Dumbest prequel bashing trope?

Of all the ones I've heard thus far, I'll have to go with "people who say they like the new films are in denial". The other ones I shrug off, but that "denial" business makes me stabby.

Runner up: anything involving "magic", "innocence", "heart", "childhood", or "soul".

Mod Edit: Everyone has had a chance to vent. Time to close up shop.

 

Denial? Denying what?

 

You've never heard that one? It's quite common. Basically, we're all in denial about the films being bad, and deep down inside we don't really like the prequels.

 

Gotta love the lack of argumentation from haters.

H.A.T.E.R.S.

What you gonna do when they come for you.

 

I like it when they point out flaws which are prevalent in the OT

Clunky dialogue, phoned-in performances etc

 

Or that fact they criticize the special effects in the prequels, even though the original trilogy wouldn't be where it is without special effects.

I know. I hate that too. Just because you don't like something, don't treat your opinion as fact and speak for everyone else.

 

This one seems to have mutated into a more generalized "Lucas is raping Star Wars" thing. I hear that about the new Clone Wars show quite frequently.

I still see the "raped my childhood" thing used seriously and unironically every few weeks or so though.

 

This is my favorite one: when people complain that Lucas made the prequels "too much like the OT" and "ripped off everything that was great about the classics" and distilled it into fanservice -- but then they go on to gripe that the PT was too different from the OT and had none of the "charm" or "magic" of the originals and this was the result of Lucas not listening to the fans.

Logic fail, anyone?

 

This is a pretty dicey thread (in my opinion). But my choice would be...

People who complain that Star Wars was never meant for children and that Lucas really dumbed it down in the prequels. A lot of people plain forgot that Star Wars was always geared at a very young audience (as opposed to "THX-1138", which is manifestly adult) and that some of the very eccentricity they complain about is there in the originals. Apparently, Jar Jar Binks and the Ewoks are far too childish, but scuttling little aliens who go "hootini!", or a big furry alien snarling at a mouse-like robot which squeals in fright and zips off, in a fairly austere "Sci-Fi" environment, no less, are perfectly alright, even charming. Of course, these are relatively smaller moments in a reasonably gritty family film, but just as they are countenanced by the granularity and foreboding nature of surrounding details, so, too, are Jar Jar and the Ewoks; though one can, of course, argue the particulars. Also, since the addition of the prequels literally doubles the length of the saga, broadening the scope of the galaxy, which was already shown to be plenty quirky in the originals, one must be tolerant -- even expectant -- of more extremes, yet we find the very opposite attitude more often than not. Then out come the fall-back defences: "The original trilogy, or ANH and TESB, aren't for children, they're for 'young adults'" (I disagree), or, "But Lucas had no fart jokes or cartoon characters in the original film, and as everyone knows, fart jokes and cartoon characters are only ever in the most childish of films and stories" (again, I disagree). Or even: "Smouldering corpses and planetary holocaust aren't for young eyes!", but then the PT has its share of brutality and brutal imagery. Really, there's so much one could say about all the blunder and bluster, but in short, I think it's because Lucas defamiliarized the familiar, with the prequels functioning as literal tribute -- on multiple levels -- to Yoda's most important admonition: "you must unlearn what you have learned!"

 

This.

 

Lots of good examples in here, but I think my "favorite" is probably the one around "denial"; "you know these are not good movies, just admit it." The one around "nobody I know likes these movies" / "everyone I know hates these movies" is another top contender.

 

The fart one is always good, given the burp in ROTJ

 

Okay, you've all had your chance to vent. Feel better now?

Good. Now we can move along.