Why does everyone hate the prequals????

[Macheath]

"Stop that! That's my dinner!"

 

"I'm stuck in this slimy mudhole!"

 

"I don't know why I can't see Yoda now!"

 

"I don't know what I'm doing here!"

 

"I am ready! Ben, tell him I'm ready!"

 

"That's not true! That's impossible!"

 

 

I guess I'm being a little snarky here. My apologies. I'm just pointing out that - in my very humble opinion - in the whiny brat war, Luke wins, hands down.

 

Mark Hamill was a better actor. I don't care how whiny their characters are, or were supposed to be. Hayden is NOT a good actor, and that extends to every movie I've ever had the displeasure of seeing him in. The problem with Anakin Skywalker was 1/3rd poor writing, 2/3rds Hayden Christensen.

 

-Macheath.

[Hockaday]

All I have to say is, Midichlorians = awesome. I think it is more the hippy types who hate it...who want the force to be some kind of zen enlightenment bs.

[reaperkeepet]

All I have to say is, Midichlorians = awesome. I think it is more the hippy types who hate it...who want the force to be some kind of zen enlightenment bs.

 

I also dont see why people hate the medicholrians idea. :confued: It makes more sense than anything tbh.

[DarkMorlin]

The prequels were good. They could have been EPIC. There are three primary reasons for their to live up to their potential.

 

1 ) The focus on GCI over plot. One fifth of the movie concerned the romance between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen. NO Chemistry at all. Total waste of time.

 

2 ) Bad casting. BAD casting. Except for Ian McKellan (should have got an oscar) and Ewan Macgregor. Hayden Christenson?!?!!?. He ruined Vader for me. As the previous poster said, he went from galactic class bad guy to whiny kid with mommy issues.

 

3 ) Bad Directing. Empire is widely regarded as the best Star Wars movie, because it

combined Lucas's epic vision with the world class director Lawrence Kasdan (probably the most underrated director in movies). Lucas just isn't a Hollywood class director. He is a visionary, but his talent ends there. He lacks the insight to be able to understand the motivations of all the different characters involved in the series, beyond thier general objectives.

 

That being said I enjoyed the movies both old and new, I don't think anyone hates the prequels, they are just frustrated that they missed their potential.

[xnoxiousx]

Episode 1 is by far worst out of all episodes.

 

Episode 2 is good

 

Episode 3 imo restored the series and redeemed it to level of first movies.

[JediGerad]

Episode 1 I thought was awesome compared to 2, but 3 is the best of the prequels. And to be honest here, I actually don't mind Hayden's acting. The dialogue in all three movies is pretty weak, but the only person to blame for that is George Lucas.

 

I think the biggest issue with them is how onconsistent they are. 4, 5, and 6 basically follow pretty closely to each other in the years. 1, 2, and 3 have these bigs gaps between them and George Lucas spends all this time trying to bridge those gaps with his poorly written dialogue.

 

The big topper for me on annoying characters, however, is that damned kid in the first movie. I'd take a Jar Jar movie if it meant that I could magically make that kid never happen.

 

But let's all be honest with ourselves here, how many of us will still watch them just for the fight scenes?

[Archaon_Thrax]

I LOVED the Phantom Menace. Mainly cause of the end battles (Darth maul VS Qui-gon and Obi-Wan -- Gungans vs Droids) and offcourse Jar Jar.

 

The Clone Wars was "meh...", had a few good moments, but overall coudl've been better.

 

I hated The Revenge of the Sith purely cause of the actor who played Anakin Skywalker, Hayden Christopher. His acting was sub-par in The Clone Wars and in this movie was absolutely DISMAL! Also, his terribad acting dragged Ewan McGreggor's acting down.

 

The only good thing about The Revenge of the Sith was Obi-Wan vs Anakin, but it ended to abruptly by Obi-Wan utilizing the Sokan combat style (using the environment itself to gain a tactical advantage in combat.) and cutting Anakin's legs off.

 

I was like; "What the flux? That's it?"

