Saga What if the PT was made first?

I get the feeling some fans will criticize Lucas' work whatever he does.

 

QFT!

Apparently Gary Kurtz was the real creative genius behind Star Wars.... gosh I never knew.


Yancy

 

This is a good thing. The Phantom Menace would have done just as well as A New Hope because either way, there have never been Jedi, Lightsabers, Sith Lords, The Force, Its like LOTR meets StarTrek with a little bit King Arthur & Greek/Norse myth...There is nothing like Star Wars.

 

- - Response - Correct, but only if Lucas had the same quality script with the PT and acting. Which is the whole point of my first post. It's all the pieces of a great movie that came togther like magic in the OT (especially TESB), it wasn't just the time period.

 

The PT would be seen in a better light, ROTS would be seen as the best movie in the saga instead of ESB, which would be 2nd.

ROTJ would be a different film due to the advancement of technology.

 

No.

ESB was the 2nd act, it had to be dark. ROTJ was the third and final conclusion to the trilogy and Kurtz wanted to end it on a downer which sucks IMO.

 

Why are so many making comments as if they know what would have happened if the PT had been made first? How on earth would we know?

 

If the PT was made in 1977 the whole story would change.

If the PT came out in 1977 then maybe Gene Roddenberry would have just done another Star Trek series instead of Star Trek The Motion Picture.

If the PT was made in 1999 then the OT would be different. Different how I can't say.

If the PT was made in 1999 Star Trek would most likely just be a bunch of TV series with no movies (although that might not be a bad thing).

If the PT was made in any year the EU would be vastly different. Mara Jade might not exist along with a slew of our favorite characters.

If I'm missing anything let me know.

 

It occurs to me that if the PT was made first and there was a 16 year wait between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, fans would probably be angry at ROTS' cliffhanger ending.

I do think the PT would have been very different. Vader and Anakin would have been two separate people and I think the big twist would have been Vader being revealed as a traitor, secretly killing Jedi and ultimately kiling Anakin (or Annikin) which would have led to the duel with Obi-Wan.

 

Who cares about star trek?

 

The only benefit I see from a post-2005 OT would be that the Return of the Jedi would have been much more spectacular. Likely a Harry Potter-esc ending with a massive battle on Coruscant, a Jedi Temple fortified by the Empire to repel a Rebel invasion (perhaps the Jedi Temple is the shield generator), a 1945-Berlin-esc Coruscant, Imperial Palace, and a much more spectacular defeat of Palpatine. Endor would, of course, be Coruscant's moon and there would still be a Second Death Star.

 

I try not to think of these things because it reminds me that in most regards, Jedi is such a waste of screen time. There's so much that could have been. I suppose it was adequate in '83 as a conclusion to a trilogy, but as the climax of a six-part saga that stretches over the course of thirty years and involves the dissolution of a democracy and the persecution of religious orders, Jedi fails to deliver on accounts of anything besides the Vader/Luke story. Poor Carrie's drugged out the entire movie and Harrison's bored out of his mind; neither offer any satisfying conclusion to their story arcs. And Yoda dies for no reason and spends his dying breath delivering exposition about Luke's sister that we've known about since Revenge of the Sith. It's a shame.

Where's Cryogenic's defense of the movie when you need it?!

 

All very true. But at least the saga is about the Anakin/Luke story and it does have a great emperor throne scene. Probably the best and most dramatic scene in the whole saga. Everything you wrote points out how great of a film it could have been. And a lot of it is almost unwatchable. But the saving grace is that scene. I'm actually suprised how well it works and how well it holds up. It makes the whole journey worth it, and it makes sitting through Return of the Jedi worth it. Even if I have just skipped half the movie on occasion. I'm just glad they got that scene right, or the movie would have been a complete waste. It's still one of the best scene's in Sci-Fi history. Even though the movie as a whole doesn't do it justice. Maybe this is the one film I give a pass to for not being a good film because I like the end so much.

 

I was just using Star Trek as an example of how media would have changed. Besides DS9 is literally a soap opera. *gags*

 

Ha ha ha ha LOL!! Oh Kay.

 

GREAT question! I think it would have enjoyed moderate success. It probably would not have had the popular appeal that Star Wars did, but I think it would generate a decent cult following (much like what actually happened, come to think of it...). Kids would love it. It would have been known by the general public for its special effects, and I think its fans would get hooked on the universe (Jedi Council, aliens and humans in the same neighborhood, a galaxy spanning republic with centerpieces of beauty and an outer rim of slavery and poverty). How many blockbuster films create their own universe from scratch, with no books or comics or originals? I for one would want to see the sequels to see why Anakin is so "dangerous" if nothing else.

It should be noted that, if the OT had not existed at all, the blockbuster climate of the 1990s would have been very different. Lucas presumably would be working with ILM, THX, Skywalker Sound (under a different name), or simply on other films in the meantime. The blockbuster and family film genres would have been defined largely by Spielberg and the Disney Renaissance films. The "lived-in universe" that helped differentiate Star Wars would still apply to TPM.

Of course, it might have just been buried in Matrix hype and not seen by anyone. Who knows?