What was wrong with the Star Wars prequels?

[philmophlegm]

[Poll #1989545]




Context:
I've just read the novel 'Darth Plagueis', which is sort of Star Wars Episode 0, and is fantastic - really, really good - but only if you didn't hate the prequel trilogy, or at least if you didn't hate the prequel trilogy for some of the more common reasons that you see posted online. This caused us to watch Episode 1 again tonight (we have to take the occasional break from Bunn's epic rewatch of SG1...)

Anyway, I really like the prequels, but I do seem to be in a distinct minority..

Comments

[andrewducker]

I actively liked 2 and 3.

I did find that (1) didn't work as well for me - I found the characters less interesting, I think. Given a Han Solo-esque rogue character I'd have been a lot happier with it.

And I'm not a Jar-Jar fan - I don't loathe him as some people do, but he seemed altogether more "wacky" than most of the other characters, and not really in the same tone as the rest of the film (or, indeed, the other movies). C3-PO is sometimes played for laughs in a similar way, but he he seems more...plausible in the setting than Jar-Jar, whose humour felt more forced.

But I do feel that 2/3 stand up perfectly well.

(And I like large chunks of the Clone Wars seasons I've seen.)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

You missed out, "I watched the original film when I was 7, and loved it so much that I will forever look at with with rose-tinted spectacles. The prequels I watched as an adult, when I went in with the high expectations that come from a lifetime of fannish love, which caused me to over-react massively to anything that didn't quite match what I'd hoped to see."

At least, that's the impression I got from a lot of the most vitriolic of prequel-haters back in the day. Whereas I didn't see the original trilogy until I was an adult - only a year before I saw episode one - so had a rather different perspective on things.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it is clear that kids _love_ JarJar, much as I loved Ewoks when I was their age. The best time to see Star Wars is clearly "When you're seven".

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

"The golden age of science fiction is 12."

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I should have put that one in.

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

I'm not a serious fan - I think I've only seen each movie once - but I liked the prequels. I found Anakin's story more interesting than Luke's. It was compelling in the way that a classical tragedy is: a good man, with great potential, in the single-minded pursuit of something good, gives up something more important, and thus loses everything.

[eledonecirrhosa.livejournal.com]

While Jar-Jar was annoying etc, I mainly disliked the prequels because of plot and pacing issues. Pod-racing? Euan MacGregor on a giant lizard? Who gives a frak! I don't want to be subjected to scenes like this simply for the producers to have something to put into the spin-off computer game!

The morality also bothered me. There is slavery, but the Jedi don't seem to care. Anakin never goes back to find his Mum.