Recovering From: Episodes I, II, & III - Rambling

[The Source]

According to the Star Wars databank she was 14 when she was elected Queen. So the age difference is not that great, but the maturity difference would be huge.

Why would you be put in charge of a planet at the age of fourteen? That is illogical from my perspective.

[Jeff]

Why would you be put in charge of a planet at the age of fourteen? That is illogical from my perspective.

Who knows, but I do remember her being that old in the movie.

[Mace MacLeod]

Why would you be put in charge of a planet at the age of fourteen? That is illogical from my perspective.

That's something that's always stood out in my mind which highlights the not-quite-fully-thought-through nature of the prequel trilogy. Especially the fact that she was elected. Are the people of Naboo retarded or something? "Well, we're going to the polls next week to choose our planet's leader! Who to pick...who to pick...well, I guess we could pick one of these politicians and/or statesmen/women on the ballot who have decades of experience behind them in Galactic politics and can fully appreciate the complexities of their office...but y'know, I've got a really good feeling about this 14 year-old girl over here...!"

I am not a spring chicken either. I was 6 years old when A New Hope was released and I still like the Prequels better.

...

 

You really should make sure you leave some windows open before you try painting the room you're in, dude...

If I had to give an order to how I liked the films, it would appear like this:

 

1. Empire Strikes Back

 

2. A New Hope

 

3. Return of the Jedi

 

3. Revenge of the Sith

 

4. Attack of the Clones

 

5. The Phantom Menace

There we go. This is the proper order. Only RotS needs to be just a shade lower than Jedi just because of its place in the OT pantheon, Luke's Aunt Beru/SuperCuts hairdo nonwithstanding.

[jonathan7]

My opinion is that if the love story between Padme and Anakin would have been more believable then Anakin’s surrender to the darkside would have been more believable. Like EagerWeasel said George Lucas didn’t do a very good job with the love story dialog. This failure in the Episodes II and III sold short the belief that Anakin would give up everything good in him and around him to save her. If you are under the belief that they were so in love, then his doing whatever he could to save her makes sense, especially after what happen to his mother and the brush off Yoda gave him. At least Palpatine was sympatric to his problem and gave him some hope (even if it was only a lie). Yoda’s advice just sucked.

 

I agree with the first half and disagree with the second... I think Yoda's advice was good, and you have to remember Yoda didn't know that Anakin was married or the level of attachment where as Anakin had told Palpatine everything; Anakin falling to the DS was mostly his fault, he didn't seek Obi-Wans help/advice about Padme. It amused me when Anakin was complaining to Padme about the council not trusting him... considering he was doing stuff which means they had good reason not to trust him, he also didnt seek his wifes help. It is finally very arrogant to think you can change the future, as taking the course of action you did could be the cause of things.

 

I enjoyed the PT but thought the OT was better. I think the PT should have been better done, e.g. I think there is too much of a gap between PM and AotC, as we miss alot of Anakin growing up. I also think we should have seen alot more of the Clone Wars. It also annoyed me that in the Cartoons Grevious was made out to be amazing took on 7 Jedi on his own and kicked there asses yet Obi-Wan could take him down on his own... If anyone was going to take Grevious down on his own it should have been Yoda, and I really would have liked to have seen the Green dude kick some ass!! I think the prequels were good, but could have been so much more!

 

My order is;

 

1. ESB

2. ROTS

3= ANH

3= ROTJ

5= AotC

5= PM

 

Personally I think the ESB is clearly the best of the saga and has everything you would want of any film!!

[The Source]

:lol:

That's something that's always stood out in my mind which highlights the not-quite-fully-thought-through nature of the prequel trilogy. Especially the fact that she was elected. Are the people of Naboo retarded or something? "Well, we're going to the polls next week to choose our planet's leader! Who to pick...who to pick...well, I guess we could pick one of these politicians and/or statesmen/women on the ballot who have decades of experience behind them in Galactic politics and can fully appreciate the complexities of their office...but y'know, I've got a really good feeling about this 14 year-old girl over here...!"

:lol:

 

How I would Have Done It::

 

::: SORRY FOR THE GRAMMAR, FOR I WAS IN A HURRY. :::

 

Episode I :: The Clone Wars

Within this context of this movie, Anikan starts off as a eighteen year old Padawan. Padame is a seventeen year old daughter of a senator. Some how they cross paths, and they start flirting. During the background story, the Senate meet to find a solution for an up comming threat. As a result of planets falling to hell, they hire a clone army from Kamino(sp?). At the end of the episode, war has began to stretch out across the galaxy.

