Star Wars

Its good to be a Jedi.

I've been thinking about the prequel trilogy a lot lately (unfortunately). I can't seem to get it out of my head some times, and there's a big thing in it that bothers me, and I don't think it's something that RedLetterMedia covers in the Plinkett reviews.

The thing that bothers me a lot is that the prequels make the galaxy seem really small. Sure there are new planets and some new characters, but there's also too many familiar faces who are both main characters and secondary characters.

Like Boba/Jango Fett and Chewbacca. Chewbacca was cool and Boba Fett was, for me, one of the coolest characters in the original trilogy, and the less we knew about him, the better. Why did these characters need to appear in the prequel trilogy? It doesn't make much sense. If you take them out, their absence wouldn't drastically alter the course of the films.

Why does Jango have to be the person all the storm troopers were cloned from? Why does Boba have to be a clone of Jango? (Lucas put the coolest bounty hunter in the galaxy on par with storm troopers.  ) Why was Chewbacca involved in the third film? Why does Anakin Skywalker have to be the main character (We already know the essentials of the character: great pilot, pupil of Obi-wan, turned to the dark side. So we already know his story.)? Why did Anikan's mother have to get sold to Owen and Beru Lars? Is it just so Obi-wan could then turn over young Luke to them? Couldn't it have been dealt with in some other way?

Does anyone see what I'm trying to get at with this? It's like six degrees of Kevin Bacon, but in the Star Wars universe. It just seems too small, too intertwined, and every little thing at the end of Revenge of the Tshi had to be tied up with a neat little ribbon. I know this is George's story and he gets to tell it the way he wants to, but it all just seems so small afterwards.

Yes, I think I see what you're getting at.

In contrast Tolkien leaves many unresolved gaps and loose ends: White Council, Tom Bombadil, Borrow Wights, Ents and Entwives, the nature of wizards and on and on.

It makes Middle Earth feel more open around the edges, like a real world with all its mess, rather than like a neatly arranged terrarium.

I agree, I felt the same way too, and it's how I'm feeling about the Hobbit now with Legolas reappearing I do think Anakin should play an important part in the prequel trilogy, though. It's either that, or he doesn't play any part at all, and the prequel trilogy would have to be a completely different set of films.

Ringdrotten wrote: It's either that, or he doesn't play any part at all, and the prequel trilogy would have to be a completely different set of films.

Oh, that could have been wonderful with absolutely no characters or planets in common! It would have been free to tell a whole new story while expanding the world of the original series. It  sure would have antagonized the fan base though.

Yeah, I think the limited scope and repeat characters are one of the biggest problems with the Star Wars prequels. And as Ringdrotten notes, it's a problem that's starting to affect The Hobbit too. Prequels are by their very nature unnecessary since we already know what will happen. IMO, the worst thing you can do from a storytelling perspective is strip out even the vestiges of originality or mystery. It makes the whole story feel even more like an adjunct to the original than it already did, and it destroys any sense of dramatic weight or stakes. Yet time and again, people take the derivative route, because doing the same thing over again is seen as a safe bet.

I think you have half a point Bungo.

There were far too many things that George seemed to need to link to the originals. Like blueprints for the death star in episode 2 and some of the characters.

I do, however, think that with the story he was trying to tell, a lot of them were needed. You can't, for example, tell the story of Anakin without him in it. Palpatine, Yoda, Obi Wan were all part of that story and so I also think were right to be there.

I do think they could have been smarter with their choice of secondary characters though as well as locations. Not sure why Anakin needed to have grown up on Tatooine or Chewbacca being there (which causes continuity issues with Han and his view on the Jedi..... Chewwy took orders from the head of its council!!)

I think that they were just badly done overall. There was too much reliance on cliché movie formula that just made them like most other big budget films. They couldn't even think up some suitable twists to keep things intriguing (No.... I am your father [Palpatine to Yoda]).

I think maybe if Anakin was a strong supporting character that we really liked (with maybe Obi-wan as the lead) then it would have been more emotional when he turned to the dark side (even though we knew it was coming; I feel that if he were not the center of the story, then his inevitable turn wouldn't be the complete focus and wouldn't be the first thing in my mind when watching. I'd be worrying about what Obi-wan is up to or what else is going on, and not "Oh, there's Anakin, he's gonna turn to the dark side in the next two and a half hours. At least that's how I feel about it.). Having him as the main character, and a complete dick to boot, didn't really help.

Ringdrotten, you are right about Legolas being in The Hobbit movies. As if Jackson hadn't already made Middle-earth small enough (Literally! Remember how close Minas Tirith was to Mordor? Although I will give him some leeway there as having the two areas at the proper distance might not work for a movie.). Just imagine how much smaller Middle-earth would feel if we had stupid Aragorn, Arwen, Gimli, whoever-you-can-shove-in-from-LOTR cameos.

Oh, but Jackson is expanding Middle-earth. We get characters who are supposed to be dead, degrading interpretations of existing characters we know little about, and Philipa Boyens' Mary-fupping-Sue. We also get more made up characters in Laketown, like Alfrid (Alfred? Alfredo?)! Oh, hooray! I'm sure he won't echo aspects of Grima Wormtounge at all! I'm sure it will be a totally original idea! Oh, am I getting angry!

The Sultan of Sith.

I love how he's just standing there by the trashcan waiting for an opportunity.

That's cool  

 

 

For me the thing that ruined the prequels beyond all redemption was finding out that George Lucas basically considered the Force to be a microbial infection. Friggin' mitachlorians. Like you could go down by the loading docks and catch a case of the Force from sleeping with a random washed-up Jedi. What an idiot Lucas turned out to be.  

If anything makes you appreciate the value of John William's music, this trailer put together before his score was available is it. I always felt the music was invaluable, but Lord have mercy...

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/9/4821172/see-the-original-star-wars-teaser-trailer-from-1976

Even more weird than no SW music i seeing the logo without the usual lettering style- looks so odd.

I know it was 35 years ago... but I am not sure how excited that trailer would have made me. It was horrible.

Something to distract from the horrible trailer: vintage late-70s Star Wars bloopers. Note that many of the clips don't have sound.



It cracks me up how you can tell that even back then Harrison Ford didn't really want to be there.

This is easily the best thing to come about as a result of the prequels.  Okay, second best after the Plinkett reviews.

There is a disney casting call out for 2 main characters.... seems like they are trying to get the lead roles filled. Shockingly... the leads play a 16-17 year old, one male and one female, both who have parent issues.

Looks like same old formula then.