Nostalgia Critic - Top 11 GOOD Things in the Prequels

[Crazedwraith]

So we have lots of people who thing the PT is as bad as popularly made out so people might be interested in this video the nostalgia critic just put out.

Link here

He's rather long on the 'well we all know they suck really' front and a couple of are a bit back handed but some interesting points nevertheless.

[Metahive]

And this after he personally killed Jar Jar Binks in the last episode.

[Purple]

And this after he personally killed Jar Jar Binks in the last episode.

I newer understood why people disliked Jar Jar. I always found him to be endearing in the first movie.

[Havok]

I liked Jar Jar. He just got used wrong and it's really one of only two things I fault Lucas for in the Prequels when it comes to the story telling and that is bending to the LOUD fans that hated Jar Jar and wanted him gone and those that LOVED OMGSOAWESOMEBOBAFETT and worked him into it.

[Guardsman Bass]

I don't mind Jar-Jar either. He's even funny at times.

I think he serves another purpose in the story. Jar Jar's an example of how Qui-Gon's approach to the Force - focusing on the present, following the nudges the Force gives - pays off when Jedi do it*. He saves Jar-Jar from punishment, and as a result Jar-Jar later becomes the reason they're able to connect with the Gungans and form a united effort against the Trade Federation. I don't know whether Lucas actually intended to make that point (probably not), but it recently became noticeable to me.

The Critic made a good point about how they could show emotion well just off of face expressions and body language when they weren't stuck with stilted dialogue. In fact, I wonder what it would be like to watch the whole Revenge of the Sith film with the audio for the dialogue removed. There's some parts that would seem weird, but I bet you could get the jist of what was happening anyways.

The opening scene for Revenge of the Sith is definitely pretty goddamn awesome. The drums, the pan over Coruscant, the way they fly in and then suddenly they're in the middle of the fire-fight - good stuff.

* The other example being when he throws Palpatine for a loop by convincing Amidala to leave.

[Borgholio]

The opening scene for Revenge of the Sith is definitely pretty goddamn awesome. The drums, the pan over Coruscant, the way they fly in and then suddenly they're in the middle of the fire-fight - good stuff.

I'd go out and say it's the best opening scene in any of the movies.

Oh and if you go to Disneyland and do the Star Tours ride...one of the possible scenes is to take you straight through that battle. It's rather jaw-dropping to be right in the middle of it.

[Channel72]

Yeah, the opening of ROTS definitely rivals Episode IV in terms of coolest fucking opening sequence ever.

I think one of the best things about the Prequels was Coruscant... it was like Bladerunner dialed up a notch, and very impressive use of CG.

Qui-Gon was a cool character as well, albeit from a story-perspective I don't think he's really necessary. More Anakin/Obi-Wan time would have been better I think.

And yeah, Ewan McGregor is the perfect casting choice for ObiWan.

I also like how the bad guys in AOTC and RoTS were essentially interstellar *corporations* instead of governments. I thought that added a cool, sci-fi twist to the Star Wars mythos - it felt sort of like a callback to the sci-fi blockbusters of the 80s like Robocop and Aliens where the bad guys were always giant faceless corporations with private armies.

As for Jar Jar, I think he was poorly conceived. As a comic relief character, he's basically just slapstick. The OT had funny Han Solo one-liners and Han Solo/C3PO banter as comic relief, which is a lot funnier (and appropriate in terms of tone) than Jar Jar basically just being a clumsy clown for 4-year olds.

[Guardsman Bass]

Qui-Gon was a cool character as well, albeit from a story-perspective I don't think he's really necessary. More Anakin/Obi-Wan time would have been better I think.

To me, Qui-Gon shows the Way Not Taken for the Jedi, as well as creating the situation where Obi-Wan decides to train Anakin while only recently becoming a Jedi Knight himself. You probably could write a version of it without him, but I wouldn't enjoy it as much.

[Metahive]

I'm of two minds about Qui-Gon. On one hand I think he and Obi Wan should have switched places. Obi as the newly knighted, unorthodox and idealistic upstart and Qui Gon as the old, by the book conservative would have made more sense in light of Kenobi's behaviour in the OT. On the other, Qui Gon as the unorthodox one could have worked but then this aspect should have been played up. There should have been actual antagonism between him and the council and he should have done something like bemoan the lack of interest of the order in something like the slavery issue. As it stand, the only "unorthodox" thing Qui Gon has going for him is his belief in the prophecy and that's not much considering how little of a role the prophecy ultimately plays in the whole movie series.

[JME2]

I think one of the best things about the Prequels was Coruscant... it was like Bladerunner dialed up a notch, and very impressive use of CG.

After the Senate sequence, I remember that's my favorite memory of seeing TPM in theaters back in 1999.

I always fascinated by the concept of Coruscant and it was fantastic to finally see it realized on the big screen (beyond the SE appearance).

