How did you imagine The Star Wars Prequels before they came out? — Page 2

^That old Marvel comic has an odd take on the Clone Wars, with Leia being alive and fully grown when it was going on. It makes me wonder if anyone had ever thought the PT would reflect that version of events before it came out.

I didnt know what to expect really but reading Looking Back to the Future of Star Wars http://starwarz.com/starkiller/2010/05/looking-back-to-the-future-of-star-wars/ ) really gets the creative juices flowing and you do have a 'what if...' feeling to it really.

The prequels did split audiences but thats only because the audience who were vocal, ie. those allowed on the net were older. No longer were they the child who gawped at everything wide eyed and innocent. Also as people get older, so do their perceptions and if you hear something over and over again you eventually reach the same conclusions.

For instance, in the UK I'm hearing how great Harry Potter is and its great a film with British roots has captured the imagination of the world but the films do share the same problems as the prequels in that they try to capture a certain magic but it seems trite and caggy handed. The Dark Crystal is a film where the look gives a sense of wonderment, maybe this is because there's no CGI? Maybe if their was less CGI in Harry Potter and Star Wars prequels, perhaps we'd be more forgiving and get swept up into it. TESB...before I had the internet I found the film boring to be honest. Star Wars was all about space battles but this film didnt have it. The main fight at the beginning never got going because subconsciously you knew nothing was going to go wrong but then you get the internet - and perhaps its also with growing older too - but you read people eulogising about the inner meanings and you get a greater understanding and enjoy it a lot more.

When something is liked there's a greater understanding and thus you read into this too.

But it goes back to what I was saying earlier...kids and indeed us when we were kids, would lap up the CGI effects in films because thats all we would know - in exactly the same we lapped up spaceships firing lazers and ignoring the matte lines around them. You dont see the joins, you dont see the wires. Sadly this goes as we get older.

It also applys I feel to the scripts...one thing levelled against the prequels is that its a kids film with all this political jargon but maybe, just maybe if it had been directed better, edited more ruthlessly with a 100% focus on the story and not toy manufacturing, then maybe it would have been more energetic, more exciting. But maybe it IS like this for kids? We see the boring political story but they see exciting pod races and classic light saber fights.

In a way it's a shame we all have to grow up really. But then you watch films like The Matrix or any other film you fervently enjoyed in the past 10 years and you think "well if I enjoyed them, why didnt I enjoy the prequels" but thats maybe because it took you completely by suprise. Whereas with Star Wars it was no longer a vacuum, we have articles like the one I mentioned, we have no end of EU books and computer games to play. All these things stimulate your mind and then you get other ideas ontop of this and eventually you see a trailer for the first star wars films with all the best bits throw in, combined with the classic music from the original films...your mind is stimulated once again. But then reality sets in. Maybe peoples lack of enjoyment with the originals is less to do with the films and more to do with ourselves. Now we'r older we see the poor acting, Obi-Wans fake wig, poor DVD transfers, over reliance on CGI and others see a wonderful sprawling drama where the skys the limit.

In the same way that if we'd have seen the OT in our current mindframe we'd have noticed poor speeder effects, hamfisted acting in TESB (dont get all mushy on me) and Luke looked like he wants to laugh in ROTJ because he attempts to slay down the Emperor.

But it's not all one way, in the same way that we'v changed - so has George Lucas. We'r all influenced by things in our personal and private life and he's no different. Meetings with no end of execs, bank managers, merchandising managers etc. can subtly make us put things in films. Ones child loving a particular character and name can mean it was included the film - love is blind and our children can do no wrong in our eyes. Being a single parent, sure he probably had help but to do what he did does take some doing I have to say. No longer could he write when inspiration hit him but instead he had to take the kids to school.

It would be great if we could live in a SW vacuum and perhaps then we could enjoy all the films with youthful enthusiasm and no pessimism but we all change and sadly, this may have affected our enthusiasm on the prequels. The ones to blame for their unfulfilled promise isnt anyone per se, its our frustration for us having changed/consumed by no end of other SW storys, its the 'yes-men' who refused to tell George as it was, its Lucas himself for not getting any help when writing & directing and also

You wont get anywhere in life without money it seems and perhaps the day the rot set in was the day when it turned into a business but Lucas needed to do this to ensure his family were financially secure. 

