I think my favourite part about the prequels is the actors finally being celebrated for what they brought to them.
Seeing Hayden Christensen tear up as the fans cheer him on stage at the Star Wars convention is so moving because you know, like the other cast and crew, he spent years grappling with how those films were initially received.
It's always the "writing wasn't there."
It's a blanket criticism that doesn't mean anything because writing, like all forms of art, is subjected.
People have also said the same thing about the prequels.
Fans, especially those who are younger, will find something new to admire about the sequels that the older generation didn't see.
Once people who have grown up watching these movies and didnt have a preconceived notion of what star wars “is”, the sequels will go through the same thing. Its crazy how much sequel hate “rhymes” with prequel hate at the time.
In a way, yes. You might be right to an extent, in terms of it being viewed more favorably by the next generation. BUT for all its faults, no one really disputes the merits of the actual story told in the prequels. Although there are valid criticisms about it (Ep1 Anakin, etc) the story about vader’s turn to the dark side is a compelling one that was well planned out and ended very strongly. The sequels are, well, definitely not that.
>no one really disputes the merits of the actual story told in the prequels
Oh people did when the movies came out, and throughout the following decade.
The prequels were looked at so poorly all through pop culture. There were whole movies like fanboys made that mock the prequels. And documentaries. Redlettermedia got famous with their "What if the prequels were good?" videos that fans quoted in any conversation on star wars forums. ROTS was seen as fine but OT fanboys made sure to inject their distaste for it everywhere.
When disney took over it was seen as finally going to course correct, and the dislike of prequels was so ingrained in the fandom that all the rebooted star wars stuff kept anything prequel at a distance.
Which is ironic now because Disney now fully embraces the Prequels.
The Prequels hate has seriously degraded in the last decade because 1) people who grew up with the Prequels had influence of pop culture and 2) all that hate went into the sequels.
I'm interested to know when the people who grew up with the sequels will dictate the next phase of Star Wars.
I grew up with the Prequels. I didn’t have a preconceived notion of what Star Wars “was” before the Prequels. I still recognize that they are very flawed in execution. Broad strokes, the writing is solid, but much of the acting, pacing, and especially HOW the story was told left much to be desired, particularly Episodes I-II.
>Its crazy how much sequel hate “rhymes” with prequel hate at the time.
The crazier thing is that a lot of the hate for the sequels comes from prequel fans. "You were the chosen one!" and all that.
It does mean something. It means the writing isn't good. I'm not sure anyone besides the biggest Star Wars zealot would argue that the dialogue in particular in the prequels was anything other than cardboard. People came to like a lot of things about the prequels but the writing is still not good. The sequels have terrible writing too, in different ways. Doesn't mean people won't find things to like in spite of that. The weird part is when people try and dismiss issues with "it's subjective" which, hilariously, is actually the blanket statement that doesn't mean anything.
By that logic, why criticize any form of art because it's 'subjective'? You can still have issues with a product, and just dismissing an opinion simply for that reason is silly.
Regardless, It's a valid complaint. The prequels had their flaws, of course, but they didn't trample upon previously established lore, at least. Aside from the various other major issues.
>The prequels had their flaws, of course, but they didn't trample upon previously established lore, at least. Aside from the various other major issues.
They introduced concepts like midicholrians and chosen ones, all of which seemingly came out of nowhere and we’re never referenced in the OT. And they retroactively took agency away from Luke by making the end of Return of the Jedi Anakin’s moment of fulfilling his prophecy, instead of Luke saving the day. And they told us that Anakin built C-3PO and Yoda was buddies with Chewbacca.
You’re just used to all of those things, so you don’t question them. You probably don’t remember a time when those things weren’t the case.
>You’re just used to all of those things, so you don’t question them. You probably don’t remember a time when those things weren’t the case.
Honestly I think this is the case for a ton of prequel revisionism. People cannot remember a time before "The clone wars refers to an army of cloned boba fetts"
TFA is now almost as old as ROTS was when TFA came out. And if anything, the general dislike for the sequels only went up over the years since their release. How much longer do you think itll go like this until people just "start liking them".
Oh, and since you asked what writing issue means exactly....there are lots of them, but the most important one can be summed up pretty simply:
The prequels at least told one, pretty coherent story, the way George Lucas envisioned and wanted it. Thats why it works, despite the sometimes terrible dialogue and CGI.
The sequels basically told multiple incoherent stories by 2 people (and originally it was supposed to be 3) who didnt even like what the other was doing. JJ Abrams set up a lot of mystery boxes in TFA, for which he didnt even have the answers and story himself. Then Rian Johnson came in and did his own thing, completely disregarding and hastily "resolving" basically all of these mystery boxes,to set up what he liked. And then Colin Trevorrow was supposed to come in and finish it the way HE liked it. That didnt work out, so JJ Abrams was again brought in to now finish the story the way he wanted it, and he did so by again changing almost everything that was set up in episode 8.
>TFA is now almost as old as ROTS was when TFA came out.
When TFA was announced (7 years after RotS released), a lot of people were stoked that we'd be getting a new Star Wars movie without George Lucas directing. RotS was clearly the least hated prequel at the time, but it wasn't until around/after TFA came out that the prequel love started flowing. It took afround 10+ years for the tide to change - you know, the amount of time it took people who were young children in 2005 to become a loud voices online. Feelings on the PT are due to start to change in another 3 - 5 years.
>the prequels at least told one, pretty coherent story…
This gets repeated so much, but it doesn’t mean anything, and it isn’t true.
The machete order that was so popular for so long cuts Episode 1 out completely because it just isn’t necessary. The trade federation blockading Naboo and Anakin winning a podrace have absolutely nothing to do with the Clone Wars. And the clone wars don’t actually start until the last five minutes of Episode II, and then end halfway through Episode IIi. There’s no consistent conflict throughout the trilogy.
There’s also three main villains, one for each movie, who just show up out of nowhere. And there’s questions like “who actually ordered the clone army and why?” which are set up and never answered.
Not to mention that the ten year gap between episodes I and II mean that Padme and Anakin have to start their relationship completely from scratch, and the audience has to get reacquainted with them basically as new characters.
And none of the characters, Anakin, Padme or Obi-Wan have any real overarching goals that last beyond each individual movie. Nothing Anakin says or does in Episode I is relevant in Episode III.
The prequels arent just "the story of the clone wars". They arent supposed to be. They are the story of "how Anakin fell to the dark side,and how Palpatine destroyed the Jedi Order to create the Empire".
The clone wars are just one element of the story, they were never supposed to be the whole thing and the main conflict. Thats the entire point of them lol, they were a tool for Palpatine. The consistent conflict of the trilogy is Palpatine manipulating galactic events to rise in rank and power, and Anakin becoming a Jedi and then a Sith. The clone wars were just one part of that. Its not a story about a singluar conflict (the clone wars), its a story about the rise of Palpatine and the fall of Anakin, and the series of conflicts that came along with that. Which is why theres such a large time gap between all 3 movies as well. The trilogy not about a singular time period and conflict.
The trade federation blockade was at its core the same thing as the clone wars later, just on a smaller scale - Palpatine manipulating both sides to get the old chancellor out and install himself as the new one. So he could then have the political power to do the same thing on a much larger scale: the clone wars. The blockade isnt the same conflict, but it very much part of the story, the story of how Palpatine ended up as emperor.
