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


BLUMENKOHL

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It's interesting how people in countries where the OT was never released experience the prequels. One of my Korean friends who's 30 now said he grew up with the prequels as they came out but never watched the OT. His parents didn't show it to him because they'd never seen it—it was never widely shown here. He knew about the character Darth Vader through pop culture osmosis and he knew that he was evil personified, but had no idea Anakin would grow up to be him until the helmet slid on at the end of ROTS—at which point, he said, his mind was completely blown. He really loves the prequels.

 

I hear it's mostly the same in China—the OT didn't screen there until a couple years ago at the Shanghai film festival. It's no wonder TFA flopped at the box office there.

 

I enjoy rewatching the prequels, myself. And I think if you watched them at 10 years old and really had no conception of the OT, they probably look better.

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The public's opinion on the prequels will most likely change over time, but one thing's for sure, they'll never be considered classics.

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11 hours ago, aviazn said:

I enjoy rewatching the prequels, myself.

 

Is that because you can't find anyone else willing to watch them with you, or because they'll laugh too hard if they do?

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Yeah. I remember when the "podrace" was a big selling point of the DVD...."now with extended Podrace sequence!". Which if anything would make me less likely to buy it.

 

Still, the laser sword duel at the end alone makes it better than the horrid AOTC.

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5 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

 

Is that because you can't find anyone else willing to watch them with you, or because they'll laugh too hard if they do?

Haha, you misread that. Myself = in my opinion, not 'by myself'! :P

 

Actually, I usually watch them with friends or family over here (Korea) who've never seen Star Wars and want to figure out what the fuss is all about and watch them all in order. There's usually a lot of drinking involved. Like I said, it's interesting to see it through their eyes. But I do enjoy them!

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On 15. April 2017 at 8:09 PM, Stefancos said:

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

 

No, it gives them ARTISTIC credibility.

Intellectually, they were, are, and always will be, as smart as dry white bread.

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I actually prefer the theatrical versions of TPM and AOTC. I wish we had those on digital format. The extended podrace and Coruscant shuttle scene are completely unnecessary and I prefer the puppet Yoda. In AOTC, the exchange between Anakin and Padme at the end of his confession scene is really bad and I don't know what Lucas was thinking messing around with the end of the lightsaber fight on the Blu-ray version. Sith, on the other hand, while ever-so-slightly altered from its theatrical release, is intact and perfect on Blu-ray.

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On 15-4-2017 at 8:55 PM, 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

 

You could be Star Warsed out.

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Indeed, Star Wars is a nice entry-level religion. But after a while some of us look for something ... else.

 

vdofmdc.jpg

 

And crocs seemed to have found it.

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7 hours ago, aviazn said:

Haha, you misread that. Myself = in my opinion, not 'by myself'! :P

 

Yeah I got that. I was being facetioucastical. :)

 

7 hours ago, aviazn said:

Actually, I usually watch them with friends or family over here (Korea) who've never seen Star Wars and want to figure out what the fuss is all about and watch them all in order. There's usually a lot of drinking involved. 

 

Soju & Star Wars!  

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4 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

 

Yeah I got that. I was being facetioucastical. :)

 

 

Soju & Star Wars!  

Lol I guess I was just being slow. ^_^

 

4 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

Soju & Star Wars!  

One time when a few friends and I decided to watch ANH, I convinced them to take a soju shot every time a leitmotif was heard in the score. I was the first to pass out, I think even before Alderaan went boom. (In my defense, I was also severely jet lagged!!)

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Alexcremers is, of course, WRONG about Interstellar's brilliance. IMO it was the best film of that year, and it's actually one of my favourite sci-fi films of all time, I loved it. And I enjoy it more than 2001.

 

That said, comparing it to Star Wars is folly.

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8 hours ago, Selina Kyle said:

I actually prefer the theatrical versions of TPM and AOTC. I wish we had those on digital format. The extended podrace and Coruscant shuttle scene are completely unnecessary and I prefer the puppet Yoda. In AOTC, the exchange between Anakin and Padme at the end of his confession scene is really bad and I don't know what Lucas was thinking messing around with the end of the lightsaber fight on the Blu-ray version. Sith, on the other hand, while ever-so-slightly altered from its theatrical release, is intact and perfect on Blu-ray.

 

I don't care about any of the DVD & BD changes to the prequels, because they're all relatively minor I don't care about the films enough to care. Though I do prefer the CGI Yoda in keeping with the other prequel films, and I wasn't aware that there were any changes to the lightsaber duels in any of the films?  As far as pacing issues go, the first two films are so badly paced that I don't think the scenes you mentioned made much difference either way.

