OK We have Bashed the Prequels. But what would have made them BETTER?

[RepublicGurl]

Making this up as I go:

 

1. Make Anakin something basically along the lines of Han Solo with a lightsaber. What the hell, we'll just say that Anakin was Corellian, too. There are wars going on involving clones. Obi-Wan is kinda his teacher, sidekick and best friend, usually giving Skywalker some pretty great advice that saves him from certain doom.

 

2. When Skywalker achieves Knight status, Palpatine secretly uses various criminal organizations to set up a series of lose-lose situations that no brilliant-pilot-and-unequaled-force-user could resolve, eroding Anakin's self-confidence and forcing him to question his own awesomeness at every turn.

 

3. Make Mrs. Skywalker another Jedi, of middling ability but spirited, adventurous, playful, and clever. The marriage isn't actually a problem for anyone, except Yoda, because Yoda is an ancient virgin with a wounded heart.

 

4. Paranoia builds. Anakin follows a red herring leading him to believe that the criminal organization that nobody believes is targeting him is, in fact, being run by a senator that happens to be Palpatine's biggest rival/closest friend. To make it George Lucas-y, we'll say that this Senator is Joe Organa, father of billionaire playboy Bail Organa. Make this almost believable to the audience as well.

 

5. As Anakin stumbles upon "the truth", Mrs. Skywalker is brutally murdered by some mysterious assassin. Her entrails are sent to him as a wreath for Wookiee Life Day. While trying to cope with this, Anakin meets a Hutt who is wearing her face as a mask and has been feeding her other organs to a young slave named Boba Fett. Her uterus is mysteriously never recovered.

 

6. Anakin justifiably snaps. Revenge, murder, and a Godfatheresque montage of tightly timed assassinations follow. At the end of the sequence, Joe Organa dies by Anakin's hand. His organs are mailed to his friends on the Senate.

 

7. The story is on all the holos on Coruscant. Palpatine uses this to make a successful play to take over the senate. Optional: social commentary on reactionary thinking.

 

8. Anakin realizes that he was set up and goes into hiding for a while. Palpatine's agents and Kenobi are trying to hunt him down to either convince Anakin to search his feelings and realize that he's really an okay guy, or to ignore that mushy Jedi love crap, because love is what got him into this mess, right?

 

9. Palpatine tracks down Anakin while Kenobi ends up finding the kids that nobody knew about. "I just thought she was getting fat," is a line that is quoted often outside of theaters. Kenobi hands the kids over to Bail Organa and goes off to chase down a rumor after having a vision.

 

10. Anakin is taken advantage of in his emotionally vulnerable state, given a pardon, a new face and new identity as Garth Bader, which is mispronounced by a passing Duros as "Darth Vader," and charged with the task of tracking down and killing all the Jedi. He has his doubts about what he's doing, but it turns out that he's pretty awesome at killing Jedi. So awesome that he convinces himself that Jedi-killing is his destiny or some quasi-Calvinist nonsense.

 

11. Kenobi is somewhere near the end of Vader's to-do list. When Vader catches up to him, he had spent a couple years learning some crazy Force techniques from non-Jedi that Vader would have no idea how to deal with. Kenobi beats Vader in a climactic, mind bending battle of all-out forcefulness. Maybe end the fight with a force-flamethrower technique to rival Palpatine's lightning. I don't know.

 

12. Anakin gets rebuilt and Obi-wan goes back to the Organas, convincing them to part with Luke. The isolated and lonely Jedi wanders off to hide on a massive failure of a planet that no one in their right mind would go to willingly, where by some Force-coincidence he meets up with Anakin's out of luck gambler cousin, Owen.

 

/Win.

[RepublicGurl]

Some Changes to Star Wars

 

---

 

1.) Instead of Anakin somehow becoming this morbid, brooding, emo Padawan we see later in the series, how about he keeps the excitement, compassion and open-minded curiosity he had as a child on Tatooine as he grows and matures? Yes, he loves and misses his mother, but instead of becoming an arrogant boy who defies authority at every turn (a little here and there is fine and normal), and bottles his anger and resentment, he comes to appreciate that the Order has allowed him to be trained and remains open and honest.

 

Moreover, he should be extremely grateful to Obi-Wan, who was the one that insisted he be trained after Qui-Gon's death. Surely Anakin could come to realize that he would most likely have not become a Jedi- and get to explore other worlds as he always envisioned as a child -if not for Obi-Wan taking him as an apprentice.

 

2.) His "love" for his "angel" that he met when he was nine eventually faded. As would be normal for most pre-puberty children who develop "crushes". And so, when he meets Padme again years later, he is happy to see someone familiar, and might be a little bashful when the young lady teases him about his former, little crush, but not obsessed with her. If he were, Padme would be officially Creeped Out and not Wooed. In this reality, Anakin is holding strong to the Jedi Code (seeing as he is a different, and swell-stand-up-guy), and takes his duty to protect Padme seriously.

 

-It is more believable for his little crush to slowly resurface as time passes by, but with his dedication to the Jedi Code and the Order, (which would feel like his family and home after many years of being practically raised there) he won't act on it. But Padme starts to feel intense affection for her "shining knight" regardless, and we get to see how the love between them continues to survive despite them remaining selfless and true to their duties instead of rushing off in the heat of the moment and getting hitched.-

 

3.) As his Master, Obi-Wan should be more aware of what his Padawan is doing. (Not in an all-knowing fashion- but enough to know when he is distraught and to take his visions seriously.) He should be willing to listen instead of brushing him off, and take into account that Anakin wasn't raised from infancy as a Jedi. He's bound to be different and require different teaching methods since his prior background had been that of a slave.

