[Nymph]

I've seen those, if I had to hire a writer to remake the prequels he gets top pick .

[Sophie Louise Edge]

That's more or less correct without going into nitty details. The Thrawn trilogy is fantastic, enjoy it!

[Ross Zombie]

Please no. The prequels were not bad. I actually liked the first two episodes and are up there with A new Hope and Empire. I found Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi to be the worst of the movies (Still watchable). I have not seen 7 yet and I do not think I will since I have never liked any jj movies and his movies usually make me sick with his visual styles.

[Josh Lozier]

Its pretty clear that there will always be a split in fandom on the prequels. If you dont mind me asking, what about them did you like? What was it with them that you feel they are of acceptable standards to stand beside the films that started the franchise? Im not trying to be snarky or anything negative to you or anyone who likes them. Im only trying to understand why you like them in contrast to my dislike of them.


These are open questions to anyone who would wish to answer them.

[priscillaaa]

I don't think they are as bad as some people make them out to be. Sure, they are a bit silly and Anakin is annoying as everything, but they aren't awful. They don't feel like the orginals, I'll agree with that. I do think they did a decent job of setting up the orginals though, from a certain point of view, if you will.

[Alessandra Botham]

That book came out in the eighties so most things like the Old Republic weren't defined then. But I'll give my two cents.

1) Obviously set in the days of the Old Republic, whether or not it follows KOTOR I don't know, since KOTOR (Comics) didn't come out until the 90's. The first game came out in the early 2000's.

2) Could be referencing to both. But if the Tales of the Jedi comics were released then. It could mean during the times of King Adas or Marka Ragnos.

3) Most likely.

4) Most likely.

5) Yep.

6) Yep. Though the JK series was released in the nineties.

7) This could be referencing the Legacy comics starring Cade Skywalker and Darth Krayt. But these came out in the 2000's so I don't know.

[Charlotte Lloyd-Jones]

Lol I like the reference

[Paula Rose]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR__l6PFv08

[Jonathan Windmon]

I think quite a few people were expecting too much from the prequels since it was quite some time after the last movie was made and also the fact we already know the outcome for a good portion of the movies. If the Originals were not made and it started with Episode 1 I think that people would have had a different opinion of the prequels at least at first viewing. We all already knew who was the Sith Lord and we knew that Anakin would become Darth Vader sometime in Episode 3. If we did not know about that I think the perception would be different. For a good portion of the movie we knew the outcome it is like watching a detective show for the first time and already know the ending. For that genre only the Colombo series could make that work at least for me.

[Chrissie Pillinger]

My roommate who had never seen any of the Star Wars movies watched them all from prequels to original trilogy just last Summer to prepare for The Force Awakens. He's big into internet culture and didn't understand all the sharp criticism for the prequels. He even went as far as to say they were superior to the originals, especially concerning the lightsaber duels.


Then there's me. From my perspective, I was too young to remember which of the two trilogies I watched first. I simply grew up with both. My favorite movies are The Phantom Menace and The Empire Strikes back, the former introducing me to my favorite actor, Liam Neeson, and I prefer the prequels to the originals as well.


Maybe these two different perspectives on the films will interest anyone reading. I personally believe that each film should be judged in its own right, but I know that's not possible for some. People simply watch Star Wars from different perspectives.

[Dona BlackHeart]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YnKOptGhPk

He makes a lot of good points and plays the middle ground after watching it 3 times. The most interesting part of the review though is from his mom at the end. She started off with the OT in theaters and hearing her perspective was cool.

I'm going to be replying to the both of you to make a point on something that REALLY irks me with the prequels. It's the fact that they failed at preserving the shock of finding out who Vader really was and what that meant for Luke. So if you watch them in sequential order you completely miss out on that moment that is so.... shocking yet magical to those of us that started off watching the OT. I trully feel sorry for your roommate DK3433, that they will never have that moment like I did. That moment of complete shock and uncertainty. You literally feel like Luke, thinking that he's lying and that it cant be true.

I mean watch this girl witnessing it for the first time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfdsc4Q4R2k

That moment is so magical and the prequels will rob you of it if you watch them first. There is a reason why I watched the OT with my daughter first. And her reaction to learning who Vader was..... I'll never forget it. And I still get chills up my spine when that scene comes up.

