Ok so I know this is controversial and it may be the wine talking but I don't think so.

I'm 40 so I lived with the original trilogy and I still seriously think that the prequels have their place in Star Wars law, I know they aren't as good as the originals but they were never going to be.

But they still have fantastic moments in them, apart for the obvious superior lightsaber action, The whole tragic story of Anakins downfall is immense, the dialogue in the battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin just superb. I could go on but really guys I just don't understand the beating these films get I know they are not as good as the originals but at the end of the day they tell a story and it's Star Wars!

Bad acting. Bad casting. Bad writing. I think that pretty much sums up the gripes.

When you said controversial, I expected it to be something race related, like a Drunk Uncle rant about how Ahmed Best ruined the prequels.

When you realize how many hands were in the original trilogy to make it so good it really puts into perspective how little of the magic was from George Lucas. He got all the credit, got a big head, then made sh*tty prequels on his own as writer/director/producer/editor/everything else.

So the story of Anakins downfall wasn't worth seeing, plus proper lightsaber battle, which if we are all honest was the only poor thing with the originals.

Bad acting. Bad casting. Bad writing. I think that pretty much sums up the gripes.

This.

I have been offering up Jawa sacrifices to the gods of Star Wars in hopes that the sequel trilogy will be better than the...

Bad acting. Bad casting. Bad writing.

of the prequel trilogy.

Personally would like to know what exacty the correct style of lightsabre fighting is. One would think it is a Kwndo style match from watching Obi Wan and Vader go at it in the first film but then in the prequels and to a lesser extent the sequels it is this jumping leaping flying madness. Which of course renders Obi Wans "you cannot win i have the high ground" line nonsense. No doubt there is some explanation involving disciplines and style. But i digress since this is forum is ship based.
I will say that the sheer laziness of the ship designs in the prequels irritated me almost as much as JJ Binks. From the chrome SR-71 to the A-10 cockpit simply turned round and used as a podracer, The Nemoidian shuttle flipped upside down and used as a taxi to the fact that even though they knew the R2 torso was too long to fit in the wing of the Jedi fighter but they used the ship anyway it made me cringe as a designer

Good parts of the prequel trilogy:

• Duel of the Fates
• The battle with Darth Maul
• The battle with Jango Fett
• A bit of the Battle of Geonosis
• The opening sequence of RotS
• Anakin v. Obi-Wan

Bad parts of the prequel trilogy:

• EVERYTHING ELSE.

I respect the story that they were going for, and I think it could have been truly epic. But the characters were almost all... meh . And the guy who acted as Anakin (whose name I forgot)? Bloody awful. He made a good Vader, but that can't make up for a movie and a half of stupidity.

The dialogue in the OT is pretty "bad" too. Just sometimes, so bad its iconic.

Also, the lightsaber fights in the OT are plain silly. They seriously look like a bunch of kids with a prop.

Also, Ewoks? Really?

The Obi-Wan vs Anakin / Yoda vs Sidious section is also simply amazing film work.

That said, theres tons of horrible stuff in the prequels.

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Originally, lightsaber combat was concieved as being close to katana styles, two hand, what not.

Lightsaber forms: http://scifi.about.com/od/starwarsglossaryandfaq/tp/Lightsaber-Combat-Seven-Traditional-Forms.htm

Vader does Form 5, which is power, probably more based on katana.

Obi-Wan does Form 3 (and Form 4 in EP1). In EP4, Obi-Wan waves his **** stick around. That's it. You can even tell how thye're trying to connect the two hits together. It's cringe worthy.

Qui-Gon does Form 4, the leaping.

Poor Ewan McGregor tried. You can tell he was directed horribly and likely scoffed as he read the script.

I love the original trilogy light saber duels.

In Empire there is a lot going on in between the characters as they duel. Luke is being pushed to his physical limits, and Vader is just toying with him, and finally drops the "I am your father" revelation after he has kicked his ass. Luke is in way over his head.

