Jump to content

The Great Prequel Revival - Is It Real? Is it Happening?


BLUMENKOHL

Recommended Posts

Nearly two decades ago, the prequels were considered horrible. Unbelievable. Ridiculous. Throw whatever synonym of "WTF" on there as you might. 

 

Now many Star Wars fans of old are dead. Replaced by people who grew up on Jar Jar. Donald Trump is president, so any criticism of things being politically unrealistic has gone out the window. The Patriot Act was a democracy saying, SURVEIL US, to thunderous applause. The Tragedy of Darth Plageius the Wise is an internet phenomenon. Prequel sales are up. Prequel quotes are up. More people are getting together and rewatching the Prequels. Shoot, I just rewatched them over the last two weekends. And they are more endearing than I remember. And my god, Hayden Christensen makes an amazingly realistic teenager. He is exactly what you would expect Darth Vader to be as a teen.

 

And I think that pissed off a lot of the nerds, by virtue of being too realistic. The nerds were really all Anakin's during their teenagehoods. Talented and "smart" and because they knew it, also insufferable and whiny, and they just couldn't see it, like Anakin couldn't his own failings. 

 

But now...now things are different. Has the tide turned? Are the prequels in vogue? 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not yet, but they will be.

 

In the pantheon of all the Star Wars film that we will have in say, 5 to 7 years they will be seen as unique. The vision of Star Wars by the Creator itself. Undiluted by studio interference.

A radical homage to the old Flash Gordon serials, right down to the rigid direction style, artificial looking sets and wooden acting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still dream that someone will reshoot the prequels one day.

 

And please, start the first Episode with a teenager Anakin, not a baby.

 

The Qui-Gon Jinn story can just be told, it's no use to show it.

 

Don't change any fact, just tell different stories... and of course use different dialogues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's definitely been a shift in fandom. I don't think they'll ever be universally loved but I think there's an acceptance and tolerance that wasn't there before. Clone Wars has helped. The Prequel generation has grown up and in mainstream and need media and that has helped.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

They are awfull, all three of them. But they are unique. Which in todays cinematic milieu gives them some intellectual credibility.

 

No. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Selina Kyle said:

I don't care for the old ones anymore. Except for the music, I really want nothing to do with them.

You know what is really strange? I rewatched the old films (in one of those restored original versions) in late 2015... and they mostly did nothing for me. They were just bunch of movies, nothing godly or that special about them. Sad but true.

 

Prequels are still worse though.

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With the exception of parts of ROTS, they really are pretty bad. AOTC is borderline unwatchable.

 

That said, the are original, and I credit Lucas for taking the story, look and tone in different directions rather than simply remaking what came before. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The IDEA of the Prequels is delicious! But execution is unpalatable.

Just now, Quintus said:

I wish I could watch them even out of kitsch value, but there's not even that. 

 

Good kitsch is fun! 80's Flash Gordon, Highlander, thats fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ever since Disney started capitalizing on the OT and making their sequels and spinoffs and bulldozing Disneyland, I just can't stand it anymore. Enough is enough. They're just Saturday matinee popcorn movies for kids. The prequels have basically remained immune to all of this, thank God.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember an old Empire magazine edition mentioning how The Phantom Menace was said to be delving much more into the politics of Star Wars, and it was pretty mouth watering to think about. But then look how that turned out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Quintus said:

I remember an old Empire magazine edition mentioning how The Phantom Menace was said to be delving much more into the politics of Star Wars, and it was pretty mouth watering to think about. But then look how that turned out. 

 

The Prequels as a miniseries written and produced by Vince Gilligan would be a masterpiece!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There will be prequel revival...Disney will see to it.

 

Here's what I said a few years ago to Alexcremers when he was (wrongly) predicting that the new films (i.e. TFA) would flop b/c of Star Wars burnout and that Star Wars just wasn't that "hot" anymore an that no one cares about a "bunch of old movies".....

 

Quote

These films are going go through the roof if they're only halfway decent. You'll have people who grew up with the original trilogy going for the nostalgia factor...people who grew up with the PT because they're still into it...and a whole new generation of kids who will be seeing for the very first time....some because they want to, some because they're parents are dragging them there. Phantom Menace, an awful film, is the biggest grossing SW movie to date because of those reasons.
Hating on SW is fine, but obtuseness is not an attractive quality.

 

There were a lot of people who grew up with the prequels, and the prequels are "their Star Wars". And lets not forget those films made a lot of money.  Eventually, prequel nostalgia is going to kick in, and if it doesn't Disney will create it. And no one does nostalgia better than Disney. It will happen, count on it. There are a lot of prequel characters & worlds, and they're going to end up in Disney's parks. There's just too much to mine there....Disney paid all that money, not for the Star Wars films, but for those characters. They're not going to ignore 50+% of them.

 

By the time Disney is done, even the most hardened prequel hater is going to be feeling a twinge of nostalgia for them.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still can't watch a Prequel again without cringing at at least two things in every scene.

