I have just been revisiting the PT because I decided return to tackling them before trying TESB, ROTJ, or TFA. After watching them again I have to agree that ROTS is the most dramatic and is a great fast paced action film and tragedy. But I still feel that TPM got the universe right. Yes, we see the galaxy looking pretty good, but like fruit that is about to spoil, it looks good on the outside while hiding the rot on the inside. And the story goes where the characters are. The focus in the fall of the Republic so spending so much time on Coruscant makes sense. I have a friend whose biggest problem with the PT is going to Tatooine. I never had an issue with that or with a lot of things that some fans do. I take them as the story George wanted to tell and just go with the PT being inferior to the OT because the story wasn’t quite as interesting. I don’t mind the quirky dialog that comes out of Anakin’s mouth because I’m always imagining the lines coming from James Earl Jones. Both Jake and Hayden use the same phrasing and it sounds atrocious coming from them. I don’t know why Lucas did that, but then I don’t know why he did a great many things. I’d love to have the actor form Clone wars redub Hayden’s lines and hear how that sounds.
And I have a feeling that Lucas’s version of the ST would be just as divisive if not more so that what we are getting. I think he did his best work on the OT mainly because he had a lot of outside input. We know a lot of the greats had input on Star Wars (Spielberg, Coppola, De Palma, and Marsha Lucas - known for her editing skills). Leigh Bracket did the script for TESB and his choice of directors for TESB and ROTJ gave him more time to tweak the scripts. For the PT, he seems to have done the scripts virtually solo and never had others look at them. A big no-no if you know anything about writing.
I’ve actually enjoyed all the films more than I remember. I think AOTC needs a good edit. The clashing of Anakin and Obi-wan needs to be toned down and that stupid droid factory scenes needs some cuts. And I think the end of ROTS could use some editing to get back the surprise of Luke and Leia’s parentage. The end is great for a 4,5,6,1,2,3 viewing order, but sucks for the 1,2,3,4,5,6 viewing order. And no, I would never do a machete order.
And there is some good foreshadowing of Anakin’s fall in AOTC. He doesn’t fall just because of Padme. He falls for a whole list of things that you have to pick up on. Palpatine is his mentor, his mother dies, he chafes at the Jedi rules, he jokes that people should be made to do things, just a whole list of things that reveal he is being pulled down by Palpatine from TPM on. IT is far too subtle for most people to catch, but it is there. That is one reason why the argument that some don’t believe Anakin’s fall just doesn’t make sense to me. It is all there. This time through I realized that Shmi’s torture was probably ordered by Palpatine and he was probably keeping her alive like I think he ended up keeping Anakin alive long enough to get him into the suit (and maybe even through ROTJ). Shmi being alive and the dreams pushing Anakin there to arrive just as she died all create the ideal situation to put Anakin on the path to the dark side. And from what the movies reveal, Palpatine would have known this weakness of Anakin’s and could have the power to exploit it. And when Anakin rescues Palpatine from Mace, Palpatine uses a voice that I think shows that he is not just relying on Anakin’s fear and hatred to turn him, that he is literally using the dark side of the force to push him over the edge. Lots of subtle things that add together. But, probably too subtle.
I found out why the music for TPM is better. That was the last film John Williams scored an edit of the film. The following films have been more thematic scoring with the music edited in as needed. It does’t work in my opinion. I like the traditional way and I think it creates better music. That is not to say Williams’ talents have decreased one bit with age. His Rey theme is on of the best of the saga. But doing it piecemeal instead of with the film just doesn’t work. The music doesn’t fit as well. That is one reason I have never liked the score for 2001. It just doesn’t fit.