Don't worry Lee, I'm here to back you up on this!
Lots to cover here. How long can a post be? :lol:
First of all, the prequels. I said back in 1999, and have maintained ever since that disappointment in the PT is due to the crazy unrealistic expectations people had. They expected to be blown away the way they were from 1977-83, forgetting that those 5-10 year old kids we were back then were now grown up and in their late 20's to mid 30's. No way could we see them the way we saw the OT. The trick to enjoying the prequels is to look at them the way we saw the OT in the theaters as kids. If we sit here and bitch about CGI that doesn't hold up more than 15 years later and poor acting (and honestly, there's plenty of effects in the OT that looked dated after 15 years as well as lots of groan inducing parts from Mark Hamill too), then we can never appreciate them for what they are. Fun movies.
Let me try and put a positive spin on them.
TPM
I actually thought the opening was the least Star Wars-y part of the entire PT. Seemed almost like a Star Trek film at first, but that changed once the ship was blown up in the hangar bay. Right off the bat, we are given lightsaber sequences that honestly blow away even the best saber scenes in the OT. These Jedi are FAST, unlike old Vader, Obi-Wan, and Luke. Leia is royalty, so her mother HAD to be royalty herself. Knowing she dies in childbirth, they HAD to make a major plot point her ascension as a leader and ultimate fall. The Naboo story works as well as any other to accomplish that. Obviously, if they're going to have the bad guys take over, for dramatic purposes they need to show their dominance and have a story to save them in the end. That's where the Gungans come in. They are the Ewoks of the PT. Maybe the Jamaican accents don't fit, but that's a MINOR gripe. Jar Jar as a plot device was needed to be a reason for the Jedi to recruit the Gungans to help the Naboo. Come on, convincing them to help by having the droid army wipe out there home is a LOT more convincing than convincing Ewoks to join the fight by having C-3PO tell the OT in 90 seconds to rally them to their cause. As far as his goofiness, he was intended to be the comic relief that the droids were in the OT. Let's face it, C-3PO in particular was the clumsy one always getting into trouble in the OT, from his whiny tantrum prior to the Jawa capture, to his misadventures with a commlink during the trash compactor scene, to getting covered in melting wires in the escape from the Death Star, to bickering with R2 on Hoth and then Han & Leia in the Falcon, to getting blown apart on Bespin and the silliness of him attached to Chewbacca's back, to his fearful whining in Jabba's Palace, to becoming a demigod on Endor. This was the intention for Jar Jar, to recapture some of that silly behaviour, but many adult fans in 1999 just couldn't see it that way (and still don't).
Anakin HAD to be a boy. They needed to establish that innocence so he could fall in love with Padme and be an apprentice long enough to become a top fighter for the Republic, before he fell to the Dark Side. Having him come from Tatooine makes sense too, as it makes for the perfect hiding spot for Luke, considering Anakin would never want to go back there willingly. As far as the Senate stuff goes, yeah, it was a little boring at times, but necessary as they needed to show how Palpatine manipulated his way through the political ranks before taking over and getting the galactic governments to fall in line behind him rather than fight him as an enemy. And there you go. The whole plot explained in a way that makes sense.
Everything else just fills in the story. The pod race was a lot of fun, despite looking cartoony in spots. Darth Maul was an awesome villain, and definitely fits in with the Star Wars feel. Watto works to show the miserable life Anakin had as a child, forming the early basis for his fears and anger. In much the same way, Shmi also laid the groundwork for his character too, which I'll explain more in my AOTC review. The droid army existed for one reason. To have a large oppressive force that justified Palpatine utilizing the clone army - which would evolve into Stormtroopers.
The only things that were really unnecessary were Qui-Gon Jinn and midichlorians. The story would have been fine with Obi-Wan as a newly trained Jedi rather than an apprentice, which would make Qui-Gon obsolete, and the midichlorians weren't necessarily bad - just not needed. I do get it though - it gave them something 'measurable' that showed just how powerful Anakin was with the Force, as opposed to an opinionated "strong with the Force is he" moment.
Was the movie perfect? Nope. But neither were the OT, especially ROTJ. Little flaws we overlook in the OT, I manage to do with this movie. The acting was sometimes spot on, sometimes cheesy - just like the OT.
