Three good and bad about the Star Wars Prequels

What are three good things about the Star Wars prequels and three bad things about it.

Good

1. Samuel Mutha F#@king. Jackson was in them

2. They led to some pretty good video games like the arcade pod racer game, "Star Wars: Republic Commando" or the "Battlefront" games.

3. I can't think of anything else, Natalie Portman's midriff in Clone Wars?

Bad

1. Midi chlorians ruined the force

2. The Clone Troopers ruined the Storm Troopers (before they could of been regular people forced into the Empire, and forced to fight against friends and family, which gave the films some emotional dept, instead now they're just clones produced in a factory) (not part of 2, but they also ruined Boba Fett)

3. Made Darth Vader a whinny, unlikable, loser

Good:

1. Good spinoff TV series and EU stuff that are better than the actual main series.

2. Video games.

That's it.

Bad:

1. Everything else.

Agree....

Good: A few good games

A few good fights

Nothing else

Bad: Everything

especially Hyden's acting.

three good things.........

hold on,

three bad thngs

1 EP1 has no plot...at all... and no charcters, just cardboard cutouts, Ep2 is mostly references to things that happened off screen... without actually showing us these things. (and emoness) Ep3 was not enough to save the spirit of the originals.

2. Ep 1 reinvented the entire universe into something that doesn't fit with the original trilogy, to the point of retconning parts of the original trilogy (ie this is not a series of prequels, this is a complete reboot, and they are trying to deny this) The originals were of a gritty universe, with dirt and space junk, it looked lived in, it looked like it could happen sometime in the future. the new trilogy looks painfully airbrushed, starwiped, clean. way too much CGI not enough interaction with real models. in short, everything looks fake and the actors look like they are staring at green screens and trying to emote, they look like they aren't feeling it.

3. "This is a movie for babies" if you don't think it is, tell me why is there a Cartoon Rabbit that steps in poopey. And tell me why is major character a little kid, who has NO IDEA WHATS GOING ON... The original a rare mainstream scifi MEANT for adults. this is not.

OK....three good things......

1. I don't have to withstand thetorture of watching them for the first time ever again

2. It can't get any worse.....right?

3. umm..... the JarJar Head on Platter Meme is hilarious?

He's not a bad actor, at least not in some other things I've seen him in. He did the best he could with the sh*t that was handed to him.

E-Mail me if you want a pizza roll. ;0

Good:

1. Natalie Portman. Ok, that aside they did a good job expanding on the Jedi and what it means to be one for a general audience that may not read the EU novels.
2. Aside from Episode 1, are actually good films that carry their own weight when compared to the originals (probably get flak for that).
3. Jedi fights the way they were intended to be.

Bad:

1. Episode 1 - Just, no.
2. Storm Troopers being clones. I don't know it felt like it took away from the deception of the Sith and basically turned Sidious from a conniving mastermind to essentially a brute with military might and that's it.
3. Turned Darth Vader into a baby. Don't get me wrong, I think his fall is a good idea how they did it. However, you could have done it and preserved his man card.

Never understood why midichlorians were so bad

I honestly have no problem with them.

@jayc1324:

It made something that was religion, faith and the power of universal hope and darkness and makes it in to f--king science

HA. I knew someone would get the quote. BUT MAN was that fast.

Here, Ill email you a pizza roll.

GOOD

1.) count dooku/Christopher lee, my favorite sith

2.) jango fett

3.) the gladiator stadium beast

4.) the light saber fights and ferocity improved vastly. (At least for the maul fights and the wan vs skywalker fight)

Natalie Portman was nothing special in any of these films. The Jedi were portrayed as a$$hats who sit on their behinds doing a whole lot of nothing or mindless drones that are quick with to swing their lightsabers around but short on anything else.

They certainly aren't good films in any conceivable way.

Agree with most of your other points.

@shootingnova@i_like_swords@jedixman@whirlwind_33 Your opinions?

I think Natalie Portman is attractive, so there's my stance on that.

The point was that the Jedi had become complacent. In such (majority speaking) universal peace, they'd become complacent and blind to the dangers subjugating them. As Yoda said (and I'm paraphrasing) "it is hard to see, the Dark Side is everywhere". Essentially, by the time they figured out something was wrong it was too late. Certainly they were quelling uprisings and small brush fire wars throughout the galaxy, but they failed to see the manipulations behind it. Which is why I was disappointed that Sidious essentially muscles his way into power with clone-based military might. They should have kept going with the subterfuge route and almost turn the galaxy against the Jedi or something.

