If you could rewrite The Phantom Menace....

[Sandor 798]

It's been more than 10 years since The Phantom Menace. I consider TPM probably the biggest cinematic dissapointment of my entire life. There were years where I felt I actually lived for 'Star Wars Episode I'.

In my head it was going to be a fantastic film, possibly the greatest film ever made. Well, instead I got to see a film with various 'poo' and 'fart' moments which really says it all...

The Phantom Menace (and later Episode II and III) tarnished the Star Wars saga forever. It's become a joke really and one would almost forget how fantastic Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back really were.

In the last 10 years I've been thinking a lot about the Star Wars Episode I that I really would have liked to see back in 1999. The movie that would have met my expectations.

Some say that no movie would have met those, but I say rubbish. The Empire Strikes Back met them. So did The Lord Of The Rings. It WAS possible.

This thread is NOT designed to become another Prequel bashfest. We've had enough of those.

Instead I would really like to hear serious and thoughtful ideas, concepts, storylines, etc. that would have made Episode I a better film.

I''ll start with the title. I always HATED The Phantom Menace as the title for the first Star Wars film. It doesn't sound like Star Wars. Not back then and not now. Why wasn't the first film called Revenge Of The Sith (or something alike)? That would have been a great title for the first installment and as a bookend with Return Of The Jedi much more suitable.

Another major problem is that there is no real central focus on a single character. The movie is not told from a certain perspective which generally makes a movie less interesting in the first place. Star Wars had a focus on Luke Skywalker (though he was unconventionally introduced late in the film). Still; it worked great nonetheless.

Why wasn't the focus of Episode I on either Ben Kenobi or Anakin Skywalker? Lucas should have made a choice who would be the central character in the Prequel Trilogy. Judging from Episode II and III I'd say he went with Anakin. He should have placed the focus on Anakin Skywalker in Episode I. The story should have been told from his perspective. Now it's too muddled and hectic.

The third major change I would have made was to have Anakin have a similar age as Luke in Episode IV. I mean, why a kid? It doesn't work and it's so unnecessary. It just doesn't add a thing to the story that should have been told.

So what would you like to have seen differently?

P.S. I have a lot more things, but will add them to the thread next week.

[publicist 4,643]

More screentime for the midichlorian stuff, like scientists analyzing and scrutinizing it for several minutes...

[SF1_freeze 131]

Episode I made me a Star Wars fan, so it was a great film for me. Now as an adult i can obviousley see the weaknesses (JarJar...) but i will always remember the great time i had in cinema 1999 watching TPM.

Episode 3 by the way is certainly better than Return of the Jedi and the other prequels and so a worthy finish of the prequel trilogy

[Sandor 798]

Episode I made me a Star Wars fan, so it was a great film for me. Now as an adult i can obviousley see the weaknesses (JarJar...) but i will always remember the great time i had in cinema 1999 watching TPM.

Episode 3 by the way is certainly better than Return of the Jedi and the other prequels and so a worthy finish of the prequel trilogy

I really like Episode III as well, but sadly it suffers from many of the same missteps that plagued Episodes I and II.

More screentime for the midichlorian stuff, like scientists analyzing and scrutinizing it for several minutes...

Ok, sarcasm was bound to appear, but I do get you. The way The Force was stripped of the mystical nature that made it great in the first three films is one of the many serious problems I have with Episode I. All of sudden Lucas felt the need to explain everything, leaving little to the imagination. And this is not limited to the midiclorians...

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,493]

Ben should have been trained by Yoda. I don't buy this whole business of Yoda training all Jedi when they're toddlers. Ben wasn't talking about when he was 5 years old in ESB. Give me a break.

Yoda should have been from Dagobah.

Anakin and Ben should have met during the clone wars (see: NOT stormtroopers vs. robots please) where we see Anakin is a great pilot strong with the force. Not 9 years old racing funny-looking aliens through the desert when Obi-Wan isn't even around.