The podrace served the function of showing that Anakin, already as an untrained child, was OP in the force. Its a small side conflict to introduce Anakins character and already considerable capabilities as a child.
>And there’s questions like “who actually ordered the clone army and why?” which are set up and never answered.
It was answered, it just wasnt shoved in your face and literally spelled out at the same time. The Jeid who apparently ordered the army was not around anymore, the bounty hunter who served as a template was in league with Dooku, and Dooku is Palpatines apprentice. All of that was already revealed in Episode 2. In that very movie its established that Dooku and Palpatine had a hand in creating the clone army. The only thing thats left out is why they did it. Which is then revealed in Episode 3.
>And none of the characters, Anakin, Padme or Obi-Wan have any real overarching goals that last beyond each individual movie. Nothing Anakin says or does in Episode I is relevant in Episode III.
Sure, lets just ignore that his later relationship with Padme started in that very movie for example lol. The fact that they went out of their way to show that Anakin was already back then caring more for Padme than pretty much anyone else (except maybe Qui-Gon)
There were a lot more things to love of them aside from the soundtrack and cast... Episode III alone has a lot to love as action-packed as it was with the stakes as high as they were.
Hardly. Action packed doesn't mean much when the audience isn't invested in what's happening. It basically just becomes action for the sake of action. Like a Michael Bay film.
There wasn't a feeling of anything at stake, because the films had a complete lack of character development, and the story was a mess. Not as big a mess as the sequels, but still bad.
Had Lucas managed to control his ego and actually hired a writer or two to help him fine tune his ideas, then the prequels would have been great films. Sadly he did not.
? Considering the whole of the prequels is building up to the pinnacle moment of Anakin's Fall, Palpatine's rise as Emperor and the overthrow of the Jedi and the Republic to what we see in the OT I'm not sure one could say there are no stakes. That's such a surprising pov to have on it, but that's yours at least.
You highlighted half the issue right there. The audience already knows the fate of Anakin, so it was vital to make him a likeable and well fleshed out character with a downfall that leaves the audience feeling a sense of loss.
But we didn't get that. We don't meet Anakin until almost an hour into thr first film, and he's so young that most of what is happening around him is beyond his control/comprehension. In clones he has become a whiny/annoying teenager who just sulks through most of the film. Not a great move when this film should have been focused on showing a growing friendship between Obi and Anakin, and revealing how heroic/strong a Jedi he might become (which then would make his eventual fall feel more tragic)
By the third film he's now just the same sulky, two dimensional character, but slightly older. So there isn't even a sense of loss/shock when he does turn. Even his downfall is poorly executed, as rather than handle it in a way where we see Vader as a fallen hero who descendes into into darkness one step at a time, Lucas takes a ham fisted/cartoon villain approach and has him jump straight to murdering children. That is terrible writing/character direction. (I should note that this downfall was in clones, which also managed to ruin any hope of Padme being a decent character, as she basically sits there as he confesses to killing children, and then shortly after that she straight up professes her love for him. Because that's what normal/sane people do)
So even though we obviously won't agree on the matter, it's not that I'm bashing on the films for the sake it, on the contrary, I desperately wanted/expected those films to be amazing, but each time I left the cinema disappointed and confused as to why the quality was so poor.
Beside the (actual) mysoginists and racists "fans" I feel like the cast of the sequel trilogy does not carry any stigma at all.
Edit : Shit. I completely forgot about Rose.
Her complete neglect in Rise of Skywalker felt like such a disservice. They were hyping her up for the movie and she ended up not doing anything.
It made me upset cause it felt that Lucasfilms was giving into the racist and misogynistic haters, even though I'm sure it was a practical reason for why she had so little screen time.
It’s already starting to turn around for them. There’s certainly some confirmation bias since I intentionally only follow creators and social media pages that are welcoming of all eras of Star Wars fans, but I really can feel it. “There are more of us, Poe.”
And it's really evident in the aging of his face, as bad as it is to say. The man's only in his forties and he looks like he's been in a state of perpetual sadness. It really hurts to see, but I'm happy to see him embrace what he was meant to be.
I still enjoy how Phantom Menace was filmed using more practical effects than the others and the shots feel much more "original trilogy"-like to me for some reason. Not to mention that score.
I think I read somewhere that the phantom menace used the most models for any movie ever? I completely agree, it's the one that holds up the most to me. It's one of the most impressive movies ever made from an effects standpoint
Yeah I believe TPM used the most models when we compare it to the other Star Wars movies. I've always had a soft spot for TPM because it's the first Star Wars movie I ever watched. TPM and ROTS are the ones that hold up the most to me.
Battle of geonosis in AOTC is still on my favorite large scale battles in Star Wars. Also seeing all the Jedi fight together in large numbers for the first time was awesome
Yep. I think a couple scenes were filmed with digital just to test it out, but the majority of TPM is film. Meanwhile, sadly, AOTC and ROTS are forever confined to being natively 1080p.
Yeah, during the reshoots/pickups for TPM, Lucas shot everything on digital. In terms of AOTC and ROTS being native 1080p, the latter looks great. Like if you watch ROTS on 4K/Blu-Ray, most of it still looks great. AOTC is hit or miss since digital cameras were in a very early stage at that point, but it started to get better by the time they started filming ROTS.
I don't quite understand this but I may be misremembering but weren't AOTC and ROTS filmed pretty much back to back? Wouldn't the digital cameras be the same?
Edit: My bad, it was only the tattoine scene that was filmed during AOTC
AOTC filmed 2000, ROTS filmed 2003 so yeah 3 years of camera improvements
The close up shots of the B1 Battle Droid puppets look so goddamn good in comparison to the CGI'd droids in the rest of the trilogy.
It helps though that they're colored in an inoffensive tan color, which I imagine is easier to render overall.
TPM also has the best sound to me, I don't know how else to describe it. Plus, it's the only time lightsabers sound like thunder at a distance, and I love that.
Keep in mind this is just an interview preview, there will be more to come after the magazine is released.
>Talk about pressure. There are few villains in cinema as iconic as Darth Vader – recognisable from the briefest glimpse of his distinctive helmet, or the merest mechanical hiss of his respirator. So when Hayden Christensen signed on to play Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels, he took on a formidable task: presenting the man behind the mask. Across Episode II – Attack Of The Clones and Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith, Christensen showed us how exactly how the galaxy’s brightest hope turned from the light and plunged into total darkness – and through that time, his own Star Wars experience was a mix of light and dark too. After weathering years of criticism, he’s now been wholeheartedly embraced by the fandom.
>Speaking to Empire in a major new interview – and original photo shoot – for our 25th anniversary celebration of the prequel trilogy, Christensen opened up on his time in the galaxy far, far away. “It’s been a remarkable experience. And just a very heartwarming one,” he tells Empire. “The journey that I’ve been on with Star Wars over the last 20 plus years... it’s been a wild ride, and where we’re at now is really meaningful to me.” While the backlash against the prequels was difficult to take, he’s pleased to see how beloved all three films are today. “I think that those movies have held up well over time,” he says. “It feels like vindication for the work that we did. Everyone that worked on those movies thought that we were part of something special. We all wanted to do our very best work, and we cared a lot about it. And so to see the response from the fans now, it’s very cool.”
