Noooooooo!!!!

[Smears]

I enjoy the original Star Wars movies. After He made 1 2 3 it ruined it for me. It was like watching a cartoon. Screw George Lucas

[/dev/null]

I enjoy the original Star Wars movies. After He made 1 2 3 it ruined it for me. It was like watching a cartoon. Screw George Lucas

Episode I was an abortion. Makes Godfather III look like a cinematic classic

Episode II as a standalone sci-fi flick was decent. As part of Star Wars lore, it was awful

Episode III from about the midway point until the Darth Vader/Frankenstein temper tantrum, was the best part of the pre-trilogy

Edited September 3, 2011 by /dev/null

[ajzepp]

Episode I was an abortion. Makes Godfather III look like a cinematic classic

Episode II as a standalone sci-fi flick was decent. As part of Star Wars lore, it was awful

Episode III from about the midway point until the Darth Vader/Frankenstein temper tantrum, was the best part of the pre-trilogy

 

I'd say Ep.I was only a partial abortion. Half of the flick was awesome...if they just would have focused on the cooler elements - Palpatine behind the scenes, Darth Maul, Jedi lore, etc - and gotten rid of the crap, it would have been a solid film. Instead, you had to have Jar Jar, the Trade Federation morons (the trade federation as a concept was fine, it was their caricatures that sucked), all the cute "Ani" crap, etc. But Darth Maul was a fantastic villain, IMO.

 

The 2nd film was solid, although I found it the least engaging. I've seen it the fewest times of all the SW films for this reason.

 

Ep.3, IMO, ranks up there with certain parts of ESB and the ending of ROTJ in terms of its intensity. The whole Anakin turn and the immolation scene were really well done, IMO. The Palpatine reveal to Mace Windu scene was awesome. I liked a lot of what they did with General Grievous, as well as the Dooku scene in the beginning. The whole feel of the film departed from the first two prequels and I would rank it up there ahead of ROTJ as the 3rd best film in the franchise overall.

[TheMadCap]

I'd say Ep.I was only a partial abortion. Half of the flick was awesome...if they just would have focused on the cooler elements - Palpatine behind the scenes, Darth Maul, Jedi lore, etc - and gotten rid of the crap, it would have been a solid film. Instead, you had to have Jar Jar, the Trade Federation morons (the trade federation as a concept was fine, it was their caricatures that sucked), all the cute "Ani" crap, etc. But Darth Maul was a fantastic villain, IMO.

 

The 2nd film was solid, although I found it the least engaging. I've seen it the fewest times of all the SW films for this reason.

 

Ep.3, IMO, ranks up there with certain parts of ESB and the ending of ROTJ in terms of its intensity. The whole Anakin turn and the immolation scene were really well done, IMO. The Palpatine reveal to Mace Windu scene was awesome. I liked a lot of what they did with General Grievous, as well as the Dooku scene in the beginning. The whole feel of the film departed from the first two prequels and I would rank it up there ahead of ROTJ as the 3rd best film in the franchise overall.

 

Nothing in Ep.I made any sense. What was the blockade supposed to do? Why would an orginization called the TRADE federation want to stop trade? Why were they in league with the Sith and what were they getting out of the deal? Why did they have a huge army if they were a commerce orginization? If Palpatine's goal was to gain power in the senate, wouldn't he WANT the jedi to go back to the senate and tell them that the blockade was not going to be lifted? If he got the queen to sign the treaty, wouldn't the crisis be over? How would that have gained him the chancerlorship? And this is just the first ten minutes of the film. He had 20 years to write something, and this was the best he could come up with? The script seems like it was written by an eight year old.

 

EpII. simply Ballnumbing!

 

EpIII. better just because it has built in material which automatically makes in interesting. Without the falling to the darkside bit, the movie would have been just as bad as the last two. If you get fed two servings of warm dogcrap, a dried tootsie-roll of a dog turd doesn't seems so bad...