I havent seen the prequels in over a year and I'v decided to only watch them and indeed Star Wars again when my children are old enough to enjoy them (we'v only got one at the moment and she's 11 months) so it's waaay off. My plan is to enjoy them, free of the burden of expectation and maybe, just maybe I'll finally see them for what they are.

Tyrphanax said:

Yeah, apparently the Clone Wars in that timeline probably ended just before ANH (if Leia's age in the photo is anything to go by). Even though Leia says "years ago" in ANH...

I'd like to see the EU try to tie that into the current continuity.

Bingowings said:

Tyrphanax said:

Yeah, apparently the Clone Wars in that timeline probably ended just before ANH (if Leia's age in the photo is anything to go by). Even though Leia says "years ago" in ANH...

I'd like to see the EU try to tie that into the current continuity.

Wookieepedia said:

The background of the Mandalorian Protectors given by Fenn Shysa in this issue appears contradictory with the story laid down in the film, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, namely that Shysa claims that he fought on the side of the Empire, that his commander was Boba Fett, and that he became familiar with Princess Leia during briefing before battles. These were all contradictory statements, as Boba Fett was only 10 years old during the beginning of the Clone Wars, Leia Organa had not even been born yet, and Jango Fett had been allied with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Star Wars Insider article, History of the Mandalorians eventually retconned these discrepancies, by claiming that Shysa had been confused in his retelling. The clone Alpha-Ø2 was shown to be Shysa's real commander, with the article stating that there were rumors that the clone was Jango Fett's son. The picture of Princess Leia in the comic was shown to actually be a picture of Padmé Amidala, showing that Shysa had confused the two when he met Leia many years later. Lastly, the article stated that the Mandalorians were sent into battle by Darth Sidious, making Shysa's claims of fighting for the Empire true, from a certain point of view.

Silly, silly, silly me.

Of course the EU would have already spun through hoops to connect those dots together.

althor1138 said:

I imagined that the PT would have a used universe feel to them similar to the OT.

So did I.  I imagined that they would be filmed to look like the OOT and that most of the effects work would use models with very little CGI.  Boy was I in for a shock!

I thought the used look vehicles in the OT (X-Wings, Y-Wings etc) would look new and even older looking ships would have the used look.

The Blockade Runner in ROTS was a step in the sort of direction I was expecting.

It seemed odd to me that the Naboo ships were all shiny but the official Republic ships were tatty.

I could see the Republic and Fed ships getting more tatty as the war went on and money dried up but to start with they should have been as clean and polished as the Imperial ships were in the OT.

Civilian ships and droids would be as bashed up as they look in the OT though.

I thought Threepio and Artoo would look brand new but there would be older droids owned by ordinary people that would be as battered as they would later become. 

greenpenguino said:  I also thought that Anakin would've had a British Accent, like Sebastian Shaw had.

I never thought about that  It would have been a good idea.  I guess you had a shock too then lol.

I just wish they'd been better films.

We can argue over used-universe, or CGI, or universe-shrinking, or little contradictions (or big ones), but in the end I think that AOTC is objectively one of the worst made films of its type (big SFX adventure film) made in the last 15 years.

I think in a better envisioned and directed film, no one should worry if there's an early-generation X-Wing or not.

SteveE said:

In a way it's a shame we all have to grow up really. But then you watch films like The Matrix or any other film you fervently enjoyed in the past 10 years and you think "well if I enjoyed them, why didnt I enjoy the prequels" but thats maybe because it took you completely by suprise. 

Maybe I got your point wrong or something, but I think the Matrix is objectively an incomparably better film than the prequels.

A lot, a LOT of elements in that film appear cheesy, hamfisted or ridiculous when the "whoa" hype is gone, sure, but it's just AMAZING. I love it.

:D

Chewtobacca said:

greenpenguino said:  I also thought that Anakin would've had a British Accent, like Sebastian Shaw had.

I never thought about that  It would have been a good idea.  I guess you had a shock too then lol.

Shaw didn't talk like James Earl. Fail. Plot Hole. Screw Hayden.


;)

DuracellEnergizer said:  This may just be me, but it's kind of hard to tell that Shaw has any discernible British accent in ROTJ.

He most certainly has an English accent.

It's certainly a lot more English than Carrie Fisher's.