 

4.) Instead of always doubting or being worried about and trusting "The Boy" and whether or not he is the Chosen One, Windu (and Yoda to an extent as well as others who would doubt him) would spend more time knowing Anakin and not wondering on his title. That way Anakin wouldn't (most likely) feel it necessary to always go off on his own and feel like he couldn't trust people to talk to. If he had a caring base of friends and acquaintances in the Order and Temple, maybe he would not become so close to Palpatine and fall to his influences.

 

5.) Anakin slowly falls deeper in love with Padme, but is conflicted about breaking his vows with the Order to make vows of marriage with Amidala. While being personally conflicted, he and she sleep together, but make no vows. Anakin hasn't broken his own vows... and then later into the Clone Wars he finds out that she is pregnant.

 

6.) Skip to Windu and Anakin facing Palpatine/Sidious. Anakin, having never married Padme and always obsessed about being with her, doesn't have visions of her impending death (because his fear of her dying- by him turning Dark though he is unaware of it) isn't in motion.

 

So he helps Windu in defeating Sidious, and undertaking his role as the Chosen One. In the end, with the Order happy at the Sith's end (though many Jedi died in Order 66) Anakin confesses that Padme is pregnant with his baby. And because the Order has to rebuild, Anakin is a swell-stand-up-guy who has saved the galaxy and is honest, he is not only granted the title of Master (which he is pleased about but not enough to brag), the Council grants him permission to marry Padme.

 

Luke and Leia are born, Padme lives, Anakin eventually joins the Council, he retains a close relationship with Obi-Wan who eventually (though declaring himself too old) accepts Luke as an apprentice when the boy becomes old enough to be a Padawan, and trains him to become a Jedi. Leia follows in her mother's footsteps and follows a path into politics instead of the Jedi.

 

Everything in the Republic isn't perfect because so much rebuilding and aide is needed in the after-effects of the war, and the Jedi have suffered a major blow.

 

But as Anakin (eventually) sits in a Council chair facing the few remaining Masters, they can all look at each other and know that even though they faced a horrible yesterday, thier tomorrow looks bright and promising.

 

... The End.

 

*sigh*

 

I am such a sap!

Edited January 27, 2012 by RepublicGurl

[ErikModi]

I actually think they were pretty good as-is. Taken as a collective whole, the six films are amazing, a wonderful example of echoes in storytelling.

 

There are a few small adjustments I would make.

 

Anakin and Padme are the same age in TPM, both in their mid-teens. Anakin is still the cheerful, peppy young man, maybe a LITTLE brooding in quiet moments, but somehow not broken by his slavery.

 

Jar-Jar has obvious skills. He actually helps Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan navigate the Core, perhaps supplies some nifty Gungan tech to help Anakin soup up his podracer, something. I don't find the character annoying, but I think a lot of the hate directed at him is because so many people think he's just useless (he isn't, he's critical to the climax of the movie even happening, never mind it being successful, but not many people see that.)

 

Anakin and Owen actually have the conversation Obi-Wan references to Luke when he says "He thought your father should have stayed here and not gotten involved."

 

Padme actually lives long enough for Leia to have the vague memories she relates to Luke in RotJ.

[Rodanth_The_Wise]

I'm a fan of both the OT and PT. Though I can't say for certain which movie is my absolute favorite. I like them all for various reasons. The plot devices in place for Revenge of the Sith, versus Empire Strikes Back for example. Both are very strong and they suck you in. So it's really hard for me to choose a favorite. I'll admit right now that I was a big fan of the improved visual effects of the trilogy. I mean, yes...I'm nostalgic for the OT, but when the PT came out, I wanted something more. I wanted to be sucked in more, and I was..for the most part. I agree the phantom menace was rather dull and unimaginative but for the sake of story it needed to happen. How it went about it though, I'm sure most would disagree. I don't mind young anakins character. In fact, I think it was played fairly well. I can live with Jar Jar. What I did want to see more of however was Obi-wans rise to Knighthood. More of the bond between him and his former Master, Qui Gon. We only see very little of this, and then Qui gon, a very powerful Jedi Master is killed off, while a padawan at the time, as strong as he was, defeated Darth Maul and got redemption for Qui Gons defeat. It didn't make too much sense at the time. Too late now.

 

Attack of the Clones, in my opinion, was decent but it felt sort of empty to me. I honestly don't know how I could of made it better. My thinking cap isn't on at the moment. I do agree that Anakins character was whiny, but he needed to be. He was a former slave, a young teenager in that age where power is very seductive. Children always want power, because they are powerless. He came from being an absolute nobody, who would of probably been killed, slave.. and became known as one of the strongest Jedi padawans the order had ever seen. The ego, and his arrogance started over-coming him...but it was nice to see the inner struggle he faced where he KNEW the Jedi code was important, above all else, and that he should uphold it at all costs. The beginning of his fall to the dark side when obliterating the sand people at the expense of his mother's death was well done, that I can say. The dooku duel at the end of the film was very disappointing, and I truly believe they were only handed their asses(Obi and Anakin) because they wanted to set-up Yoda's entrance into on screen lightsaber combat. No more, no less. While it was cool to see Yoda in his prime, and finally grasp how powerful he truly is, I would of much rather liked the duel to instead focus on Anakin proving himself to Dooku, and that line from Dooku "You have hate, you have anger...but you don't use them.." aka Dooku's sensing of the darkside within skywalker SHOULD of came during the duel in Episode 2. For example, when Obi threw anakin his saber and Anakin went all Ataru Sentinel on him for all of 10 seconds. Dooku should of said it to him then. I think this would of set-up their second meeting on grievous's ship in the beginning of Episode 3.

