Some very good points and ideas in this video

And Episode II

He has good ideas. I don't think you even need to re do the script to help out the PT, even though his story ideas are quite good. Some re-shoots of the existing films to remind actors to act, some better casting, and purging Jar Jar Binks would all go a long way to helping.

I agree with the "playfulness" observations, everything is just too bloody grim in the PT. I particularly like the Owen Lars character he suggested which could totally fit into the existing story. The PT had the Jedi/Sith issue, but it desperately needed a Han Solo, someone outside that whole grim galactic crisis stuff that was fun to watch, Owen would fit that bill nicely.

He has good ideas. I don't think you even need to re do the script to help out the PT, even though his story ideas are quite good. Some re-shoots of the existing films to remind actors to act, some better casting, and purging Jar Jar Binks would all go a long way to helping.

I agree with the "playfulness" observations, everything is just too bloody grim in the PT. I particularly like the Owen Lars character he suggested which could totally fit into the existing story. The PT had the Jedi/Sith issue, but it desperately needed a Han Solo, someone outside that whole grim galactic crisis stuff that was fun to watch, Owen would fit that bill nicely.

Actors often get a lot of the blame for terrible directing and bad writing. Hayden Christensen isn`t a bad actor, but the directing makes him so boring and bad. Hell, even Sam Jackson is boring when delivering his lines, that is some bad directing! Only ewan Mcgregor and the guy who plays the Palpatine kind of manages to pull it off somehow.

Actors often get a lot of the blame for terrible directing and bad writing. Hayden Christensen isn`t a bad actor, but the directing makes him so boring and bad. Hell, even Sam Jackson is boring when delivering his lines, that is some bad directing! Only ewan Mcgregor and the guy who plays the Palpatine kind of manages to pull it off somehow.

When the Director spends all his spare time talking to his FX guys about how they can fix this thing or that thing “in post”, as opposed to working with the actors to try to get better performances out of them, that’s when you know something is wrong.

Take a look at all the extra material that has been released recently regarding interviews that were done with the original cast, and where the recordings have only recently been found. Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher talked about the problem of not getting good feedback from George.

IMO, George was smart when he decided to be Executive Producer and hired “Kersh” to direct ESB while Kasdan wrote the screenplay based on the material that George provided. George was good at generating good ideas, and spending large amounts of money, but he wasn’t so good at directly translating his own ideas into a screenplay or being the director.

And things got much worse when George didn’t have to dig deep and find that extra bit of creativity because he just didn’t have the budget or the time to do anything else.

All IMO, of course. YMMV.

I'm so tired of the nerd-PT-hate thing, but curiosity got the better of me and he does make some good points about story structure and character development. But it's nothing new. The thing is, in the end he's just a critic. He's not a doer. Lucas is the doer, and he's created an epic franchise that less visionary do-nothings will continue to milk and complain about for decades to come.

I recently re-watched all six films since they came out in HD on iTunes, in their proper order: 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3. I haven't seen them in "HD" since the theatre, and I must say I was completely blown away...again. The OT holds up, of course. But the PT is incredible. Not from a dialogue and character point of view, this is obvious, but the visualization, costumes, background details, and camera work and framing are genius. That's what gives the franchise its lasting power, and too many people are unaware of it.

It is unlikely something as deep and detailed as the SW universe will ever be built again. Only someone who owns it themselves would have taken the time to render Coruscant in such loving detail or give frames to world-depth shots like the squid-seller at the pod race. Imagine how much effort went into just the two-tiered spaceport on Naboo...all for a single shot. All that takes money and time and frankly a love for the place, and people whose motive is only the bottom line won't invest it.

Top 11 Good Things About The Star Wars Prequels

Top 11 Good Things About The Star Wars Prequels

I like his list, and the Opera House is a good #1 choice. What he didn't mention, and the Opera House scene exemplifies, is, again, what is going on in the background. In addition to giving the story a mythos, there is this gigantic ball of water floating in the background, and people are diving into it from all angles, the audience applauds at certain points...none of it is explained, but you know the inhabitants are celebrating a unique form of artistic expression. It all lends itself to the "knowledge" that this is a lived-in world, rich and diverse.