[Havok]

I'm of two minds about Qui-Gon. On one hand I think he and Obi Wan should have switched places. Obi as the newly knighted, unorthodox and idealistic upstart and Qui Gon as the old, by the book conservative would have made more sense in light of Kenobi's behaviour in the OT. On the other, Qui Gon as the unorthodox one could have worked but then this aspect should have been played up. There should have been actual antagonism between him and the council and he should have done something like bemoan the lack of interest of the order in something like the slavery issue. As it stand, the only "unorthodox" thing Qui Gon has going for him is his belief in the prophecy and that's not much considering how little of a role the prophecy ultimately plays in the whole movie series.

Everyone believed in or at the very least acknowledged the prophecy. The issue was whether or not it was Anakin. It wasn't just Qui-Gon that believed in it.

And again, am I the only one watching these movies? Almost the entirety of the Jedi followed Yoda's way of the Unifying Force while Qui-Gon was the "rebel" if you will, by focusing on the Living Force. He straight up told the council to go fuck itself and that he was going to train Anakin.

If Kenobi was the rebellious one, the one like Qui-Gon that breaks and bends the rules, then Anakin probably doesn't fall. It is Obi-Wan's willingness to go along with the council, his rigidness, his adherence to the old ways of the Jedi that Yoda acknowledges at the end that no longer works, that caused the rift between himself and Anakin. Do you think that Qui-Gon would ask Anakin to spy on the Chancellor or ignore Anakin's dreams about his mother?

The single greatest victory of the Sith was Darth Maul's killing of Qui-Gon.

[Guardsman Bass]

My thinking is along similar lines with Qui-Gon. He's the only person who actually foils one of Palpatine's plans by listening to the Force at the right time in the Prequel Trilogy before Palpatine reveals himself and kills off nearly all of the Jedi, even if Palpatine does later pivot and find a different way to get it. And if the Jedi hadn't been so focused on the future at the expense of the present - winning the Clone Wars, chasing after the trail of the hidden Sith - they wouldn't have been caught so flat-footed as the political environment in Coruscant changed around them.

[Channel72]

My thinking is along similar lines with Qui-Gon. He's the only person who actually foils one of Palpatine's plans by listening to the Force at the right time in the Prequel Trilogy before Palpatine reveals himself and kills off nearly all of the Jedi, even if Palpatine does later pivot and find a different way to get it. And if the Jedi hadn't been so focused on the future at the expense of the present - winning the Clone Wars, chasing after the trail of the hidden Sith - they wouldn't have been caught so flat-footed as the political environment in Coruscant changed around them.

Yeah, I understand his purpose thematically - and he was definitely the most interesting character in TPM, mostly because Liam Neeson is awesome. However, in hindsight, after seeing RoTS, I just don't think his existence is worth it from a storytelling perspective.

The Prequels were supposed to be about the fall of Anakin Skywalker, and his betrayal of Obi-Wan. But there just wasn't enough screen-time spent developing the Obi-Wan/Anakin relationship to make it really awesome, and I feel that a lot of that problem is related to the fact that TPM was so distant from the Anakin/Obi-Wan storyline. In retrospect, I'd rather remove Qui-Gon entirely and focus more on developing the Obi-Wan/Anakin friendship, so that we get a big emotional payoff in RoTS when Anakin betrays his master.

[JME2]

Bingo.

That's one of the key flaws of TPM for me, as much as I love Neeson as Qui-Gon.

[Havok]

Having Anakin, even as a 9 year old, trailing Qui-Gon while he fought Maul and watching him die and his natural ability in the Force blossom through his anger and him throwing Maul around like a rag doll (or if you HAD to have sword pew-pews, having him call Qui-Gon's lightsaber to himself and already be a match for Maul without any training and just calling on the Force like he did when he podraced) then finally down the hole as Qui-Gon watched in horror and awe in his last moments would have set up the rest of the prequels as something much better than "just a guy that everyone says is the Chosen One".

Honestly, I think Obi-Wan is the waste in TPM. Qui-Gon should have been all alone while his padawan was off doing whatever, or not even have a padawan, then in one of the final scenes, probably prior to the funeral, Obi-Wan shows up and is introduced to Anakin and he is adamant that he trains him instead of Yoda because he was Qui-Gon's last padawan even implying in his arrogance that he could train him just as well as Yoda.

Better connection to the originals, and give more prominence and meaning to Qui-Gon's death as Anakin can rebel against Obi-Wan not because he is simply rebellious, but because he saw the way Qui-Gon worked following the living Force while Obi-Wan follows the Unifying Force and they are at odds about it consistently.

[Tribble]

I think that could have worked out quite well. And I agree that there doesn't necessarily have to be any fancy swordplay - Darth Maul could simply get overwhelmed by the raw power of Anakin's force push or something. Not only would it help demonstrate Anakin's potential, it also would have given Darth Maul's death more impact.