The TPM that should have been...

Silent Mike made a comment in the forum about the Pod race, which i felt deserved its own thread

Bigsef is right although the movie should have focused more on Anakin it was probably Lucas's decision to start out when he was ten that screwed up everything. Otherwise there would have been more character development with Anakin. I really didn't care to see gungans or nubians in distress, trade disputes, Jar Jar as a "comic" character.
All that stuff bored the hell out of me I wanted to see more sith, more jedi the cool stuff. I'm sure Lucas did the best he could but next time he should stop following every so called good "idea", and stick to the real story.

Youre absouletly right. The idea to have Anakin as a 10 year old was an idiotic idea on the part of Lucas. At the very least, it makes the Prequel Trilogy disjointed, and there is less time to build up character relationships as in the Original Trilogy. There was absolutely no reason to show as much as they did on Naboo, either. The movie could have easily opened up with the Jedi, acompanied by Amidala, and R2-D2 fleeing the Trade Federation and escaping to Tatooine. That's how A New Hope opened up and it worked fine. Then, more time could have been spent developing Anakins character. If GL was dead set on making Anakin 10, that would be OK, as long as time was spent developing his character and building on his relationship more with Qui-gon and Obi-wan. It would have been even better to have Anakin be 20. Thus, his age, and training, would be exactly the same as Luke. The love story b/w him and Amidala would have developed over all three movies, and been more gratifying and beleivable to viewers.

haven't thought much about this problem, but what you say has much to it.

Sure it would have been better to have Anakin as a 20 year old. But I thought that TPM was good as it was. It could have been better though.

Bigsef nothing you've said there has made any sense and I'm glad it's Lucas that's making SW and not you. 😄

what do you mean it doesnt make sense? are you dense?

Sense...dense hey that rhymes

what do you mean it doesnt make sense? are you dense?

Dense, maybe. Whining fanboy, no.

There was absolutely no reason to show as much as they did on Naboo, either

If Naboo was full of volcanos and lava pits would you still be complaining?

The movie could have easily opened up with the Jedi, acompanied by Amidala, and R2-D2 fleeing the Trade Federation and escaping to Tatooine. That's how A New Hope opened up and it worked fine.

TPM wasn't a remake of ANH with new characters.

It would have been even better to have Anakin be 20. Thus, his age, and training, would be exactly the same as Luke.

A 10 year old leaving his mum and his home is a big deal.
A 20 year old doing the same means nothing.
We know that in AOTC Anakin regrets leaving.

The love story b/w him and Amidala would have developed over all three movies,

In TPM we've seen how Anakin feels about Padme.
In AOTC they'll fall in love.
In Ep3 we'll see it fall apart.
What's wrong with that?

I'm sure Lucas did the best he could but next time he should stop following every so called good "idea", and stick to the real story.

I always thought the real story was how Anakin was discovered by the Jedi, how he became a great Jedi, how a mix of good and bad things messed him up, how he was seduced by the dark side and became Vader.

And in the middle of all that he has two kids with Padme.

As far as I can see that's what Lucas is doing.

but admit it, there was a lot of time spent on Naboo...

Hmm. It would have been TOO much like the original if it had started with a fleeing ship arriving at Tatooine. Rhyming is one thing, but copying...

I think it should have started with the invasion; a few minutes cut but a lot gained.

indeed, but I think that there was something wrong with Anakin being 10 and in EpII he is 20, that's a too large span

Moderators, im sorry for what im about to say, but i cant resist, king, in this case, you seem to be very dense. first of all, half the quotes you take, arent even stuff i said, theyre stuff another forum member said, which i copied to start this forum. if you had read the first post, i explained that.

secondly, im not even going to begin to critize all the things i said you supposedly shot down, because the things you say, but you saying that the love story between han and leia didnt develop over all three movies shows that you have no memory of those movies whatsoever. i suggest you watch them again, because there is a love triangle that develops over all three movies. and guess what? han and leia are part of that love triangle.

aside from that, your comments about amidala being important and naboo being important, so it must be shown, thats total crap. leia is from alderaan, but in ANH, they didnt find it necessary to show alderaan in the beginning of ANH. We see Naboo at the end of TPM, and that would have been enough. It also would have added alot of suspense to the story, because we wouldnt have actually SEEN what was taking place on Naboo.

As far as establishing that Palpatine and Amidala are both from Naboo, if you pay attention, that is very well established in TPM AFTER Amidala arrives on Coruscant.

You will also notice, I didnt say it was necessary for Anakin to be 20. I simply stated that it would add a parallel to Luke in ANH. While the PT shouldnt be a carbon copy of the OT, the more parallels between Lukes life and Anakins life, the better the theme is established of Anakins fall and redemtion through his son. Luke succeeded where his father failed. As senior members of this forum often point out, Star Wars is an Epic. One of the common threads of Epics is repetition.

Aside from that, you miss the point entirely on what the main complaint is with TPM. Anakins character is not fleshed out. As i said before, keep him as a 10 year old, but he should have had alot more screen time, and his relationships with the characters should have been fleshed out more. Anakin is THE main character of these movies, and hes barely a sideshow in TPM. Far too much time is spent on events leading up to the Jedi discovering Anakin. And once they do meet him, his character isnt really developed. TPM is more about quigon and Obiwan than it is about Anakin, and that is a mistake. That was the point I was making, a point you seem to have missed entirely.

I agree that there should've been a bit more on anakin, but not 20 years old, or any other changes you would have made.

not even a nude scene for padme? j/k

The real story is Anakin's fall and the characters relationships and setup did not need to take so long. Lucas could have probably done it in a lot less time it didn't need a whole movie to setup everything.

