Why the Star Wars Prequels Better Are Than The Original

[rche]

On a purely intellectual level, I can see where the structure and storyline of the prequels is fairly deep and interesting. Which makes it all the more sad to see said storyline butchered by horrid acting and bad cgi tomfoolery.

[ctc]

>If memory serves it was the death of Superman that really started this whole way of thinking with comics. Slowly stories became less relevant.

I think the "death" of Superman was the last gasp of the whole thing. I consider Secret Wars the primarch of the non-event; some of my friends cite Inferno.... but around that time there were a fair number of them. Legends comes to mind, as does Fall of the Mutants.

Crisis (the first one) was the real origin of it all, but the changes made by Crisis held for a while, and were always intended to be permanent so I don't count it. It was the later versions which tried really hard to recapture the "event" feel without actually providing an event that hashed it all. 'Course you can go back BEFORE Crisis and see this sort of thing; continuity wasn't as fixed as we tend to think prior to the 80's. Things changed every few years so's to better serve the current crop of fans. It wasn't until Flash 123 that they drew attention to it; so maybe THAT'S the start of it all?

>Continuity became passe'

That's been a confounding variable for ANY long-term franchaise. How do you deal with the changing fan base? Usually a total redo was the thing; look at the 70's Buck Rogers and how little it shares with the comic strip. Hell; look at the Buck Rogers comic strip itself! It went from post-apocalypse story to space opera fairly quick....

Star Wars is approaching that point. The prequels were an attempt at that.... with, er.... mixed results. The current Clone Wars cartoon is a much better attempt, but it still brings up some awkward questions when juxtaposed against the original films. (Such as: when does Anakin chop Asoka's head off?)

Don C.

[MIB41]

Although they can start running on fumes as well... recalling the Black Spider-man costume explosion in the eighties (I think most folks forget what a huge negative reaction it got), it seems like Spider-man gets a specialty outfit variant a couple of times a year. Nary a real huge peep on the latest Spider-man costume that they just teased.

A storm of publicity can be viral if they just remove Superman's shorts for the next movie and comics though.

That's a very good point. But it also underscores how different the standard was for storytelling back then. In those days, comics gave out recognition for discrepancies uncovered in story continuity. There was pride in keeping ONE story going and evolving it with all established characters. The challenge was to find engaging stories without compromising the hero. So when they finally started messing with Spider-man's outfit, it got major flack. I can remember specific conversations Emeraldknight and I had about that event back then. We both agreed it was a gimmick and it wouldn't last. And actually it didn't last. It's last gasp was in the spinoff "Web of Spiderman" title which eventually folded and the red/blue threads were back in circulation. I remember it took a pretty large out crying to get the black suit removed. Marvel was really married to the concept in the beginning. But they finally heard enough and changed the Symbiote story so that the creature went from being a positive force for Peter into what most know it to be today. Just think. If fans had warmed to the whole concept, Venom may never have happened.

If memory serves it was the death of Superman that really started this whole
way of thinking with comics. Slowly stories became less relevant. Continuity became passe' and what started to matter was the "event" aspect of a storyline. How much could they screw with the character to create hype and make people tune in to buy a copy? And that's been the flavor of comics ever since. Pretty much the Golden rule these days is nothing is sacred. Anything goes. And that's why changing outfits today is received with a collective ho-hum. It's the same tired formula they've been doing for over 25 years.

[samurainoir]

These websites are driven by hits. Posting flamebait like this is a surefire way to generate traffic, if you can withstand the double barrel blast of nerd rage that it brings with it.

Very good point. It seems to be the basis for most of the Big Two DC and Marvel marketing for the past decade.

Although they can start running on fumes as well... recalling the Black Spider-man costume explosion in the eighties (I think most folks forget what a huge negative reaction it got), it seems like Spider-man gets a specialty outfit variant a couple of times a year. Nary a real huge peep on the latest Spider-man costume that they just teased.

A storm of publicity can be viral if they just remove Superman's shorts for the next movie and comics though.

[sprytel]

These websites are driven by hits. Posting flamebait like this is a surefire way to generate traffic, if you can withstand the double barrel blast of nerd rage that it brings with it.

[MIB41]

I think that thesis could have been whittled down to one sentence... They like these movies, but they need someone else to like them too. Misery loves company.

[sauce]

good reading
maybe some stretchers or some misplaced evidence, but overall argued more cleanly than most

[jwyblejr]

Dude needs to find a nice little corner and hide there for awhile. I wouldn't want to go out in public if I were him.

[Hector]

I read that...and posted a nice reply...lol.

Just look who the author of that article is...Timothy Sexton...some nobody Boy George reject...



...then you'll forget about this silly article in one nano-second...


Read the Yahoo comments...poor Timothy Sexton...

[spacecaps]

Just found this on Yahoo....I got about half way through and realized this is probably some kids political science term paper or something. I also couldn't get the Comic Book Guy's voice from the Simpsons out of my head when I was reading this....
Why the 'Star Wars' Prequels Are Better Than the Original Trilogy - Yahoo! Movies