Wait a second… I just remembered I’ve only seen the edit where Revan just dies.
What’s your opinion? Do you think the prequels are better than Kenobi?
I don’t think this show saved Anakin, yet alone the prequels. This show is too silly. I find it ironically amusing when people say this show saved the prequels, when it has the exact same issues. Awful droid humor, jar jar episodes, Anakin is still excessively obsessive and weird with Padme (think about that one episode where he gives Padme his lightsaber in the office and his demanding and immature attitude), the tone is all over the place, Anakin is easily duped to evil ( think about Mortis trilogy, he becomes evil because the evil son showed him in the future that he will be evil and thinks being evil in the present will stop him from being evil in the future, RIDICULOUS). And even the parts of the show that are good like Maul, are ridiculous when you think about it… Maul literally parades around with no genitalia. It’s absolutely absurd and I wish this wasn’t considered “canon.” Even though I only really count the OT as canon since SW has been retconned into oblivion.
Nothing can save the prequels. They are done. They exist. If you don’t like them then try to focus on the original prequel ideas that exist in the ROTJ novel and Thrawn trilogy, as rare as the details are.
That being said if Ihad to revisit Lucas’ prequels I read Darth Plagueis and ROTS NOVEL…
Yeah it’s overrated even by itself. The animation style has this weird floaty, weightless quality that keeps any of the action from having impact.
When you watch the show people have these charts where they tell you what episodes to skip and which arcs are good because they’re so hit or miss. It seems like a lot of the popularity comes from memes about “heh wow this is so dark for a kids show, they’re doing war crimes right now.” Okay, it’s dark for a kid’s show. You showed very light, bloodless versions of people getting tortured and soldiers dying in combat. And? Does that make it good?
Not to mention nothing matters. The show was created after everyone had already seen Revenge of the Sith. There is no tension at all because we know how everything ends already and we know exactly who lives and who dies, even down to the minor background characters and almost every villain. Oh no, our heroes are captured for the 30th time, just like every other episode! Will they make it to the movies to do all the stuff we already saw them do?
The closest it goes to patching the prequels somewhat is adding a little bit of information about Sifo Dyas that goes nowhere, and adding the brain chips to the clones to further explain Order 66. But the chips are only patching a problem that the show itself introduced, making the clones all sympathetic characters that wouldn’t betray the Jedi on their own.
I don’t know about you but for me, if I have to skip episodes in order to enjoy a show, that means it’s not a very good show. No one says to skip Breaking Bad episodes, Sopranos episodes, Game of Thrones episodes, Avatar Last Airbender episodes, etc. etc.
If you were to tell someone to watch this show starting from Season 1 I’ll wager more than half would quit just based off the first episode with Yoda and the clones and that insufferable droid humor.
Kenobi is way worse
Can you please briefly explain why? I’m interested…
Star Wars is what it is today because the priority is no longer about making good cinema. The priority now is to make a product to sell. Hence Prequel era Lucas’ and Disney’s focus on filming expediently and not trying to approach film/tv as an auteur and using that cinematic language. Once in a while you will get good quality stuff like Andor, Rogue One, Mandalorian season one and two, and 50% of Last Jedi. It’s been like this since the prequels, maybe even ROTJ. And Yes, it is George’s fault but the long wait for good stuff is worth it. Andor really made me feel this. And while the prequel movies sucked the books, games, and comics were excellent.
I don’t think this show saved Anakin, yet alone the prequels. This show is too silly. I find it ironically amusing when people say this show saved the prequels, when it has the exact same issues. Awful droid humor, jar jar episodes, Anakin is still excessively obsessive and weird with Padme (think about that one episode where he gives Padme his lightsaber in the office and his demanding and immature attitude), the tone is all over the place, Anakin is easily duped to evil ( think about Mortis trilogy, he becomes evil because the evil son showed him in the future that he will be evil and thinks being evil in the present will stop him from being evil in the future, RIDICULOUS). And even the parts of the show that are good like Maul, are ridiculous when you think about it… Maul literally parades around with no genitalia. It’s absolutely absurd and I wish this wasn’t considered “canon.” Even though I only really count the OT as canon since SW has been retconned into oblivion.
Nothing can save the prequels. They are done. They exist. If you don’t like them then try to focus on the original prequel ideas that exist in the ROTJ novel and Thrawn trilogy, as rare as the details are.
