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I just can't reconcile myself with episodes 1-3. Whilst they have a few good bits here and there they are mostly god awful, and they really tar my enjoyment of the franchise overall. The story of Anakins descent into darkness deserves so much better than those movies.

Should Disney remake them? If so, should they make them as a trilogy or do it as a single origins move?

Here's a few things I'd like to see; ditch the whole prophecy thing about Anakin being the Chosen One. Just make him a gifted pilot at one with The Force who becomes a Jedi and is seduced by the dark side. I say this because the prophecy was never mentioned in the originals, so it came out of nowhere and went nowhere. Also, don't start Anakin as a kid. That was dumb. Make him at least early 20s. Keep Shmi though.

They should have kept the plot simple stuck to the three act method the originals used. The prequels were all over the place. They should have keep the focus on a handful of good guys (Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padm etc.) and one bad guy (Darth Maul, because he's cool), like how the original follows Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie etc, whilst also following Darth Vader. Also, Tarkin should have gotten focus too. He seems to me like he'd be the third man in the unholy trinity of the Empire with Vader and the Emperor.

Also, R2 and C3P0 should never have been in the prequels because they just raise so many questions. Like, where do you even begin? 3P0 was built by Darth Vader? R2 worked with Obi-Wan but he didn't know who he was? Instead, their role as the observing 'normals' could be taken over by Owen and Beru. Beru could have been Anakins sister and Owen his friend and crew mate on that spice freighter that was mentioned. Or something, you know?

Also, I hate how Jedi were portrayed in the movies as the 'Space FBI', operating out in the open with a big temple on the capital planet. I think they should have always remained mythical and secretive and legendary even in the age of the Republic. It makes the issue of Han and that jerk imperial officer's attitude to the force more understandable. Also, maybe the force can be an actual religion that was worshipped in the Republic but phased out by the Empire and kept alive by the resistance?

My ramblings aside, what should Disney do? Leave them be or try again?

Disney should do everyone a favor, retcon them out of existence, and make something that doesn't blow

Or better yet, just declare them non-canon and leave it in the past.

I'd be in favour of the former myself.

Leave them as they are, flaws and all, but by all means do more, lots more, within that time frame. The Clone Wars and events within and surrounding it are still hugely fascinating, and as much as Clone Wars (the series) has done some amazing stuff with it, I'd love to see more of it in live action.

Visually, the prequel era has a load of great stuff that I'd love to see more of, and scope for some truly epic stuff. Rogue One is being touted as a Star Wars war movie, but ultimately it's going to mostly a guerrilla affair with one or two set piece battles, whereas you could pick any number of engagements throughout the Clone Wars that would dwarf anything we've seen so far in live action. Again, we've seen a load of that in Clone Wars, and snippets here and there in II and III like the battle for Geonosis and the fleet battle over Coruscant, but a film that really zoomed in on a particular, local event and went all in in putting the 'Wars' in Star Wars has huge potential.

That's not to mention that the notion of de-canonising them completely throws out a fair amount of good with the bad. Anakin's arc, while not well-realised on screen, is still intriguing and integral to the setting, Obi-wan was on the whole great (I'm holding out hope for a post-RotS Obi-wan movie with McGregor myself), not to mention a whole bunch of supporting characters that, while not hugely important overall, have a lot to them and are generally quite interesting/cool. When it comes to the likes of Windu, Maul, Dooku ect, I want more, not less!

There's also the fact that if we're getting another trilogy of Star Wars films, I'd much rather see new material than retread what's already been done. Maybe they could make better versions of 1-3, but that money could be better spent on something like a set of Old Republic films, or more Anthology films that flesh out the setting, or all kinds of other good stuff. The Prequels aren't exactly the best they can be, but for me at least, they'll do, with a few select edits I can still watch and enjoy most bits of them.

I agree that there's plenty of scope for more films without retreading episodes 1 to 3, however flawed those films are.

I just hope that episodes 8 and 9 are a bit more groundbreaking than 7 was.

Yeah... Given its Disney if you were to look at their track record with a movie franchise like marvel you'd say it looks like a total retcon-fest was pretty likely. But maybe that's just in the nature of comic books, the non-stop do overs, the often overlapping, contradicting story arcs, one artist version versus another, this era, that era. It all lends itself so naturally to a seamless steam rollering of all previous movie encarnations no matter how recent.

There are arguments for the same treatment for Starwars. There have been various story lines and plot twists in Comics, novels, animated shows, movies, games, toys. The universe has been expanded ad-nauseum. There's absolutely endless scope.

Looking at Star Trek and the big reboot thats gone on its tempting to Imagine a recast, reworked, Jar-Jar free 1-3. Throw out the plot throw in a cameo and everybody's happy.

But where Starwars is different from both marvel and Trek is that the original trilogy was ALWAYS the focus. Always the benchmark, always the whole crux of the franchise. Look how much episode 7 leaned on them. It was like being clobbered over the head with the old VHS box set repeatedly throughout.

