Ziz said:
...are the prequels really as bad as people say they are, or do people THINK they're bad because of all the build-up to what fans were expecting over the years?
...are the prequels really as bad as people say they are, or do people THINK they're bad because of all the build-up to what fans were expecting over the years?
That's insulting to the fan base.
The time in between films has nothing at all to do with fan reaction. Fans are expecting greatness (or at least as good) in a sequel as soon as the film leaves the theaters. They want the next one to continue the adventure - whether it's two years later or twenty.
The prequels are disliked because they're bad - not because of the release date, the anticipation, or because people mistakenly "THINK" they are.
With each series - SW or Indy - you've got 20 years of familiarity and maturity in between there. No matter how hard you try, you're not looking at the new film thru the same eyes or with the same attitude as you did the originals, so naturally you're going to be more critical of it.
Two things I'd like to address & question, with regard to that statement.
1. The opposite is true with me. For the sake of this discussion, I should point out that I'm 46 years old and I grew up with these two franchises. I was there at the inception of both and I've waited for, and anticipated, all the sequels*.
For Star Wars, I found all the sequels to be a disappointment - each one worse than the one before (*I've not bothered with the last two).
For Indiana Jones, I've enjoyed all of the sequels a great deal. Some more than others.
2. How do you account for the twenty-somethings that dislike the prequels? They don't have "20 years of familiarity and maturity in between" the films. They didn't grow up with them, they didn't experience the awe of the theatrical birth in 1977, nor did they have to wait years between each release. Many of them were able to first experience the original trilogy in a single afternoon. For my generation, that same experience took seven years.
The twenty-somethings don't have a lifetime of emotional investment in Star Wars. Something else is the deciding factor in their dislike of the prequels.
Quality of story & depth of characters drive my emotional reception of sequels, not time between releases. I suspect that's the case with most fans, regardless of when they first saw the original films.