 

Episode 3, I can't say many bad things about. While a tad bit SLOW in story, as in..we didn't see many plots, just the fall of the jedi and anakin's seduction -- it was excellent in my opinion. I truly loved it, and the battle between Obi-wan and Anakin was so powerful, so full of hate, despair, regret, it was truly awesome. Not to mention Lucas and the choreographers going way out of their league into creating quite possible the most awesome piece of lightsaber combat the universe had ever seen. Watching Anakin completely lose it and just go numb with hatred and jealousy, practically blindly striking at Obiwan with his masterful Djem So style of broad powerful strikes that seemed effortless, while Obi-wan..basically completely shocked by anakin, and his new-found power in the dark-side had to literally fight for his life in Soresu just to prolong the fight long enough to where he could find an escape, and either end anakin's life or leave him to come back at a later date. Which, I think could of happened. I think even though Yoda told Obi-wan that he must destroy anakin, and the sith with him... Obi-wan did not want to do it, even right up to the final strike. That's why he told Anakin "Don't try it". He was still trying to turn anakin back, And if he couldn't, he would of rathered walked away than strike down his former apprentice and basically, his brother/son. I am not embarassed to admit the fact that a tear rolled down my eye as obi struck anakin down, and the conversation took place where Obi was basically crying out to Anakin. And no, not because of the Ewan's acting as obi. While excellent, that is not the reason. Because, for two decades now, I have followed this story and the very strong relationship between Vader, Kenobi and Luke. It was a very overwhelming scene, and it still chokes me up to this day. Probably the most powerful moment in star-wars next to Vader's death at the end of ROTJ.

 

All in all, I guess I'm one of those fans that feel the prequels served their time and place well, and accomplished what I wanted them too. They told the story of Anakin skywalker, and those around him. Could more on been told? Obviously yes. But I'm happy with them, and I still enjoy them to this day. Phantom menace, I enjoy just because I liked seeing Obi-Wan as a padawan. I just wish we got to see more of the relationship between him and Qui gon, and more of obi-wans training. I mean, the man grew up to be a Jedi Master, a man on the Jedi Council, and all we saw of him as a Padawan, was him defeating a few droids, than avenging Qui-Gons death and defeating Maul. There was hardly any dynamic between that, aside from some moments where Qui-Gon would basically tell obi-wan to search his feelings. yadda yadda. I wanted more there. I guess that's really the only stand out part about the prequels to me that I would of changed.

[Aragost]

Get rid of midichlorians! Seriously; "The Force" is now essentially a sexually transmitted disease?

 

 

haha, had to shove that in a signature

[DieselCheezel]

Having someone with the power to overrule lucas.

[WiGhTkNiGhtt]

Having someone with the power to overrule lucas.

 

Do not underestimate the powers of the Emp.....I mean Lucas.

[Listerman]

Make them better? Sheesh, tall order...

 

1. Get rid of the Midichlorian aspect. That was dumb, and is only referenced a small handful of times.

2. I may be biased because I am not fond of Hayden, but get someone else to play Anakin.

3. When the novel paints a clearer picture of the story than the film, there is a problem.

 

...That's really all I got. Get these three down, and they can leave Jar Jar in for all I care.

[Rinkitink]

Make them better? Sheesh, tall order...

 

1. Get rid of the Midichlorian aspect. That was dumb, and is only referenced a small handful of times.

2. I may be biased because I am not fond of Hayden, but get someone else to play Anakin.

3. When the novel paints a clearer picture of the story than the film, there is a problem.

 

...That's really all I got. Get these three down, and they can leave Jar Jar in for all I care.

 

Really? You're surprised when a written novel paints a clearer picture of a story than a film? Kids these days..

[Vestras]

Short short version:

Skip Phantom Menace entirely, it serves no purpose and hurts the entire trilogy

First film needs to be Obiwan and Anakin buddy film, with Padme as secondary

Add a rogue/straight-man character. Either Owen Lars or Bail Organa

No Jar-Jar, No Death Star Plans, No lava surfing

Clones on BOTH sides, so calling them THE CLONE WARS makes sense.

[Lexandar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmU8XuFd2vU

 

This is basically how Episode 3 should've been made.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Lexandar

[MRCHalifax]

How I would have written the prequels, starting with the Phantom Menace:

 

 

Episode I opens with Naboo being threatened by the Mandalorians. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are sent by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Senator Palpatine, to investigate. Since it's his homeworld (he was its king, but he abdicated to become a Senator, and was succeeded by his daughter Amidala), he ensures that there's no official record of his request. The Jedi are looking into the problem for him as a favor, as he's been one of the biggest supporters of Jedi in the Senate. The opening crawl covers most of that, pan down to the Jedi vessel running from the Mandalorian command ship.

