Opinions on episodes 1-3

Television, Movies Games and Books Star Wars
#21

I’m not saying he won’t. I am saying you can’t change the story or make it better. Sadly, that is a done deal. Re-edits of the special editions didn’t make Star Wars better, it was already great. If anything, Greedo caused quite a disruption. That was the first sign of Emperor Palpatine…ahem…I mean George Lucas getting what HE wanted. George’s response about that speaks volumes. “Han Solo would not shoot first. It is not his character.” It is totally his character. Hello, his name is Han Solo. Totally out for himself and will preserve himself at all costs. His transformation to the character he becomes is the whole point. Having Greedo shoot first negates that and makes Solo weaker.

On another note, George doesn’t get “I know”. How do you not get “I love you.” “I know.” As mentioned, George needed someone to challenge him. Instead, he was surrounded by yes men.

Now I know, I’ve watched all the documentaries and read all about the production nightmares Lucas experienced making the first Wars. If I had experienced a nervous breakdown and wound up in the hospital I’d not soon forget. I’d want to distance myself from people like that too. But c’mon, you’re George frakkin’ Lucas. Well, maybe that’s the point he’s George frakkin’ Lucas. Why should he care what anyone thinks?

At least, Lord of the Rings was handled properly.

#22

Well, I liked the music. And Liam Neeson as a Jedi. Other than that…
frakkintalos said it better than I could. The main thing that occurs to me when I see them is wasted potential.

#23

I agree with pretty much everything everybody’s saying. Darth Maul extending his double-sided lightsaber staff was one of my favorite moments of the entire six movies, and the fighting action in #1 was great. But, yeah, wasted potential. Would it have killed Lucas to run the script past Tom Stoppard or Kevin Smith or John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Conan), really?

#24

Episodes 1-3 are kinda decent sci-fi action flicks, but horrible Star Wars movies

#25

Well episodes 4-6 were awsome. They were all great actors… Harrison Ford still has it (indiana jones 4 may 22). Also god graphics for the time, but i still love the graphics. Now episodes 1-3 had better graphics, and better fights. Like the lightsaber fight between Obi-wan and Anikin. I’ll show you a difference on the fights. like return of the jedi,<object width=“425” height=“355”><param name=“movie” value=“http://www.youtube.com/v/phqzx7dVWwY&hl=en”></param><param name=“wmode” value=“transparent”></param><embed src=“http://www.youtube.com/v/phqzx7dVWwY&hl=en” type=“application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=“transparent” width=“425” height=“355”></embed></object>

and Revenge of the sith <object width=“425” height=“355”><param name=“movie” value=“http://www.youtube.com/v/SCir0lM3kYY&hl=en”></param><param name=“wmode” value=“transparent”></param><embed src=“http://www.youtube.com/v/SCir0lM3kYY&hl=en” type=“application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=“transparent” width=“425” height=“355”></embed></object>

#26

whoops hold on. wrong thing to paste. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phqzx7dVWwY&feature=related.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCir0lM3kYY&feature=related

#27

I think that episode 1-3 were pretty good. Obivously they are very flawed. Although very good special effects I wish they still built some models or have some more natural elements. Episode 1 did pretty well with this but Ep 2-3 there is almost too much special effects(computer graphics) to buy into it. Lord of the Rings is a great example of mixing live action, CG, and Models to create something you can buy into. Also I think all that green screen did not help the actors although the script didn’t help much either.
I’m glad they were made. As a kid I loved Episode 1. 2 was ok and 3 is very watchable as a genre film. The best part is that now we get The Clone Wars TV show that will probably be better than the Prequels

#28

Excellent point. On Dinner of Five, Luke Hammill (sic) said that for Return of the Jedi, he wanted to have a ponytail on knot-top or some kind of strand of hair as a nod to samurai culture. And he wanted the fights to be more martial-arts-y. But Lucas gunned the ideas down, saying his vision was that lightsabers were big and unwieldy and heavy, like an Excalibur-type longsword or broadsword. And then the new trilogy comes out, and…

#29

Chef Elf sums up all my complaints (and more!)

(Caution: You can lose a day or two there.)

#30

Awesome find, Pike. That guy has done his homework.