[Sandor 798]

Ben should have been trained by Yoda. I don't buy this whole business of Yoda training all Jedi when they're toddlers. Ben wasn't talking about when he was 5 years old in ESB. Give me a break.

Yoda should have been from Dagobah.

Anakin and Ben should have met during the clone wars (see: NOT stormtroopers vs. robots please) where we see Anakin is a great pilot strong with the force. Not 9 years old racing funny-looking aliens through the desert when Obi-Wan isn't even around.

Excellent points. There was already a great backstory established in Episodes IV-VI. We already knew that Ben would meet Anakin and that there would be a disruption between Yoda and Ben whereas Anakin should be trained. It was Ben himself who would recognise the potential in Anakin. Episode I bluntly reboots these established facts and makes Ben look like a cowardly manipulating lier in Episode IV.

[ChuckM 1]

More screen-time for the sweetest villain in the Star Wars universe before he dies.

[Luke Skywalker 1,806]

Episode I bluntly reboots these established facts and makes Ben look like a cowardly manipulating lier in Episode IV.

ROTJ already stablished that.

In fact it started with ESB. Vader already tells luke Obi wan was a lier!

There are many backstory points from the OT that were changed in the PT, i would change those.

Or remake the OT

[Sandor 798]

Episode I bluntly reboots these established facts and makes Ben look like a cowardly manipulating lier in Episode IV.

ROTJ already stablished that.

For some reason, Ben's revelation in ROTJ never felt akward. It came across as very reasonable.

The PT took it to a whole other level though....

[Melange 446]

Jame Gumb reviews

(2 of 7)

[Ollie 1,067]

Well for one thing I would have reviewed everything that happened in the original trilogy to make sure that what I wrote for TPM would blend in.

I would probably make Anakin a tad bit older, I would cast characters that actually had chemistry, although that would be more important for AOTC.

I would rid the film of the "everyone knows everyone" syndrome, ie no C3PO being built by Anakin.

Tighten the dialogue and rid the film of some of the pointless scenes that don't move the film in any direction. Get rid of Jar Jar.

Show Williams Star Wars and remind him the entire film doesn't need music in every single scene.

With a little tightening, directing and script changes TPM could ve very good.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I messed around with this a couple of years back, and went towards writing a brief brainstorm.

I: Anakin should have been a Republic pilot, late teens early twenties. Meets Obi-Wan after the Jedi come to a support position on the clone wars. No Jedi council, no rigid structure, have the Jedi more like ronin. Padme a young senator, same age as Anakin. They meet as a result of Bail being an advisor to the Republic army, start a relationship. Anakin wants to be out on the front line, becoming friends with Obi-Wan allows him that, Obi-Wan sees his potential. Jedi disagree, Obi-Wan trains him, etc. Show signs of darkness and showing off, but only seeds. Owen is Anakin's brother and co-pilot. Palpatine is head of Republic from the start. Anakin starting his training becomes huge rift between him and Owen. Clone wars come to a base end with big battle (ala ANH), Anakin is the big hero.

II: Mopping up the rest of the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan has suspicions of Palpatine becoming a law unto himself, Yoda starts to sense a huge disturbance in the force, but cannot pin it down. They think it could be Palpatine. Other Jedi don't want to get involved, except Mace, Yoda and Anakin. Anakin meets with Palpatine, to see what he's up to, but starts to be seduced. Obi-Wan starts to see more darkness in him, as does Padme. Anakin becomes more obsessed with what Palpatine might be, but also what he could be. At the end, Palpatine reveals himself, Anakin fights him and himself, Palpatine offers Anakin his training, to join him (echoing ESB). Anakin agrees. Obi-Wan and Yoda sense something bad has happened, unsure what.

