Originally posted by: nohandluke
I feel your pain man,
A lot of people still say Phantom Menace is the worst, and I see their perspective, but I disagree. The whole PT is bad, but the films suffer from the law of diminishing returns. At least with TPM, you had 16 years of anticipation without it coming in the wake of anything horrible (e.g., my guard was up for AOTC based on TPM, and when I saw ROTS I had no hope whatsoever) - you also had the most physical prequel in TPM, the most real sets and locations, and it was actually shot on film, which gives it a better look. Also, at least in TPM you actually had a Jedi-duo that was cool and worked well together - Neeson and McGregor (even though they didn't have enough to do and Neeson's character screwed continuity) - Yes, TPM had far too much childish crap, but I guess I forgive it more than the others because I wasn't yet wounded by previous prequels, everyone on opening night was positive and filled with hope before the film began unlike with the later movies and it was truly exciting to see some new Star Wars on the big screen...until it was over and my mouth was agape with shock and uncertainty.
Mike
I feel your pain man,
A lot of people still say Phantom Menace is the worst, and I see their perspective, but I disagree. The whole PT is bad, but the films suffer from the law of diminishing returns. At least with TPM, you had 16 years of anticipation without it coming in the wake of anything horrible (e.g., my guard was up for AOTC based on TPM, and when I saw ROTS I had no hope whatsoever) - you also had the most physical prequel in TPM, the most real sets and locations, and it was actually shot on film, which gives it a better look. Also, at least in TPM you actually had a Jedi-duo that was cool and worked well together - Neeson and McGregor (even though they didn't have enough to do and Neeson's character screwed continuity) - Yes, TPM had far too much childish crap, but I guess I forgive it more than the others because I wasn't yet wounded by previous prequels, everyone on opening night was positive and filled with hope before the film began unlike with the later movies and it was truly exciting to see some new Star Wars on the big screen...until it was over and my mouth was agape with shock and uncertainty.
Mike
I 100% agree with this whole statement. I'm glad to see others who think TPM is the best (or least worst) of the prequels. ROTS didn't work for me much at all, although I agree that the scene with Padme & Anakin in the apartment with no dialogue was absolutely excellent. In fact when I heard that Spielberg had helped film a scene, I automatically thought it was that one, just because it was a stark contrast to the rest of GL's clumsy directing. I just wish the other 6 hours and 58 minutes of the PT could be as good as that scene.
Anyway, while I don't care for ROTS, I consider AOTC far shittier for a multitude of reasons. Yeah yeah, the dialogue is terrible, the romance was forced, too many fake cgi creatures and enviroments, confusing plot, ect. But what really bothers me is that nothing important happens. It's 2 hours and 20 minutes of explaining why there's a clone army (which really needed no more that a minimal introduction), all while none of the characters develope whatsoever.
1) Obi-Wan doesn't change. In TPM, he goes from a sidekick who's green-behind-the-ears to a Sith-killer and mentor. In AOTC, he's still the same at the end as he was at the beginning and he treats the events that unfolded like they were a Wednesday afternoon at the quarry.
2) Yoda doesn't change. He goes from clueless to...still clueless. He knows something's up, just not what exactly it is. By the way we are at war now.
3) Mace doesn't change. Unfortunately, his dialogue in both TPM and AOTC is so stunted that we never really know who he is or what he's about.
4) Anakin doesn't change. I know...BUT HE KILLED TUSCAN RAIDERS!!!!1 However, if you to delete this scene and the reference afterwords, there is absolutely nothing in his dialogue or behavior to believe he changes at any time between the opening crawl and the credits. BTW this is sorta important since we now have ONE MOVIE for him to go from Jedi to Sith. Ugh.
5) Padme...hmm. I guess she and Anakin all in love and that is their character arc. However it is so forced that it becomes almost unlcear if they are actually developing as characters or not (just like Anakin's turn to the darkside).
Oh well, I'm done for now.