The usefulness of this for RPGs should be more celebrated. Honestly, better dialogue wouldn't be more useful for that purpose.

Top 11 Good Things About The Star Wars Prequels

I like his list, and the Opera House is a good #1 choice. What he didn't mention, and the Opera House scene exemplifies, is, again, what is going on in the background. In addition to giving the story a mythos, there is this gigantic ball of water floating in the background, and people are diving into it from all angles, the audience applauds at certain points...none of it is explained, but you know the inhabitants are celebrating a unique form of artistic expression. It all lends itself to the "knowledge" that this is a lived-in world, rich and diverse.

The usefulness of this for RPGs should be more celebrated. Honestly, better dialogue wouldn't be more useful for that purpose.

Yes, I agree. Too bad I get bored with the story(and don`t even remember the plot after watching it) and that I don`t care about the characters because there is so little relatable personality and interaction.

I don`t care about any of them, so when stuff happens, I`m not invested enough with characters to care what is going on and what will happen to them.

As you said, there is a lot of great stuff going on in the background, the visual world-building is great and the effects have a lot to offer.

I don`t hate the prequels, they are just very boring as stories go, mainly because of bad character writing with minimal intersting and fun interaction and clumsy character development.

I loved watching Han and Leia every moment they were on screen, the tension and the bickering and believable and relatable personality, there is non of that in the prequels.

The story and pacing was also all over the place(less in the last one), but I guess George wanted to tell a story focused on the politics and to bring out his world.

That is ok, but it is a bit sad to think there had been more character focus and better story writing and less excessive world building, we could have something as good as Guardians of the Galaxy.

Many people claim that it is George`s ex-wife(or the team the couple made) that made the first triology so great, also that Lucas didn`t make the first movies all by himself but had a lot of people working with him.

Lucas is in many ways a story and world building genious, but like everyone, he needs crtiquers and honest people who tell him when something is bad or a bit off or just too over the top (Luke was actually supposed to be called Luke Starkiller...)

With clone wars, the guy was back on track, it was good! A bit more character focus would be nice for my personal taste though(Rebels is awesome!). He had a team and he was working with a lot of people again.

He is the idea master, Look at everything he has made, his brain is producing ideas on overtime, but he needs a filter for those ideas, a team of honest and talented people to work with him.

What he didn't mention, and the Opera House scene exemplifies, is, again, what is going on in the background. In addition to giving the story a mythos, there is this gigantic ball of water floating in the background, and people are diving into it from all angles, the audience applauds at certain points...none of it is explained, but you know the inhabitants are celebrating a unique form of artistic expression. It all lends itself to the "knowledge" that this is a lived-in world, rich and diverse.

The only movie I can think of - probably because it's so fresh in my mind - that does offhanded world building as well as Star Wars did was the new Mad Max. Consider Fury Road - the Battletruck making its way though the bog, those weird mummenschanz stilt people just walking around in the background. What are they doing? Why are they there? Who are they?

We don't know. The camera just pans past and the film moves on.

Or the dialogue, casually using the terms "shiny and chrome" for something beautiful and awesome. in a world of nothing but rust and decay, describing something that's shiny as positive - thats brilliant!

All these ideas and layers that are added just so the observant viewer can put the story of the world together himself? I'm in awe of George Miller.

The only movie I can think of - probably because it's so fresh in my mind - that does offhanded world building as well as Star Wars did was the new Mad Max. Consider Fury Road

Haven't seen it, hadn't even considered it, but now I will, thanks

Well first and foremost it kept the franchise alive which is most important regardless of what anyone thinks of it.

Loved Coruscant. Flash Gordon meets Art Deco worked for me.

Ship fight in the beginning of Ep 3 was fun, some was stupid, buzz droids are dumb, but it was all fun to watch.

Love General Grievous, sci fi pop serial villain at its best imo.