Edited September 3, 2011 by TheMadCap

[Captain Hindsight]

The word Nazi has been changed to persons with political difference and the word Wookie has been changed to hair challenged animal

[ajzepp]

Nothing in Ep.I made any sense. What was the blockade supposed to do? Why would an orginization called the TRADE federation want to stop trade? Why were they in league with the Sith and what were they getting out of the deal? Why did they have a huge army if they were a commerce orginization? If Palpatine's goal was to gain power in the senate, wouldn't he WANT the jedi to go back to the senate and tell them that the blockade was not going to be lifted? If he got the queen to sign the treaty, wouldn't the crisis be over? How would that have gained him the chancerlorship? And this is just the first ten minutes of the film. He had 20 years to write something, and this was the best he could come up with? The script seems like it was written by an eight year old.

 

 

 

HOly cr*p...you know, I don't remember you being this uptight several years ago...lol

 

I haven't watched it in forever, but it seemed to make sense enough when I thought it through. But you say it was written (seemingly) by an eight year old, I think that was the problem right there...Lucas should have focused these films on his preexisting demographic who grew up on this franchise instead of targeting a new generation of fans. I know that wouldn't make as much marketing sense, but for fux sake we deserved better.

 

Anyway, the Trade Federation was a pawn that was being ass-raped by the Sith. What was in it for them? I have no idea...but I'll assume there was arm twisting involved regardless because of how they shat themselves multiple times along the way. The idea was to completely shut off communication to and from Naboo and make it seem as if the Trade Federation were going rogue. They didn't want any Jedi involved because Jedi were the prominent "peace keepers" at the time, and Palpatine didn't want them screwing with his plans to look like the hero and/or being viewed as an extension of Chanellor Valorem's ability to resolve a crisis. The idea was to make Valorem look like a complete tool who was incapable of peeing straight, promote a groundswell for a vote of no-confidence to have the Chancellor removed, and then open the door for Palpatine to slide into the Chancellor's role. This would allow for all sorts of groundwork to be laid for the creation of the future Empire, which is what you saw develop over the next two films.

 

That's the best I can do, man...but just remember, above all else, it's a movie

[TheMadCap]

HOly cr*p...you know, I don't remember you being this uptight several years ago...lol

 

I haven't watched it in forever, but it seemed to make sense enough when I thought it through. But you say it was written (seemingly) by an eight year old, I think that was the problem right there...Lucas should have focused these films on his preexisting demographic who grew up on this franchise instead of targeting a new generation of fans. I know that wouldn't make as much marketing sense, but for fux sake we deserved better.

 

Anyway, the Trade Federation was a pawn that was being ass-raped by the Sith. What was in it for them? I have no idea...but I'll assume there was arm twisting involved regardless because of how they shat themselves multiple times along the way. The idea was to completely shut off communication to and from Naboo and make it seem as if the Trade Federation were going rogue. They didn't want any Jedi involved because Jedi were the prominent "peace keepers" at the time, and Palpatine didn't want them screwing with his plans to look like the hero and/or being viewed as an extension of Chanellor Valorem's ability to resolve a crisis. The idea was to make Valorem look like a complete tool who was incapable of peeing straight, promote a groundswell for a vote of no-confidence to have the Chancellor removed, and then open the door for Palpatine to slide into the Chancellor's role. This would allow for all sorts of groundwork to be laid for the creation of the future Empire, which is what you saw develop over the next two films.

 

That's the best I can do, man...but just remember, above all else, it's a movie

 

 

Well now that the excitement of having new movies has worn off, I am now coming to realize just how horrifically wretched these films truly are. The biggest problem isn't even that they are poor star wars movies, they are actually failures in basic movie/story telling.