III: Padme is pregnant. Anakin doesn't know it's twins. He's scaring her more and more, and Obi-Wan is ever more suspicious. Obi-Wan meets with other Jedi who are now starting to see sense, talk about Anakin and potential he has, especially to take them all down. And Palpatine. Obi-Wan doesn't want to confront Anakin. Mace wants to go after Palpatine, the others disagree. Mace goes after him, alone. Anakin rushes to stop him, on the pretense that they need to make a proper plan. Mace tries to kill Palpatine, Anakin defends Palpatine (ala ROTS), Mace killed. Palpatine tells Anakin this is the beginning, and they need to act now. Anakin starts to systematically hunts down the Jedi. Obi-Wan learns of this, decides he must confront him. Padme, now on the verge of giving birth, is taken with Bail Organa to safety. Yoda goes after Palpatine. Yoda is totally owned, humiliated. He slips away. Anakin and Obi-Wan battle, volcano, etc, Obi-Wan takes him down and leaves him. Palpatine finds him, Vader outfit, yadda yadda yadda. Padme gives birth. Heartbroken, she takes Leia to Alderaan under Bail's protection. Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tatooine, to Owen.

[John Crichton 4]

Hire a scriptwriter that can actually write dialogue and hire a director that can cast properly and actually work with actors on set.

[Quintus 5,399]

I would have anyone but Lucas write it. Oh and Koepp can keep his mitts away too.

Lee - who's biggest cinematic disappointment ever is Indy IV. Actually enjoyed TPM initially, but went on to hate it.

[John Crichton 4]

TPM is actually my least favorite SW movie. I like AotC more than almost everyone here. Despite its glaring flaws there's a decent story trying to get out, but it seems like the entire movie is designed to hold it back instead of embracing it. And as I've said before I think RotS is better than Return of the Jedi. Far from perfect, mind you, but the best of the bunch.

[Luke Skywalker 1,806]

Episode I bluntly reboots these established facts and makes Ben look like a cowardly manipulating lier in Episode IV.

ROTJ already stablished that.

For some reason, Ben's revelation in ROTJ never felt akward. It came across as very reasonable.

Luke Skywalker (the real one) disagrees with you

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Anakin seriously shouldn't have been a kid. Padme and him have sensual looks at each other and it's disturbing. Not to mention the kid is a horrid actor.

[ETMusic 1]

I messed around with this a couple of years back, and went towards writing a brief brainstorm.

I: Anakin should have been a Republic pilot, late teens early twenties. Meets Obi-Wan after the Jedi come to a support position on the clone wars. No Jedi council, no rigid structure, have the Jedi more like ronin. Padme a young senator, same age as Anakin. They meet as a result of Bail being an advisor to the Republic army, start a relationship. Anakin wants to be out on the front line, becoming friends with Obi-Wan allows him that, Obi-Wan sees his potential. Jedi disagree, Obi-Wan trains him, etc. Show signs of darkness and showing off, but only seeds. Owen is Anakin's brother and co-pilot. Palpatine is head of Republic from the start. Anakin starting his training becomes huge rift between him and Owen. Clone wars come to a base end with big battle (ala ANH), Anakin is the big hero.

II: Mopping up the rest of the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan has suspicions of Palpatine becoming a law unto himself, Yoda starts to sense a huge disturbance in the force, but cannot pin it down. They think it could be Palpatine. Other Jedi don't want to get involved, except Mace, Yoda and Anakin. Anakin meets with Palpatine, to see what he's up to, but starts to be seduced. Obi-Wan starts to see more darkness in him, as does Padme. Anakin becomes more obsessed with what Palpatine might be, but also what he could be. At the end, Palpatine reveals himself, Anakin fights him and himself, Palpatine offers Anakin his training, to join him (echoing ESB). Anakin agrees. Obi-Wan and Yoda sense something bad has happened, unsure what.

