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Star Wars: Why does everyone hate the prequels?

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Crispy75

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I don't mind the design or portrayal of the ewoks. I think they're fun. What I do have an issue with is how quickly they were able to design and build traps for the imperial walkers. I have an even bigger issue with chewie's tarzan cry, but he's redeemed by pulling the pilot out by the head.
 
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Next

Member
Having watched them pretty recently, the only star wars movie I enjoyed was Episode I. The others are pretty terrible.
 
Making Darth Vader some prophesized Force Jesus was a little too self-aware of Vader's popularity with fans. Making him the pivot point around the entire fall of the Jedi and rise of the Empire was bit unnecessary. They should have made the rise of the Empire and fall of the Jedi an inevitability, and have Anakin be the betrayer who ultimately drives the final nail into the coffin - not the lynch-pin to make it all work.

He's not, though? It's the Clone Wars that are the pivot point. Drag the Jedi into war, scatter them on many fronts across the galaxy, then have their own soldiers turn on them just as the battle is about to be won. That leaves only a handful of leaders left, as well as whatever Jedi-in-training happen to still be around.

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader isn't seduced by the power of the Dark Side, he's tricked into turning.

What do you think "seduce" means, exactly?

The Clone Wars are completely fumbled

What would you have preferred?

Stormtroopers all turning out to be totally not Boba Fetts was another moment of the prequels being way too self-aware of a character's popularity with fans.

Yeah, absolutely. There was no reason for Jango Fett to get more screentime and plot relevance than the character he was modeled after.

Although this is done somewhat intentionally to lead into their downfall, the Jedi are made to be unbelievably stupid in order to make the rise of the Empire work

There are three flaws that I see with the way the Jedi handled the rise of the Empire:

1) They didn't realize the real purpose of the clones (and the war) - to kill Jedi and establish the foundation for a fighting force that would terrorize the galaxy.

However, they weren't stupid. They didn't trust the way Palpatine was massing power; they just didn't see it as their place to intervene as long as he was doing so through the democratic process. And they were very suspicious about the war and wanted to end it as quickly as possible to kill off all of Palpatine's pretexts.

2) They didn't understand how to help Anakin manage his inner conflict. Yoda was 100% right that Anakin needed to let go of his attachments and fear of loss to avoid slipping to the dark side. But that's not what someone in Anakin's shoes needed to hear, so that message only turned him away.

3) They allowed themselves to become slaves to the Republic rather than resisting the direction the Republic was going. But then it's very natural for religious institutions to become complacent over time, isn't it? It's only radicalized factions that really mount extreme resistance to where society/the world is headed.

The Anakin/Padme romance is totally botched. Padme is the one resisting Anaking because "she's a senator" even though there's nothing saying a galactic senator can't have a relationship. It should be Anakin being the one who resists the relationship because he's the one with everything to lose, and ultimately gives into his desires (which leads to his fall to the Dark Side).

But Anakin's the one being portrayed as the reckless one who wants it all at whatever cost. Padme's status as a Senator matters because being in a relationship with a Jedi creates massive conflicts of interest especially for someone with her stature and influence in the Senate.
 

Cheerilee

Member
What do you think "seduce" means, exactly?

To lead astray, to persuade, to win over, attract, entice.

In ESB, Vader was toying with Luke. Vader was basically fighting with one hand tied behind his back, until he finally put an end to the one-sided fight by chopping Luke's hand off. Vader (looking to turn Luke, not kill him) reveals to Luke that he's Anakin Skywalker, and that he turned to the Dark Side, and Luke can do it too. "If only you understood the power of the Dark Side."

By RotJ, Luke has improved his lightsaber skills, so now he's holding even with Vader, but it's not enough, and Luke seems resigned to the fact that he might die. But Vader threatens that Leia is next. If Luke doesn't stop Vader, Leia will be the one getting tortured and killed, assuming she doesn't turn to evil. Luke gets mad and starts delivering an angry beatdown, while the Emperor looks on in triumph, because anger is a path to the Dark Side, and this angry beatdown is the tantalizing "power" that Vader said Luke needed to understand. Luke chops Vader's hand and realizes the parallels between himself and Vader, realizes that he's becoming Vader, so he stops and rejects the Dark Side, to his mortal peril, until it turns out that Luke was right, and Vader didn't have it in him to let the Emperor murder his own recently-reunited son right in front of him.


In RotS, Anakin loves Padme so much that he monologues about how he can't think straight anymore (a convenient solution to logical character development). He learns that Padme is going to die, and Palpatine says that the Dark Side can cure her, if only Anakin kills Mace Windu and swears his loyalty to the Dark Side. Anakin does it. Palpatine: "Good Anakin, now we can begin our research on how to save Padme, which is something I currently don't know how to do." That's not seduction, that's a trick.

Then Anakin kills children, force-chokes Padme (because he's twisted beyond all reason, working against even the entirety of his thin character), potentially causing her childbirth-death (except for the movie stating that she died of loneliness and broken heart while holding her own newborn children), and then he gets his legs chopped off and burned to near death by Obi Wan. And with Padme dead at Anakin's hands (directly blamed on Dark Side anger by the Emperor), the "cure Padme" issue never comes up again, and Darth Vader remains loyal to Palpatine (in the Dark Side way) for the next 20 years or so. "If only you understood the power of the Dark Side, you could totally score a major kill count against helpless children. If only you understood anger, you'd have the power to kill that bitch Padme."

Also, the prequels pretty much took away Darth Vader (as a betrayer and Jedi turncoat) "helping the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights."
 

Roufianos

Member
I watched all 6 movies for the first time this summer. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the prequels and Episode III is easily my favourite Star Wars movie.

I've read into why people hate them though and I definitely understand. I guess I'm just not invested enough in the universe, the same reason I deapise MGS V whereas a more casual MGS fan probably loves it.
 

Kettch

Member
Also, I might be in the minority with this, but I prefer Ewoks over Wookies. The Empire staging the shield generator that's protecting an incomplete Death Star on a planet full of 8 foot tall beasts that can rip your arms out and have proven to be capable combatants makes less sense than putting the shield generator on a planet full of teddy bears that look harmless. Considering that the shield generator was the pivotal part of The Emperor's trap to crush the rebellion, it would have been dumb as fuck to put all of that on a planet full of Wookies.

The Wookies would have been a beaten down race providing slave labor for the Empire. I think that story line could have been fine, potentially great even. At the very least it would have given Han and Chewie some much needed relevance to the story in convincing the Wookies to regain their honor and fight back against their oppressors.
 
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