Star Wars prequels ruined the originals...

[Sandman9580]

Everyone seems cold and emotionless, unless it's over the top stuff like Christansen growling "I HATE YOU!!!".

Yeah, I loved it when his chin was trembling. Oh man, he was just SHAKING with hate!

Charmless is the perfect word to describe them.

[MIB41]

I think if the prequels gave me any insight, it was how important it was to cast the right actors. Lucas had BRILLIANT casting for the original three. But if you look at the dialogue on paper, it's nearly as bad as what is in the prequels. What is different is delivery. You believed Harrison Ford when he said those lines. But could Christian Hayden say "Laugh it up fuzz ball?" and get you to laugh? Probably not. Liam Neeson is a great actor, but he seemed lost in the character because Lucas didn't flush him out enough for Liam to find any motivation. Samuel Jackson was a complete miscast. I can no more believe he was a Jedi Master than I could see Robert Deniro as one. Actually Deniro as a Jedi Master would have been hysterical. I could see him pulling out his light saber and saying, "Are you talkin' to me?"

But I agree with Chris. Everyone just seem to walk around and just read their lines. So many scenes looked like a first take. The other thing I hated...Everyone's outfit looked like it had just come off a hanger. Even the poor people looked like their tattered clothes had been to the dry cleaners. Nothing about any of those prequels felt authentic.

[ScottA]

The thing to me about the cartoons is they just seem pointless. Despite everything or anything Anakin does you know he turns evil and into Darth Vader. I think something about the time between the end of Revenge of the Sith and the beginning of A New Hope showing Luke and Leia growing up, Ben trying to protect them and Vader earning his reputation would be more intersting. But like I said, that's just me.

[david_b]

I think if the prequels gave me any insight, it was how important it was to cast the right actors. Lucas had BRILLIANT casting for the original three. But if you look at the dialogue on paper, it's nearly as bad as what is in the prequels. What is different is delivery. You believed Harrison Ford when he said those lines. But could Christian Hayden say "Laugh it up fuzz ball?" and get you to laugh? Probably not. Liam Neeson is a great actor, but he seemed lost in the character because Lucas didn't flush him out enough for Liam to find any motivation. Samuel Jackson was a complete miscast. I can no more believe he was a Jedi Master than I could see Robert Deniro as one. Actually Deniro as a Jedi Master would have been hysterical. I could see him pulling out his light saber and saying, "Are you talkin' to me?"

But I agree with Chris. Everyone just seem to walk around and just read their lines. So many scenes looked like a first take. The other thing I hated. Everyone's outfit looked like it had just come off a hanger. Even the poor people looked like their tattered clothes had been to the dry cleaners. Nothing about any of those prequels felt authentic.

MIB41, all your posts have summed up my argument 100%.. NEVER tell too much about a villain, agreed.

That's why the moment Vader told Luke in 'Empire' that he was his father.., it was over for me.

"All the star systems, all the galaxies, and he's his Dad..???"

Gee, how convenient.

That, the terrible direction, ewoks and focusing the sequels on Vader all ruined what love I had for SW.

david_b

[megoscott]

The conversation with Ben in his house on Tattooine covered it all. "You fought in the clone wars?...Your father was a great pilot who was killed by Darth Vader who had been seduced by the dark side of the force..." Turns out 6 hours of film didn't really improve on that.

I've said in the past that the prequels ruined the story of Darth Vader, but I don't feel that way anymore the more time passes since the prequels. The inspiring, imagination exploding experience I had 30 years ago still stands.

[Adam West]

I liked the prequels...didn't love them but liked them. I guess my mind has a way of just seperating the two sets of 3 movies as seperate and distinct. It also gives me a good feeling since my oldest son was about 5 or so when "Revenge of the Sith" was released so I try to look at it through his eyes. I'm pretty sure my parents were sitting with me in "Star Wars" but they never mention loving it as much as most of us do because they watched it through the eyes of an adult. My mom will mention movies like "Gone With the Wind" and "Song of the South" as being movies that were her favorites because she was a kid when they were released.

[Brazoo]

I LOVED the original Star Wars movies - even "Jedi".

I watched the first prequel and just thought "this is not for me", so I never even bothered watching the others. I'm able to separate them just fine - as far as I'm concerned it's just branding.

But here's some things I'll never get about people who watch them in order:

- How are they suppose to feel suspense about dealing with Jabba in Jedi, when they've already SEEN Jabba multiple times (including the dumb recuts of the originals)

- (As you said) HOW do they deal with the droids not being recognized? Ben and Vader both got senile?

And

- HOW does C3PO never say too Luke "You're name's Skywalker - funny, the kid who built me lived on this exact planet and had the same name too!"

[MIB41]

HOW does C3PO never say too Luke "You're name's Skywalker - funny, the kid who built me lived on this exact planet and had the same name too!"

Great point! I overlooked that one. There's so many, it's hard to keep track. I tell you one in the original trilogy that always made me laugh. In a New Hope, C3PO tells Luke he is not very good at telling stories, but by Jedi he's got a flock of Ewoks sitting around him telling them the whole adventure with effects!! I found that hysterical.

[jwyblejr]

I LOVED the original Star Wars movies - even "Jedi".

I watched the first prequel and just thought "this is not for me", so I never even bothered watching the others. I'm able to separate them just fine - as far as I'm concerned it's just branding.