III: Padme is pregnant. Anakin doesn't know it's twins. He's scaring her more and more, and Obi-Wan is ever more suspicious. Obi-Wan meets with other Jedi who are now starting to see sense, talk about Anakin and potential he has, especially to take them all down. And Palpatine. Obi-Wan doesn't want to confront Anakin. Mace wants to go after Palpatine, the others disagree. Mace goes after him, alone. Anakin rushes to stop him, on the pretense that they need to make a proper plan. Mace tries to kill Palpatine, Anakin defends Palpatine (ala ROTS), Mace killed. Palpatine tells Anakin this is the beginning, and they need to act now. Anakin starts to systematically hunts down the Jedi. Obi-Wan learns of this, decides he must confront him. Padme, now on the verge of giving birth, is taken with Bail Organa to safety. Yoda goes after Palpatine. Yoda is totally owned, humiliated. He slips away. Anakin and Obi-Wan battle, volcano, etc, Obi-Wan takes him down and leaves him. Palpatine finds him, Vader outfit, yadda yadda yadda. Padme gives birth. Heartbroken, she takes Leia to Alderaan under Bail's protection. Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tatooine, to Owen.

Two thumbs up on this. The 'new' SW trilogy will always be a disappointment, but at least we got more music out of JW.

[Luke Skywalker 1,806]

Anakin seriously shouldn't have been a kid. Padme and him have sensual looks at each other and it's disturbing.

I dont see that, really.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1- Anakin as a 9 year old child was a big mistake. He should have been at least the age he was in in AOTC.

2-Focus on Obi-Wan, Qui-Gonn is a largly redundant character in the Saga.

3-None of this trade dispute nonsense. It's boring political stuff that has nothing to do with Star Wars.

4-Simplify, there is to much needless exposition. Star Wars is about good versus evil, it doesn't need to get any more complicated then that. There is too much political nonsense in TPM. There are too many set-ups and situations that never get a pay-off in the later films? Why are we spending half the movie trying to get from Tattoine, why are we watching the pod race? Get to the Clone Wars already!

5- Jar Jar, and not just Jar Jar, all those Gungans. Why are they in this movie? What do they have to do with Anakin, Obi-Wan, The Force, The Emperor, you know, Star Wars related things?

6- Make more use of Darth Maul before killing him. He looked really cool, but he never became a real character to me.

7- 2 Jedi fighting 1 Sith is not fair according to playground rules!

8- Christopher Lee should have been in this movie.

[Wojo 2,453]

7- 2 Jedi fighting 1 Sith is not fair according to playground rules!

It's made worse by that 1 Sith killing one of the Jedi outright.

A 2-on-1 in hockey is called a power play. If Anakin observes the Sith get a short-handed kill, he should have really second guessed which team he wanted to play for.

[Diego 21]

I agree with a lot of of what you're saying, one question though, a lot of you mention the Clone Wars, but what should be the cause or the reason for the Clone Wars, if you're starting Episode I with them?? Why are they fighting?

[Quintus 5,399]

5- Jar Jar, and not just Jar Jar, all those Gungans. Why are they in this movie? What do they have to do with Anakin, Obi-Wan, The Force, The Emperor, you know, Star Wars related things?

See you're not thinking like Lucas, you're not thinking Mmmm... merchandise.

If anything, the question should be what do Midi-chlorians have to do with the Force?

My fave Star Wars movies, in order:

ESB - Awesome

SW - Awesome

ROTJ - Awesome

ROTS - Watchable

TPM - Watchable shite

AOTC - Shite

[Luke Skywalker 1,806]

5- Jar Jar, and not just Jar Jar, all those Gungans. Why are they in this movie? What do they have to do with Anakin, Obi-Wan, The Force, The Emperor, you know, Star Wars related things?

See you're not thinking like Lucas, you're not thinking Mmmm... merchandise.

Ummm yes, the gungans are most sought merchandise characters ever. eveyone wants one...

8- Christopher Lee should have been in this movie.

Yeah, but the LOTR movies had still not been released

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,493]

The prequels were doomed. Too much time passed between ROTJ and TPM so that Lucas could come up with things to dislike about the original movies and change. He started changing things WITH the old movies themselves. Times also changed. Technology for special effects allegedly improved. The prequels are very much films of their time. Mediocre, too many CGI effects. Even the music suffered, let's get real.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The whole reason why he waited was for better technology.

[MrScratch 294]

No Jar Jar

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon switch roles, Obi-Wan is the main character in the movie and loses his first apprentice before taking on Anakin.

Anakin is older, like 20.

