re: Why do Star Wars fans hate the prequels?

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Ridley made Prometheus look sleek but it still felt real.

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He made the last great "in camera" special effects film that will likely ever be made - Bladerunner. For all its flaws, that's still my favorite movie. Much the same way that Pink Floyd used spaces in their music, Bladerunner is very much the Citizen Kane of SciFi, for my money, anyway.

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Can't they just make movies the old fashioned way and then use computers to touch it

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No. Too difficult, too costly, and requires "thought", "effort" and "craftsmanship". I remember the comical news that leaked out from the terrible 4th Indy movie where they were working out how to CGI a whip and Harrison Ford incredulously asked, "Can't I just use a real whip?" The answer was, of course not, because of insurance and whatnot.

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They are mo massie in scope

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The Phantom Menace proved this was a bad thing, due to so much shite going on with none of it making sense.

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more characters and aliens

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Quantity does not equal quality.

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less plot holes

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I nearly choked.

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better effects

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Yeah, that has nothing to do with being 20 years after the original trilogy.

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and the story isnt black and white,

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How is it NOT black and white? Are you telling me that Anakin is a morally ambiguous character after murdering women and children?

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its more complex

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Not a good thing. Star Wars needs to be simple, and the prequels are so complex I don't know what the frick is going on.

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i love how they incorporate all the politics of the galactic senate.

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You mean how they're all morons and nothing from their actions make any damn sense?

Even the names are stupid

Yoda
Bobba fett
Ig-88 (hard as shite on n64)
Grand moff tarkin

Dexter jettster

I have actually fixed the prequel problems, at least in outline form - and some of this is my own and some is cripped from Plinkett:

Episode I: Storyline A - Obi Wan is the main character - an early 20-something Jedi who is learning from his mentor (and it could be Boozy). We don't see Anakin at all until the end. He is not 20 years younger than Obi Wan, but closer to 8 or 10 years younger. Obi Wan can intersect with various elements of the Jedi structure to set up future films. Obi Wan and mentor Jedi (a "master") are pursuing an investigation into strange events in the outer rim. They are related to and intersect Story B.

Story B: Palpatine is focusing on placing an up and coming political actor in a newly created position - the Chancellor. He is making secret deals with Sith supporters, also mainly in the outer ring - give the liberals a thrill by making him an arms merchant or energy trader, or at least have those people provide him money. He succeeds because the dupe he picks is fairly dumb but popular.

Episode II: Story A: Yoda and Obi-Wan start training a young Anakin Skywalker (like 15 or 16). We see elements of the formal Jedi training process. Maybe we get the love story, a little, with Anakin and the mother of Luke and Leia. Anakin starts doing dark research on his own (or perhaps nudged that way by Palpatine). Anakin goes out on his own, experimenting with the dark side, flirting with it, with the idea he will control it to stop Palpatine. However, as partners with Obi Wan, they actually (not talk about it) have a couple of adventures where they save each other's life. These extend into the third act when the clone wars actually start.

(We have to make the decision here as to whether or not all Sith are fallen Jedi or have Jedi training. None of it made sense in the prequels, and I don't care, but I haven't worked that out yet.)

Story B: Palpatine continues to work his machinations. He convinces his dupe to make him (Palpatine) his deputy, because of the need for a calm, wiser head in the crisis that Palpatine has carefully constructed. Palpatine has also created an army of clones to be a villainous force. In the third act this force attacks the Republic in a number of areas, forced a declaration of martial law. This forces a rapid militarization of the Republic. Coruscant is invaded and THAT's the cliffhanger.

Episode III;

Story A: Obi Wan and Yoda fail to reign in Skywalker and the planet is invaded. Yoda gives up and tries to get Skywalker expelled. Obi Wan doesn't want to give up, and keep his partner in the middle of the war. He tries to complete Skywalker's training. Ultimately there's a break when Skywalker chooses the dark side. Skywalker's wife is found to be pregnant but they are estranged. In the chaos of war, Yoda spirits her into hiding.

Story B: Palpatine has his dupe assassinated, in all the chaos of the invasion, and has Obi Wan and other Jedi implicated. He goes to the council, but they refuse to support him. He has the council arrested and the rest of the Jedi go to ground. Perhaps knowing him best Yoda and Kenobi escape and evade as Skywalker and a handpicked group of elite soldiers, with the backing of NOW Emperor Palpatine, systematically hunt down and execute the Jedi who have fled in groups of 2 or 3.


That still doesn't fix the acting and directing, but that's a good story.

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I'm going to continue reading but add Anakin should've been a fully trained Jedi by the start of episode 1. Maybe he is the main character and obi wan is his middle aged mentor.

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Maybe - I just thought that we take the "origin" of Anakin out of the first movie and set up the infrastrure - the Republic, the Jedi Council, Obi-Wan. You have to have Obi Wan "complete" Anakin's training, after Yoda can't/won't, but that's a big deal in Empire. That's either got to happen on-screen or off.

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So I'm cleaning and watching Empire...

frick you George Lucas

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You know what Vader had in that movie, particularly? Menace.

He could stand there and breathe and be menacing. Malevolence oozed from his pores - only equalled (never exceeded) by Palpatine (at times) and Hannibal Lector - out of all movie villains I have experienced.

Slow movements, space, pauses, blocking (remember how the first light saber battle between Luke and Vader was shot? Not the fear/dream sequence in the stump, but the actual one at Cloud City - the juxtaposition of the giant Darth Vader against the small farm boy), tone, the battle was the other end of the conflict with himself. He loses a hand and sees his future in his father (PLUS it foreshadows his cutting off Vader's hand in Jedi).

frick you Jorge Lucas, indeed.

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Slow movements, space, pauses, blocking (remember how the first light saber battle between Luke and Vader was shot? Not the fear/dream sequence in the stump, but the actual one at Cloud City - the juxtaposition of the giant Darth Vader against the small farm boy), tone, the battle was the other end of the conflict with himself. He loses a hand and sees his future in his father (PLUS it foreshadows his cutting off Vader's hand in Jedi).

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All of this

Plus the lighting in cloud city. Both the lightsaber battle and bobba fett chase. God I hate George Lucas, and this is the man who brought us raiders, Star Wars, empire (sort of), and temple of doom.

I always thought they should have made Anakin an older, less-likable person when we first meet him. In Episode I he is practically a saint who could do no wrong. By the beginning of Episode II it's been 10 years and Anakin is now a douche. Why? We're told because his skills have made him arrogant. Okay...that completely goes against everything we learned about the character in Episode I. The Anakin we saw in Phantom Menace was humble. Where did he go wrong? We're not shown any of this and that is where George Lucas has always sucked - character development. We are told about these changes and are shown their end results but we are never shown the process these characters went through to get to where they are.

I would have gone with a trilogy that begins in the heart of the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a Jedi Knight who happens upon this incredibly gifted star pilot named Anakin. He sees the Force is strong with him but also acknowledges his age and questionable morals would be wrong for the Jedi Order. But Obi-Wan develops a friendship with this young star pilot and decides to train him anyway. The end result is, of course, Darth Vader.