In defense of STAR WARS 1-3
POSTED BY: reginaroadie
UPDATED: Thursday, March 17, 2005 15:09
VIEWED: 10884
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With the recent release of the final trailer for REVENGE OF THE SITH out in theatres and online, the whole debate about the validity of the prequels to the Holy Trilogy is brought back up again. It seems that in the last six years since Episode 1 came out, it's sort of become fashionable to tear the new STAR WARS films new assholes while labeling George as an anti-Christ. And I'm sure that once Episode 3 hits the big screen, fanboys will be trashing it to kingdom come while still paying to see it for the fourth or fifth time in a row.
But I would like to take an opposing stance to this fashionable crucifixtion of a pop culture institution. In all honesty, I enjoyed PHANTOM MEANCE and ATTACK OF THE CLONES. My childhood fascination and enrapturement with the perils of the Skywalkers were ignited once again when I saw the pod race on Tattooine and the chase through the streets of Coruscant. And seeing the clues and hints laid down now which would pay off in re-watching the Holy Trilogy and future installments was a subversive pleasure for the geek in me.
Now I realize some of the criticisms people have about the flicks (Jar-Jar, wooden dialogue, too much politics, resembles nothing of the original trilogy, too kid friendly and not dark enough, too much CGI work) are reasonable complaints. Truth be told, the one complaint I have of Ep 1 was of the casting of Jake Lloyd as young Anakin, who was without a doubt the worst child actor I've ever seen. But all the big major complaints people have can be easily counterpointed. Jar-Jar is only a minor character at best in the whole spectrum of the series, along the same lines as Watto and Mon Mothma. A part that has some value to the proceedings, but is not the central figure to the proceedings. It's a bit stupid to label the entire failure of a movie to one character that probably had about half an hour to 45 minutes worth of screen time. I was not annoyed by Jar Jar. Boss Nass with that acid reflex/seizure thing he kept doing ticked me off. But it's still a minor complaint.
The wooden dialouge is another admittable problem. Lucas himself admits that writing is not his best suit. That it's in shooting and the editing room where he really flourishes. But if you think about it, if 1-3 are set in times of prosperity, the talking styles of the people would seem a bit rigid, while during times of chaos people would be a bit free-er with their choice of words and delivery (as evident in Eps 4-6 and our own BDH's). And really, STAR WARS has never been an actor's institution to begin with.
As for the remaining complaints, one has to keep in mind that these movies are supposed to be the first movies in the series. Even though we already know what that building's going to look like, we're just seeing for the first time the pouring of the concrete, the re-bar being laid down and welded and the actual construction of what we're to see. It's supposed to look and sound different, because they're setting up the main story. And for all the comlaints that ep 1 was too kid friendly and ep 2 was kind of a transition film, I'm sure that if recent quotes by Lucas about the darkness of ep 3 are true, then the fanboys will finally shut up.
Also, I think it's really a generational thing. The generation that saw STAR WARS in the late 70's and 80's is very different from the ones who saw it in the late 90's. Keep in mind, the generation who were supposed to be receptive to Ep 1 a few months earlier were more into the cold, serile, wire fu action of THE MATRIX, as oppsed to the warm, humorfuls mythological action of STAR WARS. A generation raised by video games, Prozac, cheap anime and grunge music would obviously cotten more to the goings on of Neo and Co. than to the relic of the 70's. I guess that now the MATRIX has gone bust, than STAR WARS will have the last laugh. Also, the hype and anticipation for PHANTOM MENACE was unparalleled in the annals of film history. 22 years of build-up and suspense. No movie could top that. You might as well have bought tickets t
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Wow, nice apologia.
You're not the only one who likes eps 1-3 - I just like the Holy Trilogy a lot more. I don't even mind the revision that was done to eps. 4-6, except for that damn Greedo Shot First thing.
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Jar-Jar is only a minor character at best in the whole spectrum of the series, along the same lines as Watto and Mon Mothma.
As you point out, if you cut Jar-jar out of ep. 1, you'd only have about an hour of footage left. In ep. 2, he makes the decision, as Amidala's delegate, to hand power over to Palpatine. I think that, even though he bumbles into it, his actions are very important to the story. He was much more dignified in ep. 2, I was happy to see. (Similar with the book treatment of ep. 1, not so slapsticky.)
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The wooden dialouge is another admittable problem. Lucas himself admits that writing is not his best suit. ...But if you think about it, if 1-3 are set in times of prosperity, the talking styles of the people would seem a bit rigid...
I dunno. Lucas admits that he's not a great writer, but in prosperous times people speak as though they're badly written? I can kind of see where you're coming from, since a leisure society does tend to have more formal speech and all - but that assumes the stilted dialogue was written that way on purpose, and it doesn't sound like it.
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...STAR WARS has never been an actor's institution to begin with.
They used unknowns (except for Alec Guiness and Peter Cushing) in ep. 4 because they had a very low budget. eps 1-3 have plenty of big names. Really - it's OK to be a fan of the prequels without rationalizing it.
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22 years of build-up and suspense. No movie could top that.
No, but a better movie wouldn't have hurt. Phantom Menace, for as much fun as it was, was a marketroid playground. As you point out, these were prequels that were building infrastructure - but in the real world, Lucas had 16 additional years of filmmaking - I count from "Return of the Jedi" and not from "Star Wars" - under his belt, higher budget, and better technology to work with. There was a built-in fanbase like the world has never seen, going into ep. 1. Lucas had no reason to pander the way he did.