No midichlorians

Episode I marks the beginning of the Clone Wars.

Darth Maul and Count Dooku are combined into one character, this character lives until Episode III and is the main villain throughout the prequels. The Sith is not limited to TWO people, that is a very lame idea. Sith history and lore is explained more. Palpatine is not boss of the Sith but takes order from and is puppet for the Maul character, until Palpatine recruits Anakin to help him become both Emperor and Sith boss.

No trade disputes and politics, just being a peaceful republic before Palpatine took over is all we need to know.

[Ollie 1,067]

The whole reason why he waited was for better technology.

Thank god technology was "limited" when he made the original trilogy.

[Wojo 2,453]

If I could rewrite The Phantom Menace, I would remove the archetypes assigned to Anakin Skywalker that ultimately weaken the story.

There is nothing in the classic Star Wars trilogy to suggest that Darth Vader is a more powerful Jedi than any who had ever preceded him. Yoda did not exist in the first Star Wars film, so the only Jedi you had was Obi-Wan Kenobi, who lets himself be cut down. We never knew the Emperor was a powerful Force user until he started talking about feelings in ROTJ, even though he mentions the "great disturbance in the Force" in Empire.

So to establish Anakin Skywalker as a more powerful Jedi than even Yoda, by quantifying the Force with "mid-chlorians," but then make him cocky and brash enough to lose first his hand, and then his other limbs...I don't buy it.

Ok, so Anakin is the most powerful Jedi in a long time. No Jedi ever senses him, not even Palpatine, and Tatooine may be the boonies but it's still a happening place. This is important because Palpatine is far more powerful as a Sith master than any of the Jedi are at being Jedi, and he goes unnoticed working beside Jedi every day.

But Anakin is so powerful as a nine year old twerp that the Jedi should not be annoyed with him, they should be afraid of him. Failing to notice him in the first place was mistake 1. If they are not going to assign Anakin to a qualified tutor like Windu or Yoda, they should have executed him on the spot for representing the potential to destroy them all. Guess what, he destroyed as many as he could.

While Anakin's virgin birth by the Force itself reinforces the idea that he's the most powerful Jedi ever, and does make it more tragic that he becomes evil for roughly 25 years of his life, it's also a cop-out. It only kept Lucas from having to explain where Anakin's father came from. We know the mind games that Lucas played with the backstory of Luke's father (freighter pilot, no, Jedi killed by Vader, no, Jedi who becomes Vader).

Is this Lucas' attempt to say that Anakin Skywalker is the Star Wars equivalent of a Virgin-borne Jesus Christ who falls to the dark side, and only his son can save him? That's an outrageous idea to stomach, but I don't think it's that far off the mark. Richard Donner may have given us Christ in blue tights and a red cape, but at least that figure had a father and fought for good.

Deciding that the Force itself created Anakin to ultimately defeat the terrible Sith evil that is Palpatine assigns an emotional weight to the setup that the films simply cannot carry. Especially because it's not analyzed as such at the conclusion of ROTJ. The prophecy, the chosen one status, the midichlorians are all inventions that should carry important dramatic weight in the saga, but are dropped when the story rolls into the classic trilogy.

I think that instead of changing little things in the classic trilogy like Greedo firing first, CGI Jabba, the fancy explosions, the wampa, the rock number, and all the eye candy throughout, Lucas should have known what dramatic exposition he was going to establish in the prequels, and find a way to shoehorn that information into the classic movies. Yoda, Obi-Wan, and R2D2 all remember what really happened, but we have to presume they didn't explain all of the prequel backstory to Luke -- not because the convolutions didn't exist in 1977 -- but because after all the time since the prequels occurred, they still didn't understand all the complicated details that had occurred.

[Trent B 337]

Like many of you, I too have had the way how the Prequels were handled. It seemed as if Lucas completely forgot what he wrote about The Original Trilogy. Most of the stuff that went on definitely didn't tie very well into the Original Trilogy. I also agree that Anakin never should have been a 9 year old kid in The Phantom Menace. He definitely should have been closer to Padmé's age.