As for Episodes 2 and 3 being good, I think they are. I don't think the actor castings for the movies were necessarily the best, but I think they had merit. Three especially since it parallels Return of the Jedi so well, you can easily see what could have been Luke's fate as well. Episode 2 does a good job of setting Anakin up for his fall, and starts to draw those parallels to Luke. With the exclusion of Episode 1, which is just...no, the prequels essentially turn Anakin into the archetypal tragic Greek Hero who rises, falls, and redeems himself. It really makes Darth Vader the main character of the story in some ways, even though Luke clearly has the spotlight in the original trilogy.

Of course, movies are all about taste and are subjective, but as a lifelong Star Wars fan who has read a decent number (won't claim all or even close to all) of the EU novels and fan of the movies I enjoy Episodes 2 and 3. Episode 1 is...well it has a cool lightsaber battle at the end.

Good things:

1. "Ahead of its time" Special Effects

2. Lightsaber choreography and other action sequences

3. Clone Army

Bad things:

1. Acting, writing, directing

2. Every damn thing had to be CGI

3. Anakin Crywalker

Bonus Bad thing: Whining from the fans who know every single detail of the film meaning they've watched it a gazillion times just to nitpick. Seriously, they can't let it go.

1. Better choreography and battles, and good music.

2. Paved the way for better EU works. I have always considered the RotE era EU works to be the best ones.

3. A few good actors (Christopher Lee, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid, etc. )

The bad stuff is probably the bad CGI, poor acting on [somebody]'s part, and lack of flow.

The Jedi Council knew the Dark side was strong with Palpatine but instead of outing him or doing anything they just sat around like idiots. Their idiocy being explained in the EU is fine for hardcore fans, but not for everyone else. I shouldn't have to read novels or comic books or wiki search things because they aren't explained in the movies. Lucas did a shoddy job on those films and his neglect made the Jedi council look like a bunch of fools.

The parallels were already drawn in Return'. It didn't need to be dragged out into 3 movies. These films may be enjoyable, which I think they are, but they aren't well done.

Good:

1. Fight scenes

2. Pod racing

3. "Duel of the Fates"

4. Hippe Jedi (Qui-Gon Jinn for the win!)

5. Ewan McGregor

6. Natalie Portman

7. The Clones!

8. Darth Maul

9. Mace Windu

10. PLO KOON! (my favorite)

Bad:

1. Hayden Christensen

2. Hayden Christensen

3. Hayden Christensen

4. Hayden Christensen

5. Hayden Christensen

6. Hayden Christensen

7. Hayden Christensen

8. Hayden Christensen

9. Hayden Christensen

10. Jar Jar Binks

@shootingnova: ^ Hmm... I wonder who "[someone]" is.

In all honestly, the prequels lost the heart of original trilogy. Everything that was charming such as the puppets (I do love how Lucas got into visual effects particularly with the ships in the prequels) to one-liners to the intensity of Luke and Vader's relationship was all swallowed up in plotless forgettable films that pretended to be Star Wars.

I fixed a typo...

wait... maybe there isn't enough Hayden Christensen....darn

11. Hayden Christensen

12. Hayden Christensen

13.Hayden Christensen

14 Hayden Christensen

15. Hayden Christensen

@bierschneeman: What was wrong with Jake Lloyd? You've got me on George Lucas though. And the casting agent that hired Hayden Christensen. Seriously, f*** that guy. There's a reason he didn't have a career after Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. I-I...I can't even fathom what they were thinking. That performance fit perfectly in The Room (i.e. terrible), not Star Wars!

Goods.

1. Ewan McGregor

2. Better choreography, CGI

3. Amazing Games and both The Clone Wars are awesome imo.

Bad

1. Anakin

2. Anakin

3. Anakin and everything else.

He looks like a lost kid at a museum

just staring into space, thats not acting

seriously He has NO IDEA whats going on, both the actor and the character

TV shows typically add a tiny child when they are in their death throes, you know, right before the final Death Rattle escapes onto the screen. this is always a bad idea first because it messes the dynamic and changes the audience percentages et cetera.

so really we could Be focused on placing the blame on George (Jake Loyd does, says George ruined his childhood and burned all his star wars gear in Effigy) but bad acting is bad acting, I don't hate Jake himself he was too young to understand anything that was going on, I hate the idea of CASTING Jake Loyd. bad move.

In the Original Trilogy Yoda states that ~18 yr old Luke is too old to start training, and then they make mention to Obi Wan and Anikan being too Old as well, so why take it to the extreme and have a 1st grader on the screen as TOO OLD really?? (are we satiring American Public schools or something?) I think EP1 would be the tiniest better with *cringe* Hayden Christiensen as Anakin starting his training, that would also leave room for a different and OLDER Anakin in the next two movies (this also means we have to recast, LESS Hayden in the long run...has to be better and maybe we can come up with a better actor too.)