 

The Jedi ship is hit, and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon put on space suits and go outside just before its destroyed. They make their way into the hold of the Mandalorian ship through the fighter bay, and sneak up to the bridge. There, they see Darth Maul, giving orders. Realizing from the conversation they overhear that things are worse than they had imagined and that he's a Sith (the Darth part gives it away), they head for the shuttle bay, and sneak onto one of the invasion ships heading down to the planet's surface.

 

They land, rescue Queen Amidala, and take off. Mandalorian fighters launch after them, and the ship takes damage; R2D2 makes stopgap repairs and the ship makes it to lightspeed. They're forced to go to Tatooine to make repairs. Qui-Gon and Amidala have some verbal sparring, with Amidala essentially saying that the Jedi need to impose order on the galaxy, and Qui-Gon saying that different people have the right to their own freedoms, and that there's too few Jedi to effectively police the galaxy. Amidala suggests that fear can keep the local systems in line, fear of their lightsabers. Qui-Gon demurs, saying that that's the philosophy of a Sith, not the Jedi. Obi-Wan tries to send a message to Coruscant, but the long range transmitter is one of the things blown out on the ship.

 

They land on Tatooine and Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Artoo head out. Amidala follows them as the handmaiden Padme. While they're arguing about whether or not Padme should be allowed to come An explosion rattles the spaceport. The Mandos have followed them, and they just blew up the Queen's yacht. Mandolorian patrols are screaming by overhead. The heroes break into a house to get off the streets. The resident of the house pulls a blaster on them, and the Jedi are hard pressed to talk him down - mind tricks are not working. Still, he's attracted to Padme when he sees her (even pulls the "Are you an angel?" line - she rolls her eyes, he shrugs and says he's seen it work before). When he realizes that the Mandalorians are after them, Anakin says he'll help them - Mandalorians killed his mother.

 

The Mandalorian general, Grievious (human at this point), arrives in Mos Espa. Maul tells them that the Jedi must be eliminated, that the galaxy cannot yet know that the Sith have returned. The Mandolorians start systematically destroying homes, with people inside. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon go to take the fight to the Mandalorians, while Anakin sneaks Padme out on his speeder bike. A chase scene occurs through Mos Espa and then Beggar's Canyon, with Anakin driving the bike and Padme on the back, shooting at the Mandalorians after them. Anakin manages to get her to his older sister's (Beru Lars, nee Skywalker) place, out on the edge of the Dune Sea. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon go out to face the Mandalorians, but there's a ton of them, and they make a strategic withdrawal. Qui-Gon trusts in the Force, leads them to a dead end; Obi-Wan complains, Artoo warbles a suggestion, and Qui-Gon uses his lightsaber to slash machinery in the dead end, releasing a ton of chemical smoke. The Mandos can't see through it, their suit sensors are scrambled, and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escape in the confusion along with Artoo.

 

Artoo figures out where Anakin and Padme are, they go out to meet them at the Lars homestead. Owen wants them all out of there. They sneak off to Mos Eisley, steal a Mandolorian ship, and head to Coruscant. Anakin comes with them, seeing it as a chance to get off that rock. Qui-Gon tests Anakin for the ability to use the Force (not a blood test, more like Qui-Gon putting a helmet and blast shield over Anakin like Obi-Wan later did to Luke and having him swat blaster bolts). Anakin passes with flying colors. Qui-Gon is privately amazed with Obi-Wan - normally, a raft of tests are necessary to check for Force sensitivity, and the blocking blaster bolts while blindfolded thing is usually something a Jedi is just learning in their fifth or sixth year as a Padawan - for Anakin to do it untrained is unprecedented).

 

Arriving on Coruscant, Palpatine greets his daughter and thanks the Jedi for saving her. The Jedi go to the Temple, report that the Sith have returned. Qui-Gon also mentions Anakin, and suggests that he be trained. Yoda rejects it out of hand, as he's too old. Mace Windu is more open to the idea, saying that Jedi have been taken in at older ages in the past. Yoda rejects that, saying that Jedi trained as adults are at too high of a risk of turning to the Dark Side. The Council sides with Yoda.

 

Palpatine notices Anakin is staying close to Padme, and she doesn't seem to mind much. He acts fatherly towards Anakin, and tells him he thinks that he has great potential. Anakin mentions that the Jedi tested him, and how, and Palpatine suggests that he'll have a word with the Jedi.

 

The Galactic Senate meets. Padme speaks before the Senate, saying that whether the Republic wants to admit it or not, they're at war. The Supreme Chancellor maintains that things can still be resolved diplomatically, and the reports from the Jedi that the Mandalorians have allied with the Jedi's ancient enemy cannot be independently verified. Also, they're ridiculous - the Sith were wiped out over a thousand years ago. Palpatine vouches for the honor and integrity of the Jedi. Padme calls for a vote of no-confidence. The Supreme Chancellor falls, Palpatine is elected Supreme Chancellor. He authorized a military expedition to Naboo, but notes that the Republic has a very small military.

 

Qui-Gon is chosen to lead the Republic armed response against the Mandalorians, and he takes five other Jedi Masters with him. Padme goes with them - she has a one sided argument with her father where she says its important that she go in person, that the troops will respect her for it. Anakin takes a hint from Qui-Gon, and tags along with the Queen. Arriving in Naboo, they intercept a transmission that suggests that General Grievious and Darth Maul are on the planet. Qui-Gon leaves Obi-Wan in charge of the fleet, and goes down to the planet with Padme and her best troops, along with the five other Jedi Masters from the Council. Their object is to get to the throne room, because from there they can prevent ships from taking off from Theed, and trap Grievious and Maul on the planet.