Edited January 1, 2012 by Archaon_Thrax

[Aileanjeune]

OK. In my mind, going from what we're given in the OT, Vader fell to the Dark Side because he felt the Republic was incompetent and was drawn to the allure of power of the Sith and the efficiency and competency of the empire. He later came to regret his affiliation with the dark side, but was somewhat addicted to it, and his servitude to the dark side was really all that he had left.

 

He even admits, in so many words, to Luke that he made bad decisions, but that his position made it impossible to change. He is a tragic tale, and the prequels did not set that up.

 

And Hayden Christensen doesn't even have the body frame to be Darth Vader!! Don't say he was a robot so he looked different! Nothing about that skinny a-hole was right for DV.

 

Honestly, Leonardo DiCaprio coulda taken that horrible script and made it work. He's honestly an amazing actor who would have fit the Anakin part. Hell, the kid even looks like a young Leo, and he certainly has the larger frame for Darth Vader.

 

And heck, does anyone think of Hayden Christensen when you see Vader at the end of ROTJ? Watch that and imagine DiCaprio as Anakin. Let me know what you think!

[Vecke]

Personally, I'm okay with Hayden's acting. I strongly suspect it was the directing and the writing that tied his hands. I think anybody playing Anakin would have come off just as badly. I mean, Lucas just isn't very good at writing dialogue. A famous story from the making of Empire was Harrison Ford storming into Lucas' office and saying, "George, you can write this ****, but you can't say it."

 

The difference is Kirshner directed Empire and he allowed Ford to do quite a bit of improv in that film (the famous "I know" line was complete improv from Ford). I strongly suspect Lucas wasn't so compromising with the prequel actors.

 

Just my opinion. I'm not saying anybody else is wrong here, as it's just opinions.

[Darth-Malice]

Just go to Red Letter Media if you want a good review of the prequels.

 

PS Email me if you want a pizza roll.

[Venan]

I am seriously so sick of everyone bashing on Hayden Christenson. I am tired of it. You are all entitled to your opinions, don't get me wrong. You all have a right to believe what you want, but I cannot look at any of this whining without knowing the root cause;

 

the character of Anakin was bad.

 

I've heard very good things about Christenson's acting in other films such as Life as a House and Shattered Glass. He does not strike me as anything like a bad actor.

 

You all hate him because he is the face of Anakin Skywalker, and the Anakin Skywalker we got in the prequels was a whining, self-righteous, pretentious kid (after Ep. I).

 

And that is solely Lucas' fault. That is solely Lucas' bad directing. He has actually gone on record, there is footage of him, telling Hayden "be whinier." He SAYS THIS. And what's Hayden supposed to do? Tell George Lucas off?

 

Please, I beg you. Watch some of the behind-the-scenes for AotC and RotS. LOOK at Hayden's face. He looks annoyed, confused, and troubled whenever Lucas gives him acting directions. This isn't because he's a bad actor, it's because Lucas told him to act badly, because Lucas didn't give anyone else creative freedom.

 

You want more proof? Natalie Portman. Please don't try to tell me Natalie Portman is a bad actress. She's gotten numerous awards. She is critically acclaimed as an actress or films like Closer and Black Swan. Then why is her character so dry, uninteresting, and just generally horrible in Star Wars?

 

I'm going to bold/underline/italicize this.

 

The Director Sucked.

 

You think you could do better spending months walking around a totally green or blue room with nothing to interact with?

 

I just.... I'm sorry. I'm asking you; hate the character, hate the films, hate what Lucas tried to do. But please don't hate the people who were forced to put up with his horrible directing skills. They tried to work with what they were given and really they were given nothing.

[Theodwulf]

 

Watch all of those. They will make you hate George Lucas, for GOOOOOD reason.

 

OMG I have not laugh this loud in a long time..I could hardly breath during certain times...and I am not done... just wanted to thank the poster for posting this ling

[Lankist]

what's the plot of The Phantom Menace?

 

Who is the main character of The Phantom Menace?