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Hey, FIREFLY and practically every sci-fi show or movie of the last 27 years or so owes a debt to STAR WARS. So how about we give it due respect and creedence.
Agreed, except I think its makers should do the same. Ep. 1 had the feeling that, if it weren't a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, it would be bursting with product placements.
It does look like they're improving. I'll be at ep. 3 on opening day, like I was for eps. 1 & 2. I just consider them to be an almost entirely different story, sort of like the old & new Galactica.
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I'm also a big Star Wars fan, and one thing that I don't understand is why everyone insists on comparing the new trilogy to the old trilogy. In my mind, there's no way to really compare the two cinematically, because they both represent huge advancements in movie making, but with a 20 year gap inbetween them. There's no way to compare the battles, action and characters, and they're very different in that respect.
True, the acting is pretty bad in the new series, but looking past that, there's a fairly interesting storyline. I have several friends who are so biased that they hardly even see it...
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What was killing everybody when the 1st prequel cameout to the trilogy was the fact that it didn`t feature much of the same music, much of the same atmosphere & the characters that people loved.
But now with the progression coming to a conclusion, we are getting a lot closer to the original movies and more of the same feel for the original StarWars in 1977/8.
I think this 3rd StarWars will be the best out of the 3, I enjoyed 1 & 2 but don`t watch the DVD`s as much as the original Trilogy.
Darin (Zol.)
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Lucas began to lose me long before PM came out. When he 'remastered' the original movies, and then forbade any more sales of them in their virgin, uncomputerized remixed form....I could see the writing on the wall. Those touched up versions were worse than the originals, for a number of reasons.
PM was simply cartoonish. It was directly marketed at the children of those of us who were raised on SW some 25 yrs ago. Attack was marginally better, but still....the magic ( imo ) is long gone.
Cudos for Peter Jackson for bringing to life a much more well known story to the big screen. I believe PJ did what Lucas now only dreams of doing.
" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "
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It was directly marketed at the children of those of us who were raised on SW some 25 yrs ago
I'm not sure if this comment was supposed to be a criticism or not, but personally I don't think GL should have made films for the original viewers. They're all designed to be family films, or more accurately, children's stories that adults can enjoy. They weren't made with us in mind, they're fantasy stories to put your kids to bed to. You may see it as betraying the fans to do that, I'd say it'd be betraying the Star Wars legacy to do anything different.
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Cudos for Peter Jackson for bringing to life a much more well known story to the big screen. I believe PJ did what Lucas now only dreams of doing.
Completely disagree, PJ directed a good story, but in no way did he bring to life the books. Too much was changed, 'loosely based on' would be a more accurate way of describing it.
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"I... I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead. Every single one of them. And not just the men... but the women... and the children too. They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I hate them!" - Anakin Skywalker
"To be angry is to be human."- Padme Amidala
Ick. That's the point where I disconnected emotionally from the prequels. Jar Jar Binks, oodles of CGI and corny dialogue I can handle but that's just too much. The audience is still supposed to care about the couple so that when everything goes to hell it breaks our hearts (something Joss is a master at), but the Tusken slaughter undercuts that, at least for me. Yes, his mother died at the hands of the Tuskens but he killed women and children who had nothing to do with it. It's genocide and Padme just excuses it. That contradicts everything we'd been shown about her up to that point.
In my opinion, it was mistake for Lucas to go that far at that point or ever. Yes, I know "he helped the Empire hunt down and destory the Jedi Knights" but I always figured Lucas would play up Anakin as a hero and have him be betrayed (or made to think he was) by the Jedi. Then at his lowest point, Palpatine swoops in to seduce him to the Darkside. It wouldn't justify his actions but it'd be more understandable. As it stands, he's already a genocidal maniac at the start of Episode III.
To be clear, I don't think Lucas raped my childhood and I don't think he's a terrible filmmaker, I'm just personally disappointed with his choice in that instance and the systemic problems I feel have and will come from it. That said, I'm still looking forward to ROTS because I can still get behind Obi-Wan as a hero.
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The problem wasn’t that he killed children or that Padme excused it. The problem was that they told us. That dialogue was completely unnecessary and forced. It’s not necessary to tell us that killing children is bad. We aren’t stupid.
But going on a rampage and killing Tuskens because they kidnap, torture and kill your mom is hardly anything that might be called Dark Lordish, by itself. This is something that might be excused as temporary insanity. But then coming home and whining about it? They killed his mother!. His poor dear mother that he, for some reason, left in slavery while he lived it up on the fancy Jedi planets. There is so much about this whole thing that screams narcissistic psychosis. And they completely missed it all in that scene.
Padme was right. To be angry is to be human. Again something else we don’t need explained to us. There is a difference between being human angry and being dark lord angry. Instead of blatantly pointing out the obvious, what they should have done is explained or presented the distinction. What about this forebodes Darth Vader? Because I don’t get it.
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What might have been interesting is if Lucas had Anakin keep the Tusken slaughter a secret from Padme. It wouldn't help my opinion of him any but it would greatly help my opinion of her. Then in Episode III, after she's already married to him and pregnant she can find out as the shit is hitting the fan. Would have made for some great drama, I think.
Or, Anakin could have gone ballistic killing some of the male Tuskens but accidentally killing a child, prompting him to break down in front of Padme, disgusted with what he's done. That way we get to see the consequences of him giving into the Darkside while still making him sympathetic to the audience.
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Or just having him keep it secret from her, but having Padme realize (unspoken) that he had done “something.” But deep down, she knew. Played right that would have been scarier then the way they did it.
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