Saying Jar Jar Binks could've turned out to be a good character is like saying Hitler could've turned out to be a good world leader.

I didn't go in expecting anything beyond expecting them to be at least "good." They were absurdly boring, practically unwatchable. I was actually friggin' laughing at Jar Jar... most of the theater was... not because he was funny in the way Lucas intended but because he was just so ridiculously dumb it was hard to believe "this" was the new Star Wars movie.

So you also did not pick up the main message of Star Wars, everyone can and should be redeemed, no wonder you hate it so much :D

He should re re-edit Jedi so that when Luke pulls off the Vader mask it's actually Hitler, over-the-top German accent and everything.

Why not, I don't think that would be anymore ridiculous than putting in that smiling dope Hayden Christensen in there as a ghost.

I think you are just so mad he just doesn't do them the way you want them done :) Put up a 200 millions of your own money, create a story and put it on film, edit things the way you want it too and show him how it's done. At the end of it all Lucas will probably enjoy seeing your trilogy cause he is a nice guy and he enjoy movies. So go right ahead you know how to do it, do it and show us what a great scifi trilogy should look like ;)

He did them the way I want them done when he originally did them. It's insane that such an important part of film history will likely never be released on a high quality format because Lucas wants to digitally insert shiny CG dildos all over the place.

Or are you talking about the new movies? I don't care about the new movies at all, he can do whatever he wants with 'em. Just aren't very good movies.

It's too bad Hemingway isn't still alive. The Old Man and the Sea could use a speedboat.

You guys are killing me!!!! :D:rotfl:

You just made my point, it's not that you don't like the prequels, you would never have liked them anyway cause your hatred of Lucas goes back to 1997 for the Special Edition. You just won't ever sit down and look at the prequels, you will just hate them. That is what I mean when I say people would have hated them no matter what he did with them.

Yahaha, please. I don't hate Lucas at all, I'm sure he's a great dude. I know he gives a shit load to charity and stuff.

I don't hate the prequels because the Special Edition changes suck, I hate the prequels because, as movies, they are poor. It's the exact same exact reason I love the first Matrix and can barely watch the following two. Believe me, I would love to have loved them. Their level of mediocrity was almost shocking.

Honestly, if you can watch stuff like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS95vcbQDtw

and actually think it's an improvement over the original I envy your high threshold for ass. The Special Editions are riddled with stuff like this - Not only is the content horrible, the quality of the special effects is extremely low and completely visually incongruous with the original stock. Han Solo bending like an odd-looking CG rubber mannequin so he can be made to shoot first? Great. That being said, none of this would matter in the slightest if he'd release the original, unaltered version in the midst of the constant re-releasing of the new, lower quality one. It really makes no sense, if nothing else it should be released for posterity. It's a hugely important part of film history and should be preserved in the highest quality possible.

It's not like I'm losing any sleep over it though. To be honest I don't care all that much, they're not my favorite movies of all time or anything, I'm just a fan of good movies. The original Star Wars movies (in particular the first two) are really, really good movies; the Special Editions less so.

Definitely.

Personally, I didn't really HATE the prequels, at least not nearly as much as everyone else. Obviously the first three are at the top, but come on. Revenge of the Sith was pretty awesome. Yeah, lots of things could've been better, but it was solid.

I find this way less horrible then the original that look like a bad ripoff of The Muppet Show TV program :D You may be taken over by too much nostalgia I think, the original with that guy on keyboard moving around like Rowlf the Dog :D

Ugh, no accounting for taste I guess. Nothing to do with nostalgia, to me that clip is unwatchably bad... and I'm not a huge fan of Jedi (original or not, Ewoks were shit from day 1 - Jedi is in equal parts masterpiece and horror show) to begin with.

Whatever, off to work.

No accounting for taste indeed since you like the original scene ;)

The full gallery of emoticons was one of the worst decisions this forum ever made.

Never said I liked it. I said it wasn't as bad as that new, god awful version (which is not exactly hard to do.)

