PT Is the Prequel "Era" of Star Wars over? If so, what did it all mean to you?

For me, the prequel era was the chance to see Star Wars on the big screen again. It also meant new worlds to explore and new characters to fall in love with. For me in particular it meant learning more about the Jedi knights, which had been a point of fascination for me since elementary school. I've really enjoyed this era and while I am looking forward to the new movies, I will miss the prequel era. The upside is I can always revisit it through the films, TV series, comics and the novels.

 

it meant a lot to me and personally i think the story of the prequels is better than the original trilogy

 

I agree, there's more complexity to the plot and character relationships in the prequels. You also get the chance to explore some serious topics, such as the effect of loss on a person and how a democracy can become dictatorship.

 

Mind-boggling your statement is.

1.) If with "complexity" you understand "convoluted mess", then yes.
2.) "more character relationships" : most definitely not.
3.) "effect of loss on a person" : cf. ANH, e.g. what the death of aunt Beru and uncle Owen triggers in Luke.
4.) How "democracy can become dictatorship" is neither "explored" as a serious topic nor a plot point at any given time in the PT.

 

I disagree, the PT is not more complex it simply is conveyed in a manner that more people see and admit the Saga's complexity. The whole Saga is complex and grey it's simply many acknowledge it for the PT and not the OT.

 

I'll give you the first four points as they are ultimately subjective, but the last point is just objectively wrong. The fall of the republic is the number 1 subplot of the prequels. And from the early machinations of Senator Palpatine to Padme's declarative "This is how liberty dies..", the topic is given a considerable amount of screen time. You can argue that it's not executed very well, which is fine, but you can't say that it doesn't exist as a plot point. That's just untrue.

And I would definitely agree that the PT is more complex plot wise than the OT. That can be either a good thing or a bad thing from your point of view, but the PT adds in more layers to the plot, via the politics and the Shakesperian/Greek Tradgedy nature of its story, that the OT didn't have. The OT was a fairly straightforward hero's journey adventure with a few twists and a lot of nuance along the way. It did a simple plot, and it did it very very well. Nothing wrong with that.

 

Many feel as you do, Han but not all there is nothing wrong with that, either.

 

I had no idea was opening up such a large can of worms. I agree that the overall plot of the OT isn't tragic, but you do have a major tragic element in Vader being Luke's father. The other aspect of the PT that I like is how it adds shading to certain characters in the OT, mainly Obi-Wan. He was always an intriguing character, but after the PT he seemed more wistful and sad to me in ANH. Particularly in the scenes with Luke, he seems to as if he is missing his friends and he regrets that Luke never knew his parents and they didn't get know him.

 

It's not your fault. You're absolutely right.

 

Thank you. You are most gracious

 

Man, don't get so bent out of shape. I'm not hinting that all fans share the same views at all. I'm not even talking about fans. I'm saying that critics of the PT were in the majority among the viewing public. That's just a fact, and it's well documented.

Almost all of the reviews for the PT compared the films unfavorably to the OT. Almost all of the adults who grew up with the OT, at least in my own environment, expressed disappointment with the PT. YouTube videos like RedLetterMedia's mean-spirited Episode II "review" get millions of views and hearty praise from most of the people who watch them, which you can easily see for yourself by reading the comments or looking at the like/dislike ratio. These things are facts and you'd be foolish to ignore them. It doesn't mean the prequels sucked. It doesn't mean all of those criticisms were valid. As I said in my original post on the subject, I suspect most criticism of the PT arose out of the fact that it simply wasn't what the movie-going public expected it to be. That's just my suspicion and I can't prove it, but I do think it's the truth. That doesn't mean they didn't enjoy the PT, but they did have gripes with it.

I feel like I shouldn't even have to say that, but the public reception to the PT seems to be the elephant in the room on this site. Come on, you guys, we all know it happened. That does NOT mean the PT was bad, but there was (and still is) significant public backlash to it, and you can't just ignore that.

For my part, the six movies form a complete and unified story, and therefore neither trilogy is better than the other. There's no such thing as a perfect movie, and there are things I like and dislike about all of the films, but none of them are bad.

 

I really appreciated your last statement. I admit not everyone likes the PT, but that doesn't mean there aren't those of us enjoyed those films, along with the resulting TV series. It would be nice if Star Wars fans could reach the same come ground that Tolkien and his fans eventually reached: "The fans have their favorite parts and I have mine. We don't always agree on which parts are the best. But we all agree on one thing: the story is not long enough." - Tolkien.
(Pardon me if the quote isn't exactly right ).

 

It's kind of a unique animal in the elephant-in-the-room community, though, in that it's the elephant in the room that people talk about pretty much all the time.

 

@ LadyJediscientist: Many enjoyed the PT and TCW . Many prefer them to the OT. That's fine. Everyone has different aspects and elements that speak for them. I prefer the OT, the Empire and Sith. This is not wrong just as your perceptions aren't for you or anyone else's is for them. Please do not let the naysayers get you down. Whatever works for you of the Saga is wonderful.

 

No, that's just not a fact.