 

Lucas is an extremely smart business man, which is why he allegedly targeted children. But he once again fails to understand the basic premise of why the orginial Star Wars movies were so resonant with younger generations. You don't need to put a bunch of kid actors in important roles, kids would just think they were dumb anyways. No kid wants to pretend to be "ani" from EpI, they want to "imagine" themselves as Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. He claims these movies are for children, but yet all three movies are filled with inappropriate material such as:

 

Decapitations, graphic violence, mass murder, amputations, sexual implications and situations, creepy monsters and aliens, assasinations, massive explosions, etc etc etc. Not to mention boring as political dialog about trade embargos. Watch that scene where Amidala addresses the senate in EpI and tell me what little kid would pay attention to that scene if not for cool special effects. EVERY scene in all three movies simply serves as a way to get to another crammed to the ass CGI bull **** shot. By claiming the movies are for kids, he is mearly trying to cover up for ****ty writing.

 

Regarding your explainaton of the plot of EpI in the third paragraph, don't you see how contradictory EVERY action the trade federation and Palpatine took in that movie was exactly the opposite of what they should have done? If you kill the jedi off in the beginning, how does that make the Valorem guy look bad? What Palpatine should have told Gunray to say was this:

 

"Tell the Jedi that we don't want to negotiate, that we are going to land our army and invade Naboo" then let them go back to the senate and tell them everything. Wouldn't that have made more sense, if one wants to create a panic?

 

If the queen was a wuss and just signed the damn treaty like he wanted, then the crisis would have been over, thus defeating the purpose of hte invasion, which was to made the chancellor look incompetent and take over the government. So I still don't get it. And what the hell were the supplies that where so critical to the Naboo? We get TOLD about the death and suffering, but never see ONE piece of evidence for this. What, they can't survive three days without supplies from space on an incredibly lush and prosperous planet? Ugh, see what I mean? It makes my head hurt how dumb this is. And that's not even bringing up the silly orange bunny rabbit that steps in the poopie...

Edited September 3, 2011 by TheMadCap

[ajzepp]

And that's not even bringing up the silly orange bunny rabbit that steps in the poopie...

 

All I can say is that I know there are a lot of people who feel as you do...and if I weren't a huge SW and Lucas mark, then I'd probably feel similarly. The prequels were NOTHING like I expected, and I hated the fact that he wanted to market to kids as opposed to me and you. I did feel that EpIII was a worthy film in the franchise, so I just sort of take solace in that. When I watch EpI, I FF through half of it and focus on the parts I find really cool, which are mainly the ones with Darth Maul. But alas, Lucas hates it when we fixate on the cool kid in school, so he kills him off in the end much to my dismay. Oh well...

[TheMadCap]

 

All I can say is that I know there are a lot of people who feel as you do...and if I weren't a huge SW and Lucas mark, then I'd probably feel similarly. The prequels were NOTHING like I expected, and I hated the fact that he wanted to market to kids as opposed to me and you. I did feel that EpIII was a worthy film in the franchise, so I just sort of take solace in that. When I watch EpI, I FF through half of it and focus on the parts I find really cool, which are mainly the ones with Darth Maul. But alas, Lucas hates it when we fixate on the cool kid in school, so he kills him off in the end much to my dismay. Oh well...

 

To be frank, I have much less a problem with the prequels being terrible than I do with the constant tinkering with the real Star Wars movies. All I want is a high definition version of the theatrical releases, is that so wrong? Why won't the bastard just do it? Why must his ego prevent him from giving everyone what they want? All I know is that I am done shoving quarters in that repugnant bullfrogs' fat cheeks until he gives me the three Star Wars movies I saw in the damn theater...

Edited September 3, 2011 by TheMadCap

[ajzepp]

To be frank, I have much less a problem with the prequels being terrible than I do with the constant tinkering with the real Star Wars movies. All I want is a high definition version of the theatrical releases, is that so wrong? Why won't the bastard just do it? Why must his ego prevent him from giving everyone what they want? All I know is that I am done shoving quarters in that repugnant bullfrogs' fat cheeks until he gives me the three Star Wars movies I saw in the damn theater...

 

lol, you sound exactly like my brother. He and I grew up playing star wars for years...we had all the toys - the death star, the ships, the action figures, you name it. Then Lucas started screwing with the films and released the "Special Editions" for the re-release in the theaters back in 1997 (or thereabouts). Ever since then, my brother has basically sworn off Lucas. So he and I have been on opposite sides of the debate since that time. It's not that I don't understand what you guys are saying, cause I do. Those of us that saw the originals in the theater as they were from the beginning should certainly be able to see them in that same condition. Why he doesn't allow them to be released is beyond me.