#31

They were fine, but there was so much hype and build up there was no way for them to live up to expectations. I liked them for what they were.

Phantom menace

the good

Well Darth Maul was about as cool of Sith lord they made and still my favorite of all the light saber battles.

the bad
Jar jar binks, and the six hours of NASCAR i mean pod racing

Attack of clones (my favorite of the first three)

the good

my favorite part was when the Jango Fett obi-wan fight, that was pretty damn cool. and the first time we saw Yoda get to business.

the bad

We had to watch two talented actors pretend to fall in love so badly, well something went terribly wrong there.

revenge of the sith

the good

We got see the emperor kick some Jedi butt. and grievous was cool.
and we got to See Anican cut into little iddy biddy pieces

the bad

NOOOOOO!!!

but all in all, i put this question to the group, why didn’t we see any Ewoks, i know it doesn’t make perfect sense but just some slave ewoks walking in the background would have done my heart good.

#32

Crap.

'nuff said.

#33

I enjoy the movies a ton. Nothing could be less cool than liking the prequels, I know, but I think they’re great fun. Who cares if the love scenes in Ep II weren’t Shakespeare quality? Certainly not me. I also don’t really care if there are silly slapstick moments here and there for the kids. They’re popcorn films of a bygone era (free of AICN talkbackers who think they’re witty by telling us how much they hate CGI and George Lucas for the 1,000,000th time). They’re good fun, and that’s all I’m looking for in a movie.

#34

No kidding. I had to make myself stop reading that site.

#35

I can’t stand those whiny babies either and I hope I don’t sound like one. As I think I’ve mentioned, the fanboys just state it sux with nothing to back it with. Jar Jar sux. Lucas die. Etc. That’s not what I’m saying. I just trying to offer positive criticism. If any of those whiny fanboys could do better, they would have already and we’d know about it. I’m not saying the films suck, if I did I would accept a democracy voted lobotomy. I’m just saying with the resources Lucas had and has, they coulda been better.

#36

Wow. This is awesome. Every single thing that drove me crazy about Phantom Menace is there…even stuff I forced myself to forget. I can’t wait to read the next installments!

#37

I have to say as a kind of young timer (I was 7, 10 & 13 respectively) when the original trilogy was released, I was greatly disappointed in the new series. Partly because of the massive build up I had in my head, I will freely own up to the fact nothing could have been as good as I wanted it to be. They got better as it progressed. However, I have to echo everything that Talos said & it bears repeating, with all of the resources & excitement he had for these films, they could have been SOOO much better.

Again, ESB is arguably the best movie overall of the orignal trilogy. Yet, Lucas was exec producer, he got out of his own way & the movie was much better for it.

As for Lucas not getting “I know” I think it’s pretty obvious, Lucas does not understand dialogue in the slightest.

As for being a children’s fable, yes, the original is & it’s that much more fun for it. However, the backstory of Vader is going to be much darker. It has to be to create that kind of evil. He not only turns to the darkside, he is instrumental in perpetrating what amounts to genocide. That’s pretty dark! I’m not saying it needed to be R either, PG13 would have been an appropriate target range.

#38

I particularly like this one from his list:

Reason #51
Anakin Succumbs to the Dark Side
Anakin, being a Grade A doofus, decides that he must save Palpatine from the clutches of the vile Jedi MACE WINDU! So, he chops off Windu’s hand and has Palpatine blast him to death with some more of that sweet, sweet Force lightning. He does this for two reasons: 1) He wishes to have Palpatine stand trial and 2) He wants to learn the secrets of keeping people alive so that Padme won’t die. However, reason number one goes out the window (along with Mace Windu) as soon as he chops of Mace’s hand. In the course of two minutes, Anakin has gone from the Jedi who wants to turn in Palpatine and bring him to trial, to the Jedi who is surrendering to Palpatine, becoming his apprentice and slaughtering a room full of children. I feel sorry for anyone who chose that two-minute stretch to use the rest room.

#39

Slavery’s too good for Ewoks. They should be used for target practice and deep space sewage maintenance on Imperial battle stations.

#40

nothing against your argument, but EP. 3 was rated PG-13.