 

:: Qui-Gon finds Anikan as a slave, but he never talks about his family. Some how Obi-Wan the Padawan gains Anikan as his apprentice, and you see Obi-Wan become a Jedi Knight at the end of the Episode.

 

Episode II :: Revenge of The Sith

Within the context of this movie, Anikan is around twenty-one years old. During this episode Anikan is going through the Jedi Trials, so he can become a Jedi Knight. Padame who has just turned ninteen is being held hostage by Palpatine (Unknowingly). With the Clone Wars raging on behind the scenes, Anikan is have nightmares of how his parents died. A Sith Apprentice of Palpatine is seen torturing Padema. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Anikan show up for a rescue. It turns out that there are two Apprentices of Palpatine. Darth Maul and Darth Someone Else (Possible A Female). During the fight scene, Qui-Gon gets cut down, and Anikan starts an emotional breakdown. Since he has built a connection to Qui-Gon, Anikan's emotions flare up, and with his first taste of hatred he kills off Darth Maul. Obi-Wan is seen killing off the other Sith. Once Padame is rescued from the Sith, (Palpatine still hidding his true self), Anikan and Padame fall into their forbiden love. The babe in distress falls in love with her rescuer.

 

:: After a few twist and turns, Anikan starts to build a bond with Palpatine. This occurs after Qui-Gon is dead. When Episode II comes to an end, Obi-Wan accidently passes by an open door, which he over hears Anikan being seduced by an unknown Sith's seduction to the darkside. Ends in betrayal, and the Sith have their revenge.

 

Episode III :: Dark Days

Anikan is at the edge of becoming a Jedi Master, but he has been refused by the Jedi Council. Within this movie's context, Anikan is about 23/24 years old. Padame is around 22/23 years old, and she is at the start of her government career. It gets revealed that Anikan and Padame have been seeing each other for the past two to three years. Padame reveals to Anikan that she is pregnant. Anikan is plagued with nightmares about his parents' death. You learn that Anikan himself killed his family, and the seed of hatred started years ago. Obi-Wan has been a Jedi Master for a few years, and has been quietly talking to the council about Anikan's behavior.

 

:: Palpatine feeds on Anikan's hatred, and makes him turn half-way through the movie. Before that dramatic fight between Obi-Wan and Anikan, you find Anikan killing off Jedi Knights and Padawans throughout the movie. He is sent on Sithish style missions by Palpatine, and is order to remove the Jedi from the galaxy. Obi-Wan and Yoda find out in time, so they can deal with the issue. Mace gets killed by Anikan in a duel, and Yoda walks in on a scene where Palpatine and Anikan are standing over the body. Yoda force-throws Anikan aside, and starts to duel with Palpatine. Yoda has to do some serious damage, which causes Palpatine to look the way he is. (Yoda and Palpatine's fight ends with no-one seriously damaged. Yoda needs to do something that rules.)

 

By the time the movie is over, Anikan is in his Vader suit (add that fight scene George made for Anikan and Obi-Wan), Padame is holding her daughter while hidding in Senator Organa's home. (<-- This explains why Lea remembers her face, for Padema dies while Lea is growing up.) At some point in the movie, Anikan is told by Palpatine that she is dead, and she was killed by Obi-Wan. (<--- This triggers the fight between Anikan and Obi-Wan) At the end, Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tantooine. Everyone is in hidding, and the episode ends.

 

::: SORRY FOR THE GRAMMAR, FOR I WAS IN A HURRY. :::

[MdKnightR]

The age issue and maturity level would not make any sense. Females are known to date older men. The story is just unbelieveable. If Anikan was only a few years younger, the story would make sense to me.

.

 

But females are also known to date younger men...my wife is 11.5 years older than I am.

[Q]

Don't feel bad, Mac. All of the old farts (except one) and some of the youngsters agree with you. I've finally gotten over my bitter disappointment concerning the whole prequel debacle, so I will choose not to bash the prequels in this post. They sucked. Oops! I guess I'm still recovering.

 

I wouldn't mind owning remastered, anamorphic, but otherwise unaltered versions of the OT on DVD, though.

