The prequels that could have been

Star Wars fans are quick to point out the shortcomings of the prequel trilogy, which are admittedly quite easy to spot.

Ever since the Star Wars trilogy was completed in 1983 people have wondered a great many things - what were the 'clone wars'? What was the galaxy like before 'the dark times'? What happened to Darth Vader before Star Wars? What was Obi-Wan Kenobi like as a young man? The prequel trilogy tried to address all of these questions, as well as tie up almost every loose plot thread the original trilogy had to offer, with varying degrees of success. While some would argue that the downfall of Anakin Skywalker was handled satisfactorily, many fans of the original trilogy undoubtedly imagined the galaxy under the Old Republic to be a very different place and were disappointed (to say the least) by Lucas' vision.

So the question is - how would you have done it? Would you have left the situations as they were and removed all the crummy plot elements, or would you have stuck close to the ideas and themes established in the original trilogy? Enlighten me.

There should have been certain things we know from the later episodes mixed with surprises but filtered in such a way that if seen in order the plot revelations in later episodes could be maintained for future generations.

Obi-Wan should have been trained by Yoda directly he should have discovered Anakin (a young adult and already a great pilot) and amazed at how strong in the Force he was took it upon himself (not at the bidding of a never again referred to other Master) to train him as a Jedi.

Yoda should never use a lightsaber and be cautious about the use of Military force.

Anakin should have had a strong relationship with his full brother Owen and his sister in law Beru and followed Obi-Wan out of principle with terrible results.

Anakin's wife should have survived for some years after the 'death' of Anakin.

Vader should have been disguised in some way when he fought Obi-wan and maybe Anakin should have stolen the identity from another pupil of Obi-Wan's so that first time viewers could believe that both characters could be separate and still be shocked by the revelation in ESB.

The cyborg Vader should have been introduced much earlier too (no need for General Grievous).

Outside that Lucas could have told pretty much the same story but concentrated on making the characters believable and the fantasy grounded in the same sort of logic that ANH and ESB were.

P.S.Did Anakin's wife have to be a Queen/Senator BTW? Leia is Princess of Alderaan because of her adopted father so her real mother could have been anyone. He could have married her before becoming a Jedi too it's easier to follow characters already in love than develop a romance from day one (especially if you are Lucas).

Most importantly Lucas should not have written it all and only directed maybe the first one if that.

ANH and ESB worked because they were team efforts pushed by his energy the rot set in with ROTJ and Lucas should have realised this and played to the strengths of what worked before.

Bingowings said:

Most importantly Lucas should not have written it all and only directed maybe the first one if that.

ANH and ESB worked because they were team efforts pushed by his energy the rot set in with ROTJ and Lucas should have realised this and played to the strengths of what worked before.

 

This is the only "what might have been" aspect of the prequels that interests me. Frank Darabont should've been the PT's Lawrence Kasdan. Joe Johnston would've been perfect to direct one of the movies. Lucas writing and directing the whole thing himself was what prevented the PT from rivaling the OT and made it "just some prequels." Considering Lucas admitted he only had one movie's worth of material, yeah, he really should have known better than to do the whole thing on his own.

This is sorta stream-of-consciousness, but here's an idea that just came to me in terms of "what might have been" behind the scenes:

Episode I, directed by Steven Spielberg. He's known for working really well with child actors, so he'd be perfect for this (assuming Anakin would still be a kid in the script).

Episode II, directed by Joe Johnston. It's "the one with Boba Fett," the character Johnston himself designed back in '78. Also, there's the Anakin/Padme romance and I can't help but think of Johnston's Rocketeer.

Episode III, directed by Dave Fincher. There's probably a better-fitting director I could think of, but this is what's coming to my mind right now. He's an ILM and/or Lucas alum just like the other two directors and he's known for dark movies, making him a good choice for Anakin's turn to the dark side.

In any event, the original 1977 Star Wars should've remained the last George Lucas directed film.

