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Discuss this Article by @Thande here
Another criticism rarely made is raising inconsistency of content between the original films and the prequels, and the primary reason for this is that such inconsistencies, largely, do not exist. Again, I feel it is worth emphasising just how surprising this is considering how iconic and well-known (particularly by obsessive fans) the original Star Wars trilogy was. It helps that the original trilogy was typically small-scale in terms of following our protagonists around the edges of the galaxy, whereas the prequels dealt with grander-scale politics and war. This meant that the original trilogy only vaguely hinted about things such as galactic governance and the old Jedi Order, so there wasn’t much established for the prequels to contradict. Even with this advantage, it is still impressive considering how many other prequels manage to screw up established character backstories – even when they involve stories set in our own world, and do not need to make the ‘galaxy far, far away’ setting consistent as well.
I know what you mean, but I wouldn't describe that as inconsistency of content because it's based on implication rather than outright statements like "That's Boba Fett the bounty hunter, he's definitely not a clone" or whatever.IDK, there's some of that stuff, but its mostly character-based- the whole Obi-Wan and the droids thing; Leia's memories of her mother; Uncle Owen going from someone who was familiar enough with Anakin to darkly comment about Luke being too much like his father to... Anakin's step-brother who met him literally once. Some of which have their justifications, of course.
I used to think that thing about Han and the Jedi was a reasonable argument until I kept running into (for example) younger Germans who know nothing about the Berlin Wall or the Cold War.The big world-building thing is of course having the fall of the Jedi be only 19 years prior, and the consistency with their depiction in the OT (the ''how can Han Solo know nothing about the Jedi if they were a major galactic force only 19 years prior to the OT'' and the ''there were only 10 000 Jedi in a galaxy of quadrillions, it's perfectly reasonable for Han to know nothing about them'' justification), but that timeline is somewhat locked in by the OT with Anakin being a fallen Jedi, so the prequels can't really be too faulted.
That's another one of those things that just screams 'Anakin should be introduced in Phantom Menace as a surly full of himself 16-18 year old' as the logical solution. Then he could be well known as the local hot shot pod racer.
This is kind of the story with John Carter for me, though in that case everybody and their uncle borrowed from the book series rather than the eventual film.I actually found the first film rather disappointing, largely because I had seen many of the derivative films and TV series that took inspiration from it before I saw the original (e.g. Battle Beyond the Stars, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) and it seemed generic as a consequence.
I am gobsmacked to learn Sith and Darth aren't EU things, I always assumed that's where they'd started! It's bloody obvious too in Star Wars that Darth is meant to be the man's actual first name
Then again, when George Lucas wrote that line, he still hadn’t had the idea that Vader was actually Luke’s father.
I still remember "Lucas has this big plan of nine films" being a thing in articles about the upcoming exciting event Episode One (and it's funny how it's remembered when it was an event).
Actually, Lucas did it because he wanted to have the scene where Anakin says goodbye to his mother, but didn't want to break out of his documentary style. So they did an entire movie with kid Anakin for the sake of that one scene. Lucas has an ability to indulge his OCD the rest of us can only dream of.Teen Anakin does make a lot more sense of the plot, but I can see why Lucas wants Anakin to start off as the same age as a significant target demographic & to be whisked away to the amazing fantasy stuff like they'd dream about, but hanging over is "it will all go wrong."
Actually, Lucas did it because he wanted to have the scene where Anakin says goodbye to his mother, but didn't want to break out of his documentary style. So they did an entire movie with kid Anakin for the sake of that one scene.
He felt it wouldn't have the same emotional impact.Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??? Why couldn't he do that with a teen Anakin?????
My impression of the John Carter film was that, stylistically, it echoed the Star Wars prequels a lot, but done better. (In terms of content, as you say it was Star Wars and many others who borrowed from John Carter of Mars).This is kind of the story with John Carter for me, though in that case everybody and their uncle borrowed from the book series rather than the eventual film.
I didn't discuss it in the article, but my immediate response to seeing The Phantom Menace was to go back home and start designing new starships inspired by the ones in it.As regards The Phantom Menace, I was indeed not disappointed, as it was my first Star Wars movie and I was ten when I saw it. It had things that went pew pew. It had swords made of light! there was a kid doing some sweet racing. I came out of the cinema and demanded books about it. My mother knowing next to nothing, we ended up acquiring the Corellian trilogy which I enjoyed even if I knew none of the characters in it except those droids.
Most important of all, it had a sense of wonder which the following two did not have and which The Force Awakens managed to connect back with and which the other two of the sequels sometimes find and when they do, they work, and when they don't, they plod.
This is true. When I think "Star Wars music" in my head, the first three tracks that come into my head are "Binary Sunset" from the original, "The Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back and then "Duel of the Fates" from The Phantom Menace, which was not my first Star Wars but was my first Star Wars in theatre, as I saw it during its initial run.I didn't discuss it in the article, but my immediate response to seeing The Phantom Menace was to go back home and start designing new starships inspired by the ones in it.
It also achieves the impressive feat of having music in it that has become as iconic as any of the Star Wars music from the original trilogy - which is sadly one area where the Disney sequels have become more derivative.