"When I met your father, I was amazed how strongly the force was with him." "He was the best star pilot in the galaxy".

Ya what happened with actually showing that Lucas?

I am grateful for the music though that we've gotten from the Prequels, despite it being horribly chopped up in the final film. I blame Ben Burtt for that.

[Wojo 2,453]

"When I met your father, I was amazed how strongly the force was with him." "He was the best star pilot in the galaxy".

Ya what happened with actually showing that Lucas?

Amazed? Obi-Wan wasn't amazed at his potential, Qui-Gon Jinn was amazed. Obi-Wan was afraid of him, as was every other Jedi. It was only as QGJ lay dying that Obi-Wan changed his mind and wanted to train Anakin.

Aside from capitalizing on Liam Neeson's star power and stage presence, it's as if the character of Qui-Gon Jinn was carved out of dialogue and motivations that originally should have belonged to Obi-Wan Kenobi, had Anakin Skywalker started the saga as somebody older than a 9 year old boy. I think that Ewan MacGregor was too young in 1999 to portray Obi-Wan Kenobi at the age where he would have a beard and be a knight, and Lucas wanted him for the part, so he had to basically stall the prequel trilogy by delegating what we wanted to see until Episode II.

So Episode I became a two hour exercise in unnecessary exposition. All Episode I needed to do was introduce Anakin to Obi-Wan Kenobi, which doesn't happen until late in Act II. Episode II contains most of the story we thought would belong to Episode I. Episode III contains the climactic duel that would have made a great cliffhanging ending to Episode II. And the rise of the Empire and beginnings of the Rebellion are left unfilmed, requiring either the video game franchise The Force Unleashed to tell, or the impending live-action TV show. Stupdendous...

Star pilot does not equate to race car driver. And that's what Anakin did in his spare time, he built and raced a souped up race car. He learned how to operate the Naboo fighter by accident, and R2-D2 did most of that work anyways. So he blew up the spaceship, big deal. Anybody can aim a gun and pull the trigger; it's getting the gun into position that takes panache. In Episode II, we see that Obi-Wan Kenobi also has his own Jedi starfighter, which he handles pretty well, so we see that being a "star pilot" is part of basic Jedi training, and they are a qualified fighter team in Ep III. And so the perfect opportunity to establish Anakin as a "best star pilot" is squandered on behalf of comic relief.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

If I could rewrite The Phantom Menace... I would trash the script and prevent Episodes I-III.

[MissPadmé 17]

More Darth Maul Less Jar-Jar: That's it

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

More Amidala, less Padmé!

[Hlao-roo 389]

More Amidala, less Padmé!

Ooo rock me Amidala

Rock me Amidala...

[Red 75]

Jame Gumb reviews

(2 of 7)

I saw that a few days ago, and honestly that is the best and funniest review of TPM I've seen. He hits all the things that just plain do not work about the film, and why Lucas' whole approach was flawed. Lucas is a director who works best when he is under pressure, when he is the under-dog struggling to prove himself like he was during the making of Star Wars. Now he is the man on top who has pretty much all the freedom he could ever want, and while that in itself isn't bad, it voids any system of checks and balances. He's surrounded by "yes men" who never challenge his decisions, and that's the root of the problem with the Prequels.

[Trent B 337]

Most may not agree with me on this...but really the only story plot point I liked from the Prequels was the establishment of the Clones, who and where they came from. All though the Boba Fett part...I could see why Lucas wanted to go with it being a Clone of Jango...but it could have done with out that part.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I'd make Anakin Gay. With a name like Anakin you know he has to be.

He'd be flaming. He would lisp out, "my light saber is red, like the tip of well you know silly".

He'd be Darth Mauls bitch. Of course the emperor would be their sugar daddy.

Then one night as a bad joke Darth Maul gets this girl drunk and Anakin drunk and somehow it happens.

Ashamed Anakin dons a mask after being burned by his friend Maul, who he kills by slipping him some superaids.

