The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

[mr_pikachu]

...Why does this exist? Good God, why?

Didn't we lose enough of our childhoods with the fourth Indiana Jones movie whose existence I usually prefer to not acknowledge?

[Telume]

Didn't Disney technically help with The Avengers?

Maybe with no totalitarian control from Lucas, the movies might actually kick some ass.

It's hard to say because it's still 4 years away, though.

[Heald]

George Lucas was the worst thing that ever happened to Star Wars. If he has no creative input, or any input at all, into the new trilogy, that can only be a good thing. Disney have, in many cases, been creating great movies from great licences with a lot of money behind them. They must know that the only way to make any capital from this purchase is to make sure that these films make movie-goers feel as awesome as they did when the first Star Wars film came out.

[RedStarWarrior]

Pretty sure Lucas said he wouldn't make the third trilogy. Money makes liars of us all!

[Magmar]

Didn't we lose enough of our childhoods with the fourth Indiana Jones movie whose existence I usually prefer to not acknowledge?

THIS. Yes. YES Brian. I concur.

[DivineAll]

I liked Indiana Jones 4... although it helps that I didn't watch the other Indy films growing up. Also, I don't particularly care for the Star Wars franchise in general since I'm not a huge sci-fi fan. However, I will admit I am highly curious if Disney will implement lightsaber Keyblades in future Kingdom Hearts games. If that does indeed happen, then I will play Kingdom Hearts again for Nintendo should they utilize that.

[Fett One]

As a Star Wars fan (hence my user name), I'm a bit worried that Disney will completely ignore the Expanded Universe (the books, comics, video games, etal). The Expanded Universe fleshed out the Star Wars Universe and created an ongoing continuity (even Lucas acknowledge some of it in the prequel trilogy) that allowed it to become what it is today. If Disney throws all that out in order to make Episode 7, there will be a lot of pissed off fans.

[Telume]

As a Star Wars fan (hence my user name), I'm a bit worried that Disney will completely ignore the Expanded Universe (the books, comics, video games, etal). The Expanded Universe fleshed out the Star Wars Universe and created an ongoing continuity (even Lucas acknowledge some of it in the prequel trilogy) that allowed it to become what it is today. If Disney throws all that out in order to make Episode 7, there will be a lot of pissed off fans.

I don't think they're gonna do that, but from what I heard they might consider pushing the time line 1000 years or so into the future, so that they don't fuck with it. That, unfortunately, throws out the reappearance of any of the 4,5 and 6 characters, but a few of them are in their 70s, sooo it may not be a bad thing. Lord knows, the last thing we need is Fan Disservice.

[RedStarWarrior]

The original trilogy needs a reboot to match current technology.

[Nall]

After seeing The Avengers, I'm more optimistic for a Disney-backed Star Wars sequel trilogy than I would have been if Lucas was still in charge of it. That guy hasn't done a single thing right in almost my entire lifetime. :c

[Dark Sage]

I have a bad feeling about this...

[Blademaster]

Hard for me to comment since I never saw the second Star Wars trilogy.

(Spoiler:) Or the first one. Maybe someone more versed in the franchise can drop me an IM one of these days detailing one or two key reasons why the newer trilogy is so horrible...?

[Dark Sage]

To be perfectly honest, Blade, I thought that the prequels were okay as far as movies go (except for Jar Jar Binks). It's just that the original trilogy was kind of impossible to top (or even match), and when you compare the two, the prequels were pretty lacking.

[Heald]

Blade, I recommend you watch Plinkett's reviews of the prequels. As well as being brilliant critiques of the prequel trilogy, they are also hilarious.

In short, if I had to pick 3 reasons the big differences between the prequels and the originals, it'd be:

- story
- characters
- style

I'll expand a little on each point:

- in the original trilogy, the stories actually have structure and make sense. They revolve around strongly developed characters (see next point). The prequels are poorly structured, the stories are full of plot-holes and are filled with plenty of boring filler that could easily be omitted from the movie without affecting the overall arc in any way.

- the original trilogy characters are generally likeable and are fleshed out and well developed. Even the bad guys are loved. The prequel characters are just a mess - one-dimensional characters who act completely illogically. This is even more apparent with characters who appear in both the originals and the prequels. The bad guys lack any kind of menace whatsoever.

- The style of the originals was that it was an adventure, action film set in a sci-fi universe. There was an appropriate level of darkness as well as some well placed comedic elements. It was aimed for all ages, where both the action and the dialogue was enjoyed by children and adults alike. Battle scenes provided a backdrop to the film, rather than being the focal point - this meant that when you did see battle or action, it was much more intense and exciting.

