Jake Lloyd 10 Years Later

[Havok]

Uh, Tattooine the place that Anakin leaves, presumably never to return again.

[Big Orange]

My boys always liked Jar-Jar. Frankly, I think a lot of the anti-JarJar hate was just sexually insecure young men who are trying to prove their masculinity by spewing irrational hate for a wimpy minor character.

Jar Jar Binks being liked or viewed with indifference by under 12 year olds is expected, since he was intended as kid friendly supporting character, however Binks still severly pissed off the majority of older viewers; how else did the anti-Jar Jar Binks hate take on a life of its own and Jar Jar Binks got significantly less screentime in the next two PT movies? The accusations of Jar Jar Binks being a racist stereotype was contrived and in bad taste though.

C3PO and A2-D2 were comic relief characters in the vein of Jar Jar, but had a much broader appeal and were genuinely endearing.

[Elfdart]

My boys always liked Jar-Jar. Frankly, I think a lot of the anti-JarJar hate was just sexually insecure young men who are trying to prove their masculinity by spewing irrational hate for a wimpy minor character.

Jar Jar Binks being liked or viewed with indifference by under 12 year olds is expected, since he was intended as kid friendly supporting character, however Binks still severly pissed off the majority of older viewers bitter permavirgins pushing 40;

Correction.

how else did the anti-Jar Jar Binks hate take on a life of its own and Jar Jar Binks got significantly less screentime in the next two PT movies?

The same reason there was all that idiotic gossip about how Jet Li should play Boba Fett: unlike normal males, who might masturbate to say, the Victoria's Secret catalog, these losers like to wank it oh so hard to their own fan-fiction version of Star Wars, rather than what George Lucas created. They actually thought Lucas was supposed to consult them about the characters and story.

The accusations of Jar Jar Binks being a racist stereotype was contrived and in bad taste though.

Simple rule of life: If something is successful, professional parasites will try to get undeserved attention by claiming it is either "racist" or the work of the devil.

C3PO and A2-D2 were comic relief characters in the vein of Jar Jar, but had a much broader appeal and were genuinely endearing.

Sez you. I find C-3PO the most annoying character in the series -even worse than the coked-up Carrie Fisher of ROTJ. I remember an issue of Empire from 1999 (before the magazine lost all credibility) where Lucas pointed out that Lucasfilm did "exit-polling" of people leaving the theaters and most people like Jar Jar Binks, especially women and kids. Only the type of limp-dicked male Darth Wong describes reacted with such hostility. Only later did it become the "in" thing to say the prequels suck, Jar Jar sucks, Luca$ sucks...

[Galvatron]

Jar Jar himself didn't annoy me as much as his relative overuse. After all, I'd gotten used to the silly aliens that were inflicted upon us in ROTJ during the preceding 16 years so Binks wasn't really a major departure from the trend.

C-3PO was annoying, sure, but he was also useful in setting up some of Han Solo's best lines in TESB. By comparison, Jar Jar seemed far too useless to have been given so much screen time.

[Big Orange]

Just because I disliked Jar Jar, finding him an unnecessary and forced character does not equal that I hate the PT, flawed and underwhelming in places as it is. I didn't find him endearing and funny, his antics came across to me as rather irritating and pathetic.

Sure the Jar Jar Binks hate got really overblown, some bearded thirty/forty somethings needed to get out more, he didn't annihilate the Star Wars franchise for me, but I found C3PO, Neelix, Ruby Rhod, and even that muppet from the blah Lost in Space movie to be better characters than Mr. Binks. Carrie Fisher long battled with drink, drugs, and a bipolar mental disorder, but she looked hot in that leather bikini in RotJ so nobody cared.

Empire Magazine has some fair reviews on The Phantom Menace:

Colin Kennedy Review (movie itself)

Neil Jeffries Review (movie score)

[Thanas]

Alec Guinness' shoes have to be a lot deeper than Peter Cushing's, at any rate.

I think Peter Cushing would have been a natural for Tarkin.

[Elfdart]

Empire Magazine has some fair reviews on The Phantom Menace:

Colin Kennedy Review (movie itself)

Neil Jeffries Review (movie score)

Empire Magazine is a perfect example of the bullshittery that surrounds criticism of the PT. When TPM came out, Empire gave it 4 out of 5 stars and AOTC got 5 out of 5. Then Empire chews the cud and follows the herd by changing the ratings retroactively in 2006. They aren't the only ones who liked the prequels when they saw them and then changed their minds to fit in with the kewl crowd.