[shrader]

lol, you sound exactly like my brother. He and I grew up playing star wars for years...we had all the toys - the death star, the ships, the action figures, you name it. Then Lucas started screwing with the films and released the "Special Editions" for the re-release in the theaters back in 1997 (or thereabouts). Ever since then, my brother has basically sworn off Lucas. So he and I have been on opposite sides of the debate since that time. It's not that I don't understand what you guys are saying, cause I do. Those of us that saw the originals in the theater as they were from the beginning should certainly be able to see them in that same condition. Why he doesn't allow them to be released is beyond me.

 

I want to say he's throwing away money by not doing it, but I think it's the exact opposite. He'll eventually release the originals, but unfortunately, by then he will have already released 17 more updated versions and the movies' core fan base will be pushing 90.

 

Then again, maybe it'll be a lot like what many people say about the Bills, nothing will change until Lucas is out of the picture.

[Ramius]

The theatrical versions are available on DVD, just not blu ray.

[TheMadCap]

The theatrical versions are available on DVD, just not blu ray.

 

They absolutely are NOT. The last theatrical release was on VHS...

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

Every time I watch the movies I'm struck by how BAD most of the acting is. Especially episodes 1 & 2. I don't know if Lucas intentionally directed it that way but it's awful. There were some good actors there - Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, Ewen McGregor... all wooden and lifeless. Yoda had more personality and he was a puppet!

[Taro T]

They absolutely are NOT. The last theatrical release was on VHS...

They are available. They were disk 2 of the "Widescreen Limited Edition" DVD's of the enhanced versions of those movies. The problem is, they're not at the same quality level as the enhanced versions (letterboxed to a standard TV picture and Dolby 2.0 - basically they're digital copies of those VHS releases so the quality is far higher than VHS, but it should be higher quality than it is).

[ajzepp]

Every time I watch the movies I'm struck by how BAD most of the acting is. Especially episodes 1 & 2. I don't know if Lucas intentionally directed it that way but it's awful. There were some good actors there - Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, Ewen McGregor... all wooden and lifeless. Yoda had more personality and he was a puppet!

 

Yep, that's a completely legit criticism, IMO. You can add Liam Neeson to that list, too...another very solid actor who often exhibits a fair bit of charisma on screen. Not sure why Lucas would have directed them to be so wooden, particularly when the most popular character from the original trilogy was the most charismatic.

[/dev/null]

Every time I watch the movies I'm struck by how BAD most of the acting is. Especially episodes 1 & 2. I don't know if Lucas intentionally directed it that way but it's awful. There were some good actors there - Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, Ewen McGregor... all wooden and lifeless. Yoda had more personality and he was a puppet!

I recall reading something about Samuel L Jackson inclusion to Episode I was an afterthought. Jackson wanted to be a Jedi so Lucas wrote him a cameo. Episode II, Lucas had to write something for Jackson that didn't involve him being one badass muthf#ing Jedi.

 

I can't blame Ewen McGregor for his performance in Episode I. Obi-Wan was supposed to be the sage warrior, not a Padawan. Again in Episode II the character was poorly planned and developed.

 

I suspect Lucas gave more thought and planning to Jar Jar, little Anikin, Qui Gon, R2D2, and C3PO than Obi-Wan or Mace Windu.

 

 

Yep, that's a completely legit criticism, IMO. You can add Liam Neeson to that list, too...another very solid actor who often exhibits a fair bit of charisma on screen. Not sure why Lucas would have directed them to be so wooden, particularly when the most popular character from the original trilogy was the most charismatic.

 

Qui Gon = Epic Fail!

[BuffaloBill]

Star Trek >>>>> Star Wars

 

 

No way ... Star wars set a whole new bar that Trek has never come close to hurdling.