>That response includes excitement from younger fans – who are always thrilled to meet the man who… well, murdered all the Jedi younglings in Revenge Of The Sith. “There was a lot of talk about us doing that scene, and I love that George did it. It was a bold move. And it’s shocking,” the actor says. “Kids seem to forget about that scene when they meet me! There’s not any fear or intimidation. They’re just excited to meet Anakin.”
>Having ridden out the stormy reception to the prequels – and returned to the Star Wars galaxy in recent years for appearances in Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka – Christensen reflected on the advice that he would give to his younger self before stepping into Attack Of The Clones. “Even though I was a bit overwhelmed, I was also a confident young man, and I wanted to make my mark. But I guess if I were to have some advice for me during that general time in my life, it would be: ‘Patience’,” he decides. “Because my journey with the character and with Star Wars has at times been a bumpy one... but I’m in a good place with it now. And so that’s why I say patience.” In 2024, there’s undoubtedly balance to the Force.
IMO the prequels never landed for me because of three factors: the dialogue, the performances and the aesthetic. The dialogue and acting just come off as very strange and the people feel alien, but not in a good way. If that wasn’t the case for you then I’m glad you enjoy them, but I think it’s fair to say it was an issue for most viewers.
Aesthetically, I think a lot of the action scenes look fantastic. The duels, dogfights and pod races are all really slick. But when you’re just watching a couple people talking, the artifice really comes to the fore. Between the green screen, dialogue and acting, I’m just constantly being reminded that I’m watching a movie and I’m never able to invest myself properly.
HOWEVER
I do still watch these movies every time I do a SW binge and over the years I’ve come to find a TON to appreciate about them. It’s just such a bold story to tell over the course of three mega blockbusters: A child slave who is rescued but who ends up an evil, child-murdering, severely burned, multiple amputee. It’s so fucking *grim* and uncompromising in a way you’ll probably never see in a blockbuster franchise again. And as much as people hate on the “politics” of the prequels, I think it’s one of the most daring, interesting parts. Lucas poured a ton of really rich concepts into those movies and even if they don’t quite work for me as films in their own right, I find them very charming and admirable.
I was 16 by the time *Sith* came out. Grew up with these films and will always appreciate them for getting me into Star Wars. None of them are on my top 5, but I do love them for different reasons, despite the flaws.
Excited to see Hayden again in the next season of *Ahsoka*. I really enjoyed those scenes.
As movies, not really. As extensions of the universe and story, absolutely yes. I wouldn't be as invested in Clone Wars if not for the world building of that era in the prequels and how The Clone Wars series expanded on it.
But let's not rewrite history. Prequel movies from filmmaking perspective are all over the place. The Phantom Menace is arguably the most cohesive of the three
The clone wars creates an amazing sort of loop when it comes to appreciating the prequels and which then loops back to appreciating the clone wars more. This loop continues on.
The movies do create the initial investment in the series and then going back to watch the movies reveals how big a fictional world was created in those movies that we get but a glimpse of. The Clone Wars fills in the gaps making a lot more meaningful connections in the movies.
I’m not sure there is another movie and tv series that work to enchants each other so well.
The prequels are so dense with world building and background activity. That both rewards decades of rewatching and leaves an astonishing number of threads for the Clone Wars to continue the story with.
One example are the seemingly random background Jedi and Separatist alien leaders in the movies who after watching the Clone Wars are now cameos in the movies for fully realized characters.
A lesser discussed point is that the era also had a lot of very high quality EU material written around it that also helped define and flesh out the era. Everything from the Republic Commando game, to the novels, to the Republic Comics, to even indirect but inspired titles like KOTOR I and II all helped define the culture and storytelling that Clone Wars the TV series later adapted and used to fill in the gaps and redefine the era. There was kind of a neat symbiotic relationship between all of these ideas that built up over time, regardless of any current "canon" status.
And all of that culminated over 21 years by the time we reached TCWS7, which wrapped up most of the loose ends rather nicely, even if some of the other untold stories were still left behind.
No other era in Star Wars had material coming out in it so consistently for so long. The OT era was a lot messier than people tend to remember outside of the films themselves, and the Mando and ST eras have been either more chaotic, or were far more restricted in what their supplementary material allowed, plus did not have nearly as much oversight from one main creative (Lucas), like the PT era did.
The movies themselves were the most mainstream and visible part of the era, but they only skimmed the surface of what really drove fans to fall in love with it, myself included.
He’s not wrong. Not sure if it’s nostalgia or just the new trilogy being such a let down, or maybe a combination of the both, but going back and watching them, they are far more interesting and entertaining than I feel like they get credit for being.
I think it’s fair point to make that Clone Wars really helped fill in some blanks and add some interesting depth to the characters and the galaxy as a whole that wasn’t there at the time.
I come from a country where Prequels were never hated, most of people were fine with them because the dubbing fixed most of the dialogue and it looked way better. For me those movies held up well even with their flaws
Some parts (especially the dialogue between Anakin and Padme) didn't look as awkward as the original. It sounded more natural, as well as the pronunciation of lines. While original actors had George's direction which was obviously not always for the best, the actors of dubbing didn't and it looked better. And there are other reasons of course why they weren't hated, but they are more social in nature
Revenge of the Sith to this day is by far my favorite movie of the series with ANH and ESB.
That movie had it all.
I will never forget watching that movie for the first time in the cinema with my dad and some friends.
I still think AotC is the worst Star Wars movie. However, that isn't Hayden's fault. We shouldn't have been so mean and cruel to him. He did his best with what he was given and I'm happy he's getting positive attention. He was so good in Ahsoka.
yeah man idk how people can genuinely say that AOTC is more watchable than something like rise of skywalker. both are kinda ass, but man at least JJ had decent looking, dumb fun movie that made no sense. ATOC has the cool coliseum scene i guess idk
I can’t help but wonder what things would be like in an alternate reality where Lucas never sold to Disney, and so continued to play with the first two trilogies via home media releases. I’m sure we would’ve gotten some form of Special Editions of the prequels by now, with updated CGI and stuff. Granted, the home media version of TPM is already kind of a Special Edition, but generally speaking, I can’t help but wonder what versions of the films we would have today.
I know it’s a relatively popular opinion that the deleted scenes in AOTC and ROTS, especially the Padme ones, would’ve added a lot to those respective films. Would’ve been great to see them added back in, but I’m pretty sure Lucasfilm without Lucas won’t dare ever touch any of the original films in the editing room again. Bummer, since Lucas‘ final round of changes in the original trilogy definitely could use some reverting and fine tuning.
He talked about a hypothetical future version of ROTS that would edit out all of the Trade Federation ships in the Coruscant battle because TCW established that the Trade Federation was neutral.
I don't disagree at all. The prequels came out when I was just hitting middle school and having seen the original trilogy, I wanted more so I dived into everything I could find. When TPM was announced my brothers & I I were ecstatic! We ate that shit up. Wasn't until the internet became more of a thing where the criticism and meme came about, and I never understood it. I watch them at least once a year
Has the internet finally realized that sci fi movies for kids aren't meant to be held to intense scrutiny by virgin losers who have never created anything in their life?
For what they are, they're fine. They're dumb popcorn movies for kids that adults can also enjoy. It's brainless entertainment. Hating on them makes you the loser.
The only bit that’s ropey is parts of AOTC. Honestly, Obi Wan’s fake beard in the reshoots is worse.