Then skip 20 something years, and Anakin/Darth Vader, gets the dream of a life time as his son Luke undresses him.

Luke gets a surprise when he finds out who his father really is.

I'm Super, thanks for asking.

[Dole 17]

While Anakin's virgin birth by the Force itself reinforces the idea that he's the most powerful Jedi ever, and does make it more tragic that he becomes evil for roughly 25 years of his life, it's also a cop-out. It only kept Lucas from having to explain where Anakin's father came from. We know the mind games that Lucas played with the backstory of Luke's father (freighter pilot, no, Jedi killed by Vader, no, Jedi who becomes Vader).

Is this Lucas' attempt to say that Anakin Skywalker is the Star Wars equivalent of a Virgin-borne Jesus Christ who falls to the dark side, and only his son can save him? That's an outrageous idea to stomach, but I don't think it's that far off the mark. Richard Donner may have given us Christ in blue tights and a red cape, but at least that figure had a father and fought for good.

I have no problem with the virgin birth idea. If Star Wars is meant to be a modern myth like Lucas and Joseph Campbell and others assert, then Anakin almost has to have a virgin birth. Almost all of the great gods/saviors/etc. of ancient mythology have virgin (or otherwise unusual) births (Christ, Krishna, Buddha, Augustus Caesar, Athena, etc.). If Anakin is the savior of the universe, then it makes perfect sense to have him be born to a virgin.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I think TPM is more relevant now than ever considering the world dictatorship project being implemented at a certain European conference right now.

[Datameister 2,076]

The PT could have been truly great. At the heart of it is a really compelling idea: Anakin loves his mother, loses her, loves Padme, sees the possibility oflosing her, and decides he'll do anything to prevent another loss - even turn to the Dark Side. Unfortunately, this idea is forced on us suddenly in ROTS, after slowly and inadequately assembling the different elements separately, with a lot of unrelated and annoying fluff to distract from that. I agree with much of what's already been said...the key changes, IMO, would be:

* Anakin starts older so that his romance with Padme can convincingly start in TPM and the acting can be better.

* Jar Jar is gone. Not only because he annoyed millions, but also because the ONLY purpose he serves in the grand story is to get hoodwinked into convincing the Senate to give Palpatine emergency powers.

* All the dumb humor is gone. The OT could be funny at times, and not through fart jokes.

* Qui-Gon is...sniff...gone. Although I have a soft spot for him, he serves only to hinder the story. Obi-Wan should have taken Anakin under his wing in TPM.

* Maul, Dooku, and Grievous are all combined into one villain, since they all serve the exact same purpose in the general story: act as a henchman for the real baddie. Picking one for the whole PT would have given audiences more time to bond with and appreciate the character, and it would have made it all the more shocking when Palpatine coldly told Anakin to kill him in cold blood. Though I think Maul was awesome, Grievous would be my choice, partly because his robotic body foreshadows what Anakin will become.

* Better writing, better acting, better direction. Duh.

* Don't go against the history presented in the PT unless you explain the discrepancy.

* Throw out all the dull politics.

* No annoying slow zooms in 95% of the still shots in AOTC and ROTS.

* Make Anakin's love for his mother really, really evident from the get-go. He needs to be really genuinely attached to her so that her death hits home all the more.

It's all about giving the various plot elements more time to develop,rather than suddenly forcing them onto us. Whoa, Anakin's suddenly inlove with Padme! Whoa, Obi-Wan and Anakin are buddies now! Whoa, nowPadme's gonna die! Whoa, now Anakin's evil! The links between all theseevents needed to be a lot more clear.

[artyjeffrey 20]

1- Anakin as a 9 year old child was a big mistake. He should have been at least the age he was in in AOTC.

2-Focus on Obi-Wan, Qui-Gonn is a largly redundant character in the Saga.

3-None of this trade dispute nonsense. It's boring political stuff that has nothing to do with Star Wars.

4-Simplify, there is to much needless exposition. Star Wars is about good versus evil, it doesn't need to get any more complicated then that. There is too much political nonsense in TPM. There are too many set-ups and situations that never get a pay-off in the later films? Why are we spending half the movie trying to get from Tattoine, why are we watching the pod race? Get to the Clone Wars already!

