Fans who grew up with the OT-Do any of you actually prefer the PT?

Let's see, my favorite films in the saga in no particular order are:

The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Episode III
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi

 

Seems a good choice

 

I'm obviously coming late to this party, and this is my first post after lurking for months, but I too fit into this category.

I was 10 when "Star Wars" first appeared, and was totally taken with Luke's situation. I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I loved R2, and I had one of those plastic working models of R2. I also had a (vinyl) album of the story, as I remember. I was a closet fan. I really loved the story.

I saw ESB and ROTJ when they came out, and I was in High School. I didn't care as much about ESB, but loved all the darkness in Luke, and his interactions with Vader and the Emperor in ROTJ. I did NOT like the Ewoks, nor did I care for much of the "muppet" work in ESB and ROTJ. I never read any of the literature, and thought of the films more and more as rather thin on subject matter.

After the Prequels came out, I really liked TPM and AOTC. I love Jar Jar, Darth Maul and Sidious, and I really like Qui Gon and some of the other EU characters, like Bariss. I still did not read the literature until recently, but became more and more interested. As of now I've read the TPB Prequel novels, sans Cestus Deception, and regard Episodes I and II as simply better films than IV, V and VI, especially considering the high-quality EU Literature tied in with them. It also helps that their production value is much higher, but they are better scripts as well.

TPM and AOTC seem multi-dimensional, political and philosophical, emotional, complex. There's just more in them for adults to get into, while ESB, ROTJ and especially ANH seem one-dimensional by comparison. Of course, I may think differently when the CT comes out on DVD and I can watch them over and over, studying them as I have the Prequels.

In general, the Prequel era is wholly more satisfying to me than the Classic Trilogy time period, and I have little to no interest in the post ROTJ EU material. Episode III looks to be incredible, devastating and rich with meanings. If I had to rate the films currently, I would list them:
AOTC
TPM
ROTJ
ANH
ESB

Just my two cents...

 

Your two cents is worth a million, IMO, because thats exactly how I feel.

 

Thanks! I've been reading these boards for months, and the lack of strong PT supporters seems apparent. Maybe it's coming from NJO fans who can't find enough gore and endless fights in the PT? Is that why they only seem to like "Shatterpoint"? Anyway, I think the story arc from Palpatine's origin to the establishment of the Empire is infinitely more interesting than it is portrayed on these boards...

 

I like them all.

Lucas started out not knowing how he was going to do it and just started doing it. I think he started out great with ANH, and has been getting better and better with each episode he completes. I am glad he is going back to apply his newfound techniques to the classic trilogy to make them all flow like one cohesive film. To me it's all one big movie and so far, I like it a lot. I can't wait to see how it all flows together when it's finally complete.

 

I've been reading these boards for months, and the lack of strong PT supporters seems apparent.

After having what seemed like endless debates over trivial matters, I don't care any longer to have long discussions with those that don't deserve any explanation anyway. They hate it, and it's their job to come to terms with it (though I wouldn't want to miss the humourous essays on why "movie du jour" is better than the prequels). Anyway, you have an interesting opinion. Maybe I should check out some of the prequel era EU-books ...

 

Go-Mer-Tonic: Yes, I should have been clearer. I still like IV-V-VI as much as ever. I don't dislike them at all, it's just that I like I-II so much more. I think watching them in order will show even more how much thicker the Prequels are. Sometimes I think there is more happening in TPM than in the whole of the CT, but I'll watch them again with an open mind when the DVDs come out (I haven't seen them in years).

Darth_Meul: You're right about tuning out pointless debates. I've participated in many different forums, and this is unfortunately the norm.

I have read all of the available trade paperback novels in the Prequel EU, btw. I love them all for what they bring, except I'm not so hot on Shatterpoint, as it has a repetitive linear plot - it could be half as long and still be as effective. I really love Cloak of Deception and Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter, along with the TPM novel. They make a nice trilogy, showing the many facets of what is happening at the beginning of the SW Saga. Rogue Planet and The Approaching Storm are great for building the Obi-Wan and Anakin characters, and MedStar 1:Battle Surgeons is an enjoyable read. It's nice to see the Jedi Order through the eyes of Bariss, and in DM:SH, from Darsha. I'm looking forward to the upcoming novels!