In Jedi, he has matured and improved his ability. Yet both characters are conflicted on the inside between what they both feel they must do, while battling personal feelings. All the while the Emperor is pulling the strings on both Vader and Luke. Some really great stuff!

I'd much rather see that then a cartoon Yoda flipping around fighting a guy who the film had just introduced not long before that and we know nothing about besides he wants to fight the Republic for... some reason... Yeah not much to get invested in here.

The Episode III fight was WAAY too long, and was obviously just a guy with a fancy computer saying "SEE LOOK AT ALL THE LAVA! LOOK AT ALL THE CRAZY STUNTS THEY ARE DOING!!" It going on for so long lessened the emotional impact. It could have been five minutes long and had the same impact.

And yeah the dialogue during that scene was pretty silly in my opinion. "Only a sith deals in absolutes." Wait what? Isn't that an absolute? And the Grievous fight and Obi-Wan chasing him down had nothing to do with the main plot and point of the story (which was just to get Anakin in the Vader suit).

Eh that's just how I feel about it. More power to you if you liked the prequels.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" made me cringe.

I thought the path that Anakin followed to the Dark Side was too simplistic and childish.

It would have been more resonant if Anakin was more a man, less a boy, and felt compelled to handle an important situation that he was deceived into thinking was his responsibility and got tragically drawn in as the situation intensified. As we watch we can see how we would have been fooled too and go with Anakin on his fall.

That would have made a lot more sense to me than some childish secret about needing to save his wife without telling anyone.

Even the Emperor's attitude toward having the galaxy for himself was disappointingly uninsightful. "We will have... peace." bleh.

I thought the path that Anakin followed to the Dark Side was too simplistic and childish.

It would have been more resonant if Anakin was more a man, less a boy, and felt compelled to handle an important situation that he was deceived into thinking was his responsibility and got tragically drawn in as the situation intensified. As we watch we can see how we would have been fooled too and go with Anakin on his fall.

That would have made a lot more sense to me than some childish secret about needing to save his wife without telling anyone.

Even the Emperor's attitude toward having the galaxy for himself was disappointingly uninsightful. "We will have... peace." bleh.

I am a SW fan, but more a minor purist than die hard fan. I know someone who enlightened me about the Pre-Triology and don't care for them since. I watched Clone wars w/ my son because I am not well versed in EU.

After so many decades I don't find that the pre-triology has room to fit now. So many contradictions, that weren't adjusted, now just make things utterly ridiculous.

I was excited about the Droid Army battle, but bit disappointing really. I mean, here are bunch of "primitive" race that have who still use animals yet have gellied EMP weapons and huge energy shields?

Anyways, I would collect anything, but only field what I like / deem appropriate to my feel of SW:EU.

Wish the WEG RPG was higher on the Canon(ish) list, I really enjoyed reading all that stuff.

--> Dissection & Analization of SW:Prequels <--

Good read for those unfamiliar w/ the inconsistencies and contradictions of Prequels.

Ok so I know this is controversial and it may be the wine talking but I don't think so.

I'm 40 so I lived with the original trilogy and I still seriously think that the prequels have their place in Star Wars law, I know they aren't as good as the originals but they were never going to be.

But they still have fantastic moments in them, apart for the obvious superior lightsaber action, The whole tragic story of Anakins downfall is immense, the dialogue in the battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin just superb. I could go on but really guys I just don't understand the beating these films get I know they are not as good as the originals but at the end of the day they tell a story and it's Star Wars!

i do fully agree with u man !

It is not that the prequel movies weren't s good as the other films, it is that the prequel movies were not good in their own right.

Don't get me wrong, the Clone Wars series sold me on the potential of the prequel story, but the movie didn't deliver.

The movies did not tell the story of the fall of the Republic, the seduction of Anikin (by the dark side, not the creepy older woman who helped take him from his mother) or the corruption of the Jedi temple. We were given no time to invest in any of the villians, so when they were defeated, who cares? Sure DarthMaul killed Qui-gon, but that was like a minute ago The rest of the movie he just brooded. Sure the fight looked cool, but it didn't engage. Vader and Obi's fight was less action packed, but t that point you loved Obi and hated Vader. When they introduced Grievous, Dookoo, and Jango it was the same thing. Alright, this guy, who I hardly met is important, lets find out why. But we never did. They came, did a great sword dance, then left. It would have worked better as a music video.

