I admit I was in a hurry when I typed this and my kb is a bit  messed  up. My argument though is solid.

The prequels were the most looked forward to films of all time. The backstory already had a n outline. It would have been almost impossible to drop the ball here. I mean the anakin skywalker in the clone wars show on cartoon network is more honorable  and  behaved like a Jedi knight  than he is in the films. that's  terrible.  In the films anakin acts like nothing but a disrespectful  spoiled  ass hole. From the very first scene in episode 2  he is being a smart mouth disresectful punk to obi wan.

all jokes aside    even if you did not know  going in he turned into darth vader you would expect this guy to be a bad seed. he never behaves  like a respectful jedi. never. he is not likeable in the least.  how can you get an emotional attachment to his charcter  if  you  are never even shown him to be a good man or great jedi before he falls to the dark side.  there is no  fall to the dark side. its basiclly  he was an ass hole when he was a jedi and he  just turned into an even bigger ass hole  as a sith.

anakin should have been shown in the first two films to be like qui gon or luke  or charcters like maximus in gladiator  charcters we all looked up to and admired and then   start to see him fall to the dark side through no fault of his own.  then we could have felt sad and felt bad for anakin.  but no we didnt get any of that. the prequels were the  worst filsm ive ever seen.  what good points they had   were killed off.  qui gon was great.   he shouldnt have died.  darth maul should have been in all 3. count dooku sucked.   qui gon should have been in all3   and for anakins final turn to th dark side in epiosde 3 he should have killed qui gon.

I wont even get into the plot holes the prequels   provide. i have a  1982 interview with lucas where he said that luke and leia are 2 and a half yrs old  in episode 3.  this explains how leia  can remember her REAL mother. lucas says  leia  left to be with her real mom  while luke was taken to the lars. why would something like this be left out? it does nothing but cause plot holes. ben telling luke his father wanted him toi have his lightsaber when he was old enough.  now we see that didnt happen.  ben saying how  owen was scared lukle would follow  him like anakin did on  "some damn fool idealistic crusade"  wqhat the hell is he talking about? owen did not even know anakin or  ben but for  day or two. he said  owen wanted anakin to stay home and not get involved.  ?  again whats he talking about?

its clear all that was  back story to eventually be  told in the prequels and lucas completly  disregarded it for some reason. which makes no sense.  wjhat should have been filmed is very clear...owen did not want anakin to get involved in the clone wars (the idealstic crusade ben speaks of)  owen did not want anakin to get involved.  anakin could have easily of told  obi wan while theybwere going off to fight  that if he did not aske it back he wanted his son to have his lightsaber....a young leia could have went off to alderan with padme.  explaining her  remembering her mom. yoda could have been boi wans master....making everything told in the ot make sense.

it doesnt take rocket science to make these films in a way that     connected  both trilogies.  instead though lucas tries to force a square into a circle by  changing the ot here and there and cuasing plot holes. in essence   making the films suck.  this is not the work of  good story tellers.

The OT did get   mostly positive reviews when they all came out. I know cause I was there.   A new hope and  empire both got  FOUR stars  from every major critic.  siskel and ebert, rex  harrison,  rolling stone, time magazine, life magazine, entertainment tonight..ALL OF THEM.  returnm of the jedi got the least fav reviews.  it got 3 and a half stars. but  return of the jedi started lucas  turn from making good films to making commercials for his toys and his ILM  company.

the prequels on the other hand got  mosty   bad reviews from all the major crtics. except for  episode  3.  even now  11 yrs later the prequels are used as the butt of jokes on tv shows and movies. they are made fun of and laughed at.  prequel lovers and fan boys can defend the prequels till their last breath but that dont change the fact that the PT is universally  laughed at and made fun of and the OT has always been hailed as some of the greatest motion pictures of all time.

if fan boys want to take a page from lucas book and try and say the OT  got  bad reviews  when they first came out   then go ahead....live in a make believe world. sure the OT got a few bad reviews. so did casablanca and gone with the wind. no movie gets ALL  good reviews. the difference is with the OT  it is the exception  with the PT it is the  rule.

prequel lovers go watch jar jar  go watch the pathetic acting and  awful screenplay in  episode 2  and enjoy the  way over done   circus stunt lightsaber duels in episode 3

all three of those films  lacks anything original  lacks anything  realastic..its one long  7  to 8 hr  ninja film   in space.  nothing more.   designed and written from the ground up to appeal to little kids and to sell toys. why u think the hero  in epiosde  1 was a 9 yr old kid?  why  was there a jar jar? you really think its cause lucas  visioned a 9 yr old anakin?lol  riiiight.  tis cause he  wanted to bring in a whole new generation of kids  as fans  to sell  his toys for the next  10 plus yrs. if he had  made  epiosde 1  a serious  film  like  episode  5  he knew he risked little kids not    liking it hence no toy sells. no cartoons...etc..etc   everything he did  was based on some guy in a  boardroom telling him how to appeal to kids in this generation and how to make the most movie.  anyone who believes different is  living in a fantasy  land.

