5 Ways the Star Wars Prequels were better than 4-6

I read this article in which the author attempts to defend the political shrewdness of Star Wars Episodes 1-3 over 4-6…

Here’s the link.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/why-star-wars-prequels-better-original-trilogy-160300514.html

It comes off like a debate student charged with defending an unpopular topic. He attempts to draw parallels between the post 9-11 world and the world of the prequels. As Phantom Menace came out in 1999, and Attack of the Clones was well in to production by the time 9/11 happened, this is a bit laughable.

But it got me to thinking: Is there any ground on which one COULD claim superiority of the Prequels? Special effects aside (as it seems unfair to put the 70′s up against the full weight of 30-odd years of technological advances), in which, if any, ways does 1-3 come out ahead?

Being a big fan of arguing about shit that doesn’t matter in the slightest, I’m all about picking up the standard and charging up the hill of unpopular opinion. Now, by no means does this mean I believe that the prequels win in a straight comparison, and yes, I’m fully aware of the suckitude that is Jar Jar Binks, and midichlorians. If you ask me which of the films is the best, I’m likely to say that none of them pass a 7/10, but Empire is probably the most watchable, with the first 30 minutes of Jedi a close second, and the Podrace 3rd.

 
 

1)The tragic nature of Anakin’s path, is far superior than any character arc in Ep 4-6. The Original trilogy has characters that change over the course of the films, but it’s all pretty superficial. Luke is meant to have matured, but it’s not well handled or particularly strong. Anakin, for all of his other faults, follows his heart, and tries in vain to protect those he loves. Yes, he makes some bad choices along the way, but his is by far the strongest of all the characters in the Star Wars universe.

 
 

2) The lightsaber battles are much, much better. No comparison. Now, the “decades of technology” argument might have a little to do with this, but mostly, it’s about the movement and the choreography. Luke has a few nice moments in the OT, but it’s no contest. Darth Maul runs circles around pretty much every fight in the OT.

 
 

3) The characters are more fleshed out, and more complex. Lucas isn’t exactly known for his brilliance with character depth, but 1-3 gives us characters with struggle, who react to what happens around them, who make decisions based on their emotions. Apart from the previous point about Anakin, we have Padme, who starts out as a one dimensional figurehead, but over the course of 3 films, becomes much more than that. Even Obi Wan follows a path from student to master.

 
 

4) Better droids. While there’s no arguing that R2D2 is pretty much the coolest droid in universe, Episodes 1-3 have the Droidekas. In fact, one has to wonder why the Emperor didn’t use them more after he took over. They’re pretty bad-ass. The Battle droids are also pretty sharp, and even the comical B1 battle droids (the little tan-colored guys) were decent. One might make an argument for the Gonk Droid from the OT, I might be swayed slightly due to the childhood memories of the action figure, and it’s lame-but-coolness.

GONK!

 
 

5) More aventure in exotic locations. Now, this might be touching on the “30 odd years of technology” part, but while the original trilogy brings us to Death Stars, Ice Planets, Swamps and cloud cities, The prequels take us further, and spend more time exploring their environments. We have Naboo, which has more than one (!) biome. We travel to the edge of the universe to the clone making facilities. We have a battle on a spaceship that is suddenly forced to deal with gravity. We explore Coruscant, and Kashyyyk. We battle in the lava on Mustafar. We explore the rainy high-tech world of Kamino. Even the sets themselves are bigger, more expansive. The fight on board Dooku’s flagship comes to mind.

So there you have it. Some good things to say within the frame of a larger evil. Thoughts? Disagreement? Just want to vent about Jar Jar? Knock yourselves out!

15 Responses to “5 Ways the Star Wars Prequels were better than 4-6”

1. The M-Daddy says:

   February 21, 2012 at 10:55 am

   For though #5: You aptly described almost every Mario Bros. game since 3. The lava level! The ice level! The desert level! THE UNDERWATER LEVEL! The main antagonist can even throw fireball-like Foce-lightning!

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   • admin_rock says:

     February 21, 2012 at 2:33 pm

     @The M-Daddy, Lolz. Love it. Maybe that’s how Lucas came up with them. There’s even a princess, (well, a Queen).

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   • Tomass says:

     February 21, 2012 at 2:51 pm

     On an unrelated, related topic, I’ve always had a bit of an issue with the fact that nearly every world in the SW universe (books, movies games) is served up as a mono environment.

     Hoth = Ice planet
     Mustafar = Lava world
     Tatooine = Desert
     Coruscant = City
     Dagobah = Swamp
     Alderaan = Switzerland
     Alderaan (post explosion) = Asteroid belt

     I’m not expecting a geography lesson for every planet. It’s just always struck me as strange.

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     • 1/4 20 says:

       February 22, 2012 at 7:40 am

       i would say it was a way of saving time and effort. nothing is easier than mono climate.

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   • Cub Reporter K says:

     February 23, 2012 at 10:21 am

     @The M-Daddy,
     Mono climate is easier to unpack.
     eg: Dune, desert planet.
     Not Dune, 60% desert, 20% frozen waterless tundra, 15% semi-arid, 5% urbanized with a dry heat.