 

BTW: Your list of best to worst is perfect.

[Jediphile]

This is what I would call an undead topic. It's just like asking people who is the better hero, Batman or Spider-Man, who is stronger, Superman or The Hulk, etc.

 

As always, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, so discussing which movies are "better" is fairly pointless, if done for the sake of establishing anything definite. At best I can see it become no more than an exchange of what people thought of the various movies. That said, my order of preference:

 

1. Empire Strikes Back

2. A New Hope

3. Revenge of the Sith

4. Attack of the Clones

5. Return of the Jedi

6. Phantom Menace

 

I tend to prefer the original trilogy, but like most "old-timers" that's probably just because I associate them with a point of my life that I've just moved beyond now - I was MUCH more impressionable and receptive to these movies when the original trilogy came out, while at the time of the new trilogy, I had long since grown into lovable critical skeptic that I am now.

 

That said, JarJar really is annoying. Lucas seem to have gotten the message too, because JarJar is hardly in Ep. II at all, and he doesn't even get to speak in Ep. III.

 

RotJ goes down far on the list, however, because it was so unoriginal. I still recall going out of the cinema all those years ago thinking "that was it?" Sure, it was incredible space battles and so (for its day). But other than that, hardly anything original happened - the empire chases the rebels, the rebels attack the Death Star (back from the dead by popular demand...), Luke duels Vader, the droids walk around in the desert, etc. Add the wonderful idea of all the heroes being captured by a bunch of muppets and it's not exactly a bed of roses. Especially since the ending made no sense - the point of the trilogy was to train Luke so that he could defeat Vader and the emperor. But what's the point if the Death Star is going to be destroyed with all of them on it anyway? I realise that people say it has since been retconned to say that Palpatine had battle meditation and so would have destroyed the rebel fleet, but Lucas did NOT write that into the original plot. Indeed, battle meditation did not exist until Tom Veitch (often criticized for the 'cloned emperor', yet not praised for this) created it... for Nomi Sunrider... a full decade later.

 

Revenge of the Sith goes up, even though Hayden Christensen did play awfully. I do credit Lucas with making his two trilogies fit together very well - there are no inconsistencies left over between episodes III and IV that spring to mind, and so it all does fit together as a whole. I do wish we had seen more of the armored Vader in Ep. III, though.

 

I also like Ep. II because it's decent mystery that turns into full scale war. But it could be that I just can't shake the feeling that it was finally Star Wars after seeing Ep. I. And I do like Palpatine in Ep. II: "I love democracy... I love the republic..."

 

Ep. I was terrible, though. Anakin was just too young, and JarJar was just... [censored]

 

The original movie set the bar, of course, and had lots of energy and adventure to it.

 

But "Empire Strikes Back" will always be the masterpiece to me and the only Star Wars film to ever creep into my list of favorite movies. I can watch those last 40 minutes over and over endless times without ever growing tired of it - it's just that good and haunting. You just can't beat, "No, Luke. *I* am your father!" It's among the best moments in movie history ever, if you ask me, and I'm actually sad for those who did not get to experience the full dose of it in the cinema. I mean, Luke has his hand chopped off AND learns that Vader's his father?!? It's just too shocking in such a nice little space fantasy. It moved Star Wars into the epic for me.

[Prime]

Why would you be put in charge of a planet at the age of fourteen? That is illogical from my perspective.

Keep in mind that there have been countless rulers on earth that have been that age or younger.

[Q]

Keep in mind that there have been countless rulers on earth that have been that age or younger.

While this is true, Prime, how many were elected? It would have made far more sense if she had been a hereditary monarch. I actually thought that this was the case until the scene in the senate chamber when Palpatine introduced her as the "recently elected ruler of the Naboo." It made absolutely no sense to me.

[Allronix]

Star Wars has achieved the status of long-running gag as far as my life. One of my earliest memories was standing in a line five blocks long to go see Return of the Jedi, being propped up on cushions Mom took from the sofa, and sitting in a theater crammed to the gills.

 

FlI was a die-hard Trekkie, emphasis on DS9, when I started college, but I got furious over the Dominion war ("Why the frell are they trying to rip off Bab 5 rather than playing up the things they kick B5's @ss at?"), what they passed off as Worf (all the classic symptoms of a Marty Sam), and the fan politics - admitting that I was chucking a LOT of napalm.

