General grievances (random fan rants)

They give no examples to substantiate their complaints. I can't stand all this Gish Gallop crap. I'm not here to defend the prequels from every troll attack, day and night. 

But okay...

How did Lucas "disregard" continuity in the prequels? I'd really like to know. He flipped certain things on their head, very deliberately, but there are no gaping continuity breaks between the prequels and the originals. To Lucas, it's all one giant movie, and he strove to make it as such. And the Original Trilogy wasn't very fleshed out to begin with. It was left purposely vague so Lucas could open things up in the backstory.

"Too small of a world"? Coruscant, Naboo, an expanded Tatooine, Kamino, Geonosis, Utapau, Mustafar, Alderaan, a sprawling Senate Chamber? Too small? I can guess what this is really supposed to mean: Lucas drew too many connections between the characters and it's all too contrived or something. But it's mythology. All characters are interconnected and incredible connections are part and parcel of our own world. 

"Unrealistically fast pace in regards to the changing of political public opinion"? Read history, fool. Also: He assumes that public opinion drastically altered in the PT universe toward the Republic. What if it was always distrusting or ambivalent in the first place? That's kinda how the secession movement comes about. And in places like Tatooine, as established in Episode I, the Republic is a worthless institution. Amidala discovers the same thing and resolves to fix the situation on Naboo (a member world) herself: a prelude to the Clone Wars.

"Cheesy". Uh-huh. He forgets that the basic template for Star Wars is Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, blended with Lucas' own psychological eccentricities. Fortunately, some people get it:


"Hard magic system", midi-chlorians, bla bla bla (copyright Greta Thunberg). Well, what do you say to this one? Lucas injected a drop of science into his mythological opus and that means the Force is "a sentient entity with minions"? Talk about an overreaction combined with underthinking it. The Force is still the Force. What changed is the idea the Force works on different scales; and even this wasn't really a change, but merely an alteration in emphasis. Moreover, Lucas introduced the midi-chlorians in Episode I primarily to stress the theme of symbiosis. Let's hear from The Maker himself on this point:


"Lame"? A separate point? A bash of the midi-chlorians? The prequels are lame? Or is it just his coarsely-articulated, thinly-argued complaints? Again, quoting Lucas here:


I think that about covers it.

Oh, wait...


Obi-Wan is written in service to Qui-Gon and then Anakin. Sorry, he's a supporting character. Anakin is far more fleshed out. Of course, this person is free to prefer any character they choose. It sounds like they simply prefer Obi-Wan's mentality over Anakin's. But that's missing the point of the story.

I think the prequels do give short shrift to Padme. She diminishes a little bit in each movie and moves into Anakin's shadow. But that's actually a character arc in itself. She's not a boring character, just more interior compared to the boys. A kind of female stoic who becomes a little less stoically-composed in each installment. 

They overlook the fact that emotional repression is a big part of the prequel storyline. Which also explains, in part, why the dialogue is the way it is. Muted realism blended with comic book speech-bubble concision. And Episode II is a melodrama. As Lucas said, they all are, but he pushed things even more in that direction in the middle prequel. Because, in Star Wars, there are these bigger architectural or "meta" themes, too. Life as a stage. Emotions and desires as performance. Romance as a kind of political kabuki. Politics as grand farce. Unless you have the right blend of cynicism and idealism, perhaps it's impossible to grasp what Lucas was doing in the prequels. That's more a reflection on human nature and the way our society is constructed, not on George Lucas. I guess he was always destined to be misunderstood.

Lucas originally felt the backstory might take the form of "the young days of Ben Kenobi", but this was clearly chucked out once Lucas began revising his screenplay for Episode I, when he shifted the Jedi protagonist from Obi-Wan to Qui-Gon. Although Obi-Wan plays a more prominent role in the latter prequels, and even usurps Anakin's role at the end of the story (it should have been Anakin tending to his wife and watching over his kids), I just don't think he's that developed of a character, personally. It's fair to say the prequels flesh him out a bit, however.

Take what I'm saying with a pinch of salt, of course. Obviously, Lucas didn't abandon the concept entirely. The prequels are about the young days of Ben Kenobi. He just isn't really the focus or even the audience guide that Lucas thought he might originally be. I suppose a case can still be made for Episodes I and II. But TPM put a different slant on things.