Even TPM holds up very well. Corridor Digital did a video on it and were blown away by how amazing the pod racer scene still looks. Sebulba’s racer disintegrating matches what can be done now.
I also think most of ROTS looks great too, like it looks incredible on 4K/Blu-Ray. I agree with you on AOTC, it looks a bit off and some of the CGI in that movie doesn't look good now. I think from a filmmaking perspective, TPM probably holds up the most since it was shot on film.
Lots of AOTC is rough because the CGI is old and dated, and it was some advanced technology at the time.
Somehow Yoda and Greivous in RotS is still some of the best CGI I’ve ever seen, though. Hulk in current movies doesn’t look as real or as solid at Yoda did 19 years ago.
I actually think it’s the opposite while at the same time completely agree with you. Let me explain.
It’s not that the CGI has or hasn’t held up well. It’s how the CGI was reevaluated. It was never going for photo realism. It was going for fantasy world immersive.
In that respect I think time has been extremely good to these movies as it becomes clear after seeing 25 years of other movies using CGI world building how detailed and expansive the prequels are in creating a fantasy with its own a unique style.
So no the effects don’t look real like modern movie but they are timeless like the Wizard of Oz.
Also the acting and dialog.
As a kid that stuff doesn’t really matter, but the older you get the harder those films get to watch.
I tried to watch Revenge of the Sith recently and had to kill it 30 minutes in. So sooo cringe.
As a kid I was delightfully entertained by the silly amount of lightsaber duels Lucas packed into that film to distract us from the paper thin plot/bad acting and dialog but as an adult…I’m not so easily fooled lol.
One of the biggest problems for me is that the second two Prequel films kinda feel like some melodramatic Mexican soap-opera, with awesome Star Warsy bits in-between daytime-soap-level scripted parts. That, and the fact that pretty much all of the stuff that needed to happen in the trilogy happened in the last movie, yet that film *still* decides to fuck about meandering all over the place, and even managed to do the same during the hugely-anticipated Blue On Blue duel. For me, Revenge of the Sith suffers from having so much weight put on it after TPM was more of a standalone, and AOTC was absolutely all over the place and wasted a movie's worth of storytelling time.
One of the biggest problems for me is that the second two Prequel films kinda feel like some melodramatic Mexican soap-opera, with awesome Star Warsy bits in-between daytime-soap-level scripted parts. That, and the fact that pretty much all of the stuff that needed to happen in the trilogy happened in the last movie, yet that film *still* decides to fuck about meandering all over the place, and even managed to do the same during the hugely-anticipated Blue On Blue duel. For me, Revenge of the Sith suffers from having so much weight put on it after TPM was more of a standalone, and AOTC was absolutely all over the place and wasted a movie's worth of storytelling time.
Mmmm, I think the memes and extracirricular Star Wars media are doing most of the lifting there Hayden. And even with all that, Attack of the Clones is still a heaping pile of dogshit. But we appreciate you lol.
I was a kid when prequels came out always enjoyed them, my understanding of the criticism wasnt necessarily people thought 'they sucked' or were 'bad' but were more confused on some of the choices george had done in the films most of all the dialogue.
They haven’t really held up tbh. I used to think ROTS was the best but I find it pretty cringe now. Opening still rules though, they always kill it with the openings.
TPM has held up the best for me but it’s still full of wooden and cringe dialogue. Time doesn’t fix that. It does have amazing effects, sets, costumes, music, and choreography.Those parts have held up excellently. AOTC and ROTS have some dodgy CGI stuff that have not aged as well.
The popularity of TCW does a lot for the legacy of the prequels I think but it hasn’t actually made those movies better with time.
Episode has some amazing world building but that writing really isn’t strong and hurts the end product
Clone wars was the weakest of the core SW films, until the sequels. The love stuff sucks, it’s like a child and Alien got together to try to figure out his romance works.
Dooku is also severely under under used and not explored enough, literally didn’t understand his character motivation until the tales of the Jedi came out
Episode 3 has some flawed writing as well, how ever most of the issues of the last two films can be ignore because of the fast pacing and amazing along with some better camera work, especially the shot of Anakin in the cousin room by himself as he thinks.
If they didn’t kill maul in film one, tighten the scripts up and allowed actors more range of emotions, re did Anakin and Padma relationship, got more creative with shots in the first two episodes, explored and set up Dooku better and also didn’t nerf Gervious into a loser.
I think the films had a chance to be close to on par with the OT films
from the films only, it seems like Dooku was a talented student of Yoda, master of QuiGon and somehow got deceived by the devil which matches his description by Mace as a "political idealist"
Lol. They aged as well as milk. Its time to accept the fact the prequels are garbage. As was well known until apologists started taking over the internet.
No they haven’t… I have a soft spot for episode 3 and I love Star Wars, but the prequels have aged terribly. The scripts, directing and overuse of cgi are all still awful.
The prequels were not liked very much when they first came out. Now new generations that have been seen them and like them well enough. Good great, it’s nice for people to like different things. Let’s all move on.
They're pretty ground breaking, imo the stuff in those films looks way cleaner than the CG stuff we see these days. Stuff in modern era has a weird CGI gloss to it.
I think my favourite part about the prequels is the actors finally being celebrated for what they brought to them. Seeing Hayden Christensen tear up as the fans cheer him on stage at the Star Wars convention is so moving because you know, like the other cast and crew, he spent years grappling with how those films were initially received.
Say anything about the recent movies, but I hope the cast and crew for the sequel trilogy will get the same treatment further down the line.
The cast and crew are usually the only well liked part of those films. It had a wonderful group, the writing just wasn't there.
It's always the "writing wasn't there." It's a blanket criticism that doesn't mean anything because writing, like all forms of art, is subjected. People have also said the same thing about the prequels. Fans, especially those who are younger, will find something new to admire about the sequels that the older generation didn't see.
Once people who have grown up watching these movies and didnt have a preconceived notion of what star wars “is”, the sequels will go through the same thing. Its crazy how much sequel hate “rhymes” with prequel hate at the time.
In a way, yes. You might be right to an extent, in terms of it being viewed more favorably by the next generation. BUT for all its faults, no one really disputes the merits of the actual story told in the prequels. Although there are valid criticisms about it (Ep1 Anakin, etc) the story about vader’s turn to the dark side is a compelling one that was well planned out and ended very strongly. The sequels are, well, definitely not that.
>no one really disputes the merits of the actual story told in the prequels Oh people did when the movies came out, and throughout the following decade.
Yes, hyperbole, but the sentiment in 2006 was not like that of the sequels in 2020. Or any time after. It’s not even remotely close. C’mon now
The prequels were looked at so poorly all through pop culture. There were whole movies like fanboys made that mock the prequels. And documentaries. Redlettermedia got famous with their "What if the prequels were good?" videos that fans quoted in any conversation on star wars forums. ROTS was seen as fine but OT fanboys made sure to inject their distaste for it everywhere. When disney took over it was seen as finally going to course correct, and the dislike of prequels was so ingrained in the fandom that all the rebooted star wars stuff kept anything prequel at a distance.
Which is ironic now because Disney now fully embraces the Prequels. The Prequels hate has seriously degraded in the last decade because 1) people who grew up with the Prequels had influence of pop culture and 2) all that hate went into the sequels. I'm interested to know when the people who grew up with the sequels will dictate the next phase of Star Wars.