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2. Fat American says:

   February 25, 2012 at 9:13 pm

   Anyone who refers to the Star Wars films as the OT is an idiot! The prequels were films 4-6 not 1-3. They didn’t need to be made and if they were going to be made it should have be done by a fan. Not some hypocritical billionaire who became the very thing he fought against while making the Star Wars films. (Now George is a corporate sell out with the same cash and carry motivation as the very slobs how tried to shut him down.) They should have been made by someone that isn’t a liar, claiming he wrote them all at one time and shot them in this order because the forth installment was cheaper to make. Spare us George!
   This article must have been written by a six year old. Who is in love with the prequels as much as I was in love with Star Wars when it came out when I was ten. Sure Star Wars has some short coming and some things that make me wonder what he was thinking now. So what, I was ten when it came out! The prequels are crap, crap and more crap. The third one was easier to watch than the other two by a long shot. But it’s still crap. Darth Maul was the only redeeming factor in the prequels and even that was mishandled by George. The Empire Strikes Back is by far the superior film for lots of reasons, and amazing how George didn’t have his chubby little mitts all over this one. The Originals unaltered, no special addition needed, are still fun to watch. Who cares if it’s a tad lame now, were not little boys anymore!

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   • admin_rock says:

     February 27, 2012 at 8:50 am

     @Fat American, it’s unclear if your criticism is meant for this article, or the one linked, but I can assure you no one here thinks the prequels are better than the OT (and yes, OT is a perfectly acceptable way to refer to Episodes 4-6, as they were the Original Trilogy).

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3. Homer says:

   March 9, 2012 at 8:51 pm

   First off, you’re an idiot. You can tell that I am wise because I did not spell “you’re” as “your”. Second off, what the holy fuck are you smoking? And D, watch and learn
   http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-1-the-phantom-menace/

   If any of you have not seen these, they are roughly 19 parsecs better than anything you have seen before.

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   • admin_rock says:

     March 12, 2012 at 11:03 am

     @Homer, Wow. Umm, yes, I’ve seen those. What the fuck is your point?

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4. Homer says:

   March 10, 2012 at 10:54 am

   If you want to see specifically why you are a moron for liking the lightsaber battles in the new one, go to the 25:00 mark of part 2.

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   • admin_rock says:

     March 12, 2012 at 11:04 am

     @Homer, Smells a bit like troll in here. But, no, you’re totally wrong. There’s no comparison between the level of battles in the OT vs the prequels.

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5. Homer says:

   March 13, 2012 at 10:01 pm

   That you’re an idiot. Was that not clear in my first sentence?

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6. Tungsten says:

   March 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm

   My biggest dispute is with #3. The characters in the prequils are all like cardboard cutouts that never develop much past their base emotion as assigned by the director. Anakin = angry, Padme = concerned, Obiwan = reasonable, Jar Jar = zany, and so not with all the other characters that didn’t leave enough of an impression to remember.

   I think the biggest insult to the audience is the character development. They are act as if they are stuck in a script that is in no way influenced by the world around them or the actions of others. For instance, possibly the worst moment of the three comes when Padme is suddenly love struck in Ep. 2 by an Anakin who just admitted to murdering a whole village full of people. Yeah they were sand people but sentient beings none the less. Her reaction is to his uncontrolled murder spree: OMG you are so hot right now! If I could get Padme (Natalie Portman) in the sack by killing a village or two, there would be no one left on Earth at this point, but chances are telling her I just killed a bunch of women and children isn’t going to be much of a turn-on. Unless, Padme is the true evil in the movie.

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7. Rob Martin says:

   March 10, 2013 at 4:25 am

   I am a middle aged scifi fanatic who reads as much hard scifi as I watch mainstream scifi. I am a huge supporter of the prequels and Jar Jar Binks. The backlash against the prequels exists mainly because it became hip to do so back in 1999. Classic generation fans were basically angry that Lucas had kicked over their sandcastle by trying to inject some level of scifi world building and political intrigue not contained at the same level in the classics unless one read the tie-in novels to fill in the gaps. I could go on for pages regarding detailed analysis of why this is but I am sure it has been done elsewhere . Classic Star Wars was groundbreaking for its time so anything coming after it would be considered derivative. At its basic level however is a simplistic fairy tale with as much wooden acting and dialogue as the prequels, Sir Alec Guiness aside, only Harrison Ford has had a successful career while the prequels have produced Natalie Portman, Ewan McGreggor, (Liam Neilson , Samuel Jackson) . Jar Jar became a media punching bag that haters could really dig to find fault with as the scapegoat to launch the hater’s revolution. Jar jar is essentially no sillier than Chewbacca or an Ewok aimed at a children’s toy market. live with it. The prequels work better as a trilogy unto the,selves than the classics. One moment Leia and Luke are kissing then they are brother and sister…lets just wing it while the Dewey eyed world looks on in nostalgia. There are campaign efforts out there for Disney to dump CGI in favor of stop motion puppetry, which while the best that could be done for its time, is no more realistic looking than a current day Gollum or Caesar. Just because we may enjoy the quaintness of a Model T doesn’t mean we all need to drive PT cruisers. Lucas could do no right other than stop after episode 6. His prequels could have been Citizen Kane and the masses would have complained about a cgi rosebud. Take a better look at the prequels. There is a lot more there under the cgi surface than meets the candy eye.

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   • Fat American says:

     March 25, 2013 at 7:22 pm

     Just because the Mark Hamill didn’t make a ton of movies after Star Wars don’t mean he wasn’t sucessful. He did alot of work on Broadway and not to mention the voice overs work he has done. Besides what has that to do with the fact that Episode One was just not a good movie, period. It wasn’t and all the Jar Jar and fart jokes in the world will not change that fact. Episode Two was even worse as impossible as that sounds. At least Episode Three was a good rebound but still, it was weak. Citizen Kane, really have you watched it? Talk about over rated. Look glad you liked the Prequels but it like comparing apples to horse poop. Sure its round like an apple but come on are you gonna eat it because its shaped like an apple. Bang the drumb for the new Star Wars if you must but you are just a touch off the beaten path. Citizen Kane, really?…

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