[Despondent]

I like standing in line on opening day, smiling smugly with ticket in hand. When the Star Wasr logo starts to get smaller, so do my expectations.

[Mike Mac from NYU]

Episode 1

I think episode one's structure was perfect. Episode one was agreat idea executed horribly


Episode 2

Just four scenes

1. The assasination scene on Amidala

2. The chase through the streets of Coruscant

3, The battle between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett.

5. Natalie Portman's nightie that she wore in the middle of the movie.



Episdoe #

The fact that I haven't seen it yet

[Just your average movie goer]

There was this one scene in Episode II where Obi Wan was chasing Janga Fett through an asteroid field... it was a complete rip-off from the Empire Strikes Back but hey, it was entertaining - something a little dark and intriguing, a nice change from all the stuff for kiddies that filled most of the movies.

It almost felt like a Star Wars movie for a few wonderful moments... however, they forgot to put the music over the scene! And what is Star Wars without John Williams and his wonderful music.... it's such an integral ingredient in the films. If John Williams says you should be excited, you're exicited. If he says you should be worried, you're worried. I can't imagine the original movies without the music.
Why they left it out of an asteroid scene is beyond me.

I also enjoyed the fight between Obi Wan and Janga Fett... that was pretty cool. However, I didn't know it was ripped off from a computer game. Oh well, I've never played the particular game so it wasn't a problem for me.

It looked pretty cool. Just a shame that they had to put a young Boba Fett in it. Personally, I'm a huge Boba Fett fan. He was such a mysterious character and he added such a cool darkness to the Empire Strikes Back. When I saw Return of the Jedi though, I thought that Lucas had done the worst disservice a cool character... having Boba Fett get knocked into the Sarlacc by a BLIND man, and all for a silly burp joke.

But I was wrong - the worst disservice you can do to a cool character like Boba Fett is show him as a snotty nosed little kid, with his DAD looking after him and have a few scenes of him and his Dad at home in their apartment, having a coffee with Obi Wan... and then having his Dad being seen all over the galaxy in the forms of clones. This pretty much ruins all the mystery that Boba Fett had.

I much preferred the guy who came out of nowhere, whose past we knew nothing about. THAT'S mystery!

Okay, what else? Well, I have to admit that there were a few pretty girls in the prequels and I always enjoy seeing pretty girls.

And it was nice to see how much ass the young Obi Wan kicked. If only he wasn't such a tight-ass in these films. Alec Guiness' Obi Wan seemed a lot more relaxed and down to earth. I'd rather have him around for dinner than the young Obi Wan any day.

That's it.

[Mike Mac from NYU]

And it was nice to see how much ass the young Obi Wan kicked. If only he wasn't such a tight-ass in these films. Alec Guiness' Obi Wan seemed a lot more relaxed and down to earth. I'd rather have him around for dinner than the young Obi Wan any day.

To me this was a great failure of the PT. Ewan MacGregor's obi-Wan seems more old and ill-tempereed a jedi master than Alec guinnes. Sir Alec plays Obi-Wan with a sense of adventue, boldness, enthusiasm and charisma. I would have thought those features woukld be accentuated with Ewan MacGregor playing Obi-Wan. But Ewan macGregor plays Obi-Wan like a person just not having fun with himself or his role. Is it MacGregor or is it bad writing on GL's part?

My impression of Obi-Wan based on Sir Alec's performance

-A swashbuckler. Always interested in adventure and action. Almost to a fault

-somewhat of a ladies-man. Not a philadarer but an appreciater of beautiful woman

-stubborn, and rebellious. willing to go against authority

-a person that had some type of a row with Yoda, that went far beyond just anakin, yet despite that he still is endeared by Yoda

-for his adventurousness, he is still a Jedi of honor and good.

That's what i got as an impresion of Obi-Wan.

[Vwing]

Well I love the scores of the prequels. I actually think they're better in many ways than the scores of the original trilogy, Williams really made great music, and it's unfortunate that the prequels did not live up to his music. In Episode I I liked the Qui-Gon Jinn character, though he was not necessary. The beginning was pretty cool, and parts of the lightsaber fight were very good, though others were a bit tedious. The funeral was also a decent scene, very reminiscent of the pyre in ROTJ. In Episode II, I loved the ending, I thought that was a great scene, best in the prequels so far, even if it was a bit of a rip off of the ending of ESB. I also liked a couple parts of the arena battle, the Jango/Obi-Wan battle, and the chase in Coruscant. I definitely liked AOTC much more than TPM though.

[Jordan]

This topic is already happening in "good parts in prequels"

[Private Zod]

Regarding young vs. old Obi-Wan

I am about to put a post on this, but wouldn't you think sitting on your ass in a desert for 20 years would make you a little stir crazy.

[Supes]

But Ewan macGregor plays Obi-Wan like a person just not having fun with himself or his role. Is it MacGregor or is it bad writing on GL's part?

I just get the impression that Ewan is sorry that he signed into these films. Seeing him talk about the aging of Obi-Wan shows a certain contempt for what he is being asked to do. It probably just more trouble to pull out than it is to stay which is the only reason I think he's still there.

[Mike Mac from NYU]

I just get the impression that Ewan is sorry that he signed into these films. Seeing him talk about the aging of Obi-Wan shows a certain contempt for what he is being asked to do. It probably just more trouble to pull out than it is to stay which is the only reason I think he's still there.

