George Lucas to make big announcement tomorrow!

I, too, would love to see some sort of adaptation of The New Jedi Order books. I know that the TV Shows are on there way (right?), so at the very least, we have something to look forward to on that front. I'm hoping that Lucas doesn't just leave the series ended there, though. Maybe some form of the Old Republic or even a small, stand-alone film about Shadows of the Empire book and N64 game (one of my personal favorites, if you ever do find it, play it) would be nice, though probably unlikely since it would re-visit the time between Empire and Jedi.

Star Wars:

I didn't want to clutter up the page, so I just figured I'd use the spoiler tags.

I wasn't an overly huge fan of the prequel series. LeHah makes a good point about Jar Jar, as he is easily dismissed and ignored. My most major gripes stem from the casting, dialog, and certain areas of the plot, not Jar Jar.

In terms of casting, whomever did it (I don't know who was head of the casting department) had their moments. I liked several casts, notably Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Ian McDiarmid. Unfortunately, Neeson didn't last past the first film, and is too bad they didn't bring him back for at least a cameo in the next in some form of a force spirit.

The bad casting, obviously, amounts to the two people they had played Anakin, Christiansen (sp?) and I believe kid's name was Jack Lloyd or something like that(?). But then, do we blame Christiansen for his lack of acting prowess through the second and third episode, or do we blame the director in equal proportion? The other bad casts were really Natile Portman and Samuel Jackson. Though, to be fair, Jackson did do alright for his short lived screen time, so I suppose I'll retract that. Portman, however, I have never liked. She always has come off as trying too hard and forcing feeling where she really doesn't. It doesn't take that much acting chops to pull off the pathos that she was trying to, but it didn't strike the right nerves for me.

The dialog was where I was the most disappointed and infuriated. Well, bluntly put, things were about as well written and subtle as they were in X3 (Okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea). I mean, I wasn't expecting gold or anything like that, but something better than what we got. Lucas tried to force a lot down our throats () in episode two, but it just did felt rushed and forced with the writing. There was little build up, but that also is very attributable to the acting just as well as the writing.

The plot and narrative, however, did have certain areas where it got deep and interesting. Take note what LeHah has already mentioned with the asshole Jedi's, and the fact that Yoda is a prick, who later knowingly sent Luke off to his death in episode 6. The whole abandonment issue with women that Anakin has (I don't remember the technical term) starting with episode two when his mother dies, was pretty well done as long as you can get over his 'behold furrowed brows in anger'. Of course, that flies in the face of obtuse things like Order 66, the lack of ability of the Jedi Order in finding the Sith that, according to them, they couldn't detect. Then again, that is more part of them being a bunch of arrogant dicks in their ivory tower, thinking themselves omnipotent, or am I completely wrong?

Anyway, just my two cents. I don't get to discuss this much outside of my 3 friends who are pretty into the Star Wars mythos.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by LeHah

The prequels are certainly the weaker of the two trilogies - but don't let the weight of other people's ignorance weigh down your thoughts on them. Generally, if a hundred people say something is terrible - you should investigate yourself before agreeing with anything.

I don't think the prequels horrible, but I see them more as mediocre or slightly above that. I certainly don't believe that they're complete dogshit as some would suggest since they do bring a decent amount to the table in terms of undertones in the narrative. At first, I really didn't like them, especially the Phantom Menace, but I have since warmed up to it and grown to enjoy it.

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Hayden did much better in Episode III.

I don't think there is much dispute there generally (then again, I don't roam around the internet that much, so I wouldn't really know who disputes what here). In RotS, he came about and delivered very well at the end when he is confronted by Obi-Wan. I just don't think I'll ever get over the "Nooooooooooooooo!" at the very end (though that wasn't Hayden).

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I didn't like Hayden Christianson for Episode II. I'm not talking verbally either, but also in terms of physical acting (which the three actors you mentioned hit the nail on the head)

(I think I'll have to see the Shattered Glass sometime then -- the only time I have been exposed to Christianson was the prequels.)

Hayden and Portman really didn't seem to have the proper chemistry together during their love sequences in episode two. That, and I just never got around to liking Hayden until about midway through the RotS, right around when he becomes Vader.

