Your first indication the prequels would be bad?

[Samurai8472]

STAR WARS
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EPISODE I

I remember people going whooo when the 20th century fox logo and LUCAS films logo appeared.

 

[Hermiod]

As soon as Jar Jar appeared.

Then it was confirmed when we saw a robot soldier say "Roger, Roger". Why are robots even talking to each other ?

I don't know. Why did Threepio and Artoo talk to each other?

Because they're different droids built for different purposes presumably by different manufacturers.

The battle droids, on the other hand, would have a considerable advantage in battle if they could communicate with each other instantly.

Imagine Anakin and Obi-Wan are sneaking through some facility guarded by these droids. They take a few out, and suddenly the rest of the droids know exactly where they are and what's happened.

In large scale engagements they would be able to act with organisation and discipline greater than anything human clones would be capable of. Imagine Bastilla's Battle Meditation times 10.

 

[Skywalker]

I got a little nervous when Jar Jar showed up and started screwing around, but I didn't get seriously worried until they got to Tatooine and Jake Lloyd came on screen.

I still love the first 10 minutes or so of TPM. I thought the intro on the Trade Federation ship was fun. But they spent way too much time on Tatooine.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I got a bad feeling about this from the very start, that scroll that started nattering on about space taxes. Talk about two concepts that should never go together (except I spose in comedy).

 

[General_Phoenix]

For me, it was when Darth Maul died. In all the trailers, I thought he was going to make Darth Vader look like a cream-puff. I thought he was the most bad-ass Sith Lord right up until the final moment.

I remember thinking, "No way did he just go out like that...no way..."

Other than that, I thought the prequels were really cool.

Yeah, the way Maul was featured on a lot of SW Episode I products made people think he was going to be a recurring villain of the prequels. I read the novel a head of time, so I knew what to expect in the film, but I admit I would've preferred him to have survived until Ep. III. Other than Palpatine, Maul was the only other true Sith we've seen that didn't come from a fallen Jedi back story.

I thought the whole messiah birth of Anakin was weird at first, never sat well with me. Midichlorian explanation of the force was another one that I didn't care much for either. The pod-race went on for far too long.

I have to say I like The Phantom Menace a bit more than Attack of the Clones. I find Attack of the Clones to be incredibly boring for the most part, only part I liked in that movie were the Clone Troopers finally fighting on Geonosis - and that was only for a few seconds.

 

[the Dagman]

My first indiction the prequels would be bad?

One word: Ewoks.

Yes, IMO Lucas was running on empty as far back as ROTJ in 1983. The last good thing of the OT, IMO, was the belch generated by digesting Boba Fett and Leia's metal bikini.

 

[Nardpuncher]

^^ True.

The Special Editions made me and my friends say that if this is what Lucas does when he finally has the money and resources he wants then maybe we don't want to see his vision of the prequels.

 

[Servo]

When Lucas dropped strange alien languages in favour of generic Earth accents.

Oh, and fucking Jar Jar Binks.

The thing that annoyed me the most about Jar Jar was the missed opportunity. He was obviously supposed to be the patsy from the start - the one who was manipulated into voting in favour of giving Palpatine the emergency powers he needed - but the impact of that was lost because the character was so stupid and unlikable. They manipulated an idiot. Big deal. It would have had so much more resonance if Jar Jar had been a more serious and likable character. The tragedy was supposed to be that this intrinsic good-guy actually became the catalyst that would lead to the destruction of the Republic, and galactic freedom. That point fell totally flat because the character they pinned it on was a fucking bufoon.

 

[Aragorn]

I like all three movies, but they're VERY underwhelming. Lucas only seemed to care about special effects and getting to Anakin becoming Vader. His writing was horrible and the actors were doubly screwed because of how little Lucas cared about directing them. They were just there to serve the narrative.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I had no indication that the prequels would be bad because like most Star Wars fans (come on let's be honest with ourselves here) at the time I was swept up in the incredible pre-release hype. I will say that it wasn't until after I saw Phantom Menace that I realized these weren't going to be what everyone was expecting. Personally aside from Anakin being a boy and Jar Jar Binks I had no problem with Episode I. I loathe Attack of the Clones though...especially the boring Anakin/Padme love story which is tossed in our faces out of nowhere without much build up and bad dialogue. I kept remember watching the film during those sequences and thinking to myself...gods...can we please go back to Obi-Wan and his investigation on Kamino because that was much more interesting! I was also startled (probably like everyone else was) at what an ass hole Anakin was! I much prefer his portrayal in the Clone Wars series. He's confident, headstrong, and reckless but he's more like able there then in AOTC where he acts like a punk. Acting like an asshole all the time does not mean evil George!

