PT Are the prequels more appreciated now then they used to be?

Oh yeah. I know I've read complaints where folks were saying that young Anakin should have been like Damien in The Omen. Pretty sure they just blocked ROTJ and the whole "there's still good in him" theme out in 1983.

 

Almost all the negative things Plinkett said about the PT can be said about the OT. I suggest you all watch the YouTube video "Plnkett's Ignorance". Sorry I don't know how to link.

 

I'm not here to have that debate. By my reckoning, an exhaustive critique is clearly in there, wrong or right (if these kinds of things can be said to be wrong or right). The tone of this critique turns off a great number of Star Wars fans who feel insulted and attacked vicariously via RLM's attack of the films). I do agree that, on the other side, you've got a portion of the fandom that felt vindicated (and probably further emboldened to "prequel bash"). This is within the core fandom, though, and my original post had more to do with RLM's influence on the larger popular culture and it's reception of the prequels.

I'm in neither camp but I can wrap my head around why some feel so insulted by the tone that the substance of the critique is completely undermined.

 

Except there is no substance to what you call "the critique." Now, I'm sure you Plinkett fans would like to think we're just insulted by the "tone." That's not the case at all. We also object to his idiotic videos because they are dishonest and inaccurate, and offer carefully edited "evidence" to "support" Plinkett's non-points. There's no critique, much less an exhaustive one. Yet you Plinkett fans treat it as holy scripture.

There's nothing to "vindicate" the prequel bashers, and frankly, if they hate the prequels so much, why do they still spend time on them? Watching their hero's videos counts as time spent on them, and so does lurking on message boards and springing forward with replies linking to their hero's videos whenever someone mentions the prequels. I'd feel sorry for them, thinking they have been vindicated and provided such irrefutable evidence, if they weren't so hateful and obnoxious and determined to crush differing opinions -- of some movies. Why do they have such a need to feel so righteous and triumphant, anyway?

 

What you said about them saying he should have been like Damien. This makes me think of when I was reading the Star Wars novel Tatooine Ghost. I'm not sure how to do a spoiler code on this site (I don't see an option in the box above). So in case anyone hasn't read it. SPOILERS BELOW.




When Leia finds out about how her father was like as a child when they are on Tatooine. She doesn't want to believe it, sure he must have been pure evil from the start. She's sure that he must have had everyone fooled even as a child. I think Han says something like (it's been a while since I read it, not completely sure), "What, did you think he tied grenades to bantha tales or something"?

I don't think that gives anything major away from the book's storyline. By the way, is there a section on this forum to discuss the Star Wars novels?

 

I think it's only a spoiler if the book or movie or whatever came out recently. But I could be wrong.

I read that book, actually, and I recall another line it -- Luke and Leia are talking about Anakin and Leia says something like she's found Shmi's video diaries and she can't picture Anakin as an innocent kid loved by his mother. Luke says, "He didn't come out of the womb wearing a breather and a black mask."

 

That is one of the most ridiculous complaints I've ever heard. There wouldn't have even been a character arc if that had been the case.

 

I recall that line as well. Also, does anyone recall if there was a passage when she shows Han the playback of Shmi's diary and he says "You sort of look her".

 

I recall it. Han sees the resemblance and muses that Shmi looks how he imagines Leia will look when she's older.

 

Yes I feel it's better. I don't worry as much anymore if I announce my love for the prequels as I did years ago.

As a few others have said some of the prequel fans are getting older and posting more. Maybe they just came out of hiding.

I think new fans have helped also since people discover the saga every day. Hayden's Anakin is very popular on Tumblr. Even Anakin and Padme have a tag called Anidala. That was not around in 2002. Agree or not but it's nice to see.

Even Mr.Plinkett defended Hayden Christensen in his ROTS review. Now I don't consider Plinkett important but considering all his trashing of the series the statement did shock me.

 

No, they're not more appreciated now. Just less discussed, so people experience less negativity because of less discussion.

The new Star Wars projects have shifted the public's focus away from the prequels, but that doesn't constitute some greater re-evaluation.

Sure, the younger fans who are growing up will be louder in their defense, but that won't change the perception outside the hard-core fanbase. The PT failed to do what the OT did for the public, and that can't be changed.

With the ST and the Anthology films, people have just moved on.

It's good in a way, but they aren't appreciated more.

 

It's the hardcore fan base that blasts the films, not the general public. The general public has shown through ticket and DVD sales that they liked the PT just fine.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the PT like in the top 5 of all VHS sales of all time? That's not hate.

 

Surely the general audience bought copies of the movies despite hating them, Basin.

 

Still disappointed that I couldn't add a ROTS VHS to my collection...

 

VHS in all its 240p glory!!!!!

 

Call me an old fossil, or a luddite, but I still prefer watching movies on VHS. And on old TVs.

This new fangled HD stuff is too clear for me. It looks so real it looks fake, if that makes sense. Or, like a really well-lit soap opera.

 

I was able to get Attack of the Clones on VHS, but just 3 years later, Revenge of the Sith was on DVD only.

 

Hell, by the time AOTC came out I was like, "Star Wars on DVD? Yeah boy!" Upgraded TPM to DVD, bought AOTC on DVD only. Kept my 97 SE VHS since that was all we had, of course.

 

I remember when ROTS was at Cannes and George talked about the prequels and how the under 25 crowd loved them and I was happy he brought that up.

I feel the prequels always had fans but the haters were just more vocal and louder.

 

I agree with all of this 100 percent.

 

Between starting to post on this PT forum, and finally getting through Clone Wars, I'm appreciating the PT in a way I haven't in a long time.

I've never felt nostalgic for them, but these discussions bring warm feelings to my heart.

Well you said it, not me!

No, I don't miss VHS. Never did, I always recognized DVD as the far superior medium, and then later blu ray. I do think that some of the newer HD TVs are too clear, too "real", and as gorgeous as digital has gotten I do often miss the grit & grain of film.

Actually one of the reasons I love really high quality transfers of older films is that I get a chance to see how they were suppose to look. Growing up watching older movies on TV, on VHS, and DVDs transferred from VHS, you don't realize that a lot of your memories of fuzz, low quality stuff had nothing to do with how the films were shot, but rather how degraded thy got in transfer and with aging film prints. A clean, HQ transfer helps me appreciate what the team intended.

 

Like music being loud, if its too real you're too old! (not that being old is bad!)

 

Sounds like you have a high refresh HDTV. That makes everything you watch look like a soap opera. That's not (IMO) how content should be watched. You might also have brightness/backlights/etc settings too high. A calibration could really help as well.

 

Not to mention that it took some time before they came out and complained. I don't remember bad feelings from anyone after Phantom Menace came out.