[Drowsiness]

Ok, how come everyone hates the prequals? Everywhere I go you someone saying the same thing. Heck, if you went to Celebration VI you'd see people outside of the convention center with signs yelling "JOIN THE DARKSIDE, HATE THE PREQUALS, HATE THE PREQUALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Quite honestly I don't see whats wrong with them. I like both the prequals and the original trilogy. I don't think they are corny (ok, maybe a few very small spots), I don't think it was bad acting, and I loved the characters (except Jar Jar)!

 

So, to get to the point, what is wrong with the prequals?

 

In short, I hate them because Lucas decided to re-tell the stories and add things to classic movies which didn't need ANY tinkering. He did it all to make the old fit with the new.

 

I dislike that.

[Monopoker]

in case you don't have 4.5 hours to spare to watch the redlettermedia reviews (http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/ if you don't want to see the chopped up youtube version someone posted earlier), I'll summarize:

 

- The prequels largely fail to connect emotionally with the audience.

- The prequels are set up to have the appeal of an amusement park ride rather than a story.

- The prequels make no sense and have no self-respect.

 

and everything else derives from those. They really are worth the time to watch though. The Plinket reviews, I mean.

[CriticalAtheist]

I couldnt stand the way Padme and Anakin was portrayed (whiney crying children)

 

Also Jar Jar Binks doesn't belong in star wars.. Dont think i need to explain why.

 

 

If they had made Anakin and Padme tougher characters id have had no problems with them.

[Sith-Viscera]

On Vader Screaming NOOOOoooooooOOOOOOoooo , was what super man said when the earth quack swallowed up Louis in the car and crushed her to death in the movie. Now why didnt they have vader scream since he was the reason why she died in the first place, just scream her name out in agony, you know, (PADAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!) but not NOOOOOOO. grrrr bad Lucas bad..... Edited January 2, 2012 by Sith-Viscera

[MiraBindo]

Funny i just happened to finish watching them, because for some reason i decided to watch all of them in order over the past week. most points have been hit already and i didn't really read the whole thread here.

 

While i didnt HATE the prequels (except maybe attack of the clones). But they obviously dont come close to the original.

 

 

• Mystical microscopic creatures made of force? Okay lucas.
   
   
  
• Both actors that played Anakin (the younger one to a lesser degree, being so young after all), which was compounded by how bad most of his lines were written for example: (to Obi-Wan)"Don't make me kill you!"... lol wut
   
   
  
• Jar-Jar... yup.
   
   
  
• Like i said, basically the entirety of episode 2 could just not exist and i would be okay with it.
   
   
  
• For that matter i would have liked to see Episode II as showing the building of the mentor/mentee brotherly relationship with Obi and Anakin, rather than the angsty annoying Anakin we received. And just show his fall during ep3. It would have made his betrayal have a more profound effect i think, after showing the mutual trust and respect they built. Which they tried to show, but didnt to as well as they could have
   
   
  
• "NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo..." ... yup
   
   
  
• I'm sure there's more. I'm trying to be positive here
  

 

 

However, Episodes 1 and 3 had some redeeming qualities for me, even if they were few.

 

 

• Despite what they were given, some actors seem to always be able to perform. I'm lookin at you Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman.
   
   
  
• Episode 3 had some of the most fantastic visuals and combat choreography I've seen in a long while, obviously only due to the level of technology we had available. I speak mostly of the final fight with Obi-Wan and Anakin. When they weren't talking that was an amazingly bad *** scene. It almost redeemed Hayden in my eyes watching him keep up with Ewan.. almost
   
   
  
• I hoped this part of the list would be longer.
  

 

Edited January 2, 2012 by MiraBindo

[Ashliet]

Because they are a travesty to what Lucas originally created. The prequeles created more loopholes and inconsistencies, it's like Lucas forgot what the originals were about. I will list a few of my own pet peeves about the prequels:

 

Jar-Jar Binks, enough said.

 

Midichlorians... ***?

 

Hayden Christiansen (or whatever his name is) as Anakin. Could they have picked a whinier, more annoying actor to play what is supposed to be a very likeable character until his "seduction" to the dark side?

