Have we been unfair to George Lucas? Could the prequel trilogy be worth another look?
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With the release of the new trailer for The Force Awakens, fans of a galaxy far, far away are truly worked up into a frenzy. Anticipation for the new Star Wars movie is so high that it broke all records for pre-sale tickets by a long shot. The last time I remember Star Wars fans being so excited was the period leading up The Phantom Menace. Most Star Wars fans would say that film, as well as the whole prequel trilogy, was a giant disappointment.
Is it possible that the prequels were better than we remember?
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But is it possible we’ve been too hard on George Lucas? Is it possible that the prequels were better than we remember?
Let’s face it: there was no way the prequels could have lived up to anyone’s expectations. After the success of the original Star Wars trilogy, the last of which was Return of the Jedi in 1983, fans waited for sixteen years before The Phantom Menace was released in 1999. Sixteen years is a long time to wait for another movie in a series with a diehard fan base. It wasn’t possible for The Phantom Menace, or any of the prequels, to be everything they wanted in a Star Wars movie.
If you set aside the fact that the prequels are Star Wars movies, they’re actually pretty good entertainment. Sure, there’s some wooden acting and the story is a little convoluted in places. But as fantasy/adventure movies go, they’re entertaining and even have some pretty great sequences.
One of the reasons my admiration for the prequels has increased is that George Lucas tied the two trilogies together in subtle and thoughtful ways. It’s not just the story, it’s the visuals as well. Check out this video from Pablo Fernández Eyre that showcases the visual parallels between the old and new trilogies:
Star Wars Poetry from whoispablo on Vimeo.
If you’re a Star Wars fan, give the prequels another look in the few weeks before The Force Awakens arrives. You’ll not only reorient yourself to broader story of the Skywalker saga, you’ll also hopefully appreciate George Lucas’s visual artistry a little more.
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Photo: Flickr/Eva Rinaldi
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I thought the prequels got off to a shaky start with Ep 1 but I loved Eps 2 & 3 and never understood why people complained so hard about them. It almost seems like it’s was just fashionable to hate on George Lucas. I was always a fan of the movies but also I was a Lucas fan. I remember when Jedi came out and back then there was talk that the larger story was going to be 3 trilogies. While I’m excited to see Ep 7 I’m also a little disappointed that Lucas isn’t making the sequel trilogy. As… Read more »
I (like many, many others) could go on and on and on about my own opinions & perspectives on the relative merits and liabilities of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but I’ll try to keep it (relatively) brief and salient. Prequels, in my opinion, are always trouble (narratively speaking) because, of course, they’re already constrained by a known outcome and finite plot alternatives. I was always under the impression that some of the best storytelling flows from spontaneity, and running with where the story & characters take the plot, rather than forcing them into a set of actions to service… Read more »