PT Belated Media's YouTube video "What if 'SW: Episode I' was good?"

There's a new video posted on YouTube that's gaining in popularity. It's kind of a what-if-I-wrote-TPM scenario:

"What if 'Star Wars: Episode I' was Good?"

It's partially a review, but mainly it's a discussion about how the video creator would have reworked the existing story had he been given the chance in the 90s.

My intention with this thread is not to fuel any "PT bashing". I'd like a civilized discussion about whether you like some of his ideas, which ideas are good, which don't make sense, and whether you think the end result would have been more compelling.

Personally, I think he has some brillaint ideas, and I'm not convinced that I wouldn't have enjoyed his story more. I'm currently writing my own version of Episode I (just for fun; I probably will never even share it), and some of my ideas seem to be similar to his.

Mod Edit: Please move to the RLM thread

 

I disagree with his assertion that Obi-wan should be naive and longing for adventure like Luke was at the start of his journey. Obi-wan has been submerged in Jedi doctrine his entire life. His "by-the-book" mindset and strong loyalty to the Order fuels the conflict that develops between himself and Anakin. It also makes his evolution into the character we see in ANH more interesting. He becomes less of a servant of the Order and more a disciple of the Force.

I don't care for the "TPM had no true protagonist like a good movie should" argument, but I won't go into that now. It's been debated plenty elsewhere. Having Obi-wan serve as the main character is an interesting (though not altogether original) proposal, but you would have to drastically alter the trilogy to make that feasible.

In full disclosure, I did not watch the full video, so I don't know how he handles those types of story changes. I may go back to it later, but from the call for thematic parallels with the original trilogy (as if there were none to begin with), to his point about Obi-wan being more "Luke-like," and his comment about Jar Jar not being important, I get the impression that this guy has no idea what Lucas was trying to do with the prequels. He may have watched them a dozen times each, but I doubt he ever "got" them. His version of trilogy may well appeal to people that did not enjoy Lucas' films and there's nothing inherently wrong with wanting something to appeal to his tastes ("what-if" scenarios are fun ), but I think he's presumptuous in assuming that the original is "bad" while his version is "good" when he can't be bothered to appreciate the intentions of the original artist. It's a disrespectful approach to the discussion.

One final comment: If he was an exec at Fox, he probably would have said "Looks great, George! You've never let us down before!" If there's one thing I know for sure about Lucas, it's that he does not care for studio execs chopping up his films to make them more marketable.

 

The thing is the Prequels are sort of an homage to the Originals. The whole mirror aspect of the films make them quite enjoyable and I love finding the parallels.

This is why alot of angry fanboys who think their ideas are better than Lucas fail. They don't compliment the saga as a whole, its just bad fan fiction.

If anything the Episode I and II needed some editing to reduce the things that people did not like and III needed more seeds of Rebellion put in.

 

This is another wannabe "nerd celebrity" who works the whole Lucas-bashing angle because it's an effective way to gain attention and because he lacks the ability to make anything else that people will notice. I can't believe people keep falling for this crap over and over again.

Thank god this bunch will NEVER have the resources to make a major motion picture.

 

This, this, and this. There are only two things that would get me to buy the Star Wars films again: Restored and remastered copies of the original trilogy theatrical cuts and extended editions of Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the Clones (throw in some re-scoring for Clones, too). Both films suffered from understandable but unfortunate trimmings. The loss of the Rebellion scenes somewhat sacrifices Padme as a hero of the saga, much less as a protagonist in the film. The headstrong Queen who almost single-handedly leads her people out of occupation in TPM becomes little more than Anakin's object of affection in ROTS. It would be great to see those scenes restored.

 

Indeed.

Actually I saw this video the other day, while it gets tiring (the neverending barage of anti-PT youtube videos and such), this guy didn't seem to be too bad in terms of his attitude. He also didn't seem to be producing a video full of lies and inaccuracies. This appears to be just a guy who made a video that just displays how HE would have made the prequels and gives a hypothetical look at it. He even directly states this I believe. He also doesn't come across as bitter or angry, which is a positive.

I'll tell you, a bunch of us should get together and produce a pro-PT video. We need to rally together to help stand up for the underappreciated films and get the word out!

 

I have some ideas for a TPM review rebuttal video, but they're pretty nasty.

 

Please expand on that idea. If you have to PM me, feel free.

 

Why doesn't this guy get off his lazy @$$ and make his own movies?

--MissPadme

 

I appreciate that the guy gave an honest opinion on how HE would have done episode 1, but personally I think TPM is fine as is. Besides, a lot of the guy's ideas are based on the episode 1 we got. I have a feeling if he did episode 1 entirely by himself PRIOR to seeing TPM it would be an entirely different film, altogether.

 

This is basically what I think of when I hear people put out their "If I did the SW Prequels" stuff:

[image=http://media.screened.com/uploads/0/4968/328183-if_you_re_so_smart__why_aren_t_you_rich___title_card_super.jpg]

 

He said right at the beginning that this is how he would rework George's script, so of course a lot of the ideas are the same. It's not a complete rewrite, but a fine-tuning.

 

George got rich by making the good ones. He was already rich when he made the prequels.

 

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/10798016/ns/today-entertainment/t/star-wars-gets-revenge-peoples-choice/

http://www.gallup.com/poll/3757/public-gives-latest-star-wars-installment-positive-rave-reviews.aspx

Get back to me when any prequel basher makes a movie that recieves this kind of response by the public.

 

"Good ones" is a matter of opinion. Personally I like a the prequels over Return of the Jedi and A New Hope. And this is from someone who saw Return of the Jedi in the theatres in 83.

However you are correct about George being rich when he made the prequels.

 

I made it to "characters need to bicker like they did in ESB" before I couldn't go on. At least throw me some Captain Picard crossover material if I have to sit through a fan fiction idea.

 

And he became even richer by making three more good movies. You may not think so, but I do.

 

MrFantastic, please move the link to this to the RLM thread. I'd like to keep this place from cluttering up with ever youtube with an opinion from having its own thread.

Thanks.