 

Far to much focus on a love story that was neither romantic nor interesting. We all knew that Anakin and Padme fall in love and have kids, we didn't need the bulk of a movie to show us this.

 

Not nearly enough Jedi BMF scenes showing how powerful Anakin really was. Too much fluff and filler, not enough actual Jedi stories. Watch The Clone Wars animated series, these are the kinds of stories that should have been in Clone Wars the movie, not an uniteresting love story that was poorly written and acted.

 

The final end EMO "NOOOOOOOOO" from Vader in Revenge of the Sith is just, well, lame.

 

Not nearly enough Vader in the last movie, should have seen far more of him. To much wasted time on the "seduction" to the darkside which amounted to little more then a deceptive trick on Palpatines part.

 

I could go on with more loopholes, but I think you get the idea.

 

First off Jar Jar yeh Midichlorians ok.

 

Hayden Christensen did fine and you really expect someone to not be "whiney" when he constantly torn between good and evil.

And the "emo" no? That just makes you sound stupid by using a word you don't understand. Granted I think he could have done anything other than No because it sounds so akward.

 

Oh adnd Mira The final fight between Anakin and Obi, in the extra dvds there was scenes of them practicing so besides the like force jumps that fight was how fast they were fter practicing for so long.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Ashliet

[FirstAngelus]

First of all:

It is NOT true that the prequel hate is something limitet to the internet... in fact I do not know ONE SINGEL PERSON liking them, and I know some sifi geeks.

 

That said... what went wrong with the Prequels? George Lucas. Thats it. The old movies were great because OTHER people tool Lucas, back then partially good Ideas and turned it into something great. And the Limitet budget did help more then it damaged; just look at the ORIGINAL Ep 4 scripts and you'll see it suckls as much as the prequels do. But other peoples impact made the movie to become great.... George Lucas "unleashed"... well thats not limitet to Star Wars, look at Indiana Jones with aliens.

 

What is wrong with the movies in detail?

 

Well they are supposed to be about Vaders downfall.

The problem is: There is none.

Anakin was supposed to be a nice person to sympathise with, wich gets temptet and becomes Vader.

But Anakin is a bad guy from the beginning of Episode 2. Where is the downfall from murdering women and Children in rage to Darth Vader? There is none.

 

I find it funny that the cartoon Anakin from clone wars is MUCH closer to the Anakin Obi Wan talked about in the original. But "He was a good freind" could not be further away from what the prequels show us.

 

And the characters.... The original movies had great characters... from side to main characters EVERYBODY is momorable, even Lando Calrissians secratary although never saying a word.

The prequel characters, if they are not anoying they are forgetable.

 

What do we get instead? CGI. And while the effects in the time of the original were great, especially compared to the other films, they are simply avarege nower days. Even worst: The great feeling comes from the mix of practical effects and CGI, just look and Lord of the Rings. Everyting in CGI looks awfull, since it simply does not feal like a "Real" enviroment. Like the great Plinket said: You may not recognize it, but your brain does.

 

Also: Lazy writing does not help.

The movies contradict themselfes and the original on every possible occasion. And the characters behave stupid.

I mean the "great Jedi counsel" sees Anakin and believes he is a Jedi? That guy running arround and shouting "I want more power" "I want this" "I want that"... I'm sorry you didnt have to see the original to see him becoming evil.

They are using a clone army THEY KNOW the Sith have build for them and never are just going with it.

And I dont want to get into the "balance to the force" thing... with a Galaxy full of Jedio and 2 Sith they should recognize prety soon that "Balance" isnt pro Jedi at this point.

 

Also the whole Jedi-codex and form of live does not make sense... In the original the Jedi Knight seemed to be great, Noble and Wise warriors, here the Jedi order is an analogy to the Katholic Chrurch with all its stuipidity including the celibacy.

 

And we can not sympathise with the republic in the first place... the bad guys are seperatists. They do not want to take away anything from the republic, they just want to ne on their own.

Everyone with a brain recognizes AT ONCE that the Republic are the bad guys in the first place from what we see in the movies. And if any comics or novels or cartoos series give another explanation why the supposed to be bad guys are bad guye... guess what, people are watching the movies first.