The reason I think there is such a gap between TPM and AOTC is that Lucas was being way to self-indulgent with TPM. He got way off track with the plot to service his curiousity. I remember him saying in a Newsweek or Time article that he started out with Anakin as a child. Because he hypothesized what was Hitler like as a child , or something like that sorry I don't have the exact quote I'm not much of a researcher. Anyway reading the article at the time I got the impression that Lucas was like I said earlier way too concerned with this and other great "ideas" than with the overall plot of the film and the whole six films.

Amidale is to be the mother of Luke and Leia and is very important indeed, so was the invasion of Naboo it was what triggered Palpatine`s plan of an empire. So they are both important aspect of the SW saga. And Bigsef 2 you can be a little humble toward other board members. They are entitled to an opinion even if it should differ from yours. 🙂
Happy thoughts ok 😎

Exactly. Naboo is important because Palpatine used it and Amidala to gain power.

And answer my question Bigsef - If Naboo was a dark volcanic planet, maybe with a few Sith caves, would you still be complaining?

first of all, half the quotes you take, arent even stuff i said, theyre stuff another forum member said, which i copied to start this forum.

you saying that the love story between han and leia didnt develop over all three movies shows that you have no memory of those movies whatsoever. i suggest you watch them again, because there is a love triangle that develops over all three movies. and guess what? han and leia are part of that love triangle.

Han and Leia's love story stops devloping after ESB. In ROTJ they are in love, nothing changes. It doesn't go anywhere. We've already seen the best part. Yes Han is a little jealous. THAT'S NOT A LOVE TRIANGLE!
A love triangle involves 3 people. In ROTJ it's only Han that's involved. It's all in his head.

In ANH they are attracted to each other, in ESB they fall in love, what happens in ROTJ? How does it develop? Tell me please? 😄

We see Naboo at the end of TPM, and that would have been enough. It also would have added alot of suspense to the story, because we wouldnt have actually SEEN what was taking place on Naboo.

You will also notice, I didnt say it was necessary for Anakin to be 20. I simply stated that it would add a parallel to Luke in ANH. While the PT shouldnt be a carbon copy of the OT, the more parallels between Lukes life and Anakins life, the better the theme is established of Anakins fall and redemtion through his son. Luke succeeded where his father failed.

As senior members of this forum often point out, Star Wars is an Epic.

One of the common threads of Epics is repetition.

Aside from that, you miss the point entirely on what the main complaint is with TPM. Anakins character is not fleshed out. As i said before, keep him as a 10 year old, but he should have had alot more screen time, and his relationships with the characters should have been fleshed out more.

King, you continue to miss my point entirely. i am looking at everything from an objective point of view. not that youre not being objective, but let me put it this way. its 1993, youre GL and youre about to sit down and start writing episode I. whats REALLY important? Silent Mike is a junior member, but he makes good points. Especially about what Lucas did with TPM and focusing more on "ideas" than how the plot should actually unfold to make a good movie. There are alot of "good ideas" in TPM, but there are so many of them, and none of them can receive the attention they deserve. Its the constraints of a roughly two-hour long movie. You can only do so much. With the PT, GL is essentially telling a 6 hour story, which we could very broadly call the rise and fall of anakin skywalker. That is what is important, and that is what TPM should have focused on. The RISE of anakin skywalker. While the Emperors political manuverings are important to the galactic evens in the star wars universe, it should come SECONDARY to the development of anakin skywalker in a story about anakin skywalker.

Just because youve asked this a couple times, I would be just as dissapointed if Naboo were a volcanic planet. Its actually better to be peaceful, and defenseless. That makes the threat all the more Dangerous. Naboo being invaded is VERY important to the Emperors rise to power, but Star wars is NOT about the Emperors rise to power. Its about Anakin Skywalker. His story is THE most important, and he does not get THAT much screen time, where his character is being fleshed out.

I dont think Naboo should be taken out of the movie, but its not necessary to show the invasion. Amidalas character doesnt even get much screen time during the invasion, so you cant argue that its important to her character because she will later be an important character. The majority of the time spent on Naboo is special effects shots of the invasion, fights with droids, and the jedi going to the gungan city and through the planet core to reach theed. Nothing that we SEE before Tatooine is really so important that we must actually SEE it. Some changes to the opening scroll and a few lines of actual DIALOG could have let us know everything we needed to know, about what was going on with the invasion and political manuverings. Then there would be the extra suspense building up until the end of the movie where we actually see the droid armys on Naboo.

The main reason GL put all of that in there is to introduce us to Jar-Jar, a character who will have such a minor part in the other movies, his character becomes unimportant in the grand scheme of things. If GL spends so much time introducing him in EPI, he should continue to be a major character in the remainding episodes. In retrospect, Jar-Jar simply wastes valuable screen time that should have gone to Anakin.

My problem with TPM is not changes that should be made to the existing movie. Im saying GL had it in him to make a BETTER movie, but as Silent Mike says, he just had a few cool ideas, and wrote his story around that, instead of what would be best for the plot and characters.

I certain;y thought it was a big risk to make TPM such a trrue prequel, and then making the main story only two films long., if for no reason other than he has to fit LOADS into the remaining films.

I remember thinking for a while that TPM was almost an Episode 0 rather than 1; a prequel to the WHOLE story rather than the first part of the story itself.

But after two and a half years of thinking about it... I don't know, maybe it's been paced well as it is. Perhaps the story works better when told thorugh Amidala's perspective rather than Anakin's.

We'll see.