[Big Orange]

I don't disagree with Empire's scoring, but it's blatant spinelessness and inconsistency on their part if they felt they needed to officially change the score at all. At least Total Film kept to their guns.

While I really enjoyed the Special Edition Trilogy, a lot of people whinge about that as well and this must've been the turning point (in 1997) when the novelty of CGI wore off. The anti-CGI moaning gets very tiring when model work and matte paintings can look awful as well (in fact PT has tons of physical model effects and puppetry work, although it was a mistake to make the Clonetroopers all CGI).

[Jim Raynor]

I don't disagree with Empire's scoring, but it's blatant spinelessness and inconsistency on their part if they felt they needed to officially change the score at all. At least Total Film kept to their guns.

While I really enjoyed the Special Edition Trilogy, a lot of people whinge about that as well and this must've been the turning point (in 1997) when the novelty of CGI wore off. The anti-CGI moaning gets very tiring when model work and matte paintings can look awful as well (in fact PT has tons of physical model effects and puppetry work, although it was a mistake to make the Clonetroopers all CGI).

Like those stop-motion AT-ATs. But clearly, the OT's effects were flawless while the PT's CGI was a bunch of cartoony crap.

[Vympel]

Like those stop-motion AT-ATs.

You think the AT-ATs looked awful?

They were freaking awesome.

Also CGI Clonetroopers were great- heck, they were a star of RotS all by themselves, they looked fantastic. I'd be happy to see every Stormtrooper in the OT replaced with a CGI version, I loved them that much.

[Simon_Jester]

Yes, the AT-ATs were awesome, but they weren't awesome because of the special effects, at least not by modern standards. They were awesome because Lucas set the scene up right, so that you got the sense of unstoppable metal juggernauts clomping forward and crushing everything in their path with overwhelming firepower. Everything contributed to that- not just the special effects, but the music and the scene cuts.

The special effects weren't actively crappy, but by any standards except those of the theater audiences of 1980 they weren't all that stellar either.

[Havok]

If anything the stop motion added to the AT-ATs. It gave them a mechanical jerky feel that you would expect from giant walking machines. Where the same technique failed was with the Taun-Tauns. They needed a more fluid organic movement that CG effects can provide.

As for the Clone Troopers, I didn't like them. There was something off about them. It was subtle, but it was there. In 5 more years, or even if the movies were remade today, they would probably be fine.

For me, with CG, it comes down to the context. G.I. Joe had some pretty mediocre CG, but the whole movie was cheesy from the get go, and wasn't expected to be anything more than that, so I didn't mind.

For a movie like Star Wars, which made it's bones on effects and should absolutely get the best the industry can create, I will judge a little harsher.

That said, good CG and good conventional effects should contribute to the story, not be the story. And good CG is just as good as good CFX, great CG is just a good as great CFX etc. That goes the opposite way as well.

[DrMckay]

Plus, I would have loved to have seen a younger Tarkin. I mean if Lucas is gonna get someone like Ewan MacGregor to play a younger version of Obi-wan, why can't he get someone to play a younger version of Tarkin? Alec Guinness' shoes have to be a lot deeper than Peter Cushing's, at any rate.

It would have been interesting to see Bail Antilles square off against Tarkin too, with them instantly hating each other. It would have added a new dimension to Tarkin's actions in ANH.

Actually, Tarkin had a tiny cameo in ROTS standing near Vader on a Star Destroyer, observing the construction of the Death Star. He was played by Wayne Pygram, the same guy who played Scorpius in Farscape. Adding him as a character, the ambitious young officer on the rise, with similar screentime to Wedge and/or Jjerrod/Piett in the OT throughout the three movies would have been a brilliant casting and plot decision. Even possibly giving him some history with Anakin.

In my opinion, The PT had too few "unpowered" characters a la Han and Chewie, whom the audience could connect with.

[Bilbo]

Actually, Tarkin had a tiny cameo in ROTS standing near Vader on a Star Destroyer, observing the construction of the Death Star. He was played by Wayne Pygram, the same guy who played Scorpius in Farscape. Adding him as a character, the ambitious young officer on the rise, with similar screentime to Wedge and/or Jjerrod/Piett in the OT throughout the three movies would have been a brilliant casting and plot decision. Even possibly giving him some history with Anakin.

In my opinion, The PT had too few "unpowered" characters a la Han and Chewie, whom the audience could connect with.

Its the "Great Weapon", get it right. The super Warsnerds of the internet did measurements and decided that couldnt possibly be the Death Star because the super laser was in the wrong position.