Ewan McGregor gets better as it goes and saves the whole thing as far as acting is concerned for the protagonists. Ian McDiarmid does the same as Emperor.

Aside from Lucas forgetting to tell the actors to act, things I didn't like was how R2D2 and C3PO were handled. I always preferred the notion their travels together had spanned a much longer time frame and this was just another one on that long path.

Didn't need Chewbacca included either, felt very clunky and pointless.

Like I said before, the movies needed that 'in addition to' character, which it just didn't have. It needed a Han Solo badly.

The Jedi council was just kinda there. Would've been a golden opportunity to include a new Jedi that was fun and interesting and leave open the possibility they survived the purge. The lack of depth of new characters to me just left the impression Lucas was tired and wanted to get something on film. He wasn't interested in good, just good enough.

The Jedi council was just kinda there.

But that ties back into the main theme of 1-3, and just how broken the Jedi Order was. Yes they were just there, yes they were ineffectual and couldn't notice a Sith standing two feet away from them - the Jedi were badly in need of a swift kick to the ass.

I don`t think Lucas forgot to tell the actors to act, I think he wanted them to downplay it and go for low-key acting and that he had a mood and atmosphere in mind, it is a story about jedi and politics after all, and maybe he was going for calm and elegant spoken samurai-inspired warriors and diplomats, idk...

I am sure all the scenes were acted out lots of times and they had a lot of takes to choose from, and the performances we see on screen is what he went with. The actors follow the the instructions in the director and has to put a lot of trust in the director and his vision! And just look at the dialogue they had to work with. And when it goes bad, the actors take all the blame for it, and some of these are really good actors too! Again, I am very sure that Lucas had a specific tone in mind and it kind of failed(or maybe not?). We expected fun smugglers and cool bountyhunters, but got politicos and diplomats, and a different kind of story than we had expected, for good or bad.

The Jedi council was just kinda there.

But that ties back into the main theme of 1-3, and just how broken the Jedi Order was. Yes they were just there, yes they were ineffectual and couldn't notice a Sith standing two feet away from them - the Jedi were badly in need of a swift kick to the ass.

No, I mean they were just there, They weren't interesting, if they weren't swinging a light saber they were mannequins.

I don`t think Lucas forgot to tell the actors to act, I think he wanted them to downplay it and go for low-key acting and that he had a mood and atmosphere in mind, it is a story about jedi and politics after all, and maybe he was going for calm and elegant spoken samurai-inspired warriors and diplomats, idk...

I am sure all the scenes were acted out lots of times and they had a lot of takes to choose from, and the performances we see on screen is what he went with. The actors follow the the instructions in the director and has to put a lot of trust in the director and his vision! And just look at the dialogue they had to work with. And when it goes bad, the actors take all the blame for it, and some of these are really good actors too! Again, I am very sure that Lucas had a specific tone in mind and it kind of failed(or maybe not?). We expected fun smugglers and cool bountyhunters, but got politicos and diplomats, and a different kind of story than we had expected, for good or bad.

Feel free to spool up Amidala asking the boss Gungan for help in Phantom Menace and get back to me.

I don`t think Lucas forgot to tell the actors to act, I think he wanted them to downplay it and go for low-key acting and that he had a mood and atmosphere in mind, it is a story about jedi and politics after all, and maybe he was going for calm and elegant spoken samurai-inspired warriors and diplomats, idk...

That's how I took it when I first saw it. I was really happy with that portrayal. Then I heard people complaining the Jedi were so flat...well, that was kind of the point: quiet power with restraint.

We expected fun smugglers and cool bountyhunters, but got politicos and diplomats, and a different kind of story than we had expected, for good or bad.

Who is this "we"? I got pretty much what I had hoped for. I'm somewhat of a history nut, and I really like my fiction to have historical depth. I've read the Silmarillion several times, in fact...

I kind of view the PT to the OT as the Silmarillion to Lord of the Rings. Maybe the language is difficult and there are too many names, but all that Byzantine politics just revs me up. I don't need another smart-mouthed smuggler or bad-ass bounty hunter...we already got one of those.