:rolleyes: I love the emoticon by the way here is a few more I enjoy :cool:

Star Wars prequels rock :rock:

Some people are just way too serious for their own personal good :p

Jar Jar is wonderful :thumbsup:

Wish I had a dollar every time I read the prequels and special edition are bad and I have no taste for liking them :banana:

I get Star Wars on Blu-ray in 2011 :happytears: and that make's me happy

I try to get not too up tight about movies :cloudnine:

Agreed. I much prefer "Jedi Rocks" to "Lapti Nek", loved the new additions to the Max Rebo Band.

It just really was better all around. And it was nice to finally see a Yuzzum that wans't just leaning against a wall.

It just seems more like a wild den of thieves, and fits Jabba's decadence more than the original slow song.

Well, as young man who saw Episode 1 first, I don't mind those differents what Lucas made to the three last episodes. I liked how he changed Emperor's image in Empire Strikes Back, it is actually even better now.
And putting Hayden as a ghost in Return of the Jedi was good call too. It showed that Anakin's appearance before he fall to the dark side joined with the force, not that tainted by the dark side and injuries. It does make sense. And I'm more happy to see Hayden there than that other old guy. Though I don't blame guys who disagree with me, as it is matter of opinion.

And as for the Greedo shoots hirst, I don't care. It's not that important after all. But I don't like that "new" Jabba in Episode 4. It looks worse.

But I must admit, as I like Star Wars movies very much, I hate the first two episodes. Why I hate Episode 1? Well:
-Jar Jar Binks (It's like Lucas brought Disney's Goofy to Star Wars and changed his appearance. It wasn't fun, it was silly.)
-Child Anakin (I always hate little kids in movies, especially if they're at big part.)

And why I hate Episode 2? Well I can't say any special parts, but it was frankly quite boring to watch. It was mostly just talking and nearly all the action was put on the end. And as some guys have said: Hayden isn't the best actor but he does fit to be Anakin. If I buy this episode as blu-ray, I probably watch it only once.

And for the last: I loved Episode 3, there was only one little insignificant thing: The voices of the battle droids. I think they had good voices in two previous parts, so why change them now? They sounded more childish.
Other than that, Episode 3 was a great movie. Not as good as the old trilogy, but definitely best of the prequels.

I hope Lucas does some sort of 'special release' too. :)

Yeah, OLME (Old Lady Monkey Eyes) Emperor always bugged the hell out of me.

That was one of the best changes to Empire Strikes Back. Shame there was no addition of Palpatine to A New Hope. Since he's such a main character to the Saga. And really feels like he should have been included there as well. Perhaps a scene where Palpy is disbanding the Senate or something. :)
Indeed. Hayden Anakin made a lot more sense to the narrative.

As I have said before, if one is a luminous being not bound by the limitations of the flesh in spirit form as Yoda claims, why would Anakin choose to manifest in a form that he doesn't recognize or even see as himself. Especially when he's already not manifesting as the limbless, bald, scarred form of Anakin. It also supports Obi-Wan's argument that Anakin from his point of view died when he became Darth Vader.

For someone who doesn't care about them you do an awful lot of writing about them. :p :D

Well, those are your opinions, and you are entitled to have them, as are we to ours.

To say people who like Jar Jar need to be watched by the authorities however, is again out of place.

I like Jar Jar. He is not my favorite character by any stretch of the imagination, but he's fun, and fits into TPM, as it's more innocent in nature, and the beginning of a shift towards the downfall of the republic and the jedi...

Either way, I pray you will never make it into politics, as you would be one hell of a crazy dictator.

The Prequels are gold to me, if they are poo to you, then so be it. :rolleyes:

Oh, and to compare the Matrix trilogy with ANYTHING SW is an insult of epic proportions, as the Matrix movies are a complete disaster, most of all the 2 sequels. :mad: :angry: ;)

Tolerance is a virtue! ;) :) ;)

Ahahaha. WOOSH is the sound it makes as it goes over your head.

I'm suprised there's so much support for the prequel trilogies and special editions on a forum of supposed movie fans. It seems to me that the divide here is between people that enjoyed the movies either before 1997 or after 1999. The original trilogy was a modern hollywood classic. It'd be like a CGI remake of Back to the Future today, but with nonsensical alterations. Like Biff appearing on the train at the end or a randomly inserted psuedo-hip hop song.

I have a question..I don't know if this has been asked...but are we getting the the unaltered original trilogy on blu-ray?.... I've heard rumors that we aren't...