[Chris Guerin]

I grew up in the 80's and 90's and ep I was my first Star Wars film, after playing and loving the first Knights of the Old Republic game. I was 23 then and thought the movie was silly, but It did introduce me to Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Ian McDiarmid. I also thought the duel between Qui Gonn, Obi Wan and Darth Maul was great. That duel got me into the whole lightsaber duels thing. Ep. II was good only because of a hot fully grown Natalie Portman, Christopher Lee (Dracula and Saruman fame) and the Clones. The Clones were far more action orientated than the slow OT Stormtroopers. Ep III was the best of the PT I enjoyed the lightsaber duels between Anakin and Obi Wan as well as Yoda and Palpatinte. People say the Obi Wan and Anakin duel seemed too choreographed, I say it was because they had trained with each other for years, so they knew each others moves. Also the clones were pretty badass zipping and gliding across the screen. Ep IV don't remember this one as much as V and VI. All I remember is whiny Luke, Vader kills Obi Wan, we meet Han, and Luke blows up the Death Star. Ep V Darth freakin Vader, Yoda, and more badass Han were the best parts of the film. Vader was such a badass force choking anyone who would not meet his standards. It's hard to believe this was the same whiny kid from the prequels. Plus the ending was great it left you hanging and wanting more. Ep VI was the weakest of the OT. It's only saving graces were slave Leia, Han, duel between Vader and Luke, and Vader struggling between saving his son or obeying his master. What dragged the movie down hard were the Ewoks, they were the original Jar Jar imo.

Well those were just a few of my thoughts. I did not dwell on the negatives of the PT because they are well documented. With that said both trilogies had there good and bad. These are just my opinions. I also should mention I'm not a die hard Star Wars movie fan, I am a casual SW movie fan.

[El Khatiri]

That was a powerful scene I too get chills up my spine. I don't have kids of my own but I do have a young niece and nephew and am gonna start them off with the OT. Growing up in the 80's and 90's the plot twist was already spoiled for me. Hopefully I can shield them from that.

[~Amy~]

Unfortunatey, I don't remember the whole Vader/Luke moment from Ep. V. That didn't really stick out for me. It's always just... been there. Like a reverse spoiler? I usually tell that to people who have had that iconic moment spoiled to get them to watch all the movies. I love Star Wars. And it's not that moment that makes the series important for me. (Though I do love hearing stories where people are completely shocked by it.)


I was probably like 3 or 4 when I watched the original trilogy, and I think I watched The Phantom Menace first. Nevertheless, I do remember seeing the AT-AT's slowly marching toward the base on Hoth. That part really scared me when I was that young.


Growing up with Star Wars is something special in itself. You almost believe you're part of the universe. You had the prequels coming out, the old ones to examine, the toys, and then KOTOR and its sequel came out when I was like... 7-11? Good stuff.


Edit:


By the way, you all might be hearing prequel kids like me more and more. We're advlts now and aren't gonna take the merciless bashing that the prequels have gotten throughout the past several years. I'm just the first wave as I'm the oldest, being born in the late nineties.

[GPMG]

An article on JJ replying to those who say the film relied too much on elements from the OT - http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/8/10739828/jj-abrams-star-wars-the-force-awakens-rip-off-comment

I can see his point but would have liked to have seen just a little bit more of a difference.

You see though I was born in the late 80's and and would watch the OT on VHS constantly. They were my mythos. My legends that I grew up with as a kid. And I'll admit that I did like the prequels when they first came out. I was 10-11 when PM came out and thought it was awesome! The pod race the fast paced lightsaber duels, DARTH FREAKING MAUL! And he same can be said for the other 2 films, though I did feel the acting for 2 wasnt up to par even in my teens.

But as I grew older, and I became more associated with literature and learned to look beneath what was being said or acted on screen I started to see many flaws with the prequels. They just felt... hollow to me. There was no "I am you Father!" moment to give you tingles up your spine. All the writing was poor and ofttimes just didnt make sense. The heavy use of CGI brought many barriers to the film. There was no action. People only had a small stage to work on and so scenes where people should be running, like the scene where Anakin tells Windu that Palpatine is a Sith, they just casually walk. Even after Mace says it's of importance that they confront him. It just made everything about the films feel so.... wrong.

I dont expect everyone to understand this but with time many will. I actually have some level of respect for people who love the prequels, dont get me wrong, I just cant bring myself to love the films anymore.

[Amy Gibson]

I see The Force Awakens as a metaphor as if Abrams is reassuring the fans that everything is going to be okay. Force Awakens might not be perfect but at least I can call it Star Wars proudly .