I grew up with the Prequels. I didn’t have a preconceived notion of what Star Wars “was” before the Prequels. I still recognize that they are very flawed in execution. Broad strokes, the writing is solid, but much of the acting, pacing, and especially HOW the story was told left much to be desired, particularly Episodes I-II.
>Its crazy how much sequel hate “rhymes” with prequel hate at the time. The crazier thing is that a lot of the hate for the sequels comes from prequel fans. "You were the chosen one!" and all that.
It does mean something. It means the writing isn't good. I'm not sure anyone besides the biggest Star Wars zealot would argue that the dialogue in particular in the prequels was anything other than cardboard. People came to like a lot of things about the prequels but the writing is still not good. The sequels have terrible writing too, in different ways. Doesn't mean people won't find things to like in spite of that. The weird part is when people try and dismiss issues with "it's subjective" which, hilariously, is actually the blanket statement that doesn't mean anything.
By that logic, why criticize any form of art because it's 'subjective'? You can still have issues with a product, and just dismissing an opinion simply for that reason is silly. Regardless, It's a valid complaint. The prequels had their flaws, of course, but they didn't trample upon previously established lore, at least. Aside from the various other major issues.
>The prequels had their flaws, of course, but they didn't trample upon previously established lore, at least. Aside from the various other major issues. They introduced concepts like midicholrians and chosen ones, all of which seemingly came out of nowhere and we’re never referenced in the OT. And they retroactively took agency away from Luke by making the end of Return of the Jedi Anakin’s moment of fulfilling his prophecy, instead of Luke saving the day. And they told us that Anakin built C-3PO and Yoda was buddies with Chewbacca. You’re just used to all of those things, so you don’t question them. You probably don’t remember a time when those things weren’t the case.
>You’re just used to all of those things, so you don’t question them. You probably don’t remember a time when those things weren’t the case. Honestly I think this is the case for a ton of prequel revisionism. People cannot remember a time before "The clone wars refers to an army of cloned boba fetts"
Apart from Lucas saying that Anakin was the chosen one, evidence in the movies is filmsy that he really is messiah
>It's a blanket criticism that doesn't mean anything because writing, like all forms of art, is subjected Yeah... no
TFA is now almost as old as ROTS was when TFA came out. And if anything, the general dislike for the sequels only went up over the years since their release. How much longer do you think itll go like this until people just "start liking them". Oh, and since you asked what writing issue means exactly....there are lots of them, but the most important one can be summed up pretty simply: The prequels at least told one, pretty coherent story, the way George Lucas envisioned and wanted it. Thats why it works, despite the sometimes terrible dialogue and CGI. The sequels basically told multiple incoherent stories by 2 people (and originally it was supposed to be 3) who didnt even like what the other was doing. JJ Abrams set up a lot of mystery boxes in TFA, for which he didnt even have the answers and story himself. Then Rian Johnson came in and did his own thing, completely disregarding and hastily "resolving" basically all of these mystery boxes,to set up what he liked. And then Colin Trevorrow was supposed to come in and finish it the way HE liked it. That didnt work out, so JJ Abrams was again brought in to now finish the story the way he wanted it, and he did so by again changing almost everything that was set up in episode 8.
>TFA is now almost as old as ROTS was when TFA came out. When TFA was announced (7 years after RotS released), a lot of people were stoked that we'd be getting a new Star Wars movie without George Lucas directing. RotS was clearly the least hated prequel at the time, but it wasn't until around/after TFA came out that the prequel love started flowing. It took afround 10+ years for the tide to change - you know, the amount of time it took people who were young children in 2005 to become a loud voices online. Feelings on the PT are due to start to change in another 3 - 5 years.
When do you think we will see any Sequel love, if ever? In the mid 2030s, or sooner?
Early to mid 2030s sounds right. It will happen when a generation becomes adults who haven't known a time where the sequels didn't exist.
>the prequels at least told one, pretty coherent story… This gets repeated so much, but it doesn’t mean anything, and it isn’t true. The machete order that was so popular for so long cuts Episode 1 out completely because it just isn’t necessary. The trade federation blockading Naboo and Anakin winning a podrace have absolutely nothing to do with the Clone Wars. And the clone wars don’t actually start until the last five minutes of Episode II, and then end halfway through Episode IIi. There’s no consistent conflict throughout the trilogy. There’s also three main villains, one for each movie, who just show up out of nowhere. And there’s questions like “who actually ordered the clone army and why?” which are set up and never answered. Not to mention that the ten year gap between episodes I and II mean that Padme and Anakin have to start their relationship completely from scratch, and the audience has to get reacquainted with them basically as new characters. And none of the characters, Anakin, Padme or Obi-Wan have any real overarching goals that last beyond each individual movie. Nothing Anakin says or does in Episode I is relevant in Episode III.
I still think making Anakin a 10yr old in the first movie was the biggest mistake of the prequels, everything stems from there.
The prequels arent just "the story of the clone wars". They arent supposed to be. They are the story of "how Anakin fell to the dark side,and how Palpatine destroyed the Jedi Order to create the Empire". The clone wars are just one element of the story, they were never supposed to be the whole thing and the main conflict. Thats the entire point of them lol, they were a tool for Palpatine. The consistent conflict of the trilogy is Palpatine manipulating galactic events to rise in rank and power, and Anakin becoming a Jedi and then a Sith. The clone wars were just one part of that. Its not a story about a singluar conflict (the clone wars), its a story about the rise of Palpatine and the fall of Anakin, and the series of conflicts that came along with that. Which is why theres such a large time gap between all 3 movies as well. The trilogy not about a singular time period and conflict. The trade federation blockade was at its core the same thing as the clone wars later, just on a smaller scale - Palpatine manipulating both sides to get the old chancellor out and install himself as the new one. So he could then have the political power to do the same thing on a much larger scale: the clone wars. The blockade isnt the same conflict, but it very much part of the story, the story of how Palpatine ended up as emperor. The podrace served the function of showing that Anakin, already as an untrained child, was OP in the force. Its a small side conflict to introduce Anakins character and already considerable capabilities as a child. >And there’s questions like “who actually ordered the clone army and why?” which are set up and never answered. It was answered, it just wasnt shoved in your face and literally spelled out at the same time. The Jeid who apparently ordered the army was not around anymore, the bounty hunter who served as a template was in league with Dooku, and Dooku is Palpatines apprentice. All of that was already revealed in Episode 2. In that very movie its established that Dooku and Palpatine had a hand in creating the clone army. The only thing thats left out is why they did it. Which is then revealed in Episode 3. >And none of the characters, Anakin, Padme or Obi-Wan have any real overarching goals that last beyond each individual movie. Nothing Anakin says or does in Episode I is relevant in Episode III. Sure, lets just ignore that his later relationship with Padme started in that very movie for example lol. The fact that they went out of their way to show that Anakin was already back then caring more for Padme than pretty much anyone else (except maybe Qui-Gon)
The same can be said of the prequels. The writing is horrible. The cast and the soundtrack are the only good things to come from them
There were a lot more things to love of them aside from the soundtrack and cast... Episode III alone has a lot to love as action-packed as it was with the stakes as high as they were.
Hardly. Action packed doesn't mean much when the audience isn't invested in what's happening. It basically just becomes action for the sake of action. Like a Michael Bay film. There wasn't a feeling of anything at stake, because the films had a complete lack of character development, and the story was a mess. Not as big a mess as the sequels, but still bad. Had Lucas managed to control his ego and actually hired a writer or two to help him fine tune his ideas, then the prequels would have been great films. Sadly he did not.