The prequels, on the other hand, seemed to deviate to being far too comedic and lacked the darkness of the originals. Contrast the menacing Stormtroopers to the malfunctioning and completely stupid battle droids. The film deviated strongly between two types of scenes - characters walking through large CGI sets with really boring, stupid dialogue about politics, and over-the-top battle/action scenes that dragged on for far too long. Furthermore, the outcome of most of the battle/action scenes did not really seem to add to the development any of the main characters. Consider - the Gungan battle, the Naboo space battle, the pod race, both of Jango Fett and Obi-Wan's fights, the bounty hunter chase through Coruscant, the Geonosis Battle, the Kashyyk War, in fact any of the battle scenes in Episode 3.

Anyway, these are my opinions, feel free to question any of my observations.

[Nall]

The prequel trilogy also had some purely atrocious writing at certain points, particularly the dialogue. Two of the worst lines that stick out in my memory are Anakin's "Are you an angel?" in Episode I (when he first meets Padme), and Padme's "You're breaking my heart!" at the end of Episode III. Plus, the entire romantic subplot between Padme and Anakin was just so poorly written all the way through. Ugh. The over-reliance on CGI also hurt the movies too, in my opinion. Everything felt so overproduced and fake; it was hard to lose yourself in the movie when you have something borderline-cartoon like Jar Jar or Watto popping up every fifteen minutes.

I'd be dreading these movies if George Lucas were still in charge of them, but since he's not, I'm gonna remain cautiously optimistic. I could take or leave inclusion of the EU stuff, since I haven't read any of them, but I've heard there's some pretty strange shit in those too.

[mattbcl]

Pretty sure Lucas said he wouldn't make the third trilogy. Money makes liars of us all!

In this case it's still true that he's not making it - he's passing the torch to others. I, for one, am glad of this, because I share the opinions that Heald has already given; Episodes IV-VI were strong, I-III were incredibly not. I will also remain cautiously optimistic, but I want to enter the movie theater with no expectations of any kind. I may do my very best to avoid seeing any trailers for it. (I may also fail this endeavor.)

On a tangent, I'm heartened by the news that Mr. Lucas intends to donate all $4 billion from the sale to education. Lord knows it's sorely needed! The man's filmmaking acumen may have slumped off, but he's a class act.

[RedStarWarrior]

In this case it's still true that he's not making it - he's passing the torch to others. I, for one, am glad of this, because I share the opinions that Heald has already given; Episodes IV-VI were strong, I-III were incredibly not. I will also remain cautiously optimistic, but I want to enter the movie theater with no expectations of any kind. I may do my very best to avoid seeing any trailers for it. (I may also fail this endeavor.)

On a tangent, I'm heartened by the news that Mr. Lucas intends to donate all $4 billion from the sale to education. Lord knows it's sorely needed! The man's filmmaking acumen may have slumped off, but he's a class act.

He retains creative control, I believe.

[Blademaster]

Huh... I learned something about cinematic history today.

Thanks, Internet!

[PNT510]

He retains creative control, I believe.

From what I've read they're writing the scripts based on a story he came up with. I think that will be great, the original trilogy Lucas had help from other writers and directors which strengthened his vision. The prequels on the other hand he took everything on himself and things feel flat in a lot of places.

[Telume]

The prequel trilogy also had some purely atrocious writing at certain points, particularly the dialogue. Two of the worst lines that stick out in my memory are Anakin's "Are you an angel?" in Episode I (when he first meets Padme), and Padme's "You're breaking my heart!" at the end of Episode III. Plus, the entire romantic subplot between Padme and Anakin was just so poorly written all the way through. Ugh. The over-reliance on CGI also hurt the movies too, in my opinion. Everything felt so overproduced and fake; it was hard to lose yourself in the movie when you have something borderline-cartoon like Jar Jar or Watto popping up every fifteen minutes.

I'd be dreading these movies if George Lucas were still in charge of them, but since he's not, I'm gonna remain cautiously optimistic. I could take or leave inclusion of the EU stuff, since I haven't read any of them, but I've heard there's some pretty strange shit in those too.

To add on, this is one the my friend pointed out:

"If you're not with me, then you're my enemy." - Anakin

"Only a Sith deals in absolute. I will do what I must." - Obi-Wan

I wonder if Ewan McGregor noticed he just made an absolute, 'cause Obi-Wan sure didn't