NeverarGreat

Bingowings said:

If expectations were played with it could have been great (the remake of Night Of The Living Dead worked this way, things happened differently creating new drama based on familiarity with the existing material).

Bingo, I'm confused. Are you saying that the prequels should be in an alternate universe? True, that could work, but it's like the Star Trek reboot, where you might as well not call it Star Trek, because it's in a different universe anyway.

But you're absolutely right that backstory can beget backstory.

I should probably explain what I mean by the "story of the OT."

The story of the original trilogy was the story of how Luke Skywalker became a Jedi Knight and helped defeat an empire. For Lucas to make the OT into part of a six film epic of the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker is unnecessary. Anakin Skywalker can have his own trilogy, and his own story, completely separate from the OT, with a (gasp!) happy ending.

Commander Bane said:

Guys,

The only problem I have here is that no matter how you change or reboot or create a new prequel trilogy entirely, the basic fact of the prequel story is that it is a backstory to the original trilogy. It is not meant to be filmed. It is a bad decision on George's part to attempt to film it.

I agree, the story that Lucas made for the prequels was unfilmable. However, many aspects of that story make no sense in terms of theme, plot, and basic continuity when compared to the OT. In that way, the Lucas prequels are NOT the backstory to Star Wars. Remember that he made up almost all of the details of the story after the OT, or at least there is no reason to think that he had it all planned out ahead of time. For Star Wars, the backstory will always be speculation, so more can always be created or changed.

I think that there are good stories to tell in the Star Wars universe. I just want people to tell them, not continue the story of the OT, which was only 3 movies long.

Bingowings said:

Me I would make Anakin a navigator on a Spice Freighter. 

He uses his latent Force abilities to plot courses quickly and avoid danger.

He sends his money back to his wife and sister who live on his brother-in-law's farm on a Kansas cornfield planet.

He saves Obi-Wan and listening to his tales of the Force drops everything (including his wife, who he doesn't know is already pregnant) to become a Jedi.

But he gets drawn into an affair with the Queen of Alderaan.

Near the end of the story Darth Vader visits the farm and kills Anakin's wife forcing Kenobi, Owen and Beru to flee to Tatooine.

This is pretty much the story that was implied by the OT. Why Lucas didn't go with this is beyond me.

However, I would go back further into the past, making it 40 years before the OT while Anakin was a teenager. I've been working for some time on a prequel rewrite, and holding so closely to the 20 year time gap feels like it's rushing the story and limiting the audience's imagination of implied events.

If you want specifics, I'll go next.

- Make Anakin young, old, Luke's age, whatever, just make his character arc understandable in the context of the entire saga. I would make him a teenager, sans the whiny, but I can definitely see an older Anakin working well.

- More real sets. If possible, make the story smaller than the OT, so that it will dovetail with the originals when they are watched in episodic order.

- Above all: Don't give away the revelations of the OT, like Vader's identity, Yoda, and Leia as Luke's sister. Yes, everyone today knows these revelations, but think in the long term. People will watch the prequels first if they want to see everything in chronological order, so don't ruin the surprise, or step on the toes of the originals.

If Episodes 7, 8, and 9 are good, it won't be because of the original trilogy, or the prequels. Those stories have been told. It won't be because they interweave themselves with the Expanded Universe. It won't even be because they are part of the Star Wars universe itself. It will be because at their core, they are stories worth telling. So really, what the creators and viewers need to ask is "would this story be good if it didn't have Star Wars on the poster?"

For me, there was only one great story worth telling in Star Wars, and that was told 30 years ago. I believe that more great stories can be told in the Star Wars universe, but I doubt that Disney will be the ones to tell them.

Hmm. Is this trilogy a continuation of the Lucas prequels?

I assume that the "enemy" forces in this trilogy are the Rebels. How do you plan to make them a credible threat, given that they are not supposed to win any victory over the Empire until Episode 4?

Definitely a unique take on the idea of the prequels though.

This thread strikes at the heart of why I, and many others want to rewrite the prequels. They have created a paradox wherein no method of watching them yields acceptable results. The OT takes a somewhat mature mind to fully appreciate, this much is generally agreed upon. Thus, watching the prequels at all during early childhood (clearly the target demographic) redefines the OT before it can be appreciated. However, the prequels are almost impossible to appreciate outside of childhood, except through nostalgia.

A catch 22, to be sure.

As for if I would let my kids watch the prequels, I wouldn't recommend them, nor would I ban them. It's just a few movies, after all. I will keep dreaming of a world where a rewritten Episode 1, 2, and 3 may be a better introduction to Star Wars than even the originals, and who knows, it may become a reality some day.

While it may be tempting to write a subtle political drama, I think you must first identify your audience. Who is likely to watch a trilogy of movies dedicated to complex political maneuverings? I doubt that children watching the movies in order would be interested, and adults watching them after seeing the originals would be perplexed at the sudden change of tone. After all, the original trilogy painted the political landscape in broad strokes.

I would make the Republic a macrocosm of Anakin's journey. The question then becomes: Does the prequel trilogy show Anakin's descent into the Dark Side? If so, then the Republic should follow. If not, then the prequels should end with Anakin as a hero and the Republic as victorious, at least for the moment. Both should reveal a tragic flaw, one seen later as the source of their inevitable defeat, and it could be a very stunning revelation in Episode 5.

Consider: The Republic is fighting the Clone Empire. Anakin is a soldier in the Republic army, and the Republic is fearful of its own survival. The mercenary planet of Corellia, with its vast fleet of ships and officers, is for sale to the highest bidder, and its leader, Grand Moff Tarkin, demands governorship over vast expanses of the Republic for his allegiance. The Republic refuses on principle, and the Clone Empire buys the services of Corellia instead. Anakin also is tempted with power, but seemingly rejects it. In Episode 4, the Empire has taken over. We are never told if it is the Clone Empire or the Republic turned Empire, and without this information we can assume that the Clone Empire has triumphed, using the clone-like stormtroopers and the services of the Corellian ships and officers. When it is revealed that the Emperor is the chancellor and Anakin is Vader, we see that Anakin stayed true to the Republic, even as it became an empire. In this way the revelation of Episode 5 becomes that much more potent, and is the hinge on which the entire saga turns.

That's the summary of my basic plot, anyway. I may do an entire thread dedicated to it, if anyone would find it interesting.

Thanks for directing me to the Star Wars Legacy site, I had no idea that such a project was underway. 

Mike's position on distributing his restoration sounds like the knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

"You have chosen wisely. But the Grail cannot pass beyond the Great Seal. That is the boundary and the price of immortality."

...at least as long as Lucas stands in the way.

Just an idea that's probably been discussed elsewhere:

If you had two or more 35mm prints of a movie, both in poor condition (scratches, blurring), would it not be possible to scan both of them and merge the frames using an algorithm?

I'm thinking of something like the X0 project, so it would probably be time consuming in the extreme, but would this even be theoretically possible?

Hi negative1, I'm a lurker who just had to make an account for this topic.

These tests are excellent, and there are many people who see and appreciate them without commenting.

Keep up the amazing work, and if you're going to be making your efforts available only to those expressing interest, sign me up! (Don't know how that system works)

In any case, thank you for saving Star Wars!