 

I was jonesing for an RP, so my sis introduces me to her pals and their Saturday night Star Wars game. Enter my intro to the fact that SW's canon is HUGE. ("You mean everyone in that cantina has a name, species name, backstory, and reason for being there?") I didn't want to touch that universe - WAY too big and intimidating. Anyway, every Saturday I became a Mon Calamari medic under a GM who played Star Wars with a Red Dwarf sense of humor.

 

The gamers, aside from me, decide they want to be roomies so they don't have to break up their SW game, and to be among fellow geeks. This created something of a campus legend. One of the adventures was cramming close to a dozen people VERY illegally in a compact Subaru and seeing Special Edition. Another adventure was a "Star Wars Rock Opera" done up by the local fan club where we brought home half of the paper-mache Death Star. My brother in law met my sister at a science fiction convention. Their first date? Phantom Menace, 12: 01 showing. They meet their best man in the lobby. My twin's former roomies were "Bride's Men" at her wedding and "serenaded" them with the Imperial March on kazoo at the dinner.

 

So, given that...

 

Episode 1? I rather liked it. Jar Jar was useless and had too much screen time, but everything else worked. The moment I heard MacGregor's delivery on "You were right, master. The negotiations were short," it established that the fellow was indeed channelling Alec Guinness. I saw Queen Amidala, and...ok, that explains Leia. I walked out with chills realizing every last character unwittingly signed their death certificate at the end.

 

Episode 2 left a rotten taste in my mouth. I file the Jedi Order in with the Ol-Zaahn, Psi-Corps, and the Symbiosis Commission with some of the worst aspects of all three. They were sl blinded by their prophesy and their self-righteousness they couldn't find their butts with two hands and a map, nor could they see that their "chosen one" was an arrogant brat. However, I could hardly blame Anakin for fraying at the seams. The Force tortures him for months with visions of his mom, he can't do a bloody thing about it, and he arrives hours too late? The freedom he won in the podrace must have looked like - and was - an utter joke. And in her own way, Amidala was also a slave - more of a symbol than a person.

 

Episode 3? Well, my sister cracked "I went to a production of Othello and a saber duel broke out." KOTOR coloring my view of Star Wars in general, I kept hearing the characters having a running commentary in my head.

 

 

Carth and Canderous (in unison): The grand army of the Republic is made up of WHAT?!

 

Jolee: Damn it. I KNEW it would come to this!

 

HK-47: Commentary: For a meatbag, Palpatine is very efficient.

 

Atton: Gassing them, check. Shooting them. Check. Yeah, they're at least doing it right.

 

Mical (angry): Proud of them, aren't you? And the children?

 

Atton: *shrug* Sorry, Mike. But you should know better than anyone that even a half-trained Jedi kid is a problem.

 

Mical: And in the end, the Sith or the Jedi fight the same insane war over and over...What is the point of it all?

 

Kreia: There is none. There is only the Force and its diabolocal notion of balance.

[Mike Windu]

Well, I generally watch Star Wars for the Jedi (read: lightsaber battles)

 

so my love of the movies is generally limited to which duels were the best.

 

In which case:

 

ROTS (tie)

TPM (tie)

ROTJ

ESB

AOTC

ANH

 

TPM ties ROTS cause of The Maul. Plus, I love politics so all the political dialogue and intrigue was fine with me.

[Astrotoy7]

whoa, mirror universe post time

 

How is it up there on the high horse?

 

EDIT: In answer to your question: the NJO and the effects thereof.

 

How is it up there on the high horse?

 

EDIT: In answer to your question : the most unsavoury parts of EU have been:

 

1. Comic crotch bulges and retconning

2. Jaina and Zekk's weirdness with the ant people..

3. Children of the Jedi (the book)

 

Other than that, I love SW EU, though I hav eto admit I am taking a break from it atm......

 

 

*runs off with goatee bearded spock*

 

mtfbwya

[JediMaster12]

I see that I am going to have to coe up with a sure fire vacination or remedy for the effects of Star Wars. I might have to go into specifics depending on the demand and what I have readily available. Let's see...

 

*going to the lab dedicated to the proposition that Star Wars is a legitimate means to escaping reality*

[Henz]

Ep 1. Jake Lloyd's Young Ani was much, much more annoying than Jar Jar ever was. I'm sure the idea of Ani that young was to show his innocent roots, but I wish they made him older (and therefore less annoying) The fights were awesome, everything was fresh, and I was 10 when it came out. I loved this film then, and it still has its moments now.

