[StarWarsIsUs]

GL could have made The Phantom Menace like he made it now, but could have also made them a little better, just by using common logic. I mean, it sucks anyway, but it wouldn't have sucked as bad, if he had JUST made some changes to his screwed-up way of thinking.

-Anakin could of at least been 15.

-Anakin making 3PO is stupid. So stupid.

-Make Anakin be a slave of JABBA. And 3PO is Jabba's servant.

-Wouldn't that be better? Jabba owned Anakin and his Mom, and later owned Leia.

-Make Yoda, Obi-Wan's direct master, instead of Qui-Gon.

-Make Qui-Gon perhaps a fellow apprentice of Obi-Wan.

-Forget Nute Gunray and all of that. Make new, believable characters.

-Replace Jar Jar Binks with a character that is comical, but not too comical, and not so freaking stupid.

Any ideas? Suggestions?

This post has been edited by StarWarsIsUs: 11 May 2005 - 07:21 AM

[CowboyCurtis]

-Anakin AND Amidala are 15-18

-Have a better explanation for Amidala being Queen, or at least make her a Princess

-At least have Bail Organa from the first episode---he knows Obi-Wan already, they are either friends already or they become friends in Episode I and it carries throughout the other two movies

-At least have the action surround Alderaan not Naboo.

-Better villains, yes. My vote is the Mandalores. Make them cloners or stealing cloner technology from Alderaan.

-More Sith

-Fewer Jedi

-No Jedi temple. They're wanderers, rogues

-Obi-Wan finds Anakin

-No younglings

-No "diminishment" of the Force. No "clouding"

-Palpatine keeps his enemies (The Jedi) a long way from himself so they don't detect him. He pllays a meek man so they don't suspect.

-Anakin is a "good man"

[Despondent]

I'm glad that people can dissiminate what ought to change and what could improve the PT backstory.

But it's not the real thing. That opportunity has been squandered.

And I'm sorry I can't keep up with everyone's changes; The PT is a lost cause for me. I've said it.

I can't pretend it was done a better way, I'd just rather cling to my nebulous version of the sketchy clone wars history from the OT, and ignore the PT in general. I can pretend it never happened.

Not to detract from the fine efforts all around (keep it up.) But focusing the hazy view of OT scripture to create a parallel galaxy is a disappointing use of time, IMO. (but I've taken unpopular stands before.)

[CowboyCurtis]

*Sigh*

Yeah, you're absolutely right, Despondent. It's a lost cause. There is no way we can change it now. Once Episode III is out and gone, I will not look back.

I'm certain that if the PT's had been made the way they were suppose to, the gushers would've been right there with us. It doesn't matter what form it came in, it just had to have "Star Wars" tacked on to it. They would not have been bashing the films saying, "Boy, I wish Anakin was a little kid who says, "Yippee" and accidently blows up stuff--that would've been KEWL!" or "Gee, this film would've been better with a daffy-duck-like creature who is a racial stereotype," or "Boy, I wish there was a Star Trek-like explanation for the Force!"

My only consolation out of all this is: the PT will never gain the stature the OT gained.

[BinarySunset]

Awww... Despondent, you're no fun. Though I hear what you're saying, but... I like to think that my imagination can go with anything. If Ep III is decent (notice I said "decent" and not "great"), I might be able to convince myself that "my version" of Ep 1 & 2 happened and fit them right into Ep 3.

Imagination is a wonderful thing

[Despondent]

Binary Sunset, I am on record as accepting the SW saga a four-film conclusion, if the Ep 3 exceeds expectations.

Be creative. Expand horizons and all. I was going to write my own PT, and have been avoiding others' as not to unintentionally steal ideas.

But to go to all that effort to salvage what Lucas has ruined- It makes more sense to me to just draw up some new universe entirely. At least that way one can run with it as far as they wish.
Starry Nights for example.

Don't want to be a killjoy, but I'm not going to lie to myself. I Can accept that Lucas has Forked the PT, and as Cowboy Curtis put it

"My only consolation out of all this is: the PT will never gain the stature the OT gained."

[BinarySunset]

I hear ya, Despondent.

In some other thread, I admitted that I'm ignoring TPM completely and (if Ep 3 works out), going with a 5-part saga.

And ITA to draw up something new entirely. That's essentially what I'd be doing in my mind, with my own version of how it goes. I figure if all those EU novels can work around things, so can I in my mind.

I was just teasing, but for the most part, I'm with ya.

[Casual Fan]

OK, I'll give this a try. I'll try to limit myself to five changes:

1. No Jar-Jar. That is the biggest change (plot adjustments as appropriate, but I don't think many would be necessary).

2. No midichlorians.

3. No Jedi Council, or at least it looks less ridiculous. Yoda can still be the Jedi Master, test Anakin.

4. Anakin is about seven years older.

5. One change with the political subplot -Valorem and the Republic government are not ineffective, though they pretend to be. He is actively siding with the Trade Federation. Senator Palpatine discovers this and stops this. This may actually require more Coruscant political scenes, but now they make sense. At the of the movie, most of the audience believe that Sidious is Valorem.