Anyway, I guess it get that it's fun to PT-bash, but what I find so ironic is despite all the bashing, people still vote for it with their wallets. Disney will be able to milk all the world building Lucas did, without even having to add their own, for years and years to come, and they don't even know why.

I don`t think Lucas forgot to tell the actors to act, I think he wanted them to downplay it and go for low-key acting and that he had a mood and atmosphere in mind, it is a story about jedi and politics after all, and maybe he was going for calm and elegant spoken samurai-inspired warriors and diplomats, idk...

I am sure all the scenes were acted out lots of times and they had a lot of takes to choose from, and the performances we see on screen is what he went with. The actors follow the the instructions in the director and has to put a lot of trust in the director and his vision! And just look at the dialogue they had to work with. And when it goes bad, the actors take all the blame for it, and some of these are really good actors too! Again, I am very sure that Lucas had a specific tone in mind and it kind of failed(or maybe not?). We expected fun smugglers and cool bountyhunters, but got politicos and diplomats, and a different kind of story than we had expected, for good or bad.

Feel free to spool up Amidala asking the boss Gungan for help in Phantom Menace and get back to me.

It was bad. I know it was bad. Painful to watch. I am saying it was because of bad directing. They have so many takes, so many chanses, so much to be done with editing and how they film it, and they go with that! This is all on the director and the people who work with him either trusting him too much or fearing him too much to say that it is bad or isn`t working.

Anyway, I guess it get that it's fun to PT-bash, but what I find so ironic is despite all the bashing, people still vote for it with their wallets. Disney will be able to milk all the world building Lucas did, without even having to add their own, for years and years to come, and they don't even know why.

See, that's the key thing about 1-3 that everyone overlooks. Okay, so it's 1999, we've been subject 16 years of waiting. The Hype Machine is in full blast, the trailer looks awesome, toys are everywhere - we didn't know what the movie would hold, so it making several billion dollars at the box office was understandable.

But, for the sake of argument, lets say that TPM is a terrible, terrible, terrible movie - as bad as everyone says. Why then does Clones make over half a billion dollars? Somebody had to be buying those tickets!

So here we are, 2005. Everyone has been burned by terrible E1 and terrible E2. Why does Sith come in at 848 million dollars at the box office? If the series was that bad up to that point, then Sith would have made a buck 98 at the box office.

Now, I think that George (or at least his marketing department) did E1 a huge disservice by running the hype machine at full blast as they did. No movie in the history of filmmaking - past, present or future - could ever hope to live up to the expectations set by the fans, two decades of pent up nerd lust and the Hype Machine turned to 11. The Phantom Menace could have been a script by Shakespeare directed by Kurosawa and George Lucas could have persoinally handed out free gold bricks with the Star Wars logo embossed on them as patrons left the theater, and people would still have complained about their gold brick being scratched.

Wait... it was 16 years between Return and Menace?

It has been 16 years since Menace. 10 since Revenge.

Seems like we might get a new trilogy every 15 years or so. Possibly forever. Not sure how I feel about this.

ETA: I also want to say that I think that The Phantom Menace is easily the best of the prequels and in many ways on par with the originals. Even though I really think that Revenge of the Sith had a lot of potential and I still have a very visceral, emotional connection to it. Even though I think it's kind of horrible.

I'd also chime in that The Phantom Menace is my favourite of the prequels. I'm not saying it's the best, but it is my favourite... because it felt the most like Star Wars to me. 2 and 3, on the other hand, kind of felt like damage control: "Oh man, we're in trouble here. Waddayou guys like? You like Boba Fett? Look, everybody's Boba Fett!"... "You want dark? Here's Anakin slaughtering children - can't get much darker than that!", etc...

