PT Red Letter Media and other Prequel Reviews

Yes? Both parties received fair amounts of attention after voicing their concerns. That's why they put these out in the first place.

 

They know Obi-Wan promised Qui-Gon so they need to show some respect for Qui-Gon's wishes.

 

I was reading through the archives of acertainpointofview.com and came across this excellent write-up. It basically proves that there's nothing new under the sun and TESB was criticized along the same lines as the prequels. If the WWW was around back then, it would have been just as polarizing.

 

Uhm... no.

Would there have been people who didn't like it? Sure. But the same reaction as the prequels? No.

And, sorry, the prequels really aren't that polarizing. "Polarizing" tends to mean something that splits people roughly down the middle. Most people think the prequels are pretty bad. That really is the conventional wisdom on them. A small minority disagrees. They're entitled to their opinion, but that doesn't change anything.

 

Source?

 

No, no and no - it's a vocal group that detests the Prequels but they are not "most people" and "conventional wisdom" goes along with who shouts loudest. Sure, MANY folks hate the PT; MANY like or love the PT. There's no small minority for or against.

 

De Nial is not just a river in Egypt.

Seriously, get out of hardcore Star Wars fan circles and ask people about the prequels, and you'll find that, yes, most people think they're pretty bad.

 

I can confirm this. I'm in film retail and rental, and when people come to me looking for Star Wars movies on DVD they always ask for the OT. In the seven years I've been in this job I've never had anyone looking for the Prequel box sets. People only purchased the Blu Rays saga box sets because it had the OT in them, as they were very hard to find on their own.

This isn't an opinion, mind, it's an observation.

 

And do you have any proof of it except for personal accounts or online rants? Even the critics didn't think they were bad and cinema polls showed a generally positive reaction. And who's buying the BluRays (not just the OT, but saga and separate prequel sets?) The tiny minority that likes the prequels?

 

I have the opposite experience. The geekier the person is, the more likely s/he hates the prequels. The nerdy young men are the worst The general public (especially internationally) doesn't care about Star Wars that much but is usually ok with the prequels.

 

Just talking with every single person I've ever brought the subject up with in the past 13 years.

 

On the contrary. If you get out of hardcore fan circles, you'll find that people not only don't hate the prequels, but actually like to watch them.
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And following your logic, since I saw this happen many times, I can safely say that the fact is most people think they're pretty good.

/sarcasm on your logic

 

I can confirm this. I'm in film retail and rental, and when people come to me looking for Star Wars movies on DVD they always ask for the OT. In the seven years I've been in this job I've never had anyone looking for the Prequel box sets. People only purchased the Blu Rays saga box sets because it had the OT in them, as they were very hard to find on their own.

This isn't an opinion, mind, it's an observation.
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fair enough I guess, at least some one here has backed up their argument with some kind of proof instead of the tired old "yes it is" "no it isn't" mindset that these RLM threads seem to attract

 

When ROTS came out, everyone in the office who saw it liked it (even if they were disappointed in the first two). One lady hadn't even seen TPM or AOTC but still enjoyed the movie and said she liked "the boy" (i.e. Hayden )
Since then, I've changed my career to the IT and encountered more geeks who don't like the prequels (but even they usually acknowledge that ROTS is pretty good).
Even if you look at the various Internet ratings, it's "average to good" rather than "bad".

 

So a couple guys on the internet talked to some unnamed people who also didn't like the prequels, and that's "proof" that most people don't like the movies? Anybody who knows what real evidence is will tell you that anecdotal evidence is no such thing. People tend to hang out with those who think like they do, and remember opinions that they like. My coworker kept telling me a couple months ago that "nobody" liked Obama and that "everyone" he talked to said that they were voting Romney. Look how that turned out.

I have some anecdotal evidence of my own: Almost everyone I know in real life liked the prequels. The childhood friend who got me into Star Wars in the first place, back in the mid nineties when the Original Trilogy was the only Star Wars that there was, loved them. In 2002, he raved about AOTC and said that it was better than the then recent Fellowship of the Ring. Another friend of mine paid to see AOTC in the theaters twice, and he said that people who didn't like the movie "didn't know what they were talking about." I remember a pretty girl in my high school class, not the sort that people would think of as a fan, talking about how she absolutely loved AOTC too. In 2005, my brother said that ROTS was the best film that he had seen all year. He bought the Blu-Ray set a few months ago and watched all six movies. My cousin also said that he wants to do a Star Wars marathon one day, with all six movies. Last summer, he mentioned TPM as a great movie, in the same breath as The Avengers.

Clearly, everyone must love the prequels, right? Right?!

By the way, my parents thought that ANH was nonsense, and they never bothered to see TESB and ROTJ all the way through. Some guys in my middle school made fun of Star Wars and acted like it was for dorks. Clearly, everyone must hate the Original Trilogy!

Again, anecdotal evidence is no evidence at all. Most people experience only a small part of the world first hand.

I wonder, if the prequels were so universally hated, why they each made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. Why a Gallup poll in 1999 resulted in 79% of respondents calling TPM "good," "excellent," or "one of the greatest" movies ever. Why CinemaScore, a polling system that movie studios take seriously and actually pay money to receive in-depth stats from, resulted in high marks for the prequels as well (AOTC received an "A-" grade, and published nonfiction author Jon Bowen has said that TPM received an "A," while ROTS received an "A+").

Even on IMDB voting, which is not scientific and leans toward internet film buffs, has each movie scoring over 6/10. And that's with all the angry 1/10 type posts included.

But clearly, a few guys that somebody supposedly talked to trumps all this actual data from market research companies that actually make a living off of knowing what people think.

These stats probably won't change anyone's personal opinion of the movies. Who cares what other people think, right? That's the point though. Why do people need to validate their personal opinions though bandwagons, real or imagined? I see it again and again. That's not a good thing by itself, and it's even worse when it clouds your perception of reality from the truth.

I mean, I was pretty unimpressed with Star Trek 2009. I will never deny its mainstream success though. The box office and polling proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

 

I wonder, if the prequels were so universally hated, why they each made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. Why a Gallup poll in 1999 resulted in 79% of respondents calling TPM "good," "excellent," or "one of the greatest" movies ever

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well maybe the year 1999 had something to do with it

we all like that special toy at Christmas or a birthday..until the next one comes along.

 

Not going to contest you in terms of working in retail (as I've never done so and thus I don't have any personal experience), but how exactly was the OT hard to find on its own?

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Ori...d=1355883019&sr=8-1&keywords=original+trilogy

Seriously. That took 5 seconds. And that's just one site. Here's Walmart's, so I'm sure they have it in stock on the shelves and not just online:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Star-Wars...eturn-Of-The-Jedi-Blu-ray-Widescreen/15711110

I just find it very hard to believe that people are only buying the Saga boxset because the OT-only boxset is difficult to find. Have you ever talked to kids? Because I have a younger brother in middle school and kids his age love all of Star Wars -- PT, OT, and Clone Wars.

 

well I could say whenever i talk to people about PT all they seem to say is

"ugggh that Jar Jar was a **** wasn't he? he ruined it" or "saw the first, didn't bother with the rest"

but then we will go back to that

"well I talked to blahh blahh and they said blahh blahh" circular argument

 

If I mention the name Hayden Christensen to certain people he is immediately mocked at the speed of thought.

 

By the way, look at the sales figures for various sets. Even though the prequels are behind the saga and OT sets, they're still selling rather well... for the movies that the majority thinks are bad.

 

I would suspect (though could be mistaken) that the PT being popular NOW would be because parents are buying them for children who have an interest in star wars from TCW series,

that's a possible theory anyway.