I guess, when you break it down, you could say that Qui-Gon and Amidala are the main characters of Episode I, while Obi-Wan and Anakin rise to the fore and become the main characters of II and III. So it's all a bit subjective, really.

Anyway, yeah: Main characters that are not the protagonist can be thought of as supporting characters. Star Wars is a bit too busy with action and plot -- in my opinion -- for it to make a convincing character study outside of the primary mains or lead roles.


Right. They fail to deal with what is laid out in front of them. It's like complaining that a pocketwatch isn't an egg timer. The character under the most intense examination is Anakin, not Obi-Wan. The other fallacy here is that a character should be likeable to be compelling. No, not really. They may have many undesirable traits and unfortunate tendencies. In fact, in a good character study, why would you want to be around them all the time? Do you like yourself 24 hours a day? People have the silliest standards. 

Has nobody talked about the insanity of the so called Galactic Starcruiser hotel Disney plans to open in March? I honestly can't see how that thing will ever be financially viable or break-even. 6,000 dollars for a family of 4 for 2 days to be locked inside an air conditioned building?? Even worse its based on the ST, which kills any chance I ever visit. Besides, with that amount of money I'd much rather visit Europe.

I've been seeing complaints about Anakin as Force Ghost at the end of ROTJ popping up lately. Again, with the old complaints that "it doesn't make sense" because Episode III era Anakin was not morally pure.

Edit adding some thoughts:

For me, this is a very literal way of reading the metaphor( the metaphor being the restoration of youth as a representation of Anakin's restored soul from dark side to light side). The fact that his ghost takes on the Episode III era appearance of Anakin, for some, makes no sense because he was no longer morally pure at the time (he slaughtered the Tuskens in Episode II). To me, the metaphor of the restoration to youth need not be burdened by Anakin's biographical chronology. After all, a metaphor is a metaphor, it isn't literal. Saying that his ghost needs to take on the appearance of a version of himself that was morally pure at a particular stage in life is taking the metaphor too literally, but good luck explaining that to a literal minded person. They will probably think you're just dodging the issue.  

Another edit: another way to put it is that the restoration to youth is a metaphor for Eternal life, i.e. the fountain of youth. 

I think I have realized why we are all disturbed on some level by these "General Grievances." I think we all sense that there is a very real possibility that a Prequel/Special Edition hater may one day seize control of Lucasfilm and conduct a purge.

There. I just wrote the plot synopsis for the scariest horror movie of all time.

Do you all think I have accurately identified why it is difficult to look away from these General Grievances?

smittysgelato
did you read the comments?

smittysgelato
here's one that pisses me off people thinking luke didn't care when his aunt and uncle were murdered along with the destruction of Alderaan

I'm actually enjoying this because it inadvertently points out why I love this character.

eg. "He was thought to be a great man and a respectful jedi like Obi-Wan Kenobi mentioned to Luke in A New Hope. However, Anakin is revealed to be secretly a whiny self-centered brat in the prequels"


It is pretty cool how you can be whiny, self-centered, and a great man at the same time! Humans are SO WEIRD!!!! 

"the dialogue is bizarre"

YES, give me more bizarre dialogue like "I don't like sand." 

Cryogenic more Lucas bashing courtesy of Saltier than Crait
i like the message but disagree with lucas, he just wanted to sell toys and he's been an old crank for decades. the vision that the guys wrote for episode 5 is what we all wanted. my head canon is that lucas had minimal input on that one.

he did have minimal input on Empire, the least of the entire trilogy. and it's the one he's said on record (Moonshield's gonna love this) is the worst star wars movie. that's really all you need to know about lucas. grat for coming up with lore and aliens , absolutely does not understand storytelling that doesn't come out of a Joseph Campbell Book.

Yeah lucas isn't the savior of star wars. had lucas been in charge, the original films would've looked like the prequels... great ideas bad execution.
otherwise , when we look at Tolkien, i think tolkien better understood his work than lucas did-in which case SW was the product of more than just lucas alone. thus, it'd be always easier to adapt a LOTR than creating a new SW.