That said, between the Clone Wars fixing as much of the story as they could and some of the cooler designs (seriously, the E-Wing over the ARC?) really convinced me they should do a second, compatible game for the clone wars.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" made me cringe.

F'ing horrible writing with this Line...Everything Deals with Absolutes!

This isn't just the prequels, but many modern movies.

Fight scenes don't tell a story. They are a series of flashy moves and then it becomes 'script time' and something happens.

If a character is going to lose a fight, then have that tale told the entire fight.

Example: Obi Wan and Qui Gon go after Maul. It doesn't make sense that it starts 2 v 1 with Maul constantly able to kock one Jedi out of the fight temporarily, the one-on-one seems to be losing until surprise! win!

#1 Put in some pre-dialog about Obi Wan being an exceptional lightsaber fighter sometime earlier in the movie ("Obi Wan, few can match your lightsaber skills, but there is a lot more to being a Jedi...")

#2 after Maul and Qui Gon fight in desert, have some dialog about the extreme skill of Maul.

#3 Either as part of the above or early in the 2 v 1 fight itself, the jedi note something along the lines of their best chance against him is to divide his attention, attack from two directions, or some other 'we need to work together' stuff.

That makes the existing fight seem to be Maul constantly trying to separate the pair and the once separated defeat each individually. (Only issue then is there would need to be some reason for Qui Gon to NOT wait for Obi Wan)

Also, use the 'twist' of the good guy losing until some memory, comment, or threat reinvigorates him to win maybe just 25% of the time rather than 99% of the time. It is on longer a trick that gets the audience on the edge of their seats. If anything, if the good guy starts winning handily I get worried that a twist is coming and the villain is going to emerge triumphant simply because it is soooo rote to have the good guy losing until some heroic turn at the end.

They are just big, dumb, and bloated movies where no one had the guts to tell Lucas it was crap.

I am worried about the new trilogy in the works. I am hoping that they take the lessons learned from the prequels and just make it a good story. I felt that Anakin didn't have that downward spiral fall, more like a switch. I'm good... and now I'm going to be evil. Never felt like a full story but more like they crammed things in to complete the things that "were going to be" in the OT.

Sort of a side note. I was chatting with co-workers about Disney and their Star Wars upcoming movies, and the one story I would like for them to make into a stand alone movie would be the making of Han Solo and how he became friends with Chewbacca and got the Millennium Falcon. As a stand alone, it would be a good story to make as a film. That would be a prequel worth watching.

The obvious other would be Boba Fett in a stand alone movie.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" made me cringe.

F'ing horrible writing with this Line...Everything Deals with Absolutes!

No, nothing deals with absolutes but a sith. Absolutely nothing. Absolutely never.

the one story I would like for them to make into a stand alone movie would be the making of Han Solo and how he became friends with Chewbacca and got the Millennium Falcon. As a stand alone, it would be a good story to make as a film. That would be a prequel worth watching.

The obvious other would be Boba Fett in a stand alone movie.

Well, the first 3 stand alones are apparently being identified as "boba fett", "Han Solo", and "red five".

the one story I would like for them to make into a stand alone movie would be the making of Han Solo and how he became friends with Chewbacca and got the Millennium Falcon. As a stand alone, it would be a good story to make as a film. That would be a prequel worth watching.

The obvious other would be Boba Fett in a stand alone movie.

Well, the first 3 stand alones are apparently being identified as "boba fett", "Han Solo", and "red five".

They are making stand alone movies? Ok, thats awesome. Missed that in the news feed. Will now go look for that wave to surf...

I like both trilogies pretty much equally. In fact my ranking of the movies is pretty "unconventional" compared to most.

1) ROTS

2) ROTJ

3) TPM

4) TESB

5) AOTC

6) ANH