But here's some things I'll never get about people who watch them in order:

- How are they suppose to feel suspense about dealing with Jabba in Jedi, when they've already SEEN Jabba multiple times (including the dumb recuts of the originals)

- (As you said) HOW do they deal with the droids not being recognized? Ben and Vader both got senile?

And

- HOW does C3PO never say too Luke "You're name's Skywalker - funny, the kid who built me lived on this exact planet and had the same name too!"

C-3PO's memory got wiped. As to Ben not knowing about the droids? Who's to say he didn't? Go back and watch ANH. Check out that look on Obi-Wan's face when he first sees R2. Looks to me like he's seen him before.

[Goblin19]

I'm like a lot of others. I can separate them. I also don't hate the prequels. They just aren't nearly as good as the originals. If I wanted to let it bother me, it would.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

MY problem with the prequels was that I already knew what was going to happen, so there wasn't a lot of surprise or novelty for me. Even the third, which everybody liked was blah 'cos it all played out exactly like I remember hearing it did when I was a kid.

Don C.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I liked the prequels....well AOTC was really weak....but I liked them, in spite of all the obvious and not so obvious flaws. they do not take anything away from my love for the original trilogy, yes including Jedi which I don't understand all this hate for.
I agree the actors were very stiff in the prequels and the dialog was horrible and that is Lucas's fault. The CGI did not bother me at all, that is the technology today and it is only natural Lucas would use that, but most of the characters were very one dimensional in terms of development.

[Brazoo]

In a New Hope, C3PO tells Luke he is not very good at telling stories, but by Jedi he's got a flock of Ewoks sitting around him telling them the whole adventure with effects!! I found that hysterical.

Another great one!

I know that Jedi's a bit of a mess, and even as a kid there were things I didn't like about it - but even with it's faults I still love it. I personally just didn't have fun watching "Phantom".

C-3PO's memory got wiped. As to Ben not knowing about the droids? Who's to say he didn't? Go back and watch ANH. Check out that look on Obi-Wan's face when he first sees R2. Looks to me like he's seen him before.

I didn't know C3P0's mind got wiped - I guess that makes sense since Luke mentions wiping R2s memory in Star Wars too.

I bet if Jabba were here he'd be ****ed none of his crew thought of that!

I can sort of buy the thing with Ben, because I know exactly what you're talking about when he keeps eyeing R2.

They should add a scene in Empire with Vader - in that scene where he invites the rebels to have lunch with him "A C3P0 droid? I built one of these as a kid - these things were awesome!" Like a total Mego moment!

Hmmmm....

MY problem with the prequels was that I already knew what was going to happen, so there wasn't a lot of surprise or novelty for me. Even the third, which everybody liked was blah 'cos it all played out exactly like I remember hearing it did when I was a kid.

Don C.

I think that's one of the reasons it never bothered me enough to check them out. I'm just not that curious. I also don't care how Aunty Em adopted Dorothy, or Travis Bickle went through in the Marines, or how David Bowman became an astronaut…

[Sandman9580]

In a New Hope, C3PO tells Luke he is not very good at telling stories, but by Jedi he's got a flock of Ewoks sitting around him telling them the whole adventure with effects!! I found that hysterical.

Another great one!

Huh. I always thought that was deliberate and actually kind of cool. C-3P0 starts off as a fussy, pampered droid with an inferiority complex and no real "abilities", and then after three movies of adventures, he has more confidence and can tell all these cool stories. (Maybe being worshipped as a "deity" did the trick. ) I always thought it was a nice, subtle bit of character development. C-3PO's a sensitive artist, man!

C-3PO's memory got wiped.

Another great reason to shoot the prequels into the sun. The way I personally look at it, you can take one of my favorite characters from childhood and lobotomize him, or you can give me the slightest chance of not completely hating your movie. But you can't do both.

As to Ben not knowing about the droids? Who's to say he didn't? Go back and watch ANH. Check out that look on Obi-Wan's face when he first sees R2. Looks to me like he's seen him before.

I think that comes from the enigmatic way Guinness played that character. But it's hard to know what all he's thinking, since the sequels reveal that in those scenes he's being either evasive, misleading, or is down right lying - from a certain point of view.

[LadyZod]

At the end of Sith, Kenobi pretty much hands over ownership of the droids to Organa. 3PO's memory gets wiped. Kind of how when you sell off an old laptop and you wipe the hard drive.

That doesn't bother me.

I have a feeling that R2's memory was not wiped and that he knows more than what he is sharing, purposely keeping stuff from 3PO, such as the message from Leia.

Kenobi can sense that, which is why he keeps eyeballing the droid.

And honestly, how many R2 units and protocal droids exist in the SW universe? Why would Vader give two craps about some droids? It's like saying I used to drive a 95 Tercel that was light blue. Does that mean every time I see one on the road that it was mine from when I was a kid?

Kenobi is a lying sack. Every time he opens his mouth he freakin' lies to Luke. Granted he does so for "his protection" or whatever Jedi excuse he can come up with, but it doesn't make him less of a liar. Does it jive with the Jedi way? Maybe not, but it's a compromise he makes to keep that boy safe.

When he sees Leia in the hologram, you can see it in his face, it's like, the jig is up. Time to fess up some... but just some.

The prequels, eh. I look at it like a bad stage production of a good story. They are actors PLAYING the roles. In the OT, those guys weren't actors, THEY WERE THE CHARACTERS.

That's how *I* sleep at night.