The Star Wars Thread

[FestiveJack]

10 hours ago, DFF said:

II is worse than I imo. Yes, I is bad, but it at least has decent action sequences, Qui-Gon and Darth Maul. II is total a CGI borefest. 

So much this for me. I is the best of the prequels because its more of a film, rather than an exercise in CGI.

[RPS]

We just finished Episode 4. It holds up really great. I always forget how good it is. Episode 5 and then I get to watch the prequels and see if they truly are as terrible as people say. 

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

Everybody hating everything about the prequels is just one of those things that has just permeated pop culture that people can't watch them without that distorting their perceptions about them.

Episode II is really the worst of everything, but TPM (tax policy aside) is a good (not great) movie and Liam Neesons is awesome in it.

[Skummy]

Nah, Episode 1 is dreadful. The only really redeeming scene is the fight with Darth Maul, but even that is lessened by the fact that it carries barely any narrative weight because of how appallingly the characters have been written before that. Episode 2 is the worst because it's utterly forgettable, though. I couldn't tell you a single thing that happens other than wholesale repetition of the Boba Fett asteroid field bit.

[GhostMachine]

Some of the many reasons TPM sucks are because of Jake Lloyd, the whole midechlorians (don't know or care if that's spelled right) bullshit, and it has the most Jar Jar in it out of all the prequels. I also believe Darth Maul should have been a two movie villain, not dealt with before the end of TPM.

When I went to the theater to see AOTC, there was a collective groan by almost everyone in the theater when Jar Jar showed up. 

I also believe the prequels were hurt by the casting of Anakin, period. Yes, Jake Lloyd was awful as kid Anakin, but Hayden Christensen kind of stunk, too. And don't even get me started on the whole Jango and Boba Fett stuff. (Boba is the most overrated Star Wars character, in my opinion. Yes, he looks badass, but anyone could put on that armor....)

I likely won't see TFA until it comes out on DVD or Blu-Ray, making it the first Star Wars film I haven't seen in theaters. (Actually saw A New Hope in theaters twice. I was six when it came out.)

 

 

[gunnar hendershow]

III is the only prequel that has some redeeming characteristics and that's basically because it fits together neatly. I is a disaster with zero characterization and no narrative direction. It's just Lucas throwing shit on the screen he wanted to put on the screen. I've always said the politics/tax policy/economics of the Republic are forgivable since Star Wars isn't about them. But shit he tried his damndest to make them the entire point. What's frustrating with I is there are tweaks that could be done to make it at least forgivable without a complete overhaul. Explain the background of Darth Maul, place more importance on Palpatine bringing Anakin under his supervision, and just have someone with any knowledge of economics come in to brush things up. It's unfortunately a movie where George Lucas only answered to George Lucas and it shows. II is just a masturbatory CGI-fest. No redeeming qualities except a few cool action scenes I suppose. III is a nice package that shows what finally broke Anakin, sadly marred by horrible acting, side characters not being fleshed out, and the worst dialogue for any Star Wars movie.

Prequels should be watched for completionists, but even then there is absolutely nothing you're going to get out of them that you can't get in existing movies.

[GhostMachine]

If you've never seen the films, I'd advise either going with the Machete order, OR in the order they were released but skipping Episode I until after all the others due to the fact its so bad and can easily be avoided without really missing much.

I've only seen TPM once since it was in theaters, and then I only watched it that time due to boredom. If it wasn't for finally getting to see Yoda fight and Christopher Lee being cast as Count Dooku, I doubt I'd have ever watched AOTC more than once, either. Episode III is hands down my favorite of the prequels. 

Though I suppose once all nine films have been released, I may watch all of them in order over a few days. I've done that with The Fast And The Furious recently (and yes, I went 1-2, 4-6, 3, then 7...though technically it should be 1-2, 4-6, 4, 3, the scene at the end of 6, then 7).

 

 

[SeanDMan]

Someone released what they claim is an anti-cheese edit of the Prequels, it will probably not be around for long so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfQBdRcgizc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDlT59hqqtk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14tMHjDkKLA

Edit:

Since we're talking Star Wars, maybe the best way to watch the prequels is the Auralnauts spoof.

"I've been wondering... what are midichlorians?"

"...it's heroin."

They also have a version for Episode Four: LASER MOON AWAKENS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9dUG3_KNA

As for Force Awakens stuff...