 

[Mr Light]

I love the Prequels (except for a few noteable exceptions; Jar Jar, the dialogue, Anakin, Padme...). When TPM came out I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I don't like it as much as anymore, but at the time it was just so damn magical to have a new Star Wars movie for the first time in my memory.

 

[clint g]

As soon as Jar Jar appeared.

Then it was confirmed when we saw a robot soldier say "Roger, Roger". Why are robots even talking to each other ?

This would be it right here

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Two words: "Exqueeze me?!"

I mean Jar Jar is talking Wayne and Garth.

However, I started getting suspisious when the crawl text seemed confusing to me, from "taxation" to the wordy "limited number of Jedi Knights." Also if it is the first episode, a crawl text wouldn't be necessary.

Then the really flat angle when the Jedi go throguh the door.

Of course, about two months before the film I has a sci fi magazine (I forgot which one) that had both Star Wars epsiode one and DS9 on the cover. It was celebrating war in sci fi, the coming of the new SW film and the ending of DS9 (and that war) on TV. Anyone remember that magazine? Anyway, I just remember looking at all the pics of the sets and props and ridiculous costumes for the queen. I started to get worried, thinking "this script better be good! The script is more important than all these stupid costumes."

 

[ngc7293]

I didn't mind Episodes II and III. Anikin as the "I can do anything" boy in Ep. I really annoyed me. He gets into a Star figher and "what's this button do? Oops!" And next thing you know he's blown up a space station.

I didn't mind the Droids talking. It strikes me that if they can talk, they can also send signals of one kind or another.

There is also "golly gee, why do Trek androids talk to each other when they can more efficiently send signals to each other" .......because they can.....

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

As soon as Jar Jar appeared.

Then it was confirmed when we saw a robot soldier say "Roger, Roger". Why are robots even talking to each other ?

This would be it right here

Easy enough: They did that so the viewers in the theater could hear it. It would be a pretty boring scene if none of the robots said anything.

And for the record, I never thought the prequels were bad. In fact I liked them a lot more than the originals.

 

[Hermiod]

Easy enough: They did that so the viewers in the theater could hear it. It would be a pretty boring scene if none of the robots said anything.

What, like two of the series most popular characters, you mean ?

 

[Hyperspace05]

Yep... Jar-Jar was it for me. I remained hopeful that the film would recover (I was at a midnight showing), but it never really did. Sure, the podrace and final lightsaber duels were exciting, but Jar Jar always came back.

 

[Sykonee]

I was quite iffy throughout TPM, but felt the good (pod race, familiar milieu, potential possibility in the follow-ups) outweighed the bad (midichlorians, midichlorians... FUCKING midichlorians!). I even gave AotC a pass when I saw it in the theaters twice, simply ignoring the tepid love story in favor of all the gosh-bang awesome action set pieces at the end.

And then something funny happened. I watched AotC on a simple little 28" TV when it came out on DVD, and came to the horrible realization that the movie... actually, really sucks, throwing in all these wild gimmicks in favor of decent storytelling and believable characters. It had become nothing more than a bukkake of SFX, with my poor eyes and ears the recipient. Watched RotS out of 'obligation' ("well, I've seen all of them up to now, may as well see this to the end. Maybe it'll even be go- ah, dang it...") and haven't returned to the SW universe ever since. The PT pretty much ruined my interest in it.

The OT never had that effect when I watched it as a kid on 13" TVs from a double-recorded VHS.

 

[DonIago]

When I saw TPM for the second time on opening day and fell asleep roughly between the time they landed on Tatooine and the beginning of the pod race. Frankly, I'd really been hoping not to see that planet in that film in the first place.

Anakin as a kid didn't bother me, but the entire feeling that the movie was -aimed- at smaller children sure did.

 

[Deckerd]

The battle droids, on the other hand, would have a considerable advantage in battle if they could communicate with each other instantly.

And on the other hand, it would have made for some pretty boring cinematic moments.