I'm a fan of the prequels mostly because most of the important lines of dialog serve a very specific purpose based on "Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on a certain point of view". All of the dialog is written and delivered in a simplistic way because we are supposed to be getting glimpses into that characters beliefs. If you watch EP I again and pay attention to his lines, then yeah, the Jedi council is right, this boy should not be trained, he is very troubled and angry. But despite that things transpire as we see them. I think it is very engaging and riveting. The OT doesn't have this because the story is focused on Luke and his friends. In the PT we are supposed to gain insight into how a sweet young boy turns into the second most evil being in the galaxy, and I think it is quite successful in that regard.

I'd also chime in that The Phantom Menace is my favourite of the prequels. I'm not saying it's the best, but it is my favourite... because it felt the most like Star Wars to me. 2 and 3, on the other hand, kind of felt like damage control: "Oh man, we're in trouble here. Waddayou guys like? You like Boba Fett? Look, everybody's Boba Fett!"... "You want dark? Here's Anakin slaughtering children - can't get much darker than that!", etc...

I agree. At least as far as Attack is concerned.

"You like lightsaber battles? Here's a hundred Jedi all fighting at the same time!"

I suppose I could see a little of it for Revenge: "You were bored by how sparse the battles were in Attack? Here's a great big battle in space over Coruscant! Here's a battle on a spaceship! Here's a spaceship crashing! Here's Obi-Wan fighting Grievous! Here's clones and wookiees fighting droids! Here's clones and Utapauans fighting droids! Here's Mace Windu fighting Palpatine! Here's clones killing Jedi! Here's Anakin killing kids! Here's Anakin slaughtering the leadership of the CIS! Here's Yoda fighting Palpatine! Here's Obi-wan fighting Anakin! Here's Yoda fighting Palpatine! Here's Obi-Wan fighting Anakin! Yoda fighting Palpatine! Here's Obi-wan fighting Anakin! Here's Yoda fighting Palpatine! Here's Obi-Wan fighting Anakin! Yoda fighting Palpatine! Here's Obi-wan fighting Anakin! Here's Yoda fighting Palpatine! Here's Obi-Wan fighting Anakin! Yoda fighting Palpatine! Here's Obi-wan fighting Anakin! Here's Yoda losing to Palpatine! Here's Obi-Wan winning against Anakin! Here's the end of the movie!"

After watching all three of the prequels again a month or two ago, I find that Attack of the Clones is the least offensive. E1 was just way too obnoxious with Jar Jar all over the place, and boy-genius Anakin saving the day Wesley Crusher-style, not to mention Liam Neeson being totally underutilized. Oh, and the whole mini-chlorine thing...

E3 had more horrendous acting than the other two, Anakin turning to the dark side and murdering innocent children without much thought or contemplation, painfully awkward love patter between Anakin and Padme (those two have absolutely no chemistry between them), otherwise cool Jedi being murdered without even putting up a fight (mostly, anyway), and Mother of the Year Padme rolling over and dying in her mid-20's because "she's lost the will to live" (hello, you just gave birth to twin babies!!! Ain't that something to live for???). Just... way too much in that movie to be annoyed with.

So, by default, I find I have less to complain about in E2 than in the other two Not really a fan of the prequels, obviously.

hm. if u pick on those movies like that, u have to say that there is no realy good star wars movie at all. The first one had a kid as main-figure, thats always bad. and the jar jar. and pseudo-funny killer robots. the second one... this lame joda scene where he fights. and did anyone notice that the clones never attacked someone? the third one had the "padme is to lacy to life scene" an the mustafa system, i mean realy, are they selling kebab there or why is it called mustafa system? then again joda running arround like a rat when he ran from the emperor.

an to be realy mean, i could start with the old trilogy. If u wouldnt know star wars since 20 years and you would see those movies today for the first time.... jeiks. STormtroopers get overwhelmed from teddybears and so on.

But all those movies had also their great moments. when anakin walked in the jedi-temple with the trooper behind him, ah that was sooooo good.

After all this, i would wish that some things also woulld have been different. A taller, bulkier actor for Anakin. A story for darth vader that doesnt make him to a wimp "oh no my girlfriend left me because of my mother issues, mimimi, no i become evil" . but what i have seen so far from the next movies, they could be realy cool