AOTC
I will agree - this is the worst movie of the saga. That does NOT mean it's horrible though. Far from it. They establish right away that Padme is a thorn in the side of the Senate (and Palpatine's plans). Simultaneously, targeting Padme for assassination gives Palpatine a sympathetic reaction as Chancellor, while misleading the Jedi to his identity as surely they wouldn't believe he would target someone from his home world. Thirdly, he's been gently manipulating Anakin all along, and now that his skills are rapidly growing but not quite Jedi level yet, making Padme a target gives him a reason to reassign Anakin to security duties, where he can manipulate him more easily. I'm sure Palpatine was fully aware that Anakin was enamored with Padme, which made it all the easier.
Why was Anakin so head over heels with Padme? Well, his only protector during a rough childhood was his mother. When he left her for Jedi training, Padme took her place. She was his emotional outlet. The Jedi were strict on no emotions, but Anakin started training too late for them to curb those feelings early in life. I view his infatuation with Padme as the result of an Oedipus complex. As far as his mother goes, the Tusken Raider ambush and kidnapping of Shmi served a pivotal role. Until this point, he had only his fears and lack of confidence as issues, with the Jedi keeping other emotions down. When she died in his arms, they introduced hate, and the subsequent slaughter of the Tuskens - including women and children - just showed how the Dark Side was right there reaching out for him. Yeah, his romantic scenes with Padme were awkward, but Star Wars has never done romance well. The scenes with Han and Leia in the Echo Base corridor were equally awkward ("you could use a good kiss!" really?), and then the kiss at the end of ROTJ was FAR more like a kiss you'd give a sibling than a romantic interest. Most unromantic onscreen kiss in cinematic history. Keeping that in mind, I will admit the scenes weren't great, but I can accept them. Oh, and about Hayden's portrayal of Anakin as a whiny teenager? How else do you want him to be? The role calls for him to be rebellious, anxious, quick tempered, and insubordinate. All character traits that helped make him susceptible to the Dark Side. Yes, he was annoying - but he HAD to be that way, or no one would believe he could be turned.
I guess the next major plot line involves Kamino and the clones. More manipulation by Palpatine. He had some anonymous Jedi (Sifo Dyas) order the clone army for the Republic, to keep his name clear of involvement, and no doubt Sifo Dyas being dead by AOTC was by design so Palpatine could just recruit the clones. The timing of the order seems to be right around the timing of when Palpatine met Anakin as a boy, so you can see how he's been behind the scenes all along. He needed the clones to eventually have an army to combat the battle droids, knowing all along he had the power to shut down the droids via his agreements with Nute Gunray but requiring his own legion of live troopers. Having the clones as his own army served him well when he took over the Senate, not to mention by doing so he also managed to supply clones as military support for the Jedi, which he was successfully able to spread thin throughout the galaxy to make overthrowing them an easier challenge. Back to Kamino, it was just a plot point to explain where they came from, and a location to have Obi-Wan discover them and utilize them to assist in the battle of Geonosis.
Ahhh, Geonosis. It served two main purposes. It gave us the epic Jedi battle we would not see at any other point in the saga, and represented the first major victory to prove the clones were able to defeat a droid army while having the Jedi accept them as their backup. Actually, I guess a third point for Geonosis was to establish the Separatists and give them a leader in Count Dooku. Dooku was an interesting character. As an aging Jedi, his fall and turn to the Dark Side gave Palpatine a much more experienced apprentice than Maul, who had failed him. Dooku was a tool to help tap into Anakin's anger issues and speed up his turn. He also provided leadership strong enough for the Jedi to not really concentrate on Darth Sidious (Palpatine), sensing the need to stop the visible threat in Dooku first. Christopher Lee stole every scene he was in. For those that complain about the acting in AOTC, here was a shining example of someone who was perfect. The saber fight with Yoda was fun to watch, but failed because they made Yoda too erratic with jumpy CGI, not because Lee did anything bad with the character.
The final scene with the wedding was much deeper than just a happy ending to the movie. The undertone here was how Anakin was not buying into the Jedi way. He took attachment to the extreme by taking a wife, and by marrying Padme, created a bond rivaled only by his relationship to his mother. Once again, he used Padme to replace Shmi, so naturally, he would end up with fears of losing her as he lost his mother.
