re: Watched the phantom menace for the first time in years

I absolutely fricking hate George Lucas. Hate.

He's a complete piece of shite who is arrogant and completely disassociates himself with anyone who challenges his creativity.

Not only did he create an abomination of a prequel trilogy, but he's done everything he can to destroy the original trilogy because he thinks certain additions make the movies better. The changes he's made are complete crap and fans are still waiting on a remastered theatrical version of the star wars trilogy all these years later. The ghost of Hayden Christiensen appearing in the end of RotJ is one of the dumbest decisions in film history, and Lucas should have been given a lobotomy afterwards.

Hate may sound like a strong word, especially for someone who is responsible for the Star Wars universe existing in the first place, but just because you create something doesn't mean you will have its best interests in mind for the future and Lucas clearly doesn't.

The Phantom Menace was absolutely awful, and I am still trying to pick my jaw up from the floor all these years later after the realization set in that he made an even worse film with Attack of the Clones.

The entire prequel trilogy is riddled with characters we don't care about, having conversations we don't care about, involving vomit-inducing dialogue, on 95% Bluescreen/Greenscreen sets with zero life and believably. Yoda from Empire Strikes Back is one of the best characters in cinema history, and he gets completely neutered in the prequel trilogy, while all of his Jedi pals sit around and have conversations while sitting in chairs twiddling their thumbs. It's a fricking soap opera.

Why did Lucas successfully direct a good film in the original episode IV? Who knows. Maybe because his ideas weren't rushed at that point like the entire prequel trilogy. Lucas was very hands off for episode V and that was easily the best movie in the series. He started meddling with the direction of episode VI, and there was a noticeable drop off in quality from episode V, but it was still a great movie. The prequel trilogy was just rushed crap, with a director who was largely out of the game for almost 20 years. This is probably just looking into it too much though as its likely Lucas is really just a massive sellout.

Fortunately the prequel trilogy can be ignored because Disney is pretty much pretending like it doesn't exist. I just hope they have the balls to release some re-mastered original theatrical versions so I can watch some untainted star wars someday.

No, I don't think they get unnecessary hate. The films aren't cogent and basically disregard characterization and narrative. That doesn't invalidate the cool stuff each of them had, but it sure makes you wonder what a cogent prequel trilogy could have been like.

Lucas knew the narrative was inherent, because the outcome was already known. Given this, it appears that he sacrificed characterization for the sake of the cool stuff or the beautiful visuals. What we wanted was a film that explored a backstory which a lot of people were invested in. What we got was a film that made that backstory seem utterly idiotic. But again, there was cool stuff in it.

It's not all bad. There's some really bad dialogue here and there and Jar Jar is just unfathomable, but there's good stuff in there too. Attack of the Clones is much much worse.


At least Revenge of the Sith was better, still not on par with the OT, but it was a step in the right direction. The problem was Lucas. He needed to step away from the directors chair and screenplay chair. I think the prequels could be remade one day.

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I think the prequels could be remade one day.

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My hope is this trilogy is great and that's exactly what they do.

With the Marvel/ DC model. Putting out a movie a year planned for the next few years it would be cool to. Have starwarswdo the same and we get 5 or 6 movies the next few years.

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on 95% Bluescreen/Greenscreen sets with zero life and believably.

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This, and the acting, and the dialogue, were the biggest issues for me. And Jar Jar obviously.

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As a movie, TPM works a lot better than Attack of the clones. I am one of the few that thinks 1 and 3 are both decent movies. Nowhere near as good as the original trilogy. But decent. 2 is absolute garbage though. And Dooku would have been an alright villain if they didnt kill him off immediately in 3 and replace him with a coughing robot. Him being Qui-Gon's master was kind of interesting but they never even delved into that.

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Yeah, while I still think Episode I is terrible, II is much worse. It may be the single worst love story ever put to screen. Seriously, how the hell did Padme fall in love with this psychopath? He's just a whinny bitch who openly goes on a megalomaniacal rant about butchering women and children. Unless Padme is a depraved sadist, then their relationship makes no sense.

Plus the "droids vs clones" might be the worst idea ever for a war.

I can burn the despecialized editions for you if you really want to see the original theatrical versions in HD

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The trade federation characters are such a caricature it's painful to watch.

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The Trade Federation makes no sense. Why the hell are they working for Sidious? What could Sidious have promised them? I doubt Palpatine in Episode I was rich enough to bribe an operation of their size to risk everything for him.

And it gets even dumber in Episode II when they join Dooku in exchange for Padme's head, when she's not responsible for what happened in Episode I at all. Shouldn't a system with the Trade Federation's power be able to afford a simple assassin, and not get back on the Sith train?

These next three movies will wash away the taste of the prequels from our mouths forever and raise the bar on star wars. Empire is the only film that has a chance to be in the same class. No doubt in my mind the force awakens will be seen as on par with empire and the Rian Johnson film will surpass.

Obligatory Red Letter Media Review

A must watch if you have about 2 hours to spare. Incredible review that is pretty funny and will make you hate Phantom Menace way more than you could imagine.

What if Episode I were good?

This guy gives a great example of how much better Episode I could've been.