 

The OT is another matter, and Harmy's are the only versions I'll watch.

3 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

(on Alexcremers usual wrongness)

 

Ooops. Cheers!

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On 4/16/2017 at 11:52 AM, I Need About Tree Fiddy said:

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. 

 

Totally right.  "There are heroes on both sides" is a great line, but nothing at all justified by the previous two films.  Really the whole prequel trilogy should have been about a galaxy at war, instead of the majority of the war happening offscreen between films.

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The fact that other major life events like Anakin being Knighted as a Jedi happening on a cartoon show instead of the main films was stupid as well

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19 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

Totally right.  "There are heroes on both sides" is a great line, but nothing at all justified by the previous two films.  Really the whole prequel trilogy should have been about a galaxy at war, instead of the majority of the war happening offscreen between films.

 

Indeed. I think that "heroes on both sides", like "with me or against me" is Lucas trying to shoehorn in a political allegory that really wasn't backed up by what was happening on the screen.  They were both comments on Bush-era definitions of patriotism, that Lucas despised.

 

The idea that both sides in a conflict are human beings and are capable of heroics and cowardice, good and evil, etc. is of course true, and a sentiment often reflected in cinema (e.g. Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jim films). It's just the wrong message for Star Wars, which is starkly about good vs. evil.  The thing is, Lucas's politics are really stuck in the Vietnam/Nixon era, and his range doesn't go much beyond that.

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Just now, Nick1066 said:

 

Indeed. I think that "heroes on both sides", like "with me or against me" is Lucas trying to shoehorn in an allegory 

 

Haha yup.  I was honestly surprised he didn't give Palpatine a "mission accomplished" line :P 

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3 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Yep. I think a better structure for the Prequel trilogy could have been:

 

Episode I: Ends with the beginning of the Clone Wars, and a 15-year old (or older) Anakin starting his training as a Jedi.

 

Episode II: The Clone Wars rage on during the entire film. Anakin becomes a Jedi Knight halfway through the film.

 

Episode III: End of the Clone Wars. Anakin becomes a Jedi Master/joins the Council.

 

When does Vader become Darth Vader?  How does the Emperor come to power?

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59 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

So in the end there is no great Prequel revival!!

 

My feelings have never changed.  There's a lot to like and a lot to dislike.  They're incredibly flawed films with lots of cool ideas bogged down most of all by bad writing and boring direction.  Lucas had great ideas but just.... didn't know how to make good films.  His hubris in wanting to direct all 3 himself was probably his downfall.

 

I happen to love Episode VII, but I could see the argument made that JJ didn't have particularly original ideas but is highly skilled at executing an entertaining film.  He knows how to endear characters to an audience and keep the pace fast.  I mean, his camera movement is always so peppy (but not frantic) in all of his films.  It kind of reflects his over-caffeinated persona.

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1 hour ago, Nick1066 said:

The idea that both sides in a conflict are human beings and are capable of heroics and cowardice, good and evil, etc. is of course true, and a sentiment often reflected in cinema (e.g. Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jim films). It's just the wrong message for Star Wars, which is starkly about good vs. evil.

 

If that were true, you wouldn't have characters in your beloved OT such as Anakin Skywalker and Han Solo.

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28 minutes ago, Selina Kyle said:

 

If that were true, you wouldn't have characters in your beloved OT such as Anakin Skywalker and Han Solo.

 

Nonsense. Solo wasn't a "grey" character. Yeah, he was a roguish smuggler, but he was squarely a good guy.  And Darth Vader was an evil character....until he wasn't.

 

Oh, and it's the world's "beloved" OT. :)

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7 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

Alexcremers is, of course, WRONG about Interstellar's brilliance. IMO it was the best film of that year, and it's actually one of my favourite sci-fi films of all time, I loved it. And I enjoy it more than 2001.

 

That said, comparing it to Star Wars is folly.

 

2001 > Interstellar >>> Star Wars

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I love Star Wars but the classical pieces that Stanley placed under those images is still stunning to me today. It's not an original score, of course, but the effect it achieves is more original or less conventional than Stars Wars (which does what 99% of all movies do).  

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Just now, Alexcremers said:

I love Star Wars but the classical pieces that Stanley placed under those images is still stunning to me today. It's not an original score, of course, but the effect it achieves is more original or less conventional than Stars Wars (which does what 99% of all movies do).  

 

This makes no sense whatsoever.

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