The only major character I didn't really cover here was Jango Fett. I liked the idea of having a bounty hunter target Padme, and the asteroid chase scene was easily a highlight of the movie, but I will concede I wish they didn't tie him into Boba Fett's backstory. We didn't need to see Boba. I also think it was overkill to have this same bounty hunter be the source of the clone DNA. Jango was awesome, but would have served the story better with a unique story not tied to the OT or to the clone subplot. Of course, I consider this to also be a MINOR gripe.
Again, as with TPM, AOTC really fit in well with the story. It had some terrific action scenes, the introduction of a terrific new villain (Dooku), and moved the plot along in a believable way. My only major dislike was anything to do with C-3PO in his scenes on Geonosis. That was way more cheesy than anything Jar Jar did.
ROTS
I'm not going to go into this as much as the others. For me, ROTS was just awesome. I consider it tied with ANH for my 2nd fave SW movie after ESB. Obi-Wan was terrific in everything he did. Palpatine stole the show and was incredible. Anakin was a more focused character, less whiny and more angry. His assassination of Dooku, egged on by Palpatine's taunting, gave him the satisfaction of a revenge kill and set up his turn later on. General Grievous was a great subplot, making for a very cool villain. It showed the Senate completely turn and fall behind Palpatine's dictatorship with full support. Interesting, because the Senate and those it represented, always portrayed as the "good guys" in the PT, sided with the primary villain, which by default, made the Separatists, portrayed as villains, almost good since they were fighting what became an evil empire. I find that to be a fascinating trick Lucas pulled off to blur the lines between good and evil that way.
Is there ANYONE who didn't find the immediate effects of Order 66 incredible? From Anakin assassinating children to the mass annihilation of the Jedi to Anakin assassinating the Separatist leaders, the whole sequence gave me chills. The Wookiee battle was fun and provided a good action sequence. Anakin turning on Mace Windu and subsequently being christened as Darth Vader was powerful stuff. And then what about Anakin vs Obi-Wan? The lightsaber battle was terrific. Anakin's defeat was probably the most graphic and disturbing scene in the entire saga. Yoda vs Palpatine was also great. While Yoda was still flipping in midair too much, Ian McDiarmid was sensational in his over the top glee during that fight.
The ending may have been the weakest part of the movie, although it was necessary. Anakin was so far gone he caused the death of Padme - the thing he feared most. Good for plot development, as with the realization she was dead (along with a truly horrible "NOOOOO"), he had no one left to believe in, and so fully committed himself to Palpatine (which came with a great little smile by Palpatine as he witnessed Vader's torment). Padme's death scene was badly acted by Natalie Portman (although she, above anyone else, was the worst actor in the PT in my opinion), but they did need to have us see Luke and leia, and what happened to them, to bridge the gap between the end of this film and the beginning of ANH.
So, having said all that, obviously I am a fan of the PT. It's all in the perspective you take when viewing them.
The problem I have with fandom right now is that hype that made everyone go gaga over the PT before they were released is repeating itself now with TFA. As Lee pointed out, there is a large number of people expecting this to be not just better than the PT, but better than the OT as well! That's pretty lofty expectations, and if people can't temper that excitement, it won't matter how good or bad TFA is - the fanboys will be disappointed and turn on it within 6 months of its release.
Personally, and those that know me from RS have heard this a thousand times, I am a George Lucas purist. Good or bad, I am ONLY interested in HIS ideas for the saga. I have zero interest in the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons (and in fact saw episodes of each and hated them on their own merits anyway), I despise the EU for being nothing more than cheap hackjobs using Lucas's vision, characters, and plot points to sell their own glorified but officially condoned fan fiction, and I see TFA and EVERYTHING Disney has coming as being nothing more than big budget fan fiction. I have no interest in seeing TFA, and will be ready and waiting with "I told you so's" when it fails to pass Jurassic World for the biggest blockbuster of the year. The attempts at nostalgia by bringing back the main cast and other aspects of the OT is nothing short of a marketing tactic, designed to take this disgruntled fanbase and win it over by giving them what they miss - the story of Luke, Han, and Leia. Many express the opinion of "more SW is better than none", but I couldn't disagree more. Let the existing saga grow old and stay pure, admired by nearly everyone. Don't dilute it with movie after movie after movie, watering down the effect of the OT in particular. I hope those of you excited about it go home happy, but for me, I'd be just fine if there was never another Star Wars movie made.
Ian