 

And, an additional side note: If action focussed then right: Star Wars was NOT JUST Light saber fighting, the oly movies had action wise some of the best space battles up to date.

But the Prequels?

Ep1 is the only prequel with a space battle and thios one just sucks.

EpII has basicly none and Ep III the 10 seconds in the beginning.

 

Bottom line: Its not only the things that are BAD, its that there is nothing GOOD in return.

[MiraBindo]

Oh adnd Mira The final fight between Anakin and Obi, in the extra dvds there was scenes of them practicing so besides the like force jumps that fight was how fast they were fter practicing for so long.

 

Yeah i remember watching that, the amount of training they had to do was crazy. but it looked damn good for it.

[smartalectwo]

I missed Han Solo. There really needed to be someone grounded and human to keep things fun and rock the pompous Jedi back on their heels occasionally. As much of a Jedi fan as I am, they need a foil.

[savagedeacon]

Ok, how come everyone hates the prequals? Everywhere I go you someone saying the same thing. Heck, if you went to Celebration VI you'd see people outside of the convention center with signs yelling "JOIN THE DARKSIDE, HATE THE PREQUALS, HATE THE PREQUALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Quite honestly I don't see whats wrong with them. I like both the prequals and the original trilogy. I don't think they are corny (ok, maybe a few very small spots), I don't think it was bad acting, and I loved the characters (except Jar Jar)!

 

So, to get to the point, what is wrong with the prequals?

 

The prequels are , usually, not liked (most of the prequels, not only the star wars ones) because they tell a story that you already know how it will ends. Not only that but by wieving or reading or whatever the main story you already had your own "prequel"in mind and the official one seems to you lame by comparison

[smartalectwo]

The prequels are , usually, not liked (most of the prequels, not only the star wars ones) because they tell a story that you already know how it will ends.

 

A Prequel can be cool if it's handled well. It's not so much about the ending, but how we get there.

 

Yeah.

[Teleek]

My idea! (just rewatched the movies... because of this game ofcourse)...

 

We all should stop hating what are actually 'ok' movies... with stories you mostly know or could predict. Seen at an age you don't have the wonder anymore!

 

What I mean is this...

 

 

When you saw Episode 4 you saw this all for the first time. The effects where unique.. The Chemistry between the actors who all had a good need to prove themselves was suberb. You where young and you loved it!

 

Now you expect the same wonder for epiode 1. But so many years have passed. So many expectations build on what went on before. And George Lucas didn't became a better writer in those years. He could have made a perfect oscar winning movie and many of us will still say it failed to fill in the expectations. The story was predictable, the special fx nothing special anymore.

 

The Gungan are a race I would expect on a ocean planet as Naboo. You hate Jar-Jar... Well he is annoying. But he was written to be annoying. Lucas obviously tried to fill in C3-PO his boots as humor factor. It failed for many. It was ok for me. At least most characters thought he was annoying too.

 

Yes... the whole idea of ep. 1-3 is the origin of Darth Vader. A bit too long stretched. I think it could have been told in less actually. But well.. Lucas had the rights for three movies. Better make that three then.

 

All considered... He did manage to raise the funds to give us the visuals of what should have never been made. These three werent planned at all. And that also made it possible for him to upgrade the old ones... Even though some would say it is not good to go back and upgrade.. I still like it. If not upgraded Ep 4-6 would have looked old-fashioned compaired to ep 1-3. Would you much rather had that he ignored the wishes and pleading of the fans (us) and never had made Ep 1-3 in the first place?

 

In the end it is the fans that make each other hate the whole thing more and more... while they still love the universe as a whole and now all play this game. I think we all over react. And should start taking the thing in as is.

 

Ep 1-3 are ok... they are not world-class movies. Even Ep 4-6 wheren't at their time. But at that time the cast had charisma and the whole scene was new. Ep 1-3 didný had that. Ergo... they fail to reach the high grounds. But they wheren't bad at all. Just not as good.

 

Expectations is the key here!

Edited January 2, 2012 by Teleek