 

 

Spoiler

http://tr-8r.com/ : because loyalty is important

 

[gunnar hendershow]

TFA should pass Avatar for highest US gross by Monday or Tuesday.

$1 billion domestic very much in play, though people returning to school on Monday will slow down some of the momentum.

[Hellraiser]

Can someone explain to me why it is called "Machete Order"? Some kind of reference to the movie staring Danny Trejo?

[Walker]

This guy is credited for "inventing" the order in 2011:

http://www.nomachetejuggling.com

It went viral. The rest is history.

[Hellraiser]

The only real way to watch star wars is to pretend the prequels aren't a thing. Disney seems to be happy to do so. Yes, there are some redeeming qualities to Episode III but that movie alone isn't worth watching Episodes I and II.

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

The basis for the "Machete Order" is that the reveal of Darth Vader as Luke Skywalker's father is still the big surprise of the saga and thus nothing should be known about Vader being Anakin Skywalker, but that is toothpaste that is not getting back in the tube.

[Quom]

I think the prequels thing is overblown by people who saw the originals first. I know two adults who had never seen Star Wars prior to the prequels, both of them have said that the acting is horrible in Phantom Menace but otherwise have enjoyed and put the prequels on par with the originals. I think a large portion of it is people seeing the originals as kids and the prequels as adults or having had a large gap in between the two series giving them enough time to grow nostalgic about the originals.

TFA was okay, but I'd say it was one of the weaker entries and it didn't really feel like much of a Star Wars film to me.

  

Edited January 3, 2016 by Quom

[HC]

2 hours ago, Quom said:

I think the prequels thing is overblown by people who saw the originals first. I know two adults who had never seen Star Wars prior to the prequels, both of them have said that the acting is horrible in Phantom Menace but otherwise have enjoyed and put the prequels on par with the originals. I think a large portion of it is people seeing the originals as kids and the prequels as adults or having had a large gap in between the two series giving them enough time to grow nostalgic about the originals.

TFA was okay, but I'd say it was one of the weaker entries and it didn't really feel like much of a Star Wars film to me.

  

That's odd. It felt so much like Star Wars to me. In fact, what little criticism the film has gotten has been that it's too similar to A New Hope. I loved it personally.

 I somewhat agree on the prequels though. Being a young'in, those were the first Star Wars movies I was exposed to. Are they as good as the originals? No, but II and III are pretty alright for what they are. No new movie is going to make a thirty year old man feel like he felt when he was six. Then again, if I had grown up on the originals and had to wait twenty years for Episode I only to be let down, I'd probably hate it too.

[Quom]

The storyline was similar, but the dialogue, exposition, pacing and loads of other stuff felt very, very un-Star Wars (at least to me who had just watched the six previous ones in like 2 days with my boyfriend who had never seen any of them before, so they were super fresh in my mind). For some reason it felt much more like Harry Potter in space (I couldn't begin to tell you why). I also think the modern sploogefest of blue-ing the white balance and adding orange everywhere didn't help much in making it feel Star Wars-y either.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Quom

[HC]

Hmm... I didn't get that feeling, but I did see it opening day and was way too caught up in the hype to look at it critically. I'll be rewatching it soon, so I'll have to look out for that.

[TMM]

With the exception of Jar Jar Binks and the medichlorians,  I've never really got the hate for Phantom Menace. I have really fond memories of the film due to it being the first one I saw in the cinema and perhaps partly down to the PS1 game (which I loved) but I just remember really enjoying it and I still do now. Obviously it's not the best and doesn't compare to the original trilogy but I think the acting is perfectly acceptable, the story makes sense to me; the trade blockade is all put in place to garner sympathy for Naboo and then lead Palpatine into manipulating the young Queen into calling for Valorum to be ejected so the senate will elect a new leader, which due to the situation on Naboo, they were always going to go "aw, Naboo, oh heck Palpatine's from Naboo, let's elect him." Sure you can pick holes in it, but if you want to do that, the originals could easily be picked apart such as how on earth could the first Death Star travel at lightspeed considering it's size, how could the second Death Star be built so quickly and more.

I think kids who saw Phantom Menace at same age many of us saw A New Hope (or Star Wars at the time) probably have as many fond memories as we do of it, although I'm just making an assumption here.

Attack of the Clones was god awful though, only Natalie Portman in the S&M outfit on Naboo is worthwhile.

[Skummy]

I will agree that the Phantom Menace game is fucking great.

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

What is such a big deal with midichlorians?