Is Ewan macGregor the best person for that role, though. Ewan has played several different characters in his career and is a great actor. But is he really Obi-Wan? I think Lucas just hired him because he could do a good Alec guiness impersonation. I don't think Lucas really thought about the character of obi-Wan in the OT compared to the PT. Too bad we couldn't clone a young Alec Guiness to play obi-Wan. Hey with CGI these days maybe Lucas could? No... I shouldn't put ideas like that in his head.

[Supes]

Is Ewan macGregor the best person for that role, though. Ewan has played several different characters in his career and is a great actor. But is he really Obi-Wan? I think Lucas just hired him because he could do a good Alec guiness impersonation. I don't think Lucas really thought about the character of obi-Wan in the OT compared to the PT.

This is probably a fair call, but I believe that Ewan could pull off not only a good Alec performance, but also a good Obi-Wan with the proper direction. I really don't believe he has a lot of respect for Lucas after having worked within his world and this also impacts on the performance given.

Please note, I am only basing this opinion upon observance of statements and behaviours exhibited by Ewan in a few interviews etc. I have no knowledge of Ewan's personal opinions on this.

[Esco]

ok, here is something that I didnt originally notice in episode I that I found great.
When Qui Gonn and little Anakin are approaching the ship and Darth Maul
attacks them, he did something CRAZY!
HE TRIED RUNNING OVER THE KID!!!!
I didnt intially realize this, but its pretty clear what Maul's intentions were.
He tries flying his speeder bike right into the 8 yrs old at roughly 200 mph.
why?
Because he's crazy like that.

What a bad mofo!

[Just your average movie goer]

HE TRIED RUNNING OVER THE KID!!!!

Actually, seeing that would be worth watching that scene again. That's excellent.

[CowboyCurtis]

My favorite stuff, which is utterly ruined by everything else in the films are:

TPM

1) Tattooine & the pod races. Parts of it. Even though this is such a jarring intrusion on the film, and really gums up the plot, it is one of the coolest sequences. I like the original version without the extra lap. The cartoony aliens, though, are really bad, but the racing and mass of these things work just fine for me. Again, this is pretty much ruined by a young Anakin and being unnecessary in the film. (Really, it is, did Qui-Gon even BOTHER to check the other junk dealers. Just because Watto SAYS the other dealers don't have what he has, doesn't mean that it's true).

2) Jabba. Even though people don't like Jabba in the movie, I think he is superior to the CGI Jabba in the SE. The lighting and the design of the scene where Jabba starts the race is beautiful.

3) The Trade Federation Ships. I like these things. I know a lot of people complain about them, but they look very star-warsy as opposed to the streamlined, gleaming chrome-plated unoriginal designed Royal Cruisers, or the fighters. All of the little thing-a-ma-bobbies all over it really scream "Star Wars" to me, even though the hangar placements on it are just silly. What ruins this are the Neimodians.

4) Naboo creatures. Hate Naboo, but I really like the creatures running through the forest. They, too, feel very Star Wars to me, and move far more realistically than the rontos ever did. Gungans and Kaadu I could've done without, but the rest of the creatures are beautifully designed and work for their environment.

5) Theed. It's a bit too colorful, but in general, it is also a beautiful design, and I like the waterfalls, and the fact that the SFX used physical effects to create the falls. (Nice work). Amidala being an young "elected" Queen and the stupid hats the security wears just ruin Theed for me, though. Also, don't like "oh,where did that come from," power station either.

6) Coruscant. I really do like the design/look of Coruscant, and have been looking forward to seeing it ever since I saw Ralph McQuarrie's drawings of it. I thought it would be a little darker, but overall, I like it. I DON'T like the floating platforms. I've never liked these. They are just ridiculous. There are plenty of buildings, even buildings which could EXCLUSIVELY be used as landing platforms, but no, we have these silly cloverleafs hanging over downtown. Whatever.

7) I like the idea of Maul, but I don't like his design. I think if they had taken off the horns, I would've been okay with it, but the symbolism is just made too obvious and too trite. I like the double-bladed lightsaber. Like his robes. That's about it.

8) Droidekas. I think they're a pretty well designed robot. I've never seen their like, so I put them in the original ideas bin. Good job. The battledroids. Meh.

That's about it, and most of it is just design and how well the FX were done. Storyline-wise, it really lacks.

AOTC

Boy, it's harder to come up with some for this movie.

1) I like the approach to Coruscant. I like Coruscant in general. Don't like the engine noises. Don't like ship design.

2) I like the look of Zam. Just a shame she wasn't used properly.

3) I do like some aspects of the chase. It really needed more tension and better dialogue between the characters.

4) I like the Clonetroopers, but they shouldn't have all been CGI.

5) I like the design of the Geonosian's buildings, but not the Geonosians themselves and they were the ones who built/designed the DS.

6) Even though the scene of Anakin riding through the desert looking for his mother, are rather not-great CGI, it is the one and only moment where a character has motivation, so it works a little better for me. So, the scene where he speaks to the Jawa and those mighty sandcrawlers in the background, is one of the brief moments where it actually feels Star-Warsy. Even the scene where Anakin looks down on the Tusken camp also feels very other-worldly and Star Wars like, but it's still so obvious that it's fake, so it's ruined.

7) I actually do like the creatures (save for the 'cat-thing') for the arena battle (even the things the Geonosians ride on), and I like the concept and all, but again, it seems so unrelated, like we're in a whole different movie. I don't think this should've been used in this film.

8) The fight between Jango and Obi-Wan, I like, too, but more Force abilities should've been used.

Anyway, that's it.

This post has been edited by CowboyCurtis: 30 April 2004 - 01:30 PM