dissent (namely the Jedi) were always a part of the back story going back to 1977. If anything, Lucas was, with all the political stuff, channeling Julius Caesar's rise to dictatorship more than anything else.

 

[TheBrew]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

^Oh, no, Lucas was definitely going for political allegory and grand historical theorizing. Like Roddenberry, he started out doing something just for the sake of being entertaining, but decades of fan adulation convinced him it had to be something grand and important and philosophically deep when he finally returned to it.

Perhaps, but I think you are giving him a bit too much credit by claiming the prequels were allegories surrounding 9/11, especially considering that two of the films were in the can before 9/11 occurred and the suppression of dissent (namely the Jedi) were always a part of the back story going back to 1977. If anything, Lucas was, with all the political stuff, channeling Julius Caesar's rise to dictatorship more than anything else.

Yeah, I think that it is more coincidental than anything else. He might have added some elements that were influenced by the post 9-11 world, but the prequels are clearly more influenced by the Roman Empire than anything else.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

^Oh, no, Lucas was definitely going for political allegory and grand historical theorizing. Like Roddenberry, he started out doing something just for the sake of being entertaining, but decades of fan adulation convinced him it had to be something grand and important and philosophically deep when he finally returned to it.

What? You do realize that the political stuff was always in there. The stuff about the corporations trying to take over was like in his 3rd draft of ANH. The only difference was probably in that the seed of Palpatine moved from something Nixon-esque to something entirely more sinister.

 

[DigificWriter]

Re: "Reviews From Another World" -- a new take on the Star Wars preque

To the OP: This is, IMO, a neat way to grade the PT based solely on its own merits, and the way you've chosen to approach things really reminds me of the comments that Peter Jackson repeatedly made on the LotR extended edition DVDs about wanting to have someone hypnotize him so that he could sit down and grade the three films in his LotR trilogy from an objective perspective.

I'll get back to you with thoughts on the PM review itself once I've had a chance to watch it in its entirety, but until then, I was wondering if you'd consider doing a similar sort of concept review for the OT at some point.