As far as I can see Disney are never going to acknowledge the prequels in anything other than vague plot exposition. They will take it as understood back story and use that to build on but they'll not bother to redo movies that are widely regarded as flops. They will advance the time line into 8 & 9, they will fill out characters origin stories and flesh out the universe through movies like Rougue 1. They will give the Bobafet ample fan service but in my opinion they will leave Annie in the orphanage.

Nothing; they're just fine.

It is all academic anyway since no prequels were ever made.

It is probably best to move on and produce new material, but in my opinion it would be a shame to have to use those three as the gateway to the saga for future fans. I can't get over how crap they are.

 cincydooley wrote:
Nothing; they're just fine.

Yep

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-1-the-phantom-menace/

Maybe they can make instead of a director's cut a cut that makes sense

 cincydooley wrote:
Nothing; they're just fine.

While I don't agree that they're "just fine," the best thing to do with them is leave them be.

Whether you like it or not, they are solidly G-canon, for better or worse.

Definitely for worse.

the best thing to do with them is leave them be.

If they existed, which they don't, I would agree but the awful Lucas wouldn't let the original films be so I can't see why people would give deference to non-existent films while the originals are molested constantly.

Whether you like it or not, they are solidly G-canon, for better or worse.

The fact that there has to be a letter in front of cannon to separate it from other canons makes baby Jesus cry. A lot. As for me no company gets to tell me what my own personal head canon is. *folds arms defiantly while holding back tears*

It's tough to ignore the prequels because, let's say everything people really like about the Original Trilogy is XYZ, well the prequels explain XYZ with ABC. So now you want to do movies for people who like XYZ - but without getting into all that ABC crap. It's kind of like doing movies about the Cold War without referencing anything that happened before 1939, you're missing the Russian Revolution. So what do you do? You minimize the importance of the Revolution, you portray the Soviet strategy as being in continuity with some kind of geographical reality that Tzarists and Communists alike have to deal with, rather than anything to do with ideology. And that is pretty much what Disney seems to be doing: Snoke and his agenda seem to pre-exist the Empire and Palpatine's plots. Similarly, neither Kylo Ren nor Rey appear to have much to do with Jedi.

 Manchu wrote:
well the prequels explain XYZ with ABC

Only in the sense that they really do not. At all. If there were prequels, and I am not saying there are, they would probably be sub-par fan fic explanations of things people lived for a long time without and probably could live their entire lives without. Dakka has probably come up with better explanations on accident then Lucasfilm ever could, if they had ever made any prequels that is.

 Ahtman wrote:

 Manchu wrote:
well the prequels explain XYZ with ABC

Only in the sense that they really do not. At all. If there were prequels, and I am not saying there are, they would probably be sub-par fan fic explanations of things people lived for a long time without and probably could live their entire lives without. Dakka has probably come up with better explanations on accident then Lucasfilm ever could, if they had ever made any prequels that is.

Can you imagine if Lucas tried to put some half-baked hard science behind the Force? Instead of 'space magic' we could have some nonsense about it being some kind of STD in the blood.

Ideally I'd just like to see the prequels tossed out and forgotten. They really dont add much to the greater story, but do add in tons of contradictions and and simply absurd acts on top of horrible writing and terrible acting with painfully aging CGI. The franchise would be better off without them. They dont need a replacement, though retcons couldnt be any worse.

One could deal with the bad acting and terrible writing if they were at least relevant to the greater story, but they're really not, especially Episode 1.

Midi chloroians are already canon, thanks Clone Wars.

 Future War Cultist wrote:
I just can't reconcile myself with episodes 1-3. Whilst they have a few good bits here and there they are mostly god awful, and they really tar my enjoyment of the franchise overall. The story of Anakins descent into darkness deserves so much better than those movies.

Should Disney remake them? If so, should they make them as a trilogy or do it as a single origins move?

Here's a few things I'd like to see; ditch the whole prophecy thing about Anakin being the Chosen One. Just make him a gifted pilot at one with The Force who becomes a Jedi and is seduced by the dark side. I say this because the prophecy was never mentioned in the originals, so it came out of nowhere and went nowhere. Also, don't start Anakin as a kid. That was dumb. Make him at least early 20s. Keep Shmi though.

They should have kept the plot simple stuck to the three act method the originals used. The prequels were all over the place. They should have keep the focus on a handful of good guys (Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padm etc.) and one bad guy (Darth Maul, because he's cool), like how the original follows Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie etc, whilst also following Darth Vader. Also, Tarkin should have gotten focus too. He seems to me like he'd be the third man in the unholy trinity of the Empire with Vader and the Emperor.

Also, R2 and C3P0 should never have been in the prequels because they just raise so many questions. Like, where do you even begin? 3P0 was built by Darth Vader? R2 worked with Obi-Wan but he didn't know who he was? Instead, their role as the observing 'normals' could be taken over by Owen and Beru. Beru could have been Anakins sister and Owen his friend and crew mate on that spice freighter that was mentioned. Or something, you know?