 

I'm from '74 and RotJ was the very first movie ever I saw on the big screen. That was in february 1984. A nine-year old boy going to the movies with his dad. That movie changed my childhood completely. A few years later I saw the other 2 SW movies on vhs and was totally blown away by the speed of ESB. That one will always be my no.1 SW movie, no matter what EP3 will be. ESB was and still is a very high quality film.

I had very high expectations of TPM and was somewhat disappointed. Not only because of JJ Binks, but also because of the "slickness" of the film. To me, it all looks so neat and tidy. But it has at least two BIG plusses: the podrace and the duel with Maul!

AOTC promised to be better and lived up to that. Forget about the crappy details like 3PO's head-switch and R2 flying around. Again the saber duels were great, I was thrilled when I saw where the DS was designed, Jango chasing Obi-Wan in the asteroid field is almost just as good as the Falcon chase in ESB, and Kimano looks awesome! But again, the look of the movie.

So I guess I tend to favour the trilogy I grew up with, but the speed and action of the new trilogy is simply awesome! Can't wait for the final and most dramatic duel of the saga....

 

By arielthalandra: I was born 8/12/62... I'm damn near Vader's age in ANH. Anyway, I'm completely obsessed, and the wait between ROTJ and TPM seemed like an endless wasteland. I kept hearing these rumors that GL was going to make prequels, which kept me salivating because I always was a huge Vader 'shipper. So now that the PT is nearing completion, what do I think?
Well...all I can say is thank you GL from the bottom of my heart. I love it all,Star Wars rocks.


I agree 100% with everything said here EXCEPT I was born 4/7/61 and I cant believe I search daily for EP3 info! But dang if this movies doesnt make me feel like a kid again I dont know what does.

 

I have NEVER, apart from on this board, in real life met ANYONE who grew up with the OT and prefers the PT. And my social circle are people who enjoy film and sci-fi/fantasy. All my friends and their wives and their friends and their dogs, cats and canaries etc I've met, no-one prefers the PT to the OT.

And I certainly don't prefer it either.

Go figure.

SHB JR

 

So? Apart from this board, I've never met people that discuss movies they hate for years on a message board. What should I figure about that?

 

We're not normal Darth_Meul, at least I'm not.
Not I'm pretty sure you aren't either

Take it as you feel you want to......

SHB JR
Who wonders why his observation of the people *he* knows causes such annoyance in Mr Meul ?

 

Meul, by replying to him, you're just egging him on. I know it's not easy, but ignore him. This is a good, thoughtful convo, and I don't want to see it ruined like so very many have been.

I was born in 1972, so I was 5 when ANH came out, 8 when ESB came out, and 11 when ROTJ came out. My favorite movie of the saga is ESB, but I like TPM better than two of the OT movies: ANH and ROTJ. Sometimes I like AOTC better than ANH and ROTJ, sometimes just better than ROTJ.

We'll see what happens when Ep 3 comes out.

 

It doesn't bother me. Even if I was the only person on Earth who enjoyed the prequels, I would still consider it everyone else's loss.

 

"by replying to him, you're just egging him on. I know it's not easy, but ignore him.

Right. Don't feed the trolls. Paraphrasing Qui-Gon, "the ability to post does not make them intelligent."

Sometimes I like AOTC better than ANH and ROTJ, sometimes just better than ROTJ.

Yeah, I wonder if my view will change after the CT DVDs come out, and then after III appears. Probably not, though, not appreciably. I wish there were as much quality EU to go along the the CT, like we have with the PT. I don't say that to offend anyone, but from what I hear about the CT EU novels, the only thing worth reading is Shadows of the Empire, and it doesn't do anything for the CT like, say, Cloak of Deception does for the PT.

Still, though, the CT films are great works, and I don't meant to slight them. The whole Lucas Film and Books enterprise has grown over the years, and the work just gets better because of that. I don't think it's wrong or takes a great leap to notice the PT and its EU being far richer and deep than the CT and its EU.

I'm sure there are those who grew up with the CT, and have only seen the PT films once in the theatre. That kind of fan might not get into the PT, precisely for the reasons I mention about the PT: it's more complex and harder to understand. In short, it's harder to get into, but once in, the reward is greater...

