Emre1601 said:
For example, I really enjoyed the Dooku segments of 2022’s Tales Of The Jedi. But I could not help but question just why we were not shown such material in the Prequels themselves, which would have made his character and story arc far more compelling.There’s a thing called limited amount of on-scream time. The Prequels are supposed to be three films, so you can’t expect everything to be explored in detail in three simple films, unless you want to see 10 hours-long Prequels. But I sincerely doubt you would have liked to see that, wouldn’t you?
A few scenes with Dooku in the background of TPM, talking with Qui-Gon about his deteriorating faith or belief in the Jedi, then leaving the Jedi after the death of Qui-Gon shouldn’t add-on too much to the run-time. Or for that matter adding his battle with Yaddle shown in AOTC, his fall to the Dark Side (which could serve be a mirror of Anakin’s later turn in ROTS) and serving Palaptine and his schemes, shouldn’t either. Nor in ROTS where Dooku’s death would have had more impact, especially at the order of Palpatine at the hands of Anakin.
It is why I suggested a Special Edition of the Prequels are needed. To merge the films together more, for characters to have more impact on-screen, and to the story. To fulfill the viewer’s expectations, and also to fire the viewer’s imagination more. To maybe trim some of “the fat” for scenes that do not work so well also.
I hope a skilled or experienced fan editor on here does do a version where they marge that Tales Of The Jedi storyline into an edit of TPM, AOTC & ROTS. Or maybe in a 3 in 1 edit.
Though I still don’t understand why Obi-Wan and Anakin’s friendship, them becoming a team, and then closer like “brothers”, wasn’t shown in the Prequel films themselves; that it needed “a footnote” such as TCW to explain or show this.
Again, it’s a matter of limited amount of on-screen time. The Prequels are not supposed to be about Anakin and Obi-Wan’s friendship, the Prequels are supposed to be about Anakin as a character, his motivations for joining the Sith and becoming Darth Vader, and the fall of the Republic. It’s only natural that they can’t show everything about Anakin and Obi-Wan’s friendship, as it’s not what they are supposed to show in detail. Unless you want to see 10 hours-long Prequels, again.
I don’t expect “everything” to be covered, but I do expect to see certain events and relationships to occur on screen in the Prequels. The friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is an important major aspect of these films, and also to the Saga itself.
If the Prequel films had to run an extra 5-10 minute each: TPM’s 216 minutes, AOTC’s 142 minutes, and ROTS’ 140 minutes, to portray that friendship and partnership more effectively and emotionally, and Dooku having a more of a presence and a deeper more poignant arc in the films and to the story, then so be it.
The droid factory scene with Anakin, Padme, R2D2 and C3PO ran for 5 minutes. Uninterrupted. It was also a late addition to filming and was done as part of the re-shoots for the film. I would rather have 5 minutes of scenes showing Kenobi and Anakin’s friendship than that droid factory scene. Having such a lengthy scene shot in post-production re-shoots also demonstrates your “limited amount of on-screen time” claim does not really apply here to this.
Fans shouldn’t have had to wait for an additional animated series sometime later to show that friendship effectively. To expand upon that evolving friendship in a later animated series, to show more actual events, more actual adventures, and give it a “deeper dive”, for sure.
Showing Anakin and Obi-Wan’s friendship makes it way more devastating when Anakin turns and they have to fight. I think that’s more important then showing him as a young kid.
Absolutely this.
^ George Lucas in September 2005’s Starlog magazine, saying even in the 1st third of ROTS, Anakin is still a good person:
“Anakin was a good kid, and even though he was a petulant, whiny teen - which I can say from experience seems to be the way it works; even I was one of those once - he was still a good person. Anakin has been struggling with some issues, especially about his mother, but also with Padmé and [deciding between] doing his job and his own, personal thing. And even in this film, the first third of it, he’s fine. He’s a good pal to Obi-Wan and doing a great job. But this is the one where you see him get manipulated and twisted to a place where, even in the end, he still thinks he’s doing the right thing and still believes he’s a good person."