@bierschneeman: Anakin (and Jake Lloyd) would not have been in 1st grade, but in 6th. He was 12. I think he did an adequate job. Just seemed like a kid to me. Children are given to the Jedi order at a very young age, and trained as younglings until they're old enough to become Padawans.

Yeah pick on the guy that got the sh*ttiest lines and story arc in both movies. >:^[

@farkam: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No...it was just incredibly horrific "acting."

Good-

1. The visuals and action scenes are very well done.

2. Ewan Mcgregor, Liam Neeson, Sam Jackson

3. The sound editing and score of the 3 films are amazing.

Bad-

1. Jar Jar

2. The young kid who played Anakin as a kid

3. The first trilogy had so much heart and opened the imaginations of everyone who saw them. While its impossible to expect the prequels to do the same even before they came out, they didn't even have a little bit of heart.

Lol! Can't always blame the actor. If I'm correct, Hayden Chiristensen wanted to change the writing in Anakin's character/lines, but George Lucas didn't agree with him.

@ssjdarthplagueis: You most certainly can! When's the last time you watched the prequels? He ruins the films! He has no charisma, doesn't have any chemistry with any of the other actors (except MAYBE, just maybe...Ian McDiarmid), delivers his lines with all the range of a cactus (stiff and prickly), conveys no emotion except for "vaguely upset I guess?" and "ooh, baby's angry," I-I just can't. He's so bad. Sososososososososososooooooooo bad. Like I said, there's a reason he didn't have a career after Star Wars (no f***ing Jumper doesn't count. That was the straw that broke the camels back. Execs thought "well maybe it was just the character and the dialogue of those films, let's give him one more shot." NO! DON'T! You did? Well look at that, he's sh*t and Jumper's sh*t). Sorry man, I'm not in the minority opinion here. Would better dialogue have helped? Ye-NO! I'm not even giving you that! It would NOT! You still have all the other problems I listed above. It gives me a headache just thinking about that kid. Gah!

@jaken7: I'll admit I haven't seen the prequel films in a while, and I haven't seen Hayden's performance in acting in general in a while. But remember you can't always blame the actor in bad performances in films. Imo Hayden can be alright in films. It's just Luca"s writing in the prequels films that made it even more bad for him.

wait... I looked it up, he was nine portraying a nine yearold. I take it back....I do blame Jake Loyd. the acting was even worse than I thought. (I thought all his friends just happened to be older than him btw...they look older)

@ssjdarthplagueis: Don't you find it oddly convenient that Hayden's dialogue is the only one people complain about? If Lucas was so bad at writing dialogue, then why was Obi-Wan's full of Jedi wisdom, cheeky humor, and dramatic poetic waxes?

"Obi-Wan: You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. You were to bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness. You were my brother Anakin, I loved you."

You can't tell me that's not great! Also, check out this exchange, and imagine Ewan McGregor is playing both parts. Read it with his voice in your head, and how he would deliver it:

"Obi-Wan Kenobi: You have allowed this dark lord to twist your mind, until now, until now you've become the very thing you swore to destroy.

Anakin Skywalker: Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan! I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Your new Empire?

Anakin Skywalker: Don't make me kill you.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy!

Anakin Skywalker: If you're not with me, then you're my enemy.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: [realizing that Anakin is consumed by evil and there's no reasoning with him anymore] Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

[draws his lightsaber]

Obi-Wan Kenobi: I will do what I must.

Anakin Skywalker: You will try.

[draws his lightsaber and confronts Obi-Wan]"

Isn't that SO much better? Look at that dialogue! Most of it is really good. Hayden is the parasitic problem.

@bierschneeman: 9? Guess I was a couple years off. Seemed pretty fantastic for a 9 year old. Have you seen a child's play at that age? Like a school production? Kids his age can't act anywhere near half as good as he did.

Three good.

1. Introduced Darth Maul to the Star Wars universe
2. Gave us the lightsaber duel action scenes we were all waiting for
3. Was in general a worthy set of films to prequel the original trilogy

Three bad.