 

They encounter Maul while storming the palace. Qui-Gon and the Jedi Masters surround him, Padme and her troops and Anakin keep going. Qui-Gon is cut off from the rest of the Jedi when Mando reinforcements show up; he drops back to handle them. Obi-Wan is in command above, and turns out to be pretty darn good at being a general, with his fleet fighting the Mandolarians to a standstill. Down below, Darth Maul starts cutting through Jedi Masters. Padme and Anakin and the troops make it to the throne room, where Grievious waits for them. A very small number of Mandolarians cut through the Republic commandos, though Padme accounts for one herself. At one point, a Mandolarian gets the drop on Padme, shoots away Anakin's blaster, and Anakin instinctively force-chokes him to death. Down to just Grievious, Anakin and Padme, Grievious uses a concussion grenade, and Anakin goes flying. Grievious picks up Padme by the hair, and announces that the new Supreme Chancellor will pay dearly to get her back.

 

Up top, the Republic fleet is hard pressed. The Mandalorians have regrouped, and someone has assumed command in Darth Maul and General Grievious' absence. Down below, it's down to Qui-Gon vs. Darth Maul. We also see Anakin getting up sneakily, and grabbing armor off of the guy he force-choked.

 

The Mandalorian flagship goes up in flames, and Obi-Wan presses the advantage. Anakin walks up behind Grievious, wearing a Mando gauntlet. Grievious is giving his evil villain speech to Padme. Anakin shoots him in the back with a missile, and Grievious goes flying out the window, his jet-pack just accelerating him into the ground. Darth Maul does a "You can't defeat me," to Qui-Gon; Qui-Gon allows himself to stabbed in the chest so he can repay the favor to Maul. Both die. Obi-Wan senses his masters' death, and his jubilation at beating the Mandalorians fades.

 

In the epilogue, we see that the Republic is now trying to gear up for war, but it just doesn't have troops to match the Mandalorians. Palpatine convinces the Jedi to train Anakin, Anakin thanks him for the offer and asks if there's anything he can do to thank him - Palpatine says to keep in touch. The Mandalorians back off, and a cease fire is declared. There's a moment where Padme looks about to kiss Anakin, but then doesn't. The Jedi wonder to what extent are the Sith behind the Mandalorian invasion. In a formal Jedi ceremony before the Order, Obi-Wan takes Anakin as his apprentice.

 

Roll credits.

 

 

 

 

It has the same structure as the original, but no Gungans, Anakin is significantly older and cooler, and you have Mandalorians rather than the Trade Federation. Padme is Palpatine's daughter, unaware that he's Sith, but with a lot of ideas that are distinctly Imperial. She believes very strongly in the rule of law, that fear can be used to keep people in line, etc.

 

As for the reworked Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, I haven't figured them out yet.

[Poor_Grammar]

Did someone already mention if Lucas didn't touch them they would have been better? Cuz' that's what I'm going with.

[Phishums]

I didn't read many replies, and I'm sure this has been mentioned, but I really wish they hadn't made Anakin into a whiny little emo bizznitch. "Nobody can see how awesome I am! It's not fair!"

 

His transition to the dark side wasn't shocking at all. Jedi don't think in those 'poor me, but I'll show them' terms. That's a Sith thing. It would have been so much better if he'd been more of a nice-guy type who suddenly turned evil.

[Crazynerd]

Start with Anakin as a young Adult and remove the need for switching Actors. Perhaps even remove Qui Gon Jin altogether and start with Obi Wan and Anakin together.

 

I agree with the part about Anakin, but I have one part to add. There needs to be a different actor. I really dislike Hayden Christensen's acting. But come on man; don't get rid of Qui Gon. He is my all time favorite Jedi because he angered the Jedi Council so much. (I am a fan of the Sith)

[Guildrum]

Did someone already mention if Lucas didn't touch them they would have been better? Cuz' that's what I'm going with.

 

They wouldn't have existed without Lucas.

[Captain_Zone]

It's probably already been said, and if so let me reiterate... DIALOGUE! Plain and simple. Better dialogue and better acting/directing. Granted, an actor is only as good as his/her director. I can't bring myself to blame Hayden Christensen or Natalie Portman for only doing what George told them to do.

[vian]

People do not ***** about midichlorians because they fail to grasp the intricacies of the films' exposition on the subject.

 

 

They find midichlorians grating for the same reason they would find it grating to hear the question "What's it like to be in love?" answered with:

 

"The initial phases of sexual attraction causes one's genital regions to become engorged with blood, and to begin preparations to discharge a mucous-like substance in the case of the female, and a seminal discharge in the case of the male."

 

TMI + Misses the point.

 

This. So very this. A large order of this, with extra this, and a this side-salad.

 

Way to take a mystical, mysterious phenomenon and turn it into a badly written biology lesson, Lucas. Now, instead of showing us graceful, Gernsbackian spaceships, have someone drone on for half an hour about the differences between sublight and superlight travel.

[celebrei]

Digitally replace Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, digitally remove Jar Jar Binks from Episode I, and mute the sound when Darth Vader shouts "NoooOOOooooOOooo!" at the end of ROTS, then we shall have... peace.