I loved Ian McDiarmond, especially in episode 3. I didn't like it when he went from foreboding old man to emperor. I had kind of grown to like the grandfather figure he played.

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I *can* blame Lucas and the casting director for hiring him - especially considering one of the finalists was a young actor named Haley Joel Osment.

I had heard that, but I thought it was only rumor and hearsay. I think I would have really been much more on board with the prequels to begin with if it was the boy who could see dead people (and out act Bruce Willis). But, its not a perfect world I guess. However, I still couldn't stand Jake Lloyd. But, we move on.

Portman was horrid, you'll get no argument there. I remember a few people laughing at the midnight release of Episode 3 when she said "Is this how democracy ends? With thunderous applause?" or something to that affect. She is just bad, and it brings about the 'what-ifs' when we think who could have played Padme.

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Jackson did well with what he had. Obviously, he had more to run with in Episode III, so there was more to "look at". I was pleased with his final scene but not so much his fate as it was a little too ambiguous.

I was really on the fence with Jackson getting hired on as a Jedi. I thought he was alright for the time he had, definitely not as bad as the people who detract the films, but on the same token, nowhere near as good as the people who give these films un-ending praise.

Death from falling is just stupid for a Jedi of his power and magnitude. But, we can pick any movie apart. Even then, the emperor dies from a great fall in episode 6, though it could be contested that he did fall into what looked to be a reactor or something (I don't remember, I never paid much attention to what he was tossed into).

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The thing I don't get is that the quality of writing in the prequels is about the same level as the original Star Wars (and a lot of ROTJ). I'm not sure why people continue to hound it. Lucas is obviously not Alvin Sergent or Paddy Chayefsky - but anyone who expects that is not in his right mind anyway.

Well, for me, I forgive a lot of the writing holes in the original trilogy due to the fact that I fell in love with the characters. Though I know that shouldn't be, but its not usual for me to just look the other way unless there is some really redeeming quality about it. In this instance, Han Solo, Luke, and Darth Vader made me forget how certain things had taken a turn into a wall.

Also, ROTJ, was my least favorite in retrospect (out of the OT). Bad pacing, plot holes, but the action sequences at the end were fantastic. It is part of what I find to be problematic throughout the prequels. Like most, Empire was my favorite, with Hope not too far behind.

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The X3 compairison is pretty apt, actually. The difference is that I hope to never, ever see X3 again - while I just watched Phantom Menace for the first time in years last weekend.

Most X-men fans don't ever want to see X3 again. I can't begin to mention how it disappointed me, both as a movie-goer and as a fan of the mythology. But that discussion is for another thread and another time entirely.

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He does have an abandonment issue - but you're actually thinking of an Oedipus Complex, which Anakin has in spades.

Thank you, I was wondering what the actual diagnosis was called.

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Something that was beautifully noted in Phantom Menace and later screwed with in AotC was that the Jedi were so blatantly ignorant of the galaxy around them. Here they are - peace keepers of the universe - but Qui-Gon refuses to free slaves on Tattooine? That there are slums and drug pushers on Coruscant? How are these people the righteous and benevolent judges of the Republic.

Good question.

The Jedi in the prequels are truly a bunch of arrogant dicks with some degree of a god-complex. Either they are apathetic to the lesser, poorer people, or they just don't care altogether unless it directly affect their own well-being. Which then changes them from the benevolent rulers that they purport to be, but rather the malicious, egoistic rulers that they are.

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This was later changed to "We're losing sensitivity to the Force" ...and that was that. Nothing was explained except an impression that something was blocking them. What the heck was that about?

The failure to elaborate on more significant things such as their loss in force sensitivity (or as I stated, Order 66 -- or whatever number it was) leaves me with a puzzled experience. There is definitely material there to bring about some important plot twists, but its brushed aside and never addressed.

The Jedi seem lazy, when they fully know they have lost their sight of the Sith, they don't bother putting someone on the job at least trying to un-cover the dark presence around them. Its just stumbled upon when Anakin tells Mace Windu about it. Of course by the time Mace flies out the window, it doesn't matter since the next move is to exterminate all the Jedi.

I suppose they got what they deserved in the end, to a point.

There's nowhere I can't reach.