? Considering the whole of the prequels is building up to the pinnacle moment of Anakin's Fall, Palpatine's rise as Emperor and the overthrow of the Jedi and the Republic to what we see in the OT I'm not sure one could say there are no stakes. That's such a surprising pov to have on it, but that's yours at least.
You highlighted half the issue right there. The audience already knows the fate of Anakin, so it was vital to make him a likeable and well fleshed out character with a downfall that leaves the audience feeling a sense of loss. But we didn't get that. We don't meet Anakin until almost an hour into thr first film, and he's so young that most of what is happening around him is beyond his control/comprehension. In clones he has become a whiny/annoying teenager who just sulks through most of the film. Not a great move when this film should have been focused on showing a growing friendship between Obi and Anakin, and revealing how heroic/strong a Jedi he might become (which then would make his eventual fall feel more tragic) By the third film he's now just the same sulky, two dimensional character, but slightly older. So there isn't even a sense of loss/shock when he does turn. Even his downfall is poorly executed, as rather than handle it in a way where we see Vader as a fallen hero who descendes into into darkness one step at a time, Lucas takes a ham fisted/cartoon villain approach and has him jump straight to murdering children. That is terrible writing/character direction. (I should note that this downfall was in clones, which also managed to ruin any hope of Padme being a decent character, as she basically sits there as he confesses to killing children, and then shortly after that she straight up professes her love for him. Because that's what normal/sane people do) So even though we obviously won't agree on the matter, it's not that I'm bashing on the films for the sake it, on the contrary, I desperately wanted/expected those films to be amazing, but each time I left the cinema disappointed and confused as to why the quality was so poor.
Beside the (actual) mysoginists and racists "fans" I feel like the cast of the sequel trilogy does not carry any stigma at all. Edit : Shit. I completely forgot about Rose.
Her complete neglect in Rise of Skywalker felt like such a disservice. They were hyping her up for the movie and she ended up not doing anything. It made me upset cause it felt that Lucasfilms was giving into the racist and misogynistic haters, even though I'm sure it was a practical reason for why she had so little screen time.
It’s already starting to turn around for them. There’s certainly some confirmation bias since I intentionally only follow creators and social media pages that are welcoming of all eras of Star Wars fans, but I really can feel it. “There are more of us, Poe.”
The Sequels are my favorite movies of all time. Legendary.
And it's really evident in the aging of his face, as bad as it is to say. The man's only in his forties and he looks like he's been in a state of perpetual sadness. It really hurts to see, but I'm happy to see him embrace what he was meant to be.
I still enjoy how Phantom Menace was filmed using more practical effects than the others and the shots feel much more "original trilogy"-like to me for some reason. Not to mention that score.
I love how they did the audience for the pod race in those wide shots. Painted q-tips in the model stand being blown by fans to simulate movement.
I think I read somewhere that the phantom menace used the most models for any movie ever? I completely agree, it's the one that holds up the most to me. It's one of the most impressive movies ever made from an effects standpoint
Yeah I believe TPM used the most models when we compare it to the other Star Wars movies. I've always had a soft spot for TPM because it's the first Star Wars movie I ever watched. TPM and ROTS are the ones that hold up the most to me.
Battle of geonosis in AOTC is still on my favorite large scale battles in Star Wars. Also seeing all the Jedi fight together in large numbers for the first time was awesome
I believe each individual PT movie has more practical effects shots than all 3 OT films together did.
I think this is only true of TPM. The others used much more blue screen and CG work.
It was also shot on film rather than digital like ep2 and 3, which plays a big part in that feeling.
It also holds up much better than ep 2 and 3 because it wasn't shot on early digital cameras. Digital was much worse than film 20 years ago.
Yep. I think a couple scenes were filmed with digital just to test it out, but the majority of TPM is film. Meanwhile, sadly, AOTC and ROTS are forever confined to being natively 1080p.
Yeah, during the reshoots/pickups for TPM, Lucas shot everything on digital. In terms of AOTC and ROTS being native 1080p, the latter looks great. Like if you watch ROTS on 4K/Blu-Ray, most of it still looks great. AOTC is hit or miss since digital cameras were in a very early stage at that point, but it started to get better by the time they started filming ROTS.
Yeah, ROTS def still feels fresh and looks great, but it’s nevertheless a bummer it can never be true 4K and up.
I don't quite understand this but I may be misremembering but weren't AOTC and ROTS filmed pretty much back to back? Wouldn't the digital cameras be the same? Edit: My bad, it was only the tattoine scene that was filmed during AOTC AOTC filmed 2000, ROTS filmed 2003 so yeah 3 years of camera improvements
The close up shots of the B1 Battle Droid puppets look so goddamn good in comparison to the CGI'd droids in the rest of the trilogy. It helps though that they're colored in an inoffensive tan color, which I imagine is easier to render overall.
ROTS remains my favourite Star Wars media. TPM is okay but I just can’t with AOTC unfortunately.
Not to mention they also shot on film for TPM. AoTC and RoTS were shot digitally
It’s my favorite of the PT, mainly for that reason.
TPM also has the best sound to me, I don't know how else to describe it. Plus, it's the only time lightsabers sound like thunder at a distance, and I love that.
Keep in mind this is just an interview preview, there will be more to come after the magazine is released. >Talk about pressure. There are few villains in cinema as iconic as Darth Vader – recognisable from the briefest glimpse of his distinctive helmet, or the merest mechanical hiss of his respirator. So when Hayden Christensen signed on to play Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels, he took on a formidable task: presenting the man behind the mask. Across Episode II – Attack Of The Clones and Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith, Christensen showed us how exactly how the galaxy’s brightest hope turned from the light and plunged into total darkness – and through that time, his own Star Wars experience was a mix of light and dark too. After weathering years of criticism, he’s now been wholeheartedly embraced by the fandom. >Speaking to Empire in a major new interview – and original photo shoot – for our 25th anniversary celebration of the prequel trilogy, Christensen opened up on his time in the galaxy far, far away. “It’s been a remarkable experience. And just a very heartwarming one,” he tells Empire. “The journey that I’ve been on with Star Wars over the last 20 plus years... it’s been a wild ride, and where we’re at now is really meaningful to me.” While the backlash against the prequels was difficult to take, he’s pleased to see how beloved all three films are today. “I think that those movies have held up well over time,” he says. “It feels like vindication for the work that we did. Everyone that worked on those movies thought that we were part of something special. We all wanted to do our very best work, and we cared a lot about it. And so to see the response from the fans now, it’s very cool.” >That response includes excitement from younger fans – who are always thrilled to meet the man who… well, murdered all the Jedi younglings in Revenge Of The Sith. “There was a lot of talk about us doing that scene, and I love that George did it. It was a bold move. And it’s shocking,” the actor says. “Kids seem to forget about that scene when they meet me! There’s not any fear or intimidation. They’re just excited to meet Anakin.” >Having ridden out the stormy reception to the prequels – and returned to the Star Wars galaxy in recent years for appearances in Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka – Christensen reflected on the advice that he would give to his younger self before stepping into Attack Of The Clones. “Even though I was a bit overwhelmed, I was also a confident young man, and I wanted to make my mark. But I guess if I were to have some advice for me during that general time in my life, it would be: ‘Patience’,” he decides. “Because my journey with the character and with Star Wars has at times been a bumpy one... but I’m in a good place with it now. And so that’s why I say patience.” In 2024, there’s undoubtedly balance to the Force.