:p

Being a movie fan doesn't mean you have to prefer the unaltered versions of the films.

And wrong again. Saw the movies when they originally opened in theaters. Still prefer the SE's.

99% of the changes were for the better. From Mos Eisley and Jabba in ANH, the Wampa and Emperor in ESB, to Jedi Rocks and Anakin in RotJ.

And I would put the PT on par if not better in some areas than the OT. TPM is probably the best film of all 6.

Hahaha.

Laugh all you wish. I just know I am glad the 3D releases is starting with TPM.

I can work on boosting my theatrical viewings. I saw it around 15 times in the theater already.

Attack of the Clones was only 5. And Revenge of the Sith was only 2.

Was this in Guantanamo?

It stopped being funny a while ago.

I just really fell in love with the movie. It was pretty much everything I wanted out of the film.

I'll admit that in some respects it was nice to see how things were before the Empire ruled.

But still I don't really think it had all that "grand" of a storyline. The movie can easily be summed up as "woo-hoo! We found Anikin!"

And the movie as a whole could have been executed in a much better manner. There was a lot more going on in Episodes 2 and 3 than there was in Episode 1. Episode 1 was a slow-crawl compared to the other two, IMO. Both of them had a lot more going on. While I am very critical of the prequels overall, I think they got better from one to the next.

Episode 1 was a slow-crawl by design. Watch some of the extras.

Lucas wanted to pack all of the necessary exposition of how the Galaxy operates into E1.

So when they got to E2 and E3, they could hit the ground running and not have to do as much.

A New Hope operates in much the same menner. But I think TPM does it a lot better than ANH does.

Arguing about these releases with a dude who thinks The Phantom Menace is probably the best of all 6 Star Wars movies is just about as much of a waste of time as arguing with a deaf guy about which Beatles album is the best. Just.... not a good movie.

Ridiculous.

If nothing else I guess it gives good perspective on the people who really dig the Special Edition changes. Now it makes perfect sense.

The only thing TPM does better than ANH is cure insomnia.

Everyone has their particular favorites, this one just happens to be mine. Deal with it.

Not for me. That would be A New Hope. Which frankly, I can barely sit through anymore. It's just boring.

Hahaha, "deal with it."

LOL... does it really matter that he like TPM more than the others? I mean, MOST of us disagree, but who cares? He likes that film... I know I don't care.

Seriously.

Joking aside. I think one of the reasons people aren't fond of the prequels is that the first two (let's keep III out of this for a second) didn't do to much to develop the story or characters. I'm not saying that's the only thing film has to offer, merely that those two films didn't excel in those areas.

The third one did. I think it's a shame that the story of the first two films wasn't compressed into the first act of the first film and spent the trilogy focusing on the arc of "Sith" in a less hurried fashion.

As to the other topic, I personally didn't like Jar-Jar, but he was far less grating than the Podrace commentator. Minor character? Yes. Deal-breaker? No. Just an annoying character in one scene.

Amen. I don't share Beast's taste in film, but that doesn't make either of us right or wrong and I'm tired of the insults from both the Orthodox and Reformed fans. Just enjoy what you enjoy.

It's too bad that fans of the original don't get the Blu-ray they want. Beyond that I don't see the point of arguing.

You are entitled to your opinions, of course, but I will say that part of what amazes me about your stance on "A New Hope" is how you previous described the bonus disc that came with the first release of the Original Trilogy on DVD to be "incredible".

While the bonus features on the disc do also encompass "Empire" and "Jedi" to some extent, the original movie is the primary focus of most of the behind the scenes documentaries, etc. on that disc. "Empire of Dreams" really focuses more so on the difficulty Lucas had in getting the original film made and the challenges and problems there of. The whole thing was quite an uphill battle.

Then there's that other extra feature with other directors and film makers talking about the influence that Star Wars had on them.

I just kind of find it funny that you would be so complimentary about a bunch of extra, behind the scenes features that primarily focus on the movie in the series that you find to be the most boring. But, it's all good at the end of the day.



A lot of what bugs me about TPM (beyond the ovbious things that are often brought up like Jar Jar, etc) is just that in many ways it didn't feel like a "beginning" to the story.