5- Jar Jar, and not just Jar Jar, all those Gungans. Why are they in this movie? What do they have to do with Anakin, Obi-Wan, The Force, The Emperor, you know, Star Wars related things?

6- Make more use of Darth Maul before killing him. He looked really cool, but he never became a real character to me.

7- 2 Jedi fighting 1 Sith is not fair according to playground rules!

8- Christopher Lee should have been in this movie.

Every single thing you typed is exactly what I was going to type. Weird.

After I saw TPM, and thought about how contrived it was and how there were so many unnecessary characters, I came to two realizations:

1. The excess characters were there so that Lucas could release action figures and vehicles for them, and

2. George Lucas needed people around him to critique what he was doing (and he needed to be willing to listen). Have you guys ever read any of Lucas's original story treatments for "The Star Wars"? It's basically what he ended up being free to do as TPM. Lucas's then-wife convinced him to kill off Obi-Wan, since he had nothing to do for the rest of the movie. He could've used people like that around him when he was writing TPM.

I'll be honest, it was davastating when I realized that I was watching a bad Star Wars movie.

[crocodile 8,048]

I'd make Anakin Gay. With a name like Anakin you know he has to be.

He'd be flaming. He would lisp out, "my light saber is red, like the tip of well you know silly".

He'd be Darth Mauls bitch. Of course the emperor would be their sugar daddy.

Then one night as a bad joke Darth Maul gets this girl drunk and Anakin drunk and somehow it happens.

Ashamed Anakin dons a mask after being burned by his friend Maul, who he kills by slipping him some superaids.

Then skip 20 something years, and Anakin/Darth Vader, gets the dream of a life time as his son Luke undresses him.

Luke gets a surprise when he finds out who his father really is.

I'm Super, thanks for asking.

Karol

[Datameister 2,076]

Artyjeffrey, it's very true that Lucas needed (needs?) people around him to tell him he's wrong...and he needs to listen to them. Because you're right - having bad ideas is nothing new for Lucas. It's just that he hadn't yet attained godlike status in the late 70s and early 80s...his good ideas made it through into the films, but a lot of the bad ideas got filtered out by the people around him and by the impracticality of achieving them with the visual effects of the time. I get the impression he mostly surrounds himself with people who will do exactly what he wants now. That's...understandable, but not healthy for the films he works on.

[Melange 446]

....considering the world dictatorship project being implemented at a certain European conference right now.

Looks more like a total shambles of indecision and mistrust to me,rather than the done deal signing of a devious pre planned scheme for global government.

No doubt some would say that's exactly how they'd like us to see it. But, I tend to think they're just as useless and random as it appears they are at the moment.

Mr Monckton may have way over estimated their competence.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

A deal was signed by the secret World Government over a year ago already.

[Hitch 58]

I do wish the gentleman would get into the spirit of things.

[Dole 17]

2. George Lucas needed people around him to critique what he was doing (and he needed to be willing to listen). Have you guys ever read any of Lucas's original story treatments for "The Star Wars"? It's basically what he ended up being free to do as TPM. Lucas's then-wife convinced him to kill off Obi-Wan, since he had nothing to do for the rest of the movie. He could've used people like that around him when he was writing TPM.

Absolutely. Lucas needed a producer like Gary Kurtz who wasn't afraid to disagree, rather than someone like Rick McCallum.

[artyjeffrey 20]

Yes. That's the word he probably heard the most during the production of the prequels. "Yes." Or maybe, "Gee George that's fantastic." He probably would've fired anybody who disagreed with him.

[Trent B 337]

Absolutely. Lucas needed a producer like Gary Kurtz who wasn't afraid to disagree, rather than someone like Rick McCallum.

Agreed...and I wouldn't have allowed Ben Burtt anywhere near the editing room when mixing the sound effects and music for the film. With how low the music mixed in the Prequels is very horrendous to say the least.