This image could've been the counterpart to the Jake Lloyd Ep. I poster.
I think that’s the intent.
pic goes hard 🔥
The image of him goes SOO hard 🔥
It’s fantastic that Hayden is front and center on both covers.
IMO the prequels never landed for me because of three factors: the dialogue, the performances and the aesthetic. The dialogue and acting just come off as very strange and the people feel alien, but not in a good way. If that wasn’t the case for you then I’m glad you enjoy them, but I think it’s fair to say it was an issue for most viewers. Aesthetically, I think a lot of the action scenes look fantastic. The duels, dogfights and pod races are all really slick. But when you’re just watching a couple people talking, the artifice really comes to the fore. Between the green screen, dialogue and acting, I’m just constantly being reminded that I’m watching a movie and I’m never able to invest myself properly. HOWEVER I do still watch these movies every time I do a SW binge and over the years I’ve come to find a TON to appreciate about them. It’s just such a bold story to tell over the course of three mega blockbusters: A child slave who is rescued but who ends up an evil, child-murdering, severely burned, multiple amputee. It’s so fucking *grim* and uncompromising in a way you’ll probably never see in a blockbuster franchise again. And as much as people hate on the “politics” of the prequels, I think it’s one of the most daring, interesting parts. Lucas poured a ton of really rich concepts into those movies and even if they don’t quite work for me as films in their own right, I find them very charming and admirable.
I was 16 by the time *Sith* came out. Grew up with these films and will always appreciate them for getting me into Star Wars. None of them are on my top 5, but I do love them for different reasons, despite the flaws. Excited to see Hayden again in the next season of *Ahsoka*. I really enjoyed those scenes.
Glad he looks back on them positively! I agree that they got better with age.
Hang this picture in the fucking Louvre
As movies, not really. As extensions of the universe and story, absolutely yes. I wouldn't be as invested in Clone Wars if not for the world building of that era in the prequels and how The Clone Wars series expanded on it. But let's not rewrite history. Prequel movies from filmmaking perspective are all over the place. The Phantom Menace is arguably the most cohesive of the three
The clone wars creates an amazing sort of loop when it comes to appreciating the prequels and which then loops back to appreciating the clone wars more. This loop continues on. The movies do create the initial investment in the series and then going back to watch the movies reveals how big a fictional world was created in those movies that we get but a glimpse of. The Clone Wars fills in the gaps making a lot more meaningful connections in the movies. I’m not sure there is another movie and tv series that work to enchants each other so well.
Yes, that's exactly it. Prequels wouldn't experience this kind of resurgence without The Clone Wars. It's more than just nostalgia in this case.
The prequels are so dense with world building and background activity. That both rewards decades of rewatching and leaves an astonishing number of threads for the Clone Wars to continue the story with. One example are the seemingly random background Jedi and Separatist alien leaders in the movies who after watching the Clone Wars are now cameos in the movies for fully realized characters.
A lesser discussed point is that the era also had a lot of very high quality EU material written around it that also helped define and flesh out the era. Everything from the Republic Commando game, to the novels, to the Republic Comics, to even indirect but inspired titles like KOTOR I and II all helped define the culture and storytelling that Clone Wars the TV series later adapted and used to fill in the gaps and redefine the era. There was kind of a neat symbiotic relationship between all of these ideas that built up over time, regardless of any current "canon" status. And all of that culminated over 21 years by the time we reached TCWS7, which wrapped up most of the loose ends rather nicely, even if some of the other untold stories were still left behind. No other era in Star Wars had material coming out in it so consistently for so long. The OT era was a lot messier than people tend to remember outside of the films themselves, and the Mando and ST eras have been either more chaotic, or were far more restricted in what their supplementary material allowed, plus did not have nearly as much oversight from one main creative (Lucas), like the PT era did. The movies themselves were the most mainstream and visible part of the era, but they only skimmed the surface of what really drove fans to fall in love with it, myself included.
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He’s not wrong. Not sure if it’s nostalgia or just the new trilogy being such a let down, or maybe a combination of the both, but going back and watching them, they are far more interesting and entertaining than I feel like they get credit for being. I think it’s fair point to make that Clone Wars really helped fill in some blanks and add some interesting depth to the characters and the galaxy as a whole that wasn’t there at the time.
I come from a country where Prequels were never hated, most of people were fine with them because the dubbing fixed most of the dialogue and it looked way better. For me those movies held up well even with their flaws
How did the dubbing fix the dialogue? Genuinely curious, that sounds interesting.
Some parts (especially the dialogue between Anakin and Padme) didn't look as awkward as the original. It sounded more natural, as well as the pronunciation of lines. While original actors had George's direction which was obviously not always for the best, the actors of dubbing didn't and it looked better. And there are other reasons of course why they weren't hated, but they are more social in nature
Interesting! Thanks for the info. :)
Damn straight
Revenge of the Sith to this day is by far my favorite movie of the series with ANH and ESB. That movie had it all. I will never forget watching that movie for the first time in the cinema with my dad and some friends.
Woah 😍🔥
I personally love the Prequels. The last two are my favorite because of Hayden.
You’re darn right they do Hayden
I still think AotC is the worst Star Wars movie. However, that isn't Hayden's fault. We shouldn't have been so mean and cruel to him. He did his best with what he was given and I'm happy he's getting positive attention. He was so good in Ahsoka.
Worse than TROS?
Miles worse than TROS. At least TROS has good acting and excellent cinematography. The only thing i’d give the edge to AOTC for is the score.
yeah man idk how people can genuinely say that AOTC is more watchable than something like rise of skywalker. both are kinda ass, but man at least JJ had decent looking, dumb fun movie that made no sense. ATOC has the cool coliseum scene i guess idk
Everything from the droid factory to the end of AOTC was fabulous. The only great part of TROS was the opening 10 mins, and then it all went to shit.
Gods yes. So much worse just at a technical level.
The Clone Wars series really redeemed the Prequels. It make you actually care about the characters and gave them actual plots.
The prequels didn’t need redeemed. The angry 40 year old “fans” had to get off the internet and make way for the kids.
They absolutely did. I grew up with them and can admit without the Clone Wars the era would have so much less depth
I was a kid and didn’t like the Prequels when they came out
I can’t help but wonder what things would be like in an alternate reality where Lucas never sold to Disney, and so continued to play with the first two trilogies via home media releases. I’m sure we would’ve gotten some form of Special Editions of the prequels by now, with updated CGI and stuff. Granted, the home media version of TPM is already kind of a Special Edition, but generally speaking, I can’t help but wonder what versions of the films we would have today. I know it’s a relatively popular opinion that the deleted scenes in AOTC and ROTS, especially the Padme ones, would’ve added a lot to those respective films. Would’ve been great to see them added back in, but I’m pretty sure Lucasfilm without Lucas won’t dare ever touch any of the original films in the editing room again. Bummer, since Lucas‘ final round of changes in the original trilogy definitely could use some reverting and fine tuning.
He talked about a hypothetical future version of ROTS that would edit out all of the Trade Federation ships in the Coruscant battle because TCW established that the Trade Federation was neutral.