lucas is a lier...nothing more nothing less.

anyone ever stop to wonder  why when lucas was a serious film maker back when a new hope was being made and empire  he was consulting people like francis ford coppala, steven spielberg, marlon brando  etc..etc and when he made the prequels he consulted HIS CHILDREN. i mean he took what they said and wanted so bad  and serious he actually  hired NYSYNC to be in the film as stormtroopers.  he actually hired them and eventually had to  change it cause the backlash from fans was so bad.  it makes u wonder what else was his KIDDIES  idea  that he put in the film.  truly  sad. I knew starwars had hit the point of no return  when c3po got his head shot off  in attack of the clones and he was running around like charlie chaplin and r2 was flying around with rockets on his feet..  so sad...so pathetic.

I was ready for a rational discussion about the merits of the prequel trilogy, and look what I find...

I'm laughing too hard to have any sort of discussion right now, rational or not.

haljordan28 said:

...etc..etc   everything he did  was based on some guy in a  boardroom telling him how to appeal to kids in this generation and how to make the most movie.  anyone who believes different is  living in a fantasy  land. 

 It's amazing that five years after the last PT came out, those films still ilicit inarticulate rage in people.

For what it's worth, for all his faults as a filmmaker George Lucas has NO ONE in a board room, nor anywhere else, tell him what to do.

Sure Lucas has people he listenes to.  They are  called advisors. they are used because no one person is an expert in  all  fields.  so they  get experts in each field to advise them on a course of action to take to make the most profit.

Lucas always said that x-wing fighters would be in the prequels  as the state of the art war ships of the republic. because they were used  by the rebellion all those yrs later cause they were old and out of date  and the rbellion could not  afford new star ships

why do you think he  changed his mind yet again  about somethingh he said   yrs ago would be in the PT fims  but   then decided not to do it?  very simple.   MONEY and TOY  SELLS.  most all collectors already have xwing fighters.  if he designed a NEW star ship  that is an instant  20 million dollar profit  from selling that toy  alone.

he used a kid anakin in episode 1 to appeal to lil children.  he used a teen model heart throwb in episode 2 to appeal to the  teenie boppers and the girls  when in reality  anakin should have started the same age as luke or  at min 14 or 15 yrs old.

take the kid warrior from the never ending story.  he is a kid but  14 or 15  and he is believable in his role as a warrior.  the kid anakin is a joke.  he doesnt even  win the battle at the end cause of skill or the force   he is in the cockpit mashing buttons and  gets lucky.  would have been that hard to of had anakin 14  yrs old  and of had him get in a star fighter on purpose because he is a great pilot and the force was with him and he went up and shot down some ships and  destroyed the starship with skill  and the help fo the force?  my god  its story telling 101  abd george  gave us   that garbage?  its enough to make someone sick and it does.  like a poster said  its 11 yrs later and ppl still go to forums and voice their disgust  and anger

that is a testament to the love of star wars.  lucas knows he droped the ball  he went from a hero and legend  to being made fun of and laughed at  by all but the    biggest fan boys who would take a box of  shit   if lucas wrote star wars on it  and claim its a great thing.  people like go-mer-tonic

lucas knows he droped the ball

or Lucas saw that the ball changed and made the movies in such a way as they would make people blather on and on and on and on about them.  When no one pays them any more attention, that's when George's dropped the ball.

You won't find (m)any critics at the Academy Awards. It's industry awards, for the industry, to promote its products.

I remember Star Wars being slagged off by critics. Some were haters, sure, but not all of them.

haljordan28 said:

 when in reality  anakin should have started the same age as luke or  at min 14 or 15 yrs old.

  

 I can't place my finger on it... but there's something funny about this.

This thread is coarse and rough, and it gets everywhere. I am haunted by the kiss it should never have given me. My heart is beating, hoping that kiss will not become a scar. It is in my very soul tormenting me.

you know lucas approached lawernce kasdan to help him write episode 1  and kasdan turned him down. kasdan  said he did not believe in the story and he did noit agree  that anakin should be 9 yrs old. he knew  it was garbage at first glance and did not want his name to be associated with it.

gary kurtz said the pt films were awful. so did liam neeson and ewen mcgregor lol.  sad when your own actors  know the films are junk