Since I'm limiting myself to five changes, I'm not even addressing the jedi stranded on Tatoione/ must leave Schmi behind/ pod race thing. But the Tatooine scenes would be bearable if the rest of the movie had been good.

[StarWarsIsUs]

-No medichlorians
-Padme is not queen
-replace Naboo with Alderaan

Those are some add-ons. Good posts, guys. Thanks.

[Storm]

-Make Yoda, Obi-Wan's direct master, instead of Qui-Gon.

-Make Qui-Gon perhaps a fellow apprentice of Obi-Wan.

-Forget Nute Gunray and all of that. Make new, believable characters.

I actually rather liked the relationship between Qui-Gon the master and Obi-Wan the Padawan. It worked well in The Phantom Menace. I know most people are annoyed because in ESB Obi-Wan tells Luke that Yoda instructed him, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Obi-Wan couldn't have learned ANYTHING from Yoda. Just look at all those young Jedi in AOTC who were being instructed by Yoda. I doubt everyone of them had a master at the time. It is quite possible that Obi-Wan was instructed by Yoda when he was younger, and later had Qui-Gon as a master. There would have been no point of Obi-Wan telling Luke on Hoth that Qui-Gon was his master considering how Qui-Gon was long dead.

Another example would be Count Dooku. Yoda was initially his master, but when he turned to the dark side Darth Sidious became his master. So technically Dooku could have stated he was instructed by either of them.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant. Here are a few things I would like changed.

1. Darth Maul to have a realistic death. Qui Gon should have at least been able to break off half of Maul's lightsaber, thus making it more believable for Obi-Wan to kill Maul in a realistic fashion.

2. The whole sequence of Anakin destroying the Trade Federation Droid Control Ship is unacceptable. There is no way that TFDC ship would have allowed Anakin's ship to land in their shuttle bay. They needed to come up with a better way of deactivating the droids.

3. I'm one of the few that could tolerate Jar Jar Binks. I just think they needed to reduce the amount of stupid things he did like stepping in poop or doing a 50 foot flip in the air.

4. Replace Boss Nass with that other Gungan general who confronts Jar Jar when he re-enters the city. I couldn't understand a word Boss Nass said.

5. The way in which Padme captures Nute Gunray also makes little sense. In one scene we see about 6 destroyer droids confronting them and forcing their surrender. And in the next scene the destroyer droids are gone and replaced with normal battle droids. Why would the destroyer droids not accompany Padme and her crew to the throne room?

6. The pod race is fine. Just get rid of the two headed announcer.

7. Midochlorians is also kind of silly.

I think the best solution to problems 2 and 5 would be to have Obi-Wan defeat Maul in a realistic fashion, and then have Obi-Wan sneak into the throne room and put his blade at Nute Gunray's neck, thus forcing the surrender of the Trade Federation. Nute Gunray is a coward, so surely he would value his life over the occupation of Naboo.

[CowboyCurtis]

2. The whole sequence of Anakin destroying the Trade Federation Droid Control Ship is unacceptable. There is no way that TFDC ship would have allowed Anakin's ship to land in their shuttle bay. They needed to come up with a better way of deactivating the droids.

Okay, I'm going to give away one of my ideas just because I don't give a crap anymore....

Just think of the little device the Jawas and Luke used to deactivate droids in ANH. Now think of that on a bigger scale. Imagine Obi-Wan, Anakin (older), Amidala, or whoever sneaking on board the droid control ship and broadcasting that on a more powerful channel.... just seconds before the droid armies trod over/kill/destroy whoever is important on the planet below...

In addition, imagine that someone is trying to stop them from doing... let's say, I don't know, a Sith Lord, and Obi-Wan and the rest are separated while he fights off the Sith Lord, and then they can complete the mission of deactivating the droids.... rather than the standard "let's blow up the ship" cliche.

This post has been edited by CowboyCurtis: 11 May 2005 - 01:22 PM

[StarWarsIsUs]

Good idea on how to destroy the battle droids, Cowboy. Alot better than what Lucas had.

[CowboyCurtis]

Thanks. In my now-abandoned rewrites, it was Anakin's idea.

It also works in the broader story sense of my rewrite. The Mandalores, who initially use the droids, want clones because they were worried about this kind of attack.

[Just another wretched fan]

good jobs guys

*repost*

These take care of the 70/78 problems found, I think.

Change the title and opening crawl.
16-18 year old Anakin
Absolutely no Jar Jar
No Yoda. (Will not appear until ESB).