 

Williams might be God, but even the Lord himself can't help certain things to get any better more enjoyable ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lovd the first post in this thread.

 

Well, I grew up with the idea that the OT was something divine, special and untouchable. When I finally got around to watching them, someone here advised me to start with the OT first and that was a big mistake.

 

First, they just sound old. I read somewhere that money was poured into remastering the audio tracks, but I dont notice too much of that. I find the OT unsatisfactory on many levels including character development, story-telling and, yes, score-wise too. Great themes, but the overall 'sound' doesn't agree with me. As for the films in general, there's nothing special to them to me at all.

 

The prequel scores are so much better! Duel of the Fates, Across the Stars, you name it, all terrific cues. I absolutey loved ROTS because of Anakin's fascinating character arc and Palpatine made it even better. Add to that the melodramatic music and the OT just becomes an afterthought. I even like TFA much better than the OT. Far more compelling that any Lucas film.

 

I'm not saying the prequels are good movies overall. McGregor is utterly awful in all three of them and Christensen is ridiculous in AOTC, but his take on Anakin really worked for me in ROTS. Luke, however, is a superficial character I can't sympathise with and it's hard to feel for or even hate a villain who destroys planets whose inhabitants are utterly irrelevant to you. The OT has this annoying 'just go with it, don't expect explanations' thing about them that the prequels don't have. I only briefly cared for Han Solo in the OT, but everything is too superficial. 'A beautiful princess, let's go save her! Learn about the Force  but don't ask what the Force is. This must be the Sandpeople but don't ask what Sandpeople are.'

 

So, bottom line: prequels are okay, ROTS is brilliant, OT is... between not bad and okay. Looking forward to more Disney films.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, BloodBoal said:

What is going on here?

 

How out of touch!

1 minute ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

They are, from a certain point of view.  Recording aesthetics, and the fact that they are more Williamsy in general.

 

And more...Renaissancy/Classical to fit the cleaner prequel aesthetic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, crocodile said:

You know what is really strange? I rewatched the old films (in one of those restored original versions) in late 2015... and they mostly did nothing for me. They were just bunch of movies, nothing godly or that special about them. Sad but true.

 

Prequels are still worse though.

 

Karol

 

I too feel the hollowness of the originals. I think it's a holdover of the 1970s monotone aesthetic. The music departed dramatically from that, but the filmmaking didn't. 

 

The music is actually the most lively element in the original movies. John scores a graveyard. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

Yes, they are sonically rather streamlined, which just appeals to me more than the spiky dryness of the original trilogy.

 

I love them both!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I theorized a while back that with this sudden onrush of Disney Star Wars crap, that from the ashes of George Lucas-owned Lucasfilm fandom, there would emerge a group of hipster SW fans that only considered Episodes I-VI canon. Everything since is fan fiction mass-produced by an evil empire of white slavers. They've become more powerful than even Lucas could have imagined. They got fucking Harrison Ford to get up onstage at a nerd convention.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Selina Kyle said:

They got fucking Harrison Ford to get up onstage at a nerd convention.

 

I'm sure they paid him handsomely for him to get up there. Enough for him to be able to buy as many leather jackets as he could possibly want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Selina Kyle said:

I theorized a while back that with this sudden onrush of Disney Star Wars crap, that from the ashes of George Lucas-owned Lucasfilm fandom, there would emerge a group of hipster SW fans that only considered Episodes I-VI canon. Everything since is fan fiction mass-produced by an evil empire of white slavers. They've become more powerful than even Lucas could have imagined. They got fucking Harrison Ford to get up onstage at a nerd convention.

 

 

http://www.twitter.com/jacobsirof

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, crocodile said:

There are heroes on both sides!

 

Karol

It was crazy to read that in the cinema back in 2005, it's crazier now. If you think about it, when you disregard The Clone Wars, general moviegoers would have no clue as to what that was supposed to mean. At that point there was nothing in the films to suggest there were any Separatist heroes...

 

Who the fuck was a hero, Count Dooku? General Grievous?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That never even occurred to me. Whatever the cartoon established, I mean.

 

Heroes on both sides always made sense to me. If you'd paid attention to the previous movie, Palpatine orchestrated the war. So, the Jedi and Padme were in the service of the dark lord just as the separatists were. Even if unwittingly, the heroes were on both sides. The lines were blurred. There was no black and white Rebels vs. Empire. Rather, everyone was plunged into a far more interesting gray zone. But see, Star Wars can't try to be intelligent. It has to be stupid to keep appealing to a mass audience. That's where Disney Star Wars comes in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But the prequel movies never gave us heroes to root for on the Separatist/Trade Federation side. It gave us Nute Gunray and his other buffoon comrades who want to invade Naboo and arrest Amidala. All the flying aliens on Geonosis and the industrialist reps want to imprison and slaughter the Jedi in the arena. And then they try to invade Coruscant, the home of our Jedi heroes, and kidnap their boss, the Chancellor. They don't do anything remotely sympathetic or heroic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.