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TheStar Warsprequels , long the ultimate mar on the franchise , are get a reevaluation - and a lot of it is thanks to Disney . Or , rather , how fans have react to the post - acquisition yield of Lucasfilm .
Star Warshas always courted potent reaction , but recently thing have gone into hyperspeed . Star state of war : The Last Jedisplit the fanbase correctly down the eye , with some bosom Rian Johnson ’s unexpected deconstructionism of the monomyth while other found the handling of Luke Skywalker - among others - an affront to the decade - long waiting . And thenSolo : A Star Wars Storybecame the first bonafide box office nonstarter in the series ' history , with adirector alteration and expensive reshootsleading to a dear picture yet making it unacceptable to deform a earnings . Now the discourse heading towardsStar war 9is less how the sequel trilogy will twine up and more what the long - term sustainability ofStar Warsreally is .
Related:No, Disney Isn’t Killing Star Wars
In all this forward - thinking treatment , however , there ’s been one fundamental facet ofStar Warsthat ’s being at worst ignored , at intimately reassess : the prequel trilogy . Whereas ten years agoEpisodes I - IIIwere treated as the low-water mark , now the treatment is docile . Part of this will fall from the ongoing adventures of the Skywalker clan ( andbroom boysbeyond ) meaning Darth Vader ’s protracted " No " at the end ofRevenge of the Sith(orThe Clone Wars ' Ziro the Hutt ) is no longer the last cinematic word from the extragalactic nebula far , far off and further that a whole generation of sports fan who grew up with Anakin instead of Luke and Boba Fett a Kiwi knockoff are now of age , but in the light of theDisneyStar Warscontroversies , there seem to be something deeper going on here .
Why Are The Star Wars Prequels So Hated In The First Place?
That theStar Warsprequels were so decried so intensely for so farseeing feel almost surreal twenty eld on , and that really has little to do with anything that ’s subsequently happened with Disney .
The prequels were promised almost as long as there wasStar Wars . George Lucas had write what was then the single movie as part of a longer serial , and by 1978 he was overtly tease what come before ( including how the Emperor manipulated his room to power and a affaire d’honneur between Vader and Obi - Wan on a lava planet ) . When the movie have it off just asStar WarsbecameEpisode IV : A unexampled Hope(a retitle in 1981),Episodes I - IIIbecame tangible . And so , for over twenty years , they existed as immensely hype , near - mythic possibilities . The best forward-looking comparison is , well , Star Wars Episode VII .
Of course , the prequels did not hold out up to the hope or tone of the originalStar Warstrilogy . They were at once immensely divergent - Darth Vader was a whiny fry and politics not trust dictate the warfare - and peculiarly reliant on what had amount before - Lucas himself saidThe Phantom Menacewas " like poetry " , and the film are full of tight - rumple institution and references to the point that Anakin ’s fall , the Vader case , the Empire ’s acclivity , Luke & Leia ’s nascence , Padme ’s death , the Jedi purge , and the goal of the Clone Wars all pass in the space of a long weekend . These counter - intuitive aspects prove challenge disregardless of quality , and the films are notoriously decrepit , with Lucas ' wooden dialogue and over - reliance on CGI starting a snowball of imperfect creative choices .
Related:When Did The Star Wars Prequels Become Cool?
Yet , despite this well - trodden ground , there are a lot of strong thought and few - but - not - insignificant executions . The chronicle of the prequels - which , again , had been map out before the original trilogy was even decided - is immensely knock-down , a tale of parallel corruptions that inverts the well - wear upon hero ’s journeying andChosen One mythsto add depth to the selflessness of the original movie , and while Lucas ' script hide a lot of it ( that the Jedi are a useless establishment is n’t a critique , it ’s the point ) , the performances ( think Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine or Ewan McGregor ’s Obi - Wan Kenobi ) and visuals still convey that . With that bedrock , what ’s strong stands improbable : blistering natural process ( the opening night blank battle ofRevenge of the Sith , Duel of the Fates ) ; impinge on iconography ( Order 66 , the proto - stormtrooper clones ) ; genuinely impressive special effects ( the model - work onThe Phantom Menace , Mustafar ) .
All of which is to say , the prequels are mixed bagful . They scat the gamut of timbre and have some lamentably low moments , yet how is that any worse than other rail follow - ups likeThe Hobbit ? What undo the prequels was that they were only mean under the weightiness of the then almost - infallibleStar Warsbrand . instalment I - IIIare undeniable dissatisfactory , and in the decade followingThe Phantom Menace , the justification for that became all - consuming disfavor ; initial reactions were positive , but slowly the putrefaction set in and by the time the iconoclastMr . Plinkett reviewsran in the late-2000s , the knight was numb .
The key here , though , is that so much of the backlash comes from self - protraction rather than analytic thinking . Take midichlorians . The most vilify aspect of the prequels for an integral contemporaries , thesemicroscopic , forcefulness - giving lifeformsare charge for ruin the mystique of the Force . But do they ? A mellow midichlorian counting is , in practice , not that far beyond being " strong with the Force " in the original trilogy , it ’s just a scientific covering . That ’s not to say they ’re necessary , but anything claiming they ’re blasting within the mythology divorces itself from the material . Much of the rebound work in this chassis - and that ’s what Disney ’s counterbalance .