I think (and this is a gripe that most people have with the PT) it needed a main villain. Maul, Dooku and Grievous were all throwaways - nowhere near as threatening as Vader was in the OT. Sure, you had Sidious constantly in the background plotting away, but he doesn't really do anything. A main villain that is only defeated in Episode III would be a nice addition. Of course, to avoid this villain from being an exact copy of Vader, a certain degree of moral ambiguity could be added to the equation - perhaps develop the idea that was partially explored with Dooku, in that the villain believes that their actions are a necessary evil to save the Republic. Ambiguous, but not afraid to get the job done. The main characters need a constant, menacing, dangerous adversary.

That brings me neatly on to the next issue; the main characters. I felt that, considering Ewan MacGregor's excellent acting talents, Obi-Wan Kenobi should have been the main character in the PT. His personality jumps around a lot in the PT as we know it, from a stiff young learner to a renegade Jedi Knight and finally to a Jedi Master that languishes somewhere in-between. Instead, Obi-Wan should start as an over-confident and sometimes arrogant Jedi Knight, who believes himself more than capable of training Anakin Skywalker as a Jedi when he is not. This sets him up to fail his instruction of Anakin and go into exile.

Anakin Skywalker's seduction, in my opinion, was handled extremely badly. All of ten minutes of RoTS is dedicated to Anakin's fall, and as a result it feels extremely rushed. Episodes I & II should have established the Clone War, and the slow decay of the Republic, with Episode III almost exclusively dealing with Anakin's demise and his hunt for the remaining Jedi. To retain the shock felt at that pivotal moment in Episode V, the characters of Anakin and Vader should be kept separate - in Episode III, Palpatine has begun to circulate rumours around the galaxy that a powerful Jedi has emerged from the shadows; one evil more powerful than the aforementioned main villain. Anakin, now shrouded in a cloak that hides his true identity, has begun to hunt down the Jedi order. Information surrounding this should be kept to a bare minimum. Only Obi-Wan and Yoda know the truth of Anakin Skywalker's fall, and they keep quiet about it - they go into exile at the end of Episode III, which leaves all of the major reveals for the next three episodes.

One idea that I do agree with from the PT is the idea that a Jedi must not know love - thus, most of the love story can remain relatively unchanged. The thing I would like to see altered would be how this plays into Anakin's downfall. It would be interesting to see Palpatine plant the idea that Padmé is also having a love affair with Obi-Wan in Anakin's head. This would once again strengthen Anakin's hatred for Obi-Wan, which could be fulfilled in Episode IV.

I know I've left out a number of things, but this is the bare minimum of elements that I would change to make the prequels into much more of an OT-ish experience.

Yoda and Palpatine never use lightsabers. Ever.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Ah, yes. I thought that was a bit odd. :P

Yay, I'm human!

The prequels should have been about the clone wars and Bothan spies.

Obi-Wan should have been revealed as OB-1 (an original cloning source).

Luke and Leia's birth should have been the result of a rape during the war.

"The best star pilot in the galaxy" should have been a sub-plot, Red Baron like.

"A good friend" should have shared ideology at some level. More tangibly demonstrated. Remembering that OB-1 could himself be a clone.

The Mandalorian Warriors could have had an outing as a specialist clone commando unit, or whatever. 

Darth Vader should've been hunting Jedi to extinction in the second act, perhaps sparing OB-1's life in a moment of near-redemption - or perhaps killing OB-2 thinking he'd got OB-1 instead.

There's so much it could have been based on the slight information we have from the OT, it's such a pity Lucas wrote the scripts and didn't seem to get past the first draft.

No no, it's ok - it's during the war!

Nah, the ewoks did that in ROTJ.

I just had a great idea for a prequel to the Holiday Special...

HotRod said:

We could have a Wookiee gang bang while Padme's being raped by the Sith lords....

Crap, you beat me to it.

First, clear-cut villains - both a personal and an organization. The OT had Darth Vader, the Emperor and the Empire. The PT had many episodic antagonists, as well as no clear evil side and adversary to the "good guys". While appreciate the darker tones of TESB, to some extent even RotS, the prequels were far too morally ambiguous. And far too unfocused.