Also, I hate how Jedi were portrayed in the movies as the 'Space FBI', operating out in the open with a big temple on the capital planet. I think they should have always remained mythical and secretive and legendary even in the age of the Republic. It makes the issue of Han and that jerk imperial officer's attitude to the force more understandable. Also, maybe the force can be an actual religion that was worshipped in the Republic but phased out by the Empire and kept alive by the resistance?

My ramblings aside, what should Disney do? Leave them be or try again?

Leave them be. While the acting and dialogue were at times bad, the prequels did some amazing worldbuilding, told us new things about the Star Wars universe, unlike say episode VII which was little more than a polished recap episode of the original trilogy.

The Clone Wars animation series did a lot to salvage the concept, with an animated Anakin who was a massive improvement over Hayden Christensen's version.

Disney won't own them until 2020.
And they won't own ep4 until Fox gives it up (they (Fox) retain the rights in perpetuity, but the rights to the rest go to Disney in 2020).

They'll probably leave them be.

 Ahtman wrote:

The fact that there has to be a letter in front of cannon to separate it from other canons makes baby Jesus cry.

There didn't 'need' to be... they could have just gone with what Star Trek did, and said 'Meh, none of it's actually canon, except for the stuff that's actually just taken from the movies or TV shows.'

This approach removed a need for any sort of 'levels of canon' to sort out contradictions from later series or movies, and also removed any need for a continuity editor, but makes the Star Trek novels even more contradictory and variable quality than the Star Wars Expanded Universe ever was.



Disney's approach of keeping everything all tied into the one continuity is a huge improvement, though.



For the prequels, tossing them out would mean tossing out the Clone Wars series as well, and that would be a shame.

 Future War Cultist wrote:


Should Disney remake them? If so, should they make them as a trilogy or do it as a single origins move?

No. There is no point. They're out there. It isn't like SpiderMaynard or Failure Four where they have to make a movie every X years or lose the license.

They can continue to print a metric feth-ton of money by making episodes 7-9, plus one-offs like Rogue One, Han Solo: Origins, Chewbacca versus the Suck-Cut, Luke's Missing Hand Hears a Who, and Nien Nub Nabs a Nap.

And I'll shell out $20 for all of them.

I still think that they need redone. I just can't accept them. That's my problem though.

I just had a crazy thought. What if the story of the prequels instead portrayed Palpatine as something similar to the high sparrow from Game Of Thrones? This seemingly harmless little monk who has strange powers (healing and clairvoyance) and charisma and rallies the broken troops of the republic around him and is propelled into power with the backing of the army? And Skywalker abandons the Jedi to follow him instead.

Obi Wan said that Vader was a pupil of his until he was seduced by the dark side and turned to evil. This would fit that description a little better in my opinion.

But in truth, we could be here all day listing alternative suggestions for the story. Anything would be better.

 Future War Cultist wrote:
I just had a crazy thought. What if the story of the prequels instead portrayed Palpatine as something similar to the high sparrow from Game Of Thrones? This seemingly harmless little monk who has strange powers (healing and clairvoyance) and charisma and rallies the broken troops of the republic around him and is propelled into power with the backing of the army? And Skywalker abandons the Jedi to follow him instead.

Obi Wan said that Vader was a pupil of his until he was seduced by the dark side and turned to evil. This would fit that description a little better in my opinion.

But in truth, we could be here all day listing alternative suggestions for the story. Anything would be better.

Obi-Wan was flat out lying to Luke, that's kind of the point of the entire "No, I AM your father" thing. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I quite like how the prequels set up Palpatine tbh. It was just Anakin's story that sucked. Too much petulant child behaviour. The original films were limited due to the technology at the time, but the duels with Luke Vs Vader were far more satisfying than Obi-Wan's final confrontation with Anakin Vader in Revenge of the Sith.

They should be left as is. Hating on the prequels nearly 20 years later has got to be too exhausting to really care about by now.

And as others have said, whilst the production and acting of the prequels was terrible, the world-building they did (and the actual stories of the prequels themselves) was great. The prequels certainly did more to expand the Star Wars universe than A New Hope 2: Hope Harder did last year.

 Ahtman wrote:
The fact that there has to be a letter in front of cannon to separate it from other canons makes baby Jesus cry. A lot. As for me no company gets to tell me what my own personal head canon is. *folds arms defiantly while holding back tears*

No need to cry. Such distinctions no longer exist.

There is only canon (movies + Clone Wars + Rebels + books/comics released since the massive ret-con) and non-canon (everything that came before the ret-con).

The world building was good for sure but the story...and the acting...I can't accept those movies.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
They should be left as is. Hating on the prequels nearly 20 years later has got to be too exhausting to really care about by now.

I actually don't disagree on either point but it is what the thread is about so here we are. I don't go around talking about the movies, well maybe