That being said if Ihad to revisit Lucas’ prequels I read Darth Plagueis and ROTS NOVEL…
I can watch the Phantom Menace and revenge of the Sith. The last Jedi is the only good sequel trilogy movie. However, the last Jedi is far from perfect. It’s just that the direction, the acting and the character relationships are up there with the original trilogy at times. The last Jedi is literally 50% excellent and 50% terrible. That 50% of excellence easily destroys anything in the prequel movies. But if I had to force myself to watch one trilogy, I would pick the prequel because I just loathe JJ Abrams for his lack of creativity
I think Star Wars needs to take a break. A very long break. I don’t think the universe needs to get bigger but smaller. For me, less is more when it comes to Star Wars. For me, Star Wars was at its best in the pre-prequel era because projects were coming out minimally, and when they did, it was special. I feel like there was a more quality over quantity approach. We need to get back to that. Rather than having 10 shows running at the same time, I would rather have one show with all those resources put into it. That would be an Emmy award-winning masterpiece like breaking bad, or the Sopranos or Game of Thrones. Instead of releasing 100 books a year release three, but make the contents, super impactful to the universe and significant. But I know Disney will never do this. And this is why I wish Star Wars was more like back to the future. Smaller. Less is more.
I always thought there would be a good story in regards to who made the prophecy of the chosen one. You can take this into a lot of directions. You can make the prophecy a lie or the truth. Have it take place during one of those old Republic Jedi versus Sith wars. Make it a Game of Thrones style series with the movie tie in
I think Episode 1 was the best film making wise. Best actors, best cinematography, and story. It’s a political thriller disguised as a children’s film. The downside is the film is bloated and filled with filler. Plus, jar is an insult to the franchise with his very existence. The baby toddler humor was ridiculous. I would rather visit the good elements of this movie by reading the novel Darth plagueis.
Episode two is the worst because it makes Darth Vader look like an obsessive weirdo in regards to Padme. I also don’t like how the main protagonist Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin are literally why the clone wars began with them being kidnapped by the separatist. It makes the Star Wars universe feel smaller And is too coincidental when putting in context with the original trilogy. But if I had to revisit this story, I would do so by reading the novelization, which is significantly better because it focuses more on Anakin losing his mother, which is literally the only important element of this movie.
Episode three is probably the most entertaining, but that doesn’t mean it was a good movie. The direction is very haphazard and feels sloppy. But there are some decent performances here and there. Namely, between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi when Kenobi ask Anakin to do something dishonest and most scenes Between Anakin and Palpatine were also OK. I just hate How rush this movie feels and particularly the last five minutes of the movie is ridiculous with the nooooooo! And how the movie tries to tie into the originals. The novelization is 1 million times better.
However, I prefer the original story which was told in the return of the Jedi novelization. Overall, the prequels had good ideas Which were executed haphazardly in the movies. The novelizations were way better, especially revenge of the sith. Which means Others can write these movies better than George Lucas.
So you refuse to pick, correct? But it sounds like you like Kenobi less. And I agree with your observations but I was just wondering which series you thought was better…and you keep mentioning the comics but I don’t care about that in the slightest. I just want to focus on live action.
It only sounds like that because I didn’t rant about the Prequels.
It’s a bit hard to choose, but honestly, the Kenobi show is probably better. No matter how much it fumbles, the Prequels fumble more as movies and in some of the ripple effects it’s had, even if the they did inspire some good material.
It’s cool if you don’t care about the comics. I love them because I feel they bring back Vader to how he feels in the OT (in the 2017 series he’s definitely younger, but still very much like him personality wise) whilst making good use of Prequel ideas.
Got it. Thanks. I actually just checked and I own Vader 2017 volumes but haven’t read them LOL. They been sitting on my coffee table for a year but I got them because people said it was the best run. I just care more about film. A lot more. But i’ll get around to reading them…
didn’t make Vader look A fool like he did in revenge of the Sith
Vader…
- Doesn’t put out the fire separating him and Obi-Wan with the Force, like he just did 30 seconds ago, Force grab Obi-Wan and pull him over, or just walk through the fire. Yes, his suit is that durable, especially in the Canon comics
- Doesn’t arrest the Organa’s for being obvious Jedi sympathizers. There’s no other way Obi-Wan could’ve known about Leia’s capture as it wasn’t public
- Doesn’t order the Star Destroyer pursuing the rebels to use TIE fighters, and redirects the entire Destroyer to follow Obi-Wan’s ship, only to then leave in his own shuttle to face him. All he had to do was order the Destroyer to continue following the rebels and use his shuttle to face Obi-Wan
All of which he would’ve done if he was written in-character with the OT and Canon Vader comics (which are a far better depiction of a younger Vader).
Other out-of-character things, though not necessarily relating to his intelligence:
- The Emperor says Vader lost his duel with Obi-Wan because “Perhaps your feelings for your former master have left you weakened.” But Vader shouldn’t be conflicted when fighting Obi-Wan. Part of his characterization is that he is too utterly consumed by his hatred of his past self and (almost) everything and everyone from that life. His heart should be like a Sun fighting Obi-Wan. Luke was an exception because he represented the future.
- Darth Vader, in Canon material like the comics, is an unrelenting combatant. You can cut off a limb, destroy his respirator, he’ll still fight and win, fueled by the power of the dark side.