If George wanted to touch on important issues like he hinted, then he completely missed the mark with things like the Jedi code, the morality of a clone army and the political freedoms in a divided Galaxy. Still, I would have preferred a simpler, black-and-white space epic trilogy than a social commentary.

As someone in the audience, I wasn't attached. I had no character to sympathize with, and none to hate. They were just there.

Second, Anakin - he should have been an adult from the start (and no, I have nothing bad to say about the kid who played him in Ep.I). In ANH Owen described him as a simple freighter pilot. That's what he should have been, some young man striving to make his fortune in the Galaxy, swept away by a grand war. He should have rescued Amidala, piloting her royal ship (whether you take the core plot from TPM or alter it) and then enlist to fight on. And become a Jedi. Something that would reinforce Yoda's belief that older people cannot easily understand the philosophy of the Force, with Anakin as a failed example.

Plus, a better love story. Like that of Lea and Han, in the sense that the characters spent an entire movie together, with Anakin actually being a protective and strong figure, not some homicidal whiner. And an actual friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Whether they were master/student or two fellow Jedi/Generals is irrelevant. The PT, as we have it, didn't really portray them as friends.

Third, Clone Wars begin (or have just started) by the time of the first prequel episode. No Senate, treaties, laws, amendments... those things are interesting and enjoyable enough in the working field (at least mine). Not in a sci-fi movie. Plus, the prequels desperately needed nicely choreographed space battles. Not just hundreds of ships pasted on the screen (like the utterly underwhelming Coruscant battle in RotS), but an actual story-driven engagement early on, as well as a "final" space battle in the end.

Less CGI, more real sets. Esp. the sets. I'm a fan of miniatures and models, but they do have serious limitations. Real life sets, however, are essential. Most of all for the actors...

Burdokva said:

Second, Anakin - he should have been an adult from the start (and no, I have nothing bad to say about the kid who played him in Ep.I)

I wouldn't have minded him being a kid if George could have given him better lines and directed him better.  As much crap as Jake Lloyd gets, it's not his fault he had to say "oops" and "yippee" and all that crap.  And some of his performance isn't that bad.  But then there are lines like "you mean I get to go with you on your starship?" which is 100 times worse because of the delivery.

..Hmmm...Moving on.

Further to my musing about if Luke and Leia's mum needed to be of high rank and if it would have been better if Anakin was already married when he decided to follow Obi-Wan on a damn fool idealistic crusade.

The whole fall of Anakin could play out like A Rake's Progress.

Anakin is a navigator on a spice freighter but has a home on Tatooine with a wife a brother and a sister in law who live on the farm.

He's essentially a space trucker and meets Obi-Wan and his apprentice Darth Vader during one of his off world trips.

Obi-Wan's life seems more exciting and Anakin is fascinated with the mystical aspects of the Force so he leaves home and his wife (who unknown to him is pregnant when he leaves).

When the clone wars break out Anakin is not fully trained (partly because he started training just as the war broke out and partly because his teacher is still training Vader too). He is not ready for the horrors that war presents him with or the intoxication of fame and glory.

He sees injustice and cruelty on both sides and takes a hard line on his foes who he feels is praying on the weak.

He uses the threat of violence and fear to fight these people seeing it as means to an end, something Vader initially agrees with.

The more aggressive and Eastwood like the two become the more their new powers become addictive and when Anakin appears to be killed behind enemy lines, his fellow pupil refuses to give up and searches for him.

A new leader appears on the enemy side calling himself Darth Vader and begins to hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights.

Obi-Wan at first can not believe that his former pupil would have fallen so far and eventually during the course of the war he fights the masked 'Darth (who lifts his mask to Kenobi but not to us and to Kenobi's horror this Vader is indeed a former pupil of his) 'and apparently kills him only to have him return as a cyborg and finish what he has begun.

Obi-Wan finds out about the twins and takes the mother and daughter to live on Alderaan but Owen will not surrender the boy blaming Obi-Wan for everything that has happened.

He stays behind to secure the boy's safety.

Jar Jar is in the fridge fridge full of jam jam.

Is it possible to have this thread moved over there?