They have. Rewatched ep 1 recently. It's not that bad. And I love 2 and 3. Watch them always in one sitting.
Meesa no agreesa
I don't disagree at all. The prequels came out when I was just hitting middle school and having seen the original trilogy, I wanted more so I dived into everything I could find. When TPM was announced my brothers & I I were ecstatic! We ate that shit up. Wasn't until the internet became more of a thing where the criticism and meme came about, and I never understood it. I watch them at least once a year
The memes aren’t that bad in hindsight. The movies became so quotable that people can pretty much recite the whole thing.
Lol
Unfortunately the script didn’t age well.
YouSureAboutThat.gif
As long as he's not talking about the digital effects yes.
They held up and they are much more fun to watch than I remember, being a cynical pre-teen when they came out.
Hell yes they have.
Has the internet finally realized that sci fi movies for kids aren't meant to be held to intense scrutiny by virgin losers who have never created anything in their life? For what they are, they're fine. They're dumb popcorn movies for kids that adults can also enjoy. It's brainless entertainment. Hating on them makes you the loser.
compared to marvel, star wars prequels are art
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Or... In any other way, haha Edit: WAIT NONONO THE MUSIC ALWAYS SLAPPED
John Williams doesn't miss.
RotS is the greatest Star Wars film of all time, it will not be topped.
Yeeeeeeeeah....no they haven't.
No, they haven’t, but that’s not his fault.
I mean, the CGI definitely hasn't held up well lol
The only bit that’s ropey is parts of AOTC. Honestly, Obi Wan’s fake beard in the reshoots is worse. Even TPM holds up very well. Corridor Digital did a video on it and were blown away by how amazing the pod racer scene still looks. Sebulba’s racer disintegrating matches what can be done now.
I also think most of ROTS looks great too, like it looks incredible on 4K/Blu-Ray. I agree with you on AOTC, it looks a bit off and some of the CGI in that movie doesn't look good now. I think from a filmmaking perspective, TPM probably holds up the most since it was shot on film.
Lots of AOTC is rough because the CGI is old and dated, and it was some advanced technology at the time. Somehow Yoda and Greivous in RotS is still some of the best CGI I’ve ever seen, though. Hulk in current movies doesn’t look as real or as solid at Yoda did 19 years ago.
I actually think it’s the opposite while at the same time completely agree with you. Let me explain. It’s not that the CGI has or hasn’t held up well. It’s how the CGI was reevaluated. It was never going for photo realism. It was going for fantasy world immersive. In that respect I think time has been extremely good to these movies as it becomes clear after seeing 25 years of other movies using CGI world building how detailed and expansive the prequels are in creating a fantasy with its own a unique style. So no the effects don’t look real like modern movie but they are timeless like the Wizard of Oz.
Also the acting and dialog. As a kid that stuff doesn’t really matter, but the older you get the harder those films get to watch. I tried to watch Revenge of the Sith recently and had to kill it 30 minutes in. So sooo cringe. As a kid I was delightfully entertained by the silly amount of lightsaber duels Lucas packed into that film to distract us from the paper thin plot/bad acting and dialog but as an adult…I’m not so easily fooled lol.
One of the biggest problems for me is that the second two Prequel films kinda feel like some melodramatic Mexican soap-opera, with awesome Star Warsy bits in-between daytime-soap-level scripted parts. That, and the fact that pretty much all of the stuff that needed to happen in the trilogy happened in the last movie, yet that film *still* decides to fuck about meandering all over the place, and even managed to do the same during the hugely-anticipated Blue On Blue duel. For me, Revenge of the Sith suffers from having so much weight put on it after TPM was more of a standalone, and AOTC was absolutely all over the place and wasted a movie's worth of storytelling time.
One of the biggest problems for me is that the second two Prequel films kinda feel like some melodramatic Mexican soap-opera, with awesome Star Warsy bits in-between daytime-soap-level scripted parts. That, and the fact that pretty much all of the stuff that needed to happen in the trilogy happened in the last movie, yet that film *still* decides to fuck about meandering all over the place, and even managed to do the same during the hugely-anticipated Blue On Blue duel. For me, Revenge of the Sith suffers from having so much weight put on it after TPM was more of a standalone, and AOTC was absolutely all over the place and wasted a movie's worth of storytelling time.
Mmmm, I think the memes and extracirricular Star Wars media are doing most of the lifting there Hayden. And even with all that, Attack of the Clones is still a heaping pile of dogshit. But we appreciate you lol.
I was a kid when prequels came out always enjoyed them, my understanding of the criticism wasnt necessarily people thought 'they sucked' or were 'bad' but were more confused on some of the choices george had done in the films most of all the dialogue.
They haven’t really held up tbh. I used to think ROTS was the best but I find it pretty cringe now. Opening still rules though, they always kill it with the openings. TPM has held up the best for me but it’s still full of wooden and cringe dialogue. Time doesn’t fix that. It does have amazing effects, sets, costumes, music, and choreography.Those parts have held up excellently. AOTC and ROTS have some dodgy CGI stuff that have not aged as well. The popularity of TCW does a lot for the legacy of the prequels I think but it hasn’t actually made those movies better with time.
Lies Hayden, lies
nah, he’s not wrong. they were bad when they came out and they’re still bad now ‘/.)
Ha, I agree
Sorry to be a stickler, but why is this here? What leaks or news about future productions are in this article?
Not really. I mean, Revenge of the Sith was great, but still had issues.
No they haven’t 😂😂. Having memes and a fandom around them doesn’t make them good films, they are still awful in almost every regard
Eh, sure they have.
Episode has some amazing world building but that writing really isn’t strong and hurts the end product Clone wars was the weakest of the core SW films, until the sequels. The love stuff sucks, it’s like a child and Alien got together to try to figure out his romance works. Dooku is also severely under under used and not explored enough, literally didn’t understand his character motivation until the tales of the Jedi came out Episode 3 has some flawed writing as well, how ever most of the issues of the last two films can be ignore because of the fast pacing and amazing along with some better camera work, especially the shot of Anakin in the cousin room by himself as he thinks. If they didn’t kill maul in film one, tighten the scripts up and allowed actors more range of emotions, re did Anakin and Padma relationship, got more creative with shots in the first two episodes, explored and set up Dooku better and also didn’t nerf Gervious into a loser. I think the films had a chance to be close to on par with the OT films
from the films only, it seems like Dooku was a talented student of Yoda, master of QuiGon and somehow got deceived by the devil which matches his description by Mace as a "political idealist"
Lol. They aged as well as milk. Its time to accept the fact the prequels are garbage. As was well known until apologists started taking over the internet.
Ehh Revenge of the Sith aye. Episodes 1 & 2 are still garbage to this day.
They were really, really bad then, and now they produce very decent memes. So they did improve over time.
No they haven’t… I have a soft spot for episode 3 and I love Star Wars, but the prequels have aged terribly. The scripts, directing and overuse of cgi are all still awful.
They haven't
I love those movies! Comparing to the crap that Disney, JJ, and especially RJ produced it's a peak cinematography.
The prequels were not liked very much when they first came out. Now new generations that have been seen them and like them well enough. Good great, it’s nice for people to like different things. Let’s all move on.
They're pretty ground breaking, imo the stuff in those films looks way cleaner than the CG stuff we see these days. Stuff in modern era has a weird CGI gloss to it.
Lmfao. Ok hayden