 

I'm thirty three, and I definitely like the PT much better than anyone else I know. I have five friends who were even biggere Star Wars fans than me before the prequels came out, and to a man they have seen each prequel once in the theatre and wanted no more to do with them. My family members, three of whom are certified film lovers, also will not touch them.

I value th prequels a lot because I think everything else being made today is, for the most part, cynical, artless junk. I can't stand the "fan boy esthetic" and slickness which has sucked the life out of most modern movies for me.

That being said however, all parts of me--from the inner kid who still likes cartoons to the movie addict of twenty plus years with the 1000+ movie collection to the former student filmmaker with seven years of intermittent work--recognize instantly that there are definite levels to overall filmmaking.

SW and Empire are marvels of precision and economy. They are imminently rewatchable and do rank among the greatest, if not the greatest, adventure flicks ever made.

Return Of The Jedi and Menace have the definite, palpable feel of sequels. They are just a bit flabby in spots, and lamentably uninventive, but they're easily the equal of the best of the modern blockbuster films from the last ten or twenty years.

Only Clones I find to be a mess, mostly because of what Lucas himself didn't do, which was hone the script and his ideas to the degree he should have. It has the same admirable energy as Menace, maybe even more, but it simply wastes too much screen time, lets its characters float around too much like balloons without tethers, and sacrifices all of its emotional potential. It's like seeing a favorite childhood magician do a come back and blow his tricks onstage. The smile was occasionally on my face, but I cringed a few too many times to feel comfortable.

 

I thought the writing in AOTC was well polished, and I thought the characters were very well portrayed.

Maybe it's more like watching your favorite childhood magician do a comeback, but you found out how the tricks were done between that time.

I certainly didn't feel that AOTC was flubbed.

 

I thought the writing in AOTC was well polished...I certainly didn't feel that AOTC was flubbed.

I agree. I think a major point of the film was to make it feel as though things were unravelling beyond our control, and that our heroes were relatively powerless to prevent it. To that end, it's necessary to make us feel like too much is happening, something will be missed, someone will get away, a full resolution is never quite there. Given all that, the film still stands pretty well on its own, for us fans anyway.

 

Just off the top of my head:

The bus scene. No new character revelation, no new plotting. A secondary character has the most emotional line in the movie.

The Jedi Council scene. No new character revelation, no new plotting; our heroes alreayd have their commission.

Packing. No new plot, very little characterization; Anakin is arrogant and frustrated; we've been shown that, why have him tell us?

The visit with the Queen. No plot revelation other than Padme tried to get Gunray, one line that can be moved anywhere. One small exchange showing us Anakin is arrogant, which, um, we've seen half a dozen times by then.

Walking with Yoda and Mace. No new plot, no new characterization; we already know Obi-Wan has doubts about the boy.

Arrival on Naboo. No new plot, no new character. Political debate like in the Queen visit scene that should've remained strictly subtext.

If Clones were I, Claudius in space, or even A Man For All Seasons, maybe scenes like those above would make sense. In the greatest action movie franchise of all time, six scenes of people walking or sitting and talking about things we already know is madness. I can't explain it any more simply than that; I leave it to you. If you like those scenes, good for you, but no other SW movies has even close to that much lifeless filler in it.

 

R2-12point, you don't expect us to actually fall for that, do you? All the films have scenes or snippets which may seem unnecessary, but which actually help drive the plot and subtext when seen from another point of view, whether everyone likes them or not. Perhaps you should listen to the AOTC commentary, if you haven't yet, and reflect on what the film is trying to do...

 

I like both the OT and PT. But really is more the Saga. They are parts of story to me. If you want to know how I rank them just look at my sig.

 

*sigh*
So anyone who doesn't happen to agree with you is a troll ? Right.........I somehow think my user history doesn't tell the same story.

I'm going to express my opinion, you can agree, disagree or ignore- your choice. But at least have the manners not to try and put such a stupid label, which is actually offensive to me personally.

SHB JR

 

Raises right hand, places left hand on the Bible.

"I swear not to prequel bash, so help me God."

To answer the question, No way in that hot place where
the Devil lives do I like the PT better than the CT!

Whew!

 

There are a lot of people who weren't impressed by the prequels.

Of course, I think the prequels are better than the classic trilogy (well pre DVD in September anyway).