I've already come to the harsh conclusion that I don't like the PT, as already mentioned by someone, it just doesn't fit the OT jigsaw at all.
Its a shame really because just before TPM was released, my geekiness regarding all things SW was at a peek. I mean REAL peek too, I was reading every EU book just to get my fix for SW. Then TPM kinda took the wind out of my sails but I put it down to it being just an introduction to better things, but alas that hasn't happened. I think something else that ruined it for me was the whole "Vong" series in the EU book, they suck and I haven't been able to get into the books since.
I think I'm gonna have to be one of those die-hard OT fans when what I really hoped for was a new trilogy that I could watch and enjoy with my kids just like me and my dad did with the OT. Woe is me.
the way I look at it, they're not fully successful as films, but they work wonderfully as a sort of 'visual encyclopedia' of the times before the Orighinal Trilogy
I have never liked any of the New Jedi Order/Vong novels. They are way too dark,even more so than The Empire Strikes Back ever was! The death of Chewbacca ended my interest in the classic novel series. When The Phantom Menace came out, yes, I was excited. But then I started to really hate it. It was too juvenile and I now believe it was a poor way to introduce Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi when they were young! Attack of the Clones gets really good about two-thirds into it,with the clone army and the Jedi fighting Dooku and the Seperatists,but sadly ends just as it gets interesting! I hope III is even better and that it actually shows us the Clone Wars and its aftermath, instead of leaving it to a series of cartoons!
Episode III has a lot to live up to! But I do concur the sentiment(or lack thereof)regarding The Phantom Menace being more of a children's movie, although it is a bit exciting during the lightsaber battles.And let us not forget Yoda's speech in the Council chamber!
Nah. I don't even have a huge problem with the Ewoks- they do not appeal to me but they are not 'wrong', in a filmmaking sense.
But plenty else is. ESB was going to be the film in the MIDDLE of the whole saga. Suddenly it became the film one before the end when GL chose to end it all in ROTJ. And so suddenly, from the Empire being big and strong and unstoppable and Vader triumphant and there being 'another' and Han captured and Luke having messed up his training...
...we had to get to Han rescued, Vader and Emperor dead, good guys victorious, the 'another' revealed and Luke a full Jedi in two hours. It was ALWAYS going to be a bit of a mess.
So we have a film which actually looks like a mini-film with a longer one bolted on- the Jabba's Palace bit (which I quite liked) followed by a sudden shunt ito the rest of the film, unlike the previous two- AND the two prequels- where everything flowed smoothly.
We have to introduce, build up the threat of, and then kill, the Emperor inside an absurdly small amount of time, which means that while he SOUND scary he just seems, well, crap. The only problem with him being so clever in the new films is that his stupidity in ROTJ is all the more apparent.
Luke's 'completing his training' on Dagobah simply disappears into a fuzzy "ah, well, maybe you are ready anyway...". Gee, even his father needed ten years of training before getting there!
Luke's sister became Leia, as she was the only convenient female they could use. But they KISSED! BLEURGH!
Han Solo's love plot turned from the tumulteous greatness of ESB into... err... well, rather flat and settled, wasn't it, because they had to make THOSE two look happy as well.
The most original threat George could think of? A larger Death Star. Pfft. Boring.
The entire Imperial fleet, that is supposed to be the scourge of the rebels, seems to disappear. Ok, the Death Star is destroyed, big shame. But why are we expected to believe that the Emperor's trap of having the whole fleet there suddenly stops working? Now EVERYONE has to come up with extended explanations of why the Imperial Fleet did not annhiliate the rebels, which is expoisition we should not have to make!
But worst of all, they rushed the end SO MUCH that they ruined the credibility of the vital scenes of Luke's final confrontation with the Emperor and Vader. These were GOOD scenes, and I hope the 'rhyming' ones in episode iii will be as good.
But they were pointless. Luke's final confrontation, Anakin's redemption, and the Emperor's death should have been the single event that led to the rebel victory. But it did NOT. It was almost completely irrelevant. All it did was save Luke's life, which is nice, but hardly vital.
Because the Death Star was destroyed ANYWAY. The Rebels won without ANY help from Luke at all, and the Emperor and Vader would have died no matter what.
In fact, the unstoppable Imperial Forces of ESB became SO shit in ROTJ that the threat dissolved and Luke may as well have stayed at home.
Oh, people try to justify it, saying that the Emperor's 'magic powers' would have defeated the rebels were it not for Luke, but we all know that is just grasping at straws, and that this is basically an error caused by the rushing of the plot. Luke's's victory should have been CRITICAL- not a sideshow.
All in all... FAR worse than either prequel film.
__________________
"We've got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds everybody into Jawa burgers and not one of you buds has the midi-chlorians to stop her!"
"You've never had any TINY bit of sex, have you?"
BtVS
Last edited by Ushgarak on Mar 17th, 2003 at 11:54 AM
KMC Community Forums
Feb 27th, 2003 02:10 PM
woooh...don't get me wrong...i like star wars! er...liked....i guess i should use the past tense...hump...well the old ones are still real good...