[Thanas]

Plus, I would have loved to have seen a younger Tarkin. I mean if Lucas is gonna get someone like Ewan MacGregor to play a younger version of Obi-wan, why can't he get someone to play a younger version of Tarkin? Alec Guinness' shoes have to be a lot deeper than Peter Cushing's, at any rate.

It would have been interesting to see Bail Antilles square off against Tarkin too, with them instantly hating each other. It would have added a new dimension to Tarkin's actions in ANH.

Actually, Tarkin had a tiny cameo in ROTS standing near Vader on a Star Destroyer, observing the construction of the Death Star. He was played by Wayne Pygram, the same guy who played Scorpius in Farscape. Adding him as a character, the ambitious young officer on the rise, with similar screentime to Wedge and/or Jjerrod/Piett in the OT throughout the three movies would have been a brilliant casting and plot decision. Even possibly giving him some history with Anakin.

In my opinion, The PT had too few "unpowered" characters a la Han and Chewie, whom the audience could connect with.

Wayne Pygram would have been able to run rings around Christensen and most of the cast.

[Havok]

Dude, Wayne Brady would have been able to run rings around Christensen and most of the cast.

[Stofsk]

Y'know, I don't really like the prequels but I don't think the casting is a factor in my dislike. Hayden in particular gets a lot of flak when he shouldn't IMO.

[Vympel]

Dude, Wayne Brady would have been able to run rings around Christensen and most of the cast.

At the very least in the choking a bitch department, right?

[Lusankya]

In my opinion, The PT had too few "unpowered" characters a la Han and Chewie, whom the audience could connect with.

The problem with that idea,though, is that the PT and the OT tell completely different stories. The story of the OT is the small people standing up and overcoming tyranny. "Unpowered" people fit quite well into that, because they can represent a contribution to justice that anyone can achieve.

The OT, by contrast, is the story of corruption and complacency ripping apart the millennia-old republic. The active players in this story are the people with power, so the story needs to revolve around then. Certainly the little guys contribute, but their main contribution is to sit at home watching the latest series of Corsucant Idol which, while an important contribution to the fall of Liberty, isn't actually that interesting to watch.

One of the problems that I always thought occurred with the PT was that it tried to make the second story look like the first story, which obviously didn't work, because they're quite different.

If I were creating my own version of the PT, I'd do something like this:

Episode I: Anakin is found and brought into the Jedi order against a background of political corruption and economic crisis. Think of any movie set in Prohibition era Chicago and have it be the IN SPAAACE version of that. Obi-wan attempts to cut through gang control of Anakin's home planet and while he is unsuccessful at cutting to the root of the rot, he is able to rescue Anakin from a gang-controlled life. In this movie, we get to see the formative period of Anakin's life which leaves him with a need for order as well as an inclination towards viewing violence and coercion as acceptable solutions to problems. It could also imply that the corruption extending further into the heart of the Republic than previously expected and leave people wondering what is on the horizon, because much of the bribe money taken by the local politicians is coming from outside of the Republic...

At the end, the Jedi take on a more prominent role in galactic affairs, using their position as lawmakers to create a galaxy-spanning police network with the aim of reducing the effect of corruption on the Republic.

Episode II: An IN SPAAACE version of a political drama set against a backdrop of a World War. Clones working for a coalition of minor powers outside of the Republic's sphere of influence have launched a surprise attack on Republican territory. The senate is divided between those who want to retain full civil liberties in the face of danger, and those who believe that the safety of the Republic is paramount. The first signs of friction between Anakin and Obi-Wan appear here, as they find themselves on opposite side of this argument.

The line between law enforcement and the military becomes blurred as the Jedi find themselves switching between the roles of Republic police and Republic shock troops.

Episode III: As the War comes to its conclusion, the Republic finds itself under new threats in the nature of independence groups who begin lobbying for greater autonomy. The Chancellor whips up a public witch hunt against these groups, and soon the mere accusation of being a member of one of them is enough to if not land you in jail, then destroy your career. Freedom of political expression is all but eliminated and a new laws are enacted to aid the current regime in "protecting" the Republic from separatist plots. Eventually, the decades of economic, military and political stress, combined with opportunism from the leaders turns the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire.

Eventually, the Jedi are named as a communist separatist organisation and the purge begins, with the "reformed" Jedi Anakin Skywalker leading the way.



Something along those lines would (I think) have worked well as an Epic, but the problem is, it would have been completely different from the first few Star Wars movies, and it probably wouldn't have been too well received in cinemas because people would go in expecting Star Wars and get Star Intrigue instead.