Easiest changes to make will involve dubbing over voices and deleting scenes.
Next “simple” changes will involve replacing CGI with CGI.
Easiest additions will involve new scenes to be filmed.
Example, cut out a Jake Lloyd cockpit shot and replace with new actor Anakin cockpit shot.
Hard part will be forest-gumping existing Jake Lloyd scenes that involve other actors.
Hardest part will be kidnapping Ewan to do a few additional scenes.

1. Make Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn refer to one another as partners, and not as Master/Padawan. They are both knights of equal rank. (come on, Liam did a good job and was the best actor in the film)

2. Dub over battle droid voices. Replace battle droid speech with cool binary speech wherever possible.

3. Remove corny Neimoidan accents. Change name of race of Gungans and Neimodans. Instead of a trade federation, just call them the (New-name-for-neimoidans). Make them like interstellar vikings trying to capture a new world. Or even make the neimoidans one of the clone races. Hell, they all look like one another, i'll believe they're clones. See, now the invasion of Naboo can be a battle in the Clone Wars. A race of clones invaded Naboo. The other jedi can be busy trying to keep the peace in the other many different clone wars, (with different types of cloners) raging throughout the galaxy.

4. Delete use of term “Droideka” replace with term “hard ass motherfucker.” (Destroyer Droid will be fine, I guess)

5. Dub over Gungan accent. Digitally erase Boss Nass. Change name of Gungan race to something less retarded.

6. Completely erase or reshoot all Gunga-city scenes. Have Jedi land, get rescued by amphibian race, learn about underwater route, and use force to save themselves from the big fish. (Delete scene if it doesn’t make sense in final cut.)

7. Edit palace scenes to delete political bullshit. During escape scene, delete R2-D2 reward scene.

8. Digitally insert scene where Amidala’s protocol droid, C-3PO, meets battle-hardened R2-D2. Insert witty, not corny, dialogue.

9. Keep Watto. Dub part of dialogue that makes his species immune to force.

10. Tone down Sebulba

11. Land on Tatooine. Search for repair parts, meet Watto and 16-18 year old Anakin.

12. -Build on Anakin’s hatred of slavery, need for change in galaxy, more control/order.

13. Replace Shmi (who really didn’t serve a pupose except for a touching goodbye scene) with Lars family who are slaves and have adopted Anakin. Or, maybe keep Shmi b/c the actress does a good job, but remove virgin birth dialogue. (Anakin will therefore not turn to the dark side for the “I want my mommy” reason)

14. Digitally remove all midichlorian dialogue.

15. Delete baby Greedo and all other dumb kids, naturally.

16. Insert some sort of scene where Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon get hint of force sensitivity.

17. Anakin uses force to win pod race, maybe smiles a few times when opponents defeated.

18. Delete Pod Race Announcer

19. Aftere seeing Anakin’s skill, Obi-Wan extends offer to Anakin to join him to save Naboo/Alderaan. Insert moving "surrounds us, binds us" dialogue in which Obi-Wan describes force to Anakin.

20. Possibly change name of Naboo to Alderaan, insert line of dialogue from ANH. “come with me to Alderaan and learn the ways of the force.”

21. Add a scene where Owen doesn’t want Anakin to leave on the damned fool crusade to save Naboo/Aldaraan.

22. Darth Maul still attacks. Come on that was a cool scene.

23. Remove senate scenes and cut Jedi council scenes. Insert a dialogue between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon about training Anakin. Maybe insert a line where Obi-Wan states “I know I can train him as well as Yoda trained me.”

24. Change Darth Maul’s name, if necessary

25. Replace Darth Maul with Christopher Lee. If Impossible, dub over Darth Maul’s voice with Christopher Lee’s. Insert a few scenes to give him a few lines of solid dialogue.

26. Allow him to kill Qui-Gon Jinn and escape until episode 2. Re-edit end of duel. Obi-Wan doesn’t chop him in two, just knocks him over the edge, maybe scars him badly. …Or cuts out his vocal cords so in epII Maul will sound like Christopher Lee…..idk. Maybe we think Maul is dead but we get a clue that he survives. (We need a reoccurring villain to hate. Anakin needs to hate him too, so he can willingly kill him later in the PT).

27. Leave Droid/Gungan battle as is. It wasn’t that bad. Delete any occurrences of retardation.

28. Add a scene saying “we have more fighters than crew, we need every pilot we can get”

29. Have Anakin, who we already know is an accomplished pilot, volunteer and jump in the cockpit. Use the force (Have dead Qui-Gon voice tell him to use it) to destroy controller ship.

Scenes to brainstorm then insert:

Allow more contact between Palpatine and Anakin.

non-Dawson’s creek like flirt scenes between Anakin and Amidala.

damn...i just deleted the full film to 20 minutes...oh well. its quality!

[Lord Melkor]

Why would you scrap the Senate plot?

It was one of the best in the fim!

Is Palpatine not supposed to be a politician?