1. Padme "losing the will to live"
2. Jar Jar Binks
3. Darth Maul being killed off for no good reason and having 10 years of potential storyline wasted
4. Child Anakin was a bit of a pr*ck
5. The Phantom Menace was, for the most part, pretty sh*t
6. Too much screentime of Anakin and Obi Wan disagreeing
7. Anakin wanting power even before it was in order to save Padme, basically meaning he was showing dark-side qualities all along and would have fallen even if Padme wasn't going to die in his vision
8. Order 66 in general was pretty annoying, but I guess it's part of the story

The Good:

1. Characters like Mace Windu, Darth Maul, Count Dooku and General Grievious.

2. Seeing Yoda fight.

3. Seeing the Empire being created

4. Anakin Skywalker's journey to the Dark Side.

5. Young Obi Wan

6. Fantastic battle scenes

The Bad

1. Jar Jar Binks

2. Anakin and Padme's forced love affair.

3. Hayden Christensen's wooden acting.

That's it, overall, I love the prequels.

1- Being better than Sequels.

2-Episode 3 musics

list goes on

ep 3 my fav in series

But he wasn't really killed off. Or more likely, they decided he was too profitable to leave dead (see also: Boba Fett).

if its that bad then we should just avoid writing the script like that. again my major complaint is that he had to be so young in the first place, his bad acting was just adding insult to injury

this isn't a child's play its a movie, And I can list dozens and dozens of child actors of around the same age or younger, that are FAR superior actors. for starters

the entire child cast of Harry Potter started around age nine....they are all better

the kid from sixth sense, the kid from ET, Dakota Fanning, Kierten dunst in interview with a vampire, River Phoenix (mostly stand by me) little miss sunshine, Jodie Foster in Taxi driver, Natalie Portman in The Professional, how old was Chloe in Kick-ass, The Good Son...

god theres so many more.

He was essentially killed off for 10 years while other characters flourished. That's my problem. The character sat about doing nothing for 10 years. What a waste of story time. I mean they managed to cram 2 novels around Maul's part alone in the Naboo crisis, as well as short stories surrounding that small day-long time period. Imagine how much EU content they could have made with 10 years. But no.. he sat with spider legs eating insects and talking to a f*cking snake for 10 years, when he could be fighting Jedi council members or striking out on his own somewhere in the outer rim.

The difference with Boba is he actually had a whole story published surrounding his escape from the Sarlaac pit. He wasn't in there for 10 years being wasted as a character. Near enough his entire career from childhood to old age has been recorded in the EU. Maul isn't getting that luxury.

Good:
- Fleshing out the Jedi. I like that there was a certain pompousness in the Jedi Order that was addressed in the prequels. It wasn't just black and white, good versus evil. The Jedi may have been fighting for good, but a lot of their practices and methods were flawed.
- Battle scenes were all very, very well done. Every lightsaber fight and Clone Wars battle was a work of art. And don't even get me started on the Jedi Purge.
- Some great characters (and actors) were introduced (Padme, Mace Windu, Count Dooku, Darth Maul, all of the EU Jedi).

Bad:
- Politics. Far too much time spend on the Senate. I liked seeing Palpatine rise from a Senator to a Chancellor to the Emperor. And his ascension stood as a monument to his manipulations. But it could have been done with far fewer boring Senate scenes. And that Trade Federation...
- Anakin. I'm not adamantly opposed to Hayden Christiansen. In fact, I think he did a good job with what he was given. But I did not like the way that Anakin's transition was handled. It all started in The Phantom Menace. We shouldn't have gotten the little Anakin that we did; I would've rather he'd been introduced as a 12 or 13 year old who already has a bit of darkness in him. And from there, build on the fact that Anakin's slave origins had put enough hate in him that Palpatine could eventually exploit.
- Just too many odd changes that really came out of the left field. Midichlorians, the origins of Boba Fett, Anakin building 3P0. I mean, they're not really that big a deal, but a lot of these sorts of changes just felt unnecessary and in violation of the original films.

All that being said, I like the prequels just fine in spite of their flaws. Revenge of the Sith is my second favorite Star Wars film. And I am very optimistic for Episode VII.

Bad:

• Jar Jar is annoying

• Not enough done with Qui-Gon and Maul

• Anakin is rather whiny in 1 and 2

Good:

• Revenge of the Sith was fantastic

• John Williams once again gave us amazing soundtracks

• Getting to see more of the Star Wars universe; Coruscant, Mustafar, Mygeeto, Kashyyyk, and Kamino were all shown to us in the prequels

• Lightsaber fights were amazing

• The EU was greatly expanded and we got excellent video games, comics, and novels

Most importantly, it kept Star Wars RELEVANT. It got the attention (and the money) to continue to produce good quality along with the occasional bad quality. We'll continue to have excellent novels and video games now, arguably because of the prequels. They introduced a whole new generation to Star Wars in a new way-on the big screen. By doing so, it ensured the success of Star Wars for a long time. This is a pretty big pro IMO.