[Britney Lopez]

Good point! They did start the film with, "This will begin to make things right".


I've seen a few reviews of people attacking the film because it's "Disney feminist propaganda". Some people really make me question humanity.


Yeah, there's a female lead that never gets rescued by anyone in the film and it would have added some tension if she at points made us feel as if she was in over her head; but how often is the same thing done with male characters? I cant fault the film for giving us a girl that can handle her own, though I would like to see her actually struggle some in the next film.

[Casey]

Reminds me of the Nostalgia Critic's review of Mad Max Fury Road, where he has Meninist whining about the female lead character...REALLY....why are there people out there that are SO afraid of a strong female lead ?! I find it sixy. Did mankind regress to Kindergarten "girls have cooties and are there for icky" logic or something.

[JUDY FIGHTS]

Agreed. I like it in films where the female lead doesn't need the man to save her all the time and can pull through with some help or on her own.

[Elisha KIng]

Sorry for going off on a tangent slightly here, but if one wished to start reading the Star Wars book's, which one should I start with?

[Noraima Vega]

Well the classic book series is the 'Thrawn Trilogy.' That series has been recommended to me many times and I have yet to read them. A series I enjoyed was the 'Darth Bane' trilogy. The first book gave a good insight into Sith politics. Then you have various comics like the 'Dark Empire' series which is really good. You also have the KOTOR comics chronicling the adventures of Nomi Sunrider and Uliq Qel-Droma and others. 'Tales of the Jedi' is a good comic series detailing the ancient Sith Empire and how they discovered the Republic. One more book I enjoyed was 'Rise of the Dark Lord.' It gave good insights into Darth Vader's mind and overcoming the limitations set by the suit. As well as his hatred for Palpatine and the nagging loss of Padme. Darth Vader is just as brutal in the book as he is in the OT.

Well those are the ones I read and heard of. You can get them on Amazon.

[sally R]

Your fine. I made this thread for all things Star Wars. Questions included

[Lew.p]

Thanks, I've done a little poking about on google and wookieepedia and the 'Thrawn Trilogy' is, as you say seemingly the best place to start. I'll have to have a look at the 'Darth Bane Trilogy' as well as the comic's. Its a fascinating universe but I've only watched the films so I want to get into the canon a bit more.






Cool, cheers! ?

[scorpion972]

The internet. But there were strong, female leads long before 2015*, its just ideas have drained from every quarter of society. People like to think they're charting new territory; it gives them something to believe in and the journalists to talk about.

Disney just needed to get the project on it's feet, so I think they went with Abrams, for his track of mainstream success and reliability on the set.

When Rian and Terry Gilliam were together on podcast (before the hype) Rian does more than idiosyncratically label himself a fan(atic). Instead, he talked about Star Wars as the world he played in. Star Wars isn't a canon, a masterpiece, a "space opera", or the second coming - for Rian its an expression of his imagination. He doesn't appear to suffer from a fanatic passion, like he's got to make some cathartic masterpiece.

It can be argued Star Wars suffered, as Lucas took his criticism too seriously. Instead of maturing, Lucas fanatically clung to his bad ideas, because hindsight taught him was right the first time. So he must be right every time... He obsessed over proving himself, while the https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1580808-star-wars-discussion-thread-ii-attack-of-the-fans/s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjTscjmxZ3KAhUH8z4KHeuAAAcQyCkIITAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2Ftalks%2Fdan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy%3Flanguage%3Den&usg=AFQjCNGEZ5MfhjJvE13gYkygE0qdPNzBPQ&sig2=s-N3ohU4FlRTewL52VSuMA escalated. The more you tighten your grip, the more you take yourself too dogmatically. my two cents

*The "strength" I'm talking about is dignity. There's a presence women bring to art that men don't, and poets have known that since Athenian tragedy. The strength that's passed for strength is often just a shallow reversal of hyper-masculinity.

[Emma Copeland]

Doesn't make any sense that rey is related to obi wan. When did he have a kid? And to top it off, in empire strikes back when Luke leaves and obi wan says "he was the last hope" and Yoda says "no there is another", that would have been a really good time for obi wan to say "Oh yeah, I have a kid out there", and with his force ghost power, why would he not contact his kid and try to guide them?


There's no reason he'd refer to Luke as the last hope if he knew he had offspring out there.