Again, that's wrong. Consider the film's Metacritic scores (which are - contrary to RottenTomatoes - static and therefore more accurate for documentation):
TPM: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/star-wars-episode-i---the-phantom-menace
AOTC: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/star-wars-episode-ii---attack-of-the-clones
ROTS: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/star-wars-episode-iii---revenge-of-the-sith
ANH: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/star-wars-episode-iv---a-new-hope
TESB: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/star-wars-episode-v---the-empire-strikes-back
ROTJ: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/star-wars-episode-vi---return-of-the-jedi
--> AOTC and ROTS (two prequels films) were better reviewed than ROTJ, which makes it quiete unlikely "almost all of the rewiews" compared the PT "unfavorably to the OT". And even if that were true, though, comparing them unfavorable to the OT doesn't equal an unfavorable view on them in general. Lot's of people prefer the OT (see them "favorably") but still like the PT a lot.
These OT reviews are from 1997, by the way. If you want to take a look at the original releases, you will find this:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sta...uels_actually_better_reviewed_than_originals/
There is a legitimate critism to be made about this, but it gives you an idea. The only difference between "then" and "now" is the internet (which is, ironically, your primary "source").

This is anectodal evidence and pretty meaningless when there's a discussion about "facts".

How do you want to know it gets "hearty praise from most people who watch them"?
You said it yourself, it got millions of clicks (multiple clicks by the same internet users are possible, "views" is incorrect because they don't have to "view" it). Are their equally millions of comments? I would guess no. So most people don't even comment and those people who don't like his "reviews" (like me), don't waste their time with things they dislike (I'm still waiting for a scientific study on the reasons why prequel haters think otherwise and enjoy spending time with things they hate) and leave that place as soon as possible.

There's a fact that certain internet videos got a lot of clicks and many people agreed with them.
That, however, does in no way allow a generalizing statement on the general public's opinion on the PT.

Yay, I agree!!!!!

I actually agree with your statement about people's exceptations. I also agree that it's just speculation, though.

Now, it's time to give you actualy facts. Empirical evidence rather than meaningless anectodal evidence:
1.)

http://www.gallup.com/poll/3757/public-gives-latest-star-wars-installment-positive-rave-reviews.aspx
It also found out that little Anakin and Jar Jar were among the most famous characters.

2.)

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=1180&p=.htm

Both CinemaScore and Gallup conducted surveys based on scientific rules which makes them - contrary to random internet polls or "clicks" - representative, accurate and "generalizable".

Yet since you're a fan of anectodal evidence:

http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/star-wars-poll-results/
(the headline reflects typical internet prejudice)

http://www.killermovies.com/s/starwarsepisodeiii/articles/5763.html

I agree. Neither subjective opinion makes a movie objectively good or bad.

I disagree. There was backlash. We can't ignore that. Whether it was "significant" or the internet just blew it out of proportion, is another story. I'd lean to the second option.

Just for the record: Personally, I think the OT is more famous than the PT. But I don't think by a large margin and I think that difference is - for the most part - a result of a rather large discrepance among fan and geek culture groups.
But that's just an opinion (like yours). Gallup and CinemaScore provided facts.

 

Economics and politics. That is what the PT meant to me. It also helped to explain the failed doctrine of the Jedi Order, as well as the Rule of Two. Therefore, it is not over.

 

Well, unlike the borderline psychotic OT fans/prequel bashers, I grew up with the prequels, and found them to be entertaining in their own right, especially Revenge of the Sith.

To me, it meant being introduced to the characters of the original trilogy (again, I grew up with the prequels) and also, unfortunately, meant seeing many fans bash and complain about films that they placed an insane amount of expectations on.

Although Jar Jar Binks really did suck.

 

Despite growing up in the OT era, the prequel era has actually been my favourite time to be a Star Wars fan. I see the main SW eras as the following:

OT Era (1977-1985)
The Dark Times (1986-1990) - no major new SW content
The Comeback (1991-1997) - the rise of EU and resurgence of SW popularity, culminating in the SE's
The Prequel Era (1997-2012)
The Disney Era (2012-?)

Each one has its appeal (aside from the dark times, obviously) but the prequel era was especially exciting because not only was I old enough to look forward to each film (unlike when I was a kid and didn't really know about a film until I was sitting in the cinema to watch it) but I was able to share in the excitement with other fans. The ST, even if it's better than the PT, will never reach that same level of excitement for me, although I am glad I now have kids that I can share the films with.

 

I've grown up with the Prequel Era and I watched the prequels first so they were my introduction to Star Wars. I love pretty much anything in the prequel era and though I love the Original Trilogy era as well the prequels will always have a special place in my heart. I love both Clone Wars shows (probably the 2008 one more) and Revenge of the Sith is my favourite Star Wars film. Though we are moving into the Sequel trilogy era now I still have lots of Prequel era novels to read and I still find new things to enjoy in the era.

 

I liked the PT. The only downside to it was that because the last part of the story had been told already they never had much room to work with. The Jedi ended up looking like bumbling idiots, they pretty much looked like they where clueless as to what was going on around them, Being lead along like a puppet on strings. Not the clever and intelligent warriors they where believed to be. That's the problem with a story that's already been told. Imagine what Lord of the Rings would have been like if they brought the 2nd and 3rd films first then brought out the 1st film last, everybody would have been saying how boring and story driven it was.

 

That's exactly what happened with The Hobbit!
But I agree. Making prequels is always going to risk boring people, because we know how the story ends. The sequel trilogy has limitless possibilities. Hopefully it delivers.

 

I think it really depends on the person. It doesn't have to be 'boring' to discover how the characters got where we know they end up.

 

I think it was good and I grew up with it. TPM and AOTC weren't that good but ROTS was epic and I like TCW. They could have made it better though. I enjoyed it, but it's okay to move on.