When the first Jedi he faces in the suit takes advantage of his cybernetic leg breaking (having thrown a bunch of obstacles his way before the fight) and throws him off a cliff, what happens? Vader painfully bends his body back into shape and uses a droid’s parts to help reconstruct the parts of his suit he needs, and comes back to finish the job. This is not only just one example, but also takes place days after his immolation and surgery.
At this point in his life, nothing but a literal force of nature (flood, earthquake, etc.) would’ve been able to stop Vader killing Obi-Wan, which is why, perhaps, they shouldn’t have fought in the show.- He didn’t kill Reva the second she showed up as a potential inquisitor due to her knowing his identity. That’s kinda one of Vader’s things. He can’t stand anybody knowing his former identity. Nobody can know that he’s human, in any way vulnerable. They must know him as this seemingly invincible monster. It’s an ego thing.
- I loathe how they had Vader “earn” his classic theme. Once he’s in the suit, he’s fully Vader, that’s it. Not “50% Vader” as Chow says.
His hatred of Obi-Wan is not Anakin, it’s Vader. Vader is the pure manifestation of the dark side of Anakin, that’s the whole point. Everything about him is a twisted, evil version of his former self.
Vader was never just this one-dimensional robot that doesn’t give a shit about anything other than following his master’s order. Even in the OT, while he’s mostly incredibly cold, you see that rage, pride, and possessiveness. It’s part of what makes Vader such a compelling, terrifying, and intimidating villain. He has drive, personal stake. His desire for revenge against Kenobi is in ANH. Palpatine should be encouraging his hatred of his former master unless it actually gets in the way of the needs of the Galactic Empire.
Also, what a way to spit on Soule’s 2017 Vader comic run. I am also so beyond sick of the “long game origin/earning the mantle” trope for classic characters in modern media. It’s hack, soulless, uncreative writing.There are some scenes I actually really like. Terrorizing the villagers, some aspects of the first duel, portraying him as a horror villain, Force pulling the entire ship down, absolutely schooling Reva by beating her without even pulling out his own lightsaber. The scene where Vader admits that he is responsible for his own fall, not Obi-Wan, is almost good if not for the way it ends (with Obi-Wan just walking away and Vader not pursuing further). Vader does, and should, know and embrace that he’s a monster, his regret and self-loathing deeply repressed.
I love the look of the suit and some of his dialogue. Seeing Vader on the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer again gave me a nice nostalgic serotonin hit, and his fortress on Mustafar is always cool. I like the added throne, great character development through imagery there. There’s a lot of gorgeous shots of him useful for edits and are just pretty to look at.In the end, though, it’s hard for me to articulate how frustrating watching what could be potentially amazing content, only for it to drop the ball through. It’d be like if, after the iconic scene in Empire Strikes Back where Vader says one of his coldest lines to Lando, “I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further”, as he’s walking off, he then slips on a banana peel and a laugh track plays.
That’s how I feel watching a decent chunk of this show. Just the utter void of seeing all of the parts for a masterpiece only to see it fall apart right in front of my face.nor did he look like an overly obsessive weirdo like he did in attack of the clones.
…well yeah, there’s no romance subplot. I guess you can say he’s obsessed with Obi-Wan in a different way, but he’s not weird about it, and it’s in-character.
does anyone here think Kenobi is a better prequel than the actual prequel trilogy?
Doesn’t matter Uncle Ben, the 2017 Canon Vader comics are better then both (meme template, if you don’t know look it up).
So you refuse to pick, correct? But it sounds like you like Kenobi less. And I agree with your observations but I was just wondering which series you thought was better…and you keep mentioning the comics but I don’t care about that in the slightest. I just want to focus on live action.
Hello everyone. This is my first post. I have read these OT forums for about 15 years and appreciate everyone’s contributions to OT appreciation and preservation. I had a question that I am dying to ask people here. I was watching the Kenobi show, and even though it is Definitely flawed, I felt that it was at least better made than the prequels trilogy. I wanted to know what this community feels about this comparison. Which one do you feel is the better prequel? Since I have major issues with the prequel trilogy (movies suck, books II and III were way better) I felt that the Kenobi show was at least better made, and didn’t make Vader look A fool like he did in revenge of the Sith nor did he look like an overly obsessive weirdo like he did in attack of the clones. I feel if we watched the Kenobi show and ignore the prequels, it gives just a little bit of hints as to what happened to Anakin while still leaving it a mystery And not ruining the Darth Vader character, which is the biggest issue of the prequels in my opinion. There are a little bit of flashbacks, but all we really see is Anakin burning and small connections to the PT like seeing Qui Gong but if you never seen the prequel, it really doesn’t hurt your understanding of what’s going on. Does anyone here think Kenobi is a better prequel than the actual prequel trilogy? I definitely can see where people don’t like either because they definitely both have errors in their writing but if you had to choose, which one would it would be?