Just wanted to add a couple of my own thoughts on this, in the run-up to the next instalment -
I’m aware that there are a few who believe that ignoring the ‘TPM’ movie altogether improves the ‘prequels’ substantially, since you start with an ‘older Anakin’ storyline with ‘AOTC’ at least.
But I don’t think it makes any difference in the scheme of things, due to the fact that each prequel is as dreadfully bad as the other two, in my opinion…thanks to their overall poorly-conceived plotlines, dire dialogue, crass childishness, and awful acting in places. Oh, and don’t forget the numerous examples of disappointingly-poor, over-the-top effects work in certain areas too! It’s just one awkward moment from start to finish throughout the trilogy, and you don’t have to wait long for one to come along.
Whereas I can still feel a strong attachment to nearly every single moment of the original (theatrical) trilogy over the years…any re-watch of the prequels just makes me cringe, dammit! And the years haven’t improved them in any way for me, unfortunately.
However…despite all that, there remains some highly-memorable imagery and music throughout the prequels…so I was inspired by certain fan edits to see if it was at all possible to come up with any kind of potential ‘cut list’ which could improve the many moments that bothered me personally.
Although I highly doubted there would be, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are indeed ways to re-edit them into something which I would be happy to re-watch with my family someday. In fact, nearly every dodgy scene and moment which annoyed me, had a possible alteration/or removal I preferred, it turned out! (and TMBTM’s radical style of editing was a big encouragement for me not to be precious about any particular footage, and to consider trying to re-structure/or remove it in a major way in certain instances, if I preferred it that way)
It’s been a very time-consuming challenge, but I’ve now got a lengthy ‘cut-list’ for each prequel which gives me a version of the saga which conveys George’s intended ‘tragic downfall of Anakin’ storyline in way that’s a lot less ridiculous than his (or Frinks!) version…where Anakin and Padme both come across a lot more appealing to me now, with a far more slow-burning ‘relationship’ than what the existing versions portray - thanks to drastically removing a lot of their woeful dialogue throughout each movie, as well as completely removing a couple of their more odious scenes altogether! In the case of their interactions together, less is a whole lot more, I reckon.
But on top of finding a way to rejig their ‘romance’ into something that doesn’t make me throw up, there were a few other crucial sequences that I wasn’t sure if I could re-structure in a way that would absolutely satisfy me - namely ‘Palpatine’s fight with Windu’/his ‘transformation’ into the Emperor’ during it/and ‘Anakin becoming his apprentice’ just afterwards…as well as the whole ‘ROTS’ ending concerning ‘Anakin’s fate’ & ‘Padme’s childbirth/death’ and sequence of events afterwards which round off the prequel trilogy. Well, I’m especially pleased with what I’ve come up with for all of those, and it’s made the whole time I spent on looking at these damned prequels worthwhile.
Palpatine’s ‘transformation’ and his subsequent dialogue with Anakin was one of the most problematic things I played around with throughout the whole trilogy, as it’s as ludicrous as Vader’s ‘yelling’ scene I reckon…and it took me ages to come up with a way to make some of the existing footage work in a way that restores the Emperor’s gravitas somewhat, despite the dodgy make-up. The way that the Emperor and Vader were portrayed during those moments in ‘ROTS’ were amongst the worst disappointments in the prequels for me…so these ended up being some of the alterations which I’m most happy with. (and I hope to be able to show clips of what I’ve come up with at some point in the coming months, one way or another, when time allows)
While I’m not expecting any mentions of ‘midiclorians’(!) to be featured in the upcoming movie…I’m curious to see if it will end up mentioning ‘the chosen one’ notion or not, as well as whether there’s going to be any reference to the Jedi not being allowed to have ‘personal relationships’, or whether the ‘rule of two/master and apprentice’ concept is referred to either…as there’s ways to remove them all seamlessly from the prequels, if I choose to go down that route.
Anyway, future discussions on the prequels are bound to run and run for a long time to come, seeing as the franchise is being thrust into the limelight again over the coming years. So I’ll leave you all with these recent links on the subject to contemplate on, as some of the accompanying comments underneath are always interesting to read -
TPM - io9.com/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-doesnt-really-get-what-it-1742188503
AOTC - io9.com/attack-of-the-clones-is-a-star-wars-wish-fulfillment-ch-1743553858
ROTS - io9.com/sure-revenge-of-the-sith-is-the-best-star-wars-prequel-1744646183