Star Wars Episode 1 too far back?

[Filthy Pierre 110]

Anyone else like me think Episode 1 was too far back in the story for Star Wars?

 

I think it should of started with Anakin already a Jedi in Attack of The Clones as Episode 1.

 

Then Episode 3 should be Episode 2 with Anakin a fighter pilot and Jedi in the clone wars.

 

Episode 3 should of been the end of the clone wars and Darth Vader hunting down a few Jedi trying to escape the trap.

 

 

Really didn't need to see Vader as a little kid. There wasn't any point to that in my opinion.

 

 

[Gosric 696]

I agree. The thing about Obi Wan knowing Lukes father implied, to me at least. that they were about the same age and experience

[LordCole 573]

Well, they(Lucas) wanted to get the information out about Anakin's "born of the force" origin story. Also, establish how much of a naturally skilled pilot and tech he was.

I felt that the story could have been told the same way... Anakin was more of a wild force adept, either as a Tuskin Raider or a fighting slave belonging to Jabba; it would have at least explained away how he could easily go for that, easy to rage, I'm going to kill you if I do not get my way, attitude. As a Tuskin Raider; it could also explain his lack of Humanity and his affinity to machines/tech.

[Parravon 5,217]

I think making the connection to Tatooine was required. Luke was a farmboy from there, but how did he get there and why was the old hermit watching over him?

It actually answered quite a few back story questions. There was a fair amount that could've been left out though. I still feel ripped off that Darth Maul came to an early end. He had so much potential as a villain. Imagine Anakin having to defeat him to become the Emperor's apprentice. That could've made for an interesting twist.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Parravon

[Filthy Pierre 110]

I think that they could of just mentioned Tatooine was Anakins home planet when they visit it and he says something like "i havent been back here since I was a boy when <insert jedi name here> found me." 

But instead they made a whole movie out of it.

Also we know he is the most powerful jedi they could of left the midicholorian thing out of it.

 

The things about piloting and tech skills could be proven when he is in a space battle and fixing his astromech,

 

They didnt need it to be him to build C3PO.  All too much coincidence for me. Even suspending disbelief for a movie its still too much.

 

I'm with you Parravon with him killing Maul. Thats how it should of happened. Instead they had a different bad guy in each movie. Some old grandpa and then a coughing robot. Silly. Maul was awesome and to have Vader kill Maul would of been a great battle. Alas.

[Parravon 5,217]

I thought it was awesome when I first saw Maul light up his sabre and then the other end. Never knew about double ended light sabres until then.

[Conandoodle 1,817]

But then we wouldn't have learnt about the wonders of midichloriades .. or whatever dross Lucas spewed out of his goiter to try and explain the force.

I felt cheated when in Ep1 we had Maul. Simply, a blunt bashing object. Zero finesse. Loved him. He died.

Ep 2, new random baddie .. some old dude. 

Ep 3, new random baddie. 

Where's the consistency??

Ep 4, 5 and 6, Darth, Darth and Darth! With some Tarkin and Emperor.

[Parravon 5,217]

Yeah, the midichlorian rubbish we could have done without. It seems Mr Lucas tried to quantify the force with some kind of measurable ingredient. He should have left it as the mystical energy that it was. We surely didn't need to have everything explained.

[Filthy Pierre 110]

But then we wouldn't have learnt about the wonders of midichloriades .. or whatever dross Lucas spewed out of his goiter to try and explain the force.

I felt cheated when in Ep1 we had Maul. Simply, a blunt bashing object. Zero finesse. Loved him. He died.

Ep 2, new random baddie .. some old dude. 

Ep 3, new random baddie. 

Where's the consistency??

Ep 4, 5 and 6, Darth, Darth and Darth! With some Tarkin and Emperor.

 

 

Yeah, the midichlorian rubbish we could have done without. It seems Mr Lucas tried to quantify the force with some kind of measurable ingredient. He should have left it as the mystical energy that it was. We surely didn't need to have everything explained.

 

 

YES! Agree completely with both of you. Its exactly how I feel. Its like you two are reading my mind.

[Gadge 4,294]

Im on the same page here.

 

Darth Maul was built up pre movie release to look and seem like the 'new vader'/protagonist.   Then killed off really quickly.

 

You couldnt get a feel for any 'opponent' in the prequels as they just popped up to be 'the bad guy hiding in a base/ship/shop  whatever.

 

Too much made of tatooine too.    As said you only need it being referred to.

 

 

I think lucas, probably knowing how well 80s merch had done, wrote the prequels with selling toys to kids in mind.   It was clearly and unexpected bonus the first time round (early bird boxs anyone)

 

This time he thought 'hmm luke appealed to the kids, han was identified with by the adults.... i know i'lll make my 'hero' the same age as the toy buying market.....'