Page 2:How Disney Rebooted Star Wars In The Prequels' Shadow
Disney Star Wars Never Lost Sight Of The Prequels
WhenDisney purchase Lucasfilmand began employment on the subsequence trilogy alongside a selection of original - centric spinoffs , it felt like the prequels were being consciously swept aside . This was only seven years afterRevenge of the Sithwrapped up the decade - retentive endeavor , and whileThe Clone Warsand march on Expanded Universe cloth ( includingLegacy of the Force , a story concentrate on Han and Leia ’s boy turning to the dark side ) had moved the narrative beyond Anakin Skywalker , they were still the predominant aspect ofStar Warsdiscourse in a most - unanimously minus light . Why would Disney even glance with this ? The expectation was that the era was dead .
Related:Disney’s Relationship To The Star Wars Prequels
But it was n’t . Disney has n’t go that far back in any of the moving picture , but they ’ve certainly incorporated elements : The Force Awakensreferences a Clone army;Rogue Onebrings in Mustafar and Jimmy Smitts ' bond Organa;The Last Jedihas Luke Skywalker ’s exile prompt by unwrap of the Jedi ’s ills fromEpisodes I - III , even refer Darth Sidious ( a name first given inThe Phantom Menace ) . Beyond , though , they ’ve been as significant as something sixty years before the current crop of movies could be : Star Wars Rebelsevolved into a subsequence toThe Clone Wars , Forces of Destinyis trilogy - agnostical , andStar Wars Battlefront IImarketed itself on a skirmish between Battle Droids and Clone Troopers on Naboo .
The methodological analysis seemed to be to keep the prequels present , if not overly mix , maintaining a section of the brand that prevailed for over a decade and provide an integral generation with an entry intoStar Wars . As clock time has lead by , they ’ve taken liberal steps , and it ’s land mostly well : the announcementBattlefront IIis adding Clone Warscontent met a mostly positive response .
The latest gradation has sure enough the most insolent , withDarth Maul make a pocket-size - but - impactful cameo inSolo : A Star Wars Story . While in canon that is , of class , as much a TV appearance as it is a fictional character from the movies , to most consultation he ’s primarily known for ( and hitherto assumed beat following)The Phantom Menace . That he can seem and any backlash against it come from greater vexation says a band about how percept has shifted .
Related:Solo: 7 Biggest Questions About Darth Maul, Answered
Indeed , it ’s often overlooked how much of the prequel - only aspects have been accept . That the Jedi wear Tatooine robes is so planted that it ’s now a little - cited plot hole , while fans want a kiwi Boba Fett and Ewan McGregor to reprise his role in theKenobi movieas if they areStar Warsfirmament - because they are . Of course , all of this played into a bigger film , and that ’s where the variety gets interesting .
Page 3:Disney Star Wars Highlights The Prequels' Good Qualities
Disney Star Wars Discussion Must Be Aware Of The Prequels
The DisneyStar Warsera is becoming more and more peculiar . Each movie has , at least on an aesthetic grade , successfully captured some form of whatStar Warsis , yet each new button has nevertheless examine divisive based on how it fits the beholder ’s opinion of what the franchise is : there are equal numbers of reviewscomparingSolotoRogue Oneas the good and defective of the new era with perfect article of faith . The mental confusion - and , indeed , why make the movies has proven so complicated , with more directors hired and evoke than have assure a motion-picture show to completion - come fromStar Warsbeing so laborious to fundamentally define .
What this usually means is that , if you ’re give way to rise a case for or against some newStar Wars , it needs to be contextualized against what ’s came before . This only ever spite the prequels given that the three movies before them were classic , and also can be swiftly used to drop the sequels - there ’s no way the lines will be as quotable or the music as hummable after months compared to decades . However , for the new earned run average , if you ’re cash in one’s chips to criticise a subsequence or anthology film , your contestation must at least take consideration of the prequels .
This is where going electronegative on the motion-picture show becomes difficult : ignorance is forgive in its own path ; but to mount a proper case against what Disney is doing with the dealership in any form require admit how things were viewed a short of ten age ago under George Lucas .
What The Star Wars Prequels Did That The Sequels Don’t
DisneyStar Warsis , on a technical level , much more competent than Lucas ' work on the prequels . The yield invention , the practical band , the CGI , the audio - mixing et al are a measure above , while the new characters have ( mostly ) resonated in a fashion far beyond previous additions . Of course , there are still pervasive criticisms , chiefly that the photographic film are too familiar and repetitive or too flippant and slue far from expectations . Above all , though , the central issue stem from the story ’s reliance on the past;The Force Awakens ' secret plan mirrorsA New Hopeand , whileThe Last Jediupended theories , it still concluded by regress to an original trilogy - esque status quo ( to the point the fiber flip to calling the Resistance " Rebels " midway through ) . tot up in a world-wide deficiency of forward - provision , and for all the dexterous thematic exploration , there ’s a distinct absence seizure of narrative purpose .
Related:The Last Jedi’s Final Scene Changes Star Wars Forever (And For The Better)
In contrast , the prequels were fresh and had a percipient vision . Above all , they were different : Anakin ’s fall does in many ways mirror Luke ’s rise but it ’s more than just contrast ; and the globe was rearward engineered , but in a way that felt detached and exotic , highlighting a different opinion era . For all the filmmaking singultus , theStar Warsprequels are very much the production of a singular auteur . In an environment where popular culture is riddle with studio - compromised films - fromJustice LeaguetoSolo- that talk secpar .
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It ’s not about which is better , it ’s that the two trilogy get different things right and it ’s through comparison that this can be truly grasped ; because the qualities that have divided the fanbase on the sequels are n’t bare slyness , they force everybody to evaluate what on the nose was " ill-timed " with the prequels and take exception those long - held views . As a late controversial picture taught , ifStar Warsfandom is to have a intellectual take on the present , it must consider the past .
Next:Star Wars 9: Everything You Need To Know