 

Ep. 2. Lacks... everywhere. Frustrated Ani is still less annoying than Jake Lloyd, but the badly executed scripting/acting/most things leaves him not relatable enough to win the audience over. There is very little cohesion between Ani or Obi either, and their relationship seems too strained. The Ani/Padme love story was forced seemingly because it HAD to happen. No chemisty at all. The action was good until the (anti)climaxing lightsaber duels. Short, uninteresting, and Yoda... meh.

 

III made many, many improvements over the previous two. I can name only a couple of moments where the acting made me cringe (NNNNOOOOO springs to mind lol) The much needed friendship between Obi and Ani is there, and Anakin is likable enough JUST in time so when he falls there is actually some sympathy toward him. Grevous died too easily which always distracts me, and Yoda wasn't given a very dignified final fight. The film is action packed though, and the climactic final battle is awesome.

 

The prequels are patchy but III is good and the lightsaber fight in ep I is still awesome. For those reasons alone the films were worth it. Although not te best writer/director; Lucas is a hell of a visionary. The films are gorgeos to look at.

 

III > IV imo

[Vegard Aune]

I don't really see why everyone seems to think the prequels suck. In my opinion, Episode I and II are just... not as good as the rest. But I wouldn't say they suck, and Episode III might actually be the best movie I've seen. (Although there are some flaws in it, but I think the Mustafar duel makes up for that.)

[The Architect]

What I hated about the PT:

 

1. Lucas’s crappy writing and crappy directing. It made the brilliant cast he had look bad.

 

2. The overuse of CGI pissed me off. The visual effects looked so fake, so cartoonish. Very Disney like. Like an Xbox 360 game!

 

3. Was I the only one that found the lightsaber duels (except for the one in TPM) way too over-elaborated and corny?

 

4. Jar-Jar.

 

5. Boy Anakin.

 

6. Fake Queen Amidala from TPM.

 

7. Jar-Jar.

 

8. The Gungans.

 

9. Jar-Jar.

 

10. Crappy romance plot between Anakin and Padme.

 

11. Lots of cringe-worthy dialogue that even the greatest actors would struggle with. I can’t blame Christensen and Portman for their poor performances. They tried!

 

12. Jar-Jar.

 

13. No humorous moments or wonderful characterization like the OT had.

 

Note that this is all just my opinion. I didn’t like any of the PT movies.

 

The OT was weird for me. ANH was awesome. It is what started it all. But then TESB goes up a notch, with a memorable plot twist that surprised me, great humour and character development, good performances from Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, great writing and more of that legendary Darth Vader! It was so damn intriguing!

 

RotJ was a let down for me. To me, it showed that Lucas could’ve completed the original Star Wars saga in two movies. The acting, writing and characterization went down a notch. It was just more of what we already saw in ANH and TESB. It lacked the captivation ANH and TESB had for me.

 

I’d rank them:

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back 10/10

2. A New Hope 9/10

3. Return of the Jedi 7/10

4. Attack of the Clones 4/10

5. Revenge of the Sith 3/10

6. The Phantom Menace 2/10

[Prime]

2. The overuse of CGI pissed me off. The visual effects looked so fake, so cartoonish. Very Disney like. Like an Xbox 360 game!

Can you give examples of what you thought looked fake and what you thought looked real?

[JoeDoe 2.0]

One thing made TPM bad: JAR JAR!

 

Appart from that , AoTC was ok and RoTS was very nice.

[RedHawke]

I enjoyed the PT the same as the OT, the PT movies had the same or better standards than the OT. I think many of you are simply being a little too critical of the PT when the OT was littered with similar things to complain about, IMO anyway.

[Titanius Anglesmith]

6. Fake Queen Amidala from TPM.

Heh, I didn't even find out until a couple years ago that Keira Knightley played the Queen's decoy.

 

I agree with everything except for number 3 and I somewhat disagree with number 2. I loved all the fights in the PT except for the one in AOTC. They had a chance to pull off something great when Anakin used two sabers (the only time we ever see that in the movies) but they completely ruined it. I agree that many of the CGI characters looked fake and cartoony, but in a movie like that, you really have to use a lot of CGI. So I wouldn't really call it "over-use", just not very well done.