[Konan Nazreth 36]

Too quick. It just seemed a rushed job to me. As if a strong story was second to special FX overkill.

I enjoy the movies but I'm always left feeling "so much wasted potential".

Episode I was at the right time. Just not well thought out. Didn't have the same wow factor of the originals.

[Parravon 5,217]

I thought Maul could've been so much more. I mean he took on two Jedi at the same time and was grinning all the time like "this is going to be a fun workout!"

[Crabbok 9,869]

Episode 1 could have part part 3 of a Prequel to the Prequels... a series of "Old republic" movies, that end with the discovery of Anakin Skywalker.... right before the podrace. 

 

  But I kinda hate prequels unless there is some time vortex thing, because you KNOW how it is going to turn out.  I mean, it didn't matter that Obi wan was in danger, because we knew for a fact that he couldn't possibly die.   It didn't matter that Anakin was flying that ship into a space battle, because we KNOW how he turns out.  Prequels are stupid.  Everyone is doing them now.   I prefer any backstory to involve all new characters that we don't know, so this way we don't know their story.  I liked Qui-Gon... because well, Liam Neeson is amazing.  And we didn't know his fate before Ep 1. 

[Robin Graves 6,054]

ep 3 should have included "how Han met Chewie".

[EastCoast 1,349]

Yes, it went too far back. It was plagued with multiple problems though, some were out of Lucas' control.

 

The biggest problem, of course, was that we knew going into it Anakin would become Darth Vader. We knew Kenobi would survive, we knew Yoda would live, etc.. Lucas' milquetoast approach to the movies exacerbated the issue. My biggest issue with the prequels wasn't Jar Jar, the Force as an infection, the awful dialogue, or the complete lack of chemistry of the cast. It was that movies were boring.

 

I think Lucas completely whiffed on a couple of chances to spice things up. Namely:

 

1) Obi Wan and Anakin should have been rockstars. Walking the fine line between the light side and the dark side of the force on the front lines of the war, ala the Crusades with droves of Jedi flocking to their banner. Kind of like the backstory to Knights of the Old Republic where Revan and Malak just go a little too far and start down the dark path.

 

2) The missed opportunity for a love triangle. Wouldn't it have been better to have Obi Wan and Anakin competing for Padme's affection? Remember item 1 above? Jedis on the edge? Well a pregnant (unbeknownst to Anakin) Padme decides to leave an increasingly dinkish Anakin for Obi Wan. You now have the issue that finally drives Anakin over the edge. Holy Helen of Troy, Batman!  As an added bonus, Lucas would actually be utilizing the skills of his two best acting talents in the series, Portman and MacGregor.

 

3) Jedi infighting with Sidious manipulating the strings. So now you've got your two rockstars leading scores of Jedi down a path that many on the council disapprove of. Maybe things go a little too far, and Windu, Qui Gon, and a contingent of loyalist Jedi are dispatched to take out Anakin and Obi Wan and assume the lead of the forward forces to put things back in order. Samuel L Jackson and Liam Neeson out for blood? In the same movie? With lightsabers? My god, I think I just orgasmed.

 

I could go on and on. I guess that's my problem with the Prequels, as movies I suppose they are ok, they just could have been so much more.

Edited December 31, 2014 by EastCoast

[HoundsTooth 478]

Try the 'Machete' order of watching the Star Wars films... Episode IV, Episode V... Cut to extended flashback of Episodes II and III and round it all off with Episode VI.

 

... No one need even know just how bad Jar Jar is! 

[Parravon 5,217]

I'd like to see an Episode 3.5. What happened in the twenty year gap? And As Robin Graves pointed out. How did Han and Chewie meet? Just how bad did Vader get? The whole galaxy knew of him and feared him by the time Ep4 rolled onto the screen. There could've been some interesting back story there to be explored.

[Filthy Pierre 110]

I think the stand alone Han Solo film will cover the meeting of Solo and Chewbacca. Its an important event in the Star Wars universe.

Rumour has it that Aaron Paul is going to be Solo. We will see.

 

I knew I wasn't the only one thinking that Episode one wasn't need. Thanks everyone.

 

Also Happy New Year and may the force be with you.

[Gosric 696]

Im glad they didnt do the how Han met Chewbacca thing though considering that Lucas planned to have a scruffy child Han hanging out on Kashykk. Most sources seem to indicate that Han was booted out of the military for some offence involving Chewie (im assuming nothing of a perverse nature) That was indicated in the Han Solo novels way back before the EU really was a thing. A far cry from lil' Han swinging through the trees like a hairless Ewok

[Conandoodle 1,817]

I'd like to see an Episode 3.5. What happened in the twenty year gap? And As Robin Graves pointed out. How did Han and Chewie meet? Just how bad did Vader get? The whole galaxy knew of him and feared him by the time Ep4 rolled onto the screen. There could've been some interesting back story there to be explored.