It just kind of "hits the ground running" with Obi Wan and Qui Gon on their mission at the beginning. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. But I think more of a feeling of it being a "beginning" should have really been present.

I realize that most everyone going into TPM had already seen the previous movies and knew the basics, but none the less, I really think that some kind of introduction about who the Jedi are, what the force is, etc, really should have been present in the movie. In some ways similar to how Obi Wan explains it to Luke in ANH, but it could be done in a new, original way. Perhaps they could have started out at the Jedi Temple, either with some new kids just coming into being trained, or with someone being given a tour of the temple and an explanation of the Jedi order. These are just some potential examples off of the top of my head... it could have been done in many other ways.

And even some of what "action" does happen in the movie feels a bit to "set-up" and not really like it flows with the movie (at least to me).

Take the Pod Race, for example. Now, the race in and of itself was pretty cool, and it's often one of the more complimented aspects of the film (at least in my experience of other's responses to it). None the less, the whole set of circumstances that lead up to Anikin entering the race (the part on the ship needing to be replaced, the Jedi not having the right currency to buy a replacement from Watto, etc), just all seemed a bit to contrived and set up, like dominos specifically lined up for the sheer purpose of being tipped over, just as an excuse to lead into something "action-y" in the movie.

Then there's Darth Maul. A cool looking character, and he was part of a great lightsaber battle (even if the lightsaber battles in the prequels do look a bit too much like planned out "dances" than true dramatic battles at times). But he had NO character development. Now, I'm not saying a TON of time should have been spent focusing on him or his back story, but they could have found more of a "happy medium". As it is, Darth Maul just feels like he's there for almost no other purpose other than the fact that it's a Star Wars movie and there "has to be" a lightsaber battle in it, and they need someone to have that battle against.


Now, I'm sure you'll turn around and make some comparisons to ANH and the original trilogy. And sure, the movies have their flaws. But most of the flaws in the originals (espeially ANH) can be very much attributed to the limitations of the time, money, and technology that Lucas had available to him at the time. And as for any pacing issues, ANH came out back in a time when movies in general were much slower paced than they are today. That really started to change more in the 80s for the most part.

lol. Outside of the Godwin-violation, only a Sith speaks in absolutes. :p

And? I still like ANH. I just consider it the weakest of the 6 films.

And the bonus disc is incredible, so hopefully Empire Of Dreams is cared over to the Blu-Ray.

As for liking extras better than the movie, I did buy Batman Begins and Dark Knight for the extras.
Both films which I really can't stand. But the extra features are worthwhile. Especially the A&E/History channel ones.

Your complaint about not explaining the Jedi make no sense, they're explained right in the opening crawl. As well as showing you what they're capable of in the very first action scene. As well as later when Qui-Gon is talking to Anakin, and when Anakin meets the Jedi Council. There's a little thing called "Show.... don't tell" after all. I swear some people want the movie to pause, and the characters to start talking to the audience and filling every little detail. Even though nobody complains that you needed your hand held in the OT. Seems like a nonsense argument just to bash the Prequels, as usual.

Everything is contrived in movies. It's because they're written by someone so that the story flows from point A to point B. Never really thought that complaint about any film made sense. The writer sets up an issue that needs to be overcome to move the plot forward. Hell, even Lord of Rings (The Books and Movies) is filled with it. Every movie is. If you want spontanious events, go watch reality televesion. Well, the ones that are not scripted anyway.

Maul is the only weak part of TPM for me. But again, that's by design. He wasn't meant to have much of a character. He was Palpatine's lapdog of an Apprentice. He's more of an animal than a man, look at how he paces like a caged tiger during the lightsaber duel when the shields come between him and Qui-Gon. He doesn't have a personal ambition or desire for power or anything... because that's how Palpy wanted him. But as has been noted, that's why Palpatine is a terrible teacher. He doesn't want to share the knowledge or the power, because that is a risk to his own power. Darth Vader in E4 has pretty much no backstory either. So I don't see the issue. He's as much of a one-dimensional figure as Maul is. Or hell, Boba Fett is an even better example.

No, it's a night and day difference between how Vader is handled in ANH and how Maul and Fett are handled.