[Darth_Eminok]

1st Movie:

 

Jar-Jar should be a well-meaning clutz who sounds like Don Knotts or Lou Costello, not a semi-racist caricature who speaks in barely comprehensible pigdin. And the other Gungans should just speak regular Basic or in subtitled alienspeak.

 

Queen Amidala really ought to be 14 year-old Princess Amidala, who becomes important after her mother, the rightful Queen of Naboo, is kidnapped or killed by the Trade Federation. For extra plot comprehensibility, give her a really obnoxious younger brother or evil uncle claiming he's the rightful heir, and willing to serve as the Trade Federation's puppet. That would explain the Senate's reluctance to actually do anything to enforce the peace better than all the cryptic mumbo-jumbo and pseudo-poli-sci handwaving the existing film tried to feed us.

 

9-year old Anakin should display the same precocious confidence and savvy piloting a starfighter that he did as a pod pilot. He should blow up the battlestation on purpose, highlighting the fact that he is the most exceptional 9-year old in the Galaxy.

 

Schmee should be freed at the end of the film, and choose to remain on Tatooine.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Film:

 

Anakin should be likeable, self-confident and modest- instead of the needy emo whiner & braggart we get in the existing film.

 

When Anakin has his bad dream about his mother, Obi-Wan should point out that he's probably just anxious because in Schmee's last letter she talked about getting married, and that he's probably just unsettled by the thought. He should promise they can visit her on Tatooine as soon as the mission is completed. That way Obi-Wan comes across as less of clueless, blundering jerk.

 

Padme should fall in love with Anakin, and Anakin should be the conflicted one. The existing film portrayed Anakin as someone who had remained semi-obsessed with Padme for 10 years. That was _creepy_ and off-putting, not romantic. It would be the most natural thing in the world, though, for an unattached young woman in an adventure story to fall in love with the handsome young warrior who saves her life. And for even the most committed Jedi to turn to her in grief after Schmee's gruesome death.

 

Better dialogue for the romance plot all around. Nobody wants to hear about an emo kid talk about sand during a romance story. Even a dialogue-free montage of romantic moments would have been vastly superior to what we got.

 

3rd Movie:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anakin should be a likeable guy as in movie 2. But he should be obviously conflicted about the war, eager for the day its over and he can resign as a Jedi and be with Padme. We should probably hear about or see some examples of Jedi who have gone Darkside in the course of fighting the war.

 

Anakin's precognitive vision should be of Padme dying from a mortal wound inflicted via a purple lightsaber. His growing distrust of the Jedi order, and Mace Windu in particular, would then be more natural.

 

Mace Windu should be a very borderline hero, a harsh, militant man who may well be leading the entire Jedi order down the path of the dark side in his ever more fanatical effort to prosecute the war and root out the Sith. Ideally, Mace Windu kills DooKoo under dodgy circumstances, NOT Anakin. Windu should appear to be the force openly driving the war, not Palpatine's effort to gain power.

 

Palpatine should sound less like a snake-oil salesman while talking about the potential of using force techniques for healing and the preservation of life. He should not use the word "Sith" even once, let alone talk about Darth Pelagius, who is not in the Jedi archives if Anakin thinks to look....leading to some fairly obvious conclusions.

 

When Palpatine reveals himself as a Sith, he should continue to be likeable, and his claims that the Jedi under Mace Windu are out of control should at least appear plausible.

 

Anakin should arrive at Palapatine's apartment just as Windu is about to strike the fatal blow. He should have no time to think at all before killing Windu. Windu should never even get the chance to talk.

 

Palpatine's first order to Vader should be to take the Jedi younglings into _custody_, so they can be liberated from the now corrupt Jedi cult. The man is an inhuman monster, but he's not STUPID. Every one of those kids is a potential Sith apprentice if something happens to Vader.

 

Obi-Wan should recover Mace Windu's body, and pick up the unique purple lightsaber, to use in place of the one destroyed during his battle with Grievous.

 

Anakin should not force-choke Padme. Padme should follow Obi-Wan to Mustafar to warn Anakin that Obi-Wan intends to kill him.

 

The fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin should open as a sneak attack with Obi-Wan hurling the purple lightsaber at Anakin.....only to watch in horror as Padme unexpectedly interposes herself to save her lover's life and suffers a seemingly mortal wound. Believing her dead at Obi-Wan's hand, Anakin, justifiably enraged and full of hate, NOW falls to the dark side.

 

Fight proceeds as in existing film.

 

Padme should regain consciousness, but lose hope and give up the struggle to survive after Obi-Wan tells her Anakin is dead.

 

You, good sir... win.

[Jornas]

That's an awesome movie idea - I would totally go see it.

 

While I don't have a single solution for the plot, I think the new movies needed a lot more intrigue and less "space politics." Look at how Game of Thrones does it. Sure, there are some boring scenes of what's going on in the kingdom, who's attacking what, etc. But what's interesting is trying to figure out which characters are trying to stab the others in the back.

 

Oh, and Mace Windu needed more kickass scenes.

[Michaelo_Denwar]

How I would have written the prequels, starting with the Phantom Menace:

 

 

Episode I opens with Naboo being threatened by the Mandalorians. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are sent by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Senator Palpatine, to investigate. Since it's his homeworld (he was its king, but he abdicated to become a Senator, and was succeeded by his daughter Amidala), he ensures that there's no official record of his request. The Jedi are looking into the problem for him as a favor, as he's been one of the biggest supporters of Jedi in the Senate. The opening crawl covers most of that, pan down to the Jedi vessel running from the Mandalorian command ship.

 

The Jedi ship is hit, and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon put on space suits and go outside just before its destroyed. They make their way into the hold of the Mandalorian ship through the fighter bay, and sneak up to the bridge. There, they see Darth Maul, giving orders. Realizing from the conversation they overhear that things are worse than they had imagined and that he's a Sith (the Darth part gives it away), they head for the shuttle bay, and sneak onto one of the invasion ships heading down to the planet's surface.

 

They land, rescue Queen Amidala, and take off. Mandalorian fighters launch after them, and the ship takes damage; R2D2 makes stopgap repairs and the ship makes it to lightspeed. They're forced to go to Tatooine to make repairs. Qui-Gon and Amidala have some verbal sparring, with Amidala essentially saying that the Jedi need to impose order on the galaxy, and Qui-Gon saying that different people have the right to their own freedoms, and that there's too few Jedi to effectively police the galaxy. Amidala suggests that fear can keep the local systems in line, fear of their lightsabers. Qui-Gon demurs, saying that that's the philosophy of a Sith, not the Jedi. Obi-Wan tries to send a message to Coruscant, but the long range transmitter is one of the things blown out on the ship.

 

They land on Tatooine and Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Artoo head out. Amidala follows them as the handmaiden Padme. While they're arguing about whether or not Padme should be allowed to come An explosion rattles the spaceport. The Mandos have followed them, and they just blew up the Queen's yacht. Mandolorian patrols are screaming by overhead. The heroes break into a house to get off the streets. The resident of the house pulls a blaster on them, and the Jedi are hard pressed to talk him down - mind tricks are not working. Still, he's attracted to Padme when he sees her (even pulls the "Are you an angel?" line - she rolls her eyes, he shrugs and says he's seen it work before). When he realizes that the Mandalorians are after them, Anakin says he'll help them - Mandalorians killed his mother.

 

The Mandalorian general, Grievious (human at this point), arrives in Mos Espa. Maul tells them that the Jedi must be eliminated, that the galaxy cannot yet know that the Sith have returned. The Mandolorians start systematically destroying homes, with people inside. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon go to take the fight to the Mandalorians, while Anakin sneaks Padme out on his speeder bike. A chase scene occurs through Mos Espa and then Beggar's Canyon, with Anakin driving the bike and Padme on the back, shooting at the Mandalorians after them. Anakin manages to get her to his older sister's (Beru Lars, nee Skywalker) place, out on the edge of the Dune Sea. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon go out to face the Mandalorians, but there's a ton of them, and they make a strategic withdrawal. Qui-Gon trusts in the Force, leads them to a dead end; Obi-Wan complains, Artoo warbles a suggestion, and Qui-Gon uses his lightsaber to slash machinery in the dead end, releasing a ton of chemical smoke. The Mandos can't see through it, their suit sensors are scrambled, and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escape in the confusion along with Artoo.

 

Artoo figures out where Anakin and Padme are, they go out to meet them at the Lars homestead. Owen wants them all out of there. They sneak off to Mos Eisley, steal a Mandolorian ship, and head to Coruscant. Anakin comes with them, seeing it as a chance to get off that rock. Qui-Gon tests Anakin for the ability to use the Force (not a blood test, more like Qui-Gon putting a helmet and blast shield over Anakin like Obi-Wan later did to Luke and having him swat blaster bolts). Anakin passes with flying colors. Qui-Gon is privately amazed with Obi-Wan - normally, a raft of tests are necessary to check for Force sensitivity, and the blocking blaster bolts while blindfolded thing is usually something a Jedi is just learning in their fifth or sixth year as a Padawan - for Anakin to do it untrained is unprecedented).

 

Arriving on Coruscant, Palpatine greets his daughter and thanks the Jedi for saving her. The Jedi go to the Temple, report that the Sith have returned. Qui-Gon also mentions Anakin, and suggests that he be trained. Yoda rejects it out of hand, as he's too old. Mace Windu is more open to the idea, saying that Jedi have been taken in at older ages in the past. Yoda rejects that, saying that Jedi trained as adults are at too high of a risk of turning to the Dark Side. The Council sides with Yoda.

 

Palpatine notices Anakin is staying close to Padme, and she doesn't seem to mind much. He acts fatherly towards Anakin, and tells him he thinks that he has great potential. Anakin mentions that the Jedi tested him, and how, and Palpatine suggests that he'll have a word with the Jedi.

 

The Galactic Senate meets. Padme speaks before the Senate, saying that whether the Republic wants to admit it or not, they're at war. The Supreme Chancellor maintains that things can still be resolved diplomatically, and the reports from the Jedi that the Mandalorians have allied with the Jedi's ancient enemy cannot be independently verified. Also, they're ridiculous - the Sith were wiped out over a thousand years ago. Palpatine vouches for the honor and integrity of the Jedi. Padme calls for a vote of no-confidence. The Supreme Chancellor falls, Palpatine is elected Supreme Chancellor. He authorized a military expedition to Naboo, but notes that the Republic has a very small military.

 

Qui-Gon is chosen to lead the Republic armed response against the Mandalorians, and he takes five other Jedi Masters with him. Padme goes with them - she has a one sided argument with her father where she says its important that she go in person, that the troops will respect her for it. Anakin takes a hint from Qui-Gon, and tags along with the Queen. Arriving in Naboo, they intercept a transmission that suggests that General Grievious and Darth Maul are on the planet. Qui-Gon leaves Obi-Wan in charge of the fleet, and goes down to the planet with Padme and her best troops, along with the five other Jedi Masters from the Council. Their object is to get to the throne room, because from there they can prevent ships from taking off from Theed, and trap Grievious and Maul on the planet.

 

They encounter Maul while storming the palace. Qui-Gon and the Jedi Masters surround him, Padme and her troops and Anakin keep going. Qui-Gon is cut off from the rest of the Jedi when Mando reinforcements show up; he drops back to handle them. Obi-Wan is in command above, and turns out to be pretty darn good at being a general, with his fleet fighting the Mandolarians to a standstill. Down below, Darth Maul starts cutting through Jedi Masters. Padme and Anakin and the troops make it to the throne room, where Grievious waits for them. A very small number of Mandolarians cut through the Republic commandos, though Padme accounts for one herself. At one point, a Mandolarian gets the drop on Padme, shoots away Anakin's blaster, and Anakin instinctively force-chokes him to death. Down to just Grievious, Anakin and Padme, Grievious uses a concussion grenade, and Anakin goes flying. Grievious picks up Padme by the hair, and announces that the new Supreme Chancellor will pay dearly to get her back.

 

Up top, the Republic fleet is hard pressed. The Mandalorians have regrouped, and someone has assumed command in Darth Maul and General Grievious' absence. Down below, it's down to Qui-Gon vs. Darth Maul. We also see Anakin getting up sneakily, and grabbing armor off of the guy he force-choked.

 

The Mandalorian flagship goes up in flames, and Obi-Wan presses the advantage. Anakin walks up behind Grievious, wearing a Mando gauntlet. Grievious is giving his evil villain speech to Padme. Anakin shoots him in the back with a missile, and Grievious goes flying out the window, his jet-pack just accelerating him into the ground. Darth Maul does a "You can't defeat me," to Qui-Gon; Qui-Gon allows himself to stabbed in the chest so he can repay the favor to Maul. Both die. Obi-Wan senses his masters' death, and his jubilation at beating the Mandalorians fades.

 

In the epilogue, we see that the Republic is now trying to gear up for war, but it just doesn't have troops to match the Mandalorians. Palpatine convinces the Jedi to train Anakin, Anakin thanks him for the offer and asks if there's anything he can do to thank him - Palpatine says to keep in touch. The Mandalorians back off, and a cease fire is declared. There's a moment where Padme looks about to kiss Anakin, but then doesn't. The Jedi wonder to what extent are the Sith behind the Mandalorian invasion. In a formal Jedi ceremony before the Order, Obi-Wan takes Anakin as his apprentice.

 

Roll credits.

 

 

 

 

It has the same structure as the original, but no Gungans, Anakin is significantly older and cooler, and you have Mandalorians rather than the Trade Federation. Padme is Palpatine's daughter, unaware that he's Sith, but with a lot of ideas that are distinctly Imperial. She believes very strongly in the rule of law, that fear can be used to keep people in line, etc.

 

As for the reworked Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, I haven't figured them out yet.

 

Awesome story dude. You should have written the script for this movie. Only a couple problems I notices, which wouldn't be to hard to resolve. Grevious isn't human, never has been. He is from some reptilian race. Second, at this point in time the mandalorions are far to weak to have any kind of military force. It could be easily changed though.

 

I felt like the droids were a good choice, mainly because it would allow you to have a formidable army of unquestioning troops relatively quickly. That and it allows them to make some interesting droids. One of my problems is that after the clone wars they combat droids just seem to disappear from the cannon, almost all together, with a few exceptions. I can understand the TF losing the war and the factories getting shut down, but the applications of droids would make you think that some hutts or someone would get a abandoned factory running and have droids guarding there stuff.

 

Also in regards to the OPs points, and this has probably been covered already, the reason there are only 2 sith is a precedent set by Darth Bane called "The rule of 2."

[grandmthethird]

there was nothing really wrong with the films. the problem was with the ppl watching them after 20 years ppls tastes have changed. some ppl were watching them hoping for a nostalgic blast from the past. well they could never get that, to many things have changed over the last 20 years one big things is special fx. its for the same reason the new king kong and planet of the apes didn't hit with the fans of the originals. i know a little boy age 7 that loves the new starwars films but hates "a new hope" he didn't even get through 45 misns of it before he was out playing with his friends

 

like i say there is no problem with the new films as much as its just not the memory of starwars alot of us have. and for that reason there was not much they could do to make us like it. to go back 20 years in film development might have worked but that would never happen. and we might not like the films but they have a new audience. and in 20 years time they will be telling their kids how great these films were when they were a kid. and their kids will roll their eyes, like ours do about episode 4-6

 

imo anyway

[Zag_Stratos]

Better Actors would have helped.

 

I find that the Prequels, the actors lacked direction, feel and overall attachment. They felt disconnected from the world and that's probably because of the directing and green walls.

[priest]

-remove Jar-Jar Binks. 40%

-Focus on storytelling...not on story boarding. 25%

-remove immaculate conception, the prophecy, and god-mod Ani...20%.

-make Anakin's fall to the Darkside more...linear. It was like zero to Darth in 20 minutes. 5%

- don't have Amidala die of 'a broken heart.' that was ridiculous. 5%

- remove 20 minutes of Pod-Race. 5%

 

100% more betterer