 

I don't want to see how they met. I like all the of the unexplained stuff from the original trilogy. That bounty hunter we ran into at Ord mandell, the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs, that little manoeuvre at the Battle of Tanab. What are these? Who cares, they add spice and depth to the SW universe. Some things are better left unexplained. 

[KnightShift 306]

The prequels made the overall story we were watching about the Skywalkers: their rise and fall and rise again.  No doubt the sequel trilogy will continue that legend, in whatever direction Lucas and Abrams intend it to go.

 

For all of the problems that the prequels have (and they are myriad), they are IMHO exactly what Lucas intended them to be.  Think about it: 1994 and he's finally writing Episode I.  It was in 1981 or so that his wife Marcia left him.  Artistically, George was *devastated* (I have gone through a divorce also and there is *nothing* like it in the world).  In the years following George adopts two more children, so he's a father now thrice over.  But he can't bring himself to return to the art he loves so much.

 

Fast forward to the early 90s.  Lucas has had an idea in mind for the prequels all along.  He wants to make them, but now there is a new reason for him to not only return to Star Wars, but to himself as an artist: his children.  And not just HIS children, but all children.  They are the ones Star Wars is meant for now, not necessarily the generation that grew up with Star Wars.  Because now Star Wars has a much greater role in Lucas' grand scheme of things.

 

So again, it's 1994.  Lucas begins writing the prequels.  They are about Anakin Skywalker.  But they are also about the rise and fall of democracies and how they always, *always* eventually either stagnate or become tyrannies.  This is a theme that Lucas has discussed *many* times over the past twenty years, and especially in the time surrounding the release of Episode III.  Lucas is a great student of history.  He *knows* history better than most people.  I would say that his grasp of it is even prescient to a degree: the dude understands things like how the Roman Empire came to collapse.  That's the kind of thing he wanted to explore in the prequels: the Republic is a metaphor for real-life systems of government that come to collapse beneath their own weight, and the ramifications of that.

 

Why did Lucas make the prequels the way he did?  He did it for his children.  He did it for ALL children, as a history lesson and as a warning, and a message to be vigilant.  To not be part of the trends that destroy a society, but instead to rise above it and to take control of their own destinies.  He makes the prequels, and by extension the original trilogy, to have the message that there is no such of a thing as a powerless individual and that anyone can stand up in the face of evil in this world.

 

That is what the prequels are, in the end.  They are George Lucas' legacy to the younger generation, like that or not.  They are the lessons he is giving them, because he wants to leave the world better for them than how it was for himself and his own generation.

 

And really, isn't that what every artist... and every *person* for that matter... aspire to do?

[drunkensith 104]

you know what always bugged me. Balance. they said anikin was supposed to bring balance to the force. if im one of the hundred possibly thousand jedi running around against 2 sith do I want balance?

[LordCole 573]

you know what always bugged me. Balance. they said anikin was supposed to bring balance to the force. if im one of the hundred possibly thousand jedi running around against 2 sith do I want balance?

Well, Yoda states that, they may have miss-read the prophecy when talking to Mace. He knew something was up but it was already to late to turn back.

[Robin Graves 6,054]

Yoda: Misread this prophesy might well be...

 

Mace: Yoda? How did you read "...will bring about the fall of the Jedi and royally eff up the force"  as "...bring balance to..." ?

 

Yoda: When 400 years old you are, reading glasses you might need to.

Edited January 1, 2015 by Robin Graves

[sc077y 186]

While i can appreciate Lucas's artistic intent, i think he could have shown and given his political commentary in a much more entertaining way.

 

I recently watched a few you tube videos, like "what if episode 1 was good" and "what if episode 2 was good" and cant help but think to myself "wow, this dude has it figured out".

 

I appreciate that all fans have their own ideology of what is best, but i think most fans would always agree on a few key points, and while lucas wrote the movies for the kids as it were, i cant help but feel that he turned his back on the fans that made his franchise a success in the first place.

 

add to that, the horrid dialogue, Haden Christensen, poor plot development, Haden Christensen, pointless plot devices, Haden Christensen, the movies, while continuing to be focused on a younger genre, would have been much better movies by i think most peoples views.

 

I mean c'mon, even my 6 and 7 year old niece and nephew hated jar jar, and they were 6 and 7 at the time.

 

I can appreciate what his intentions were, and I certainly can appreciate wanting to leave behind something timeless and preserved as a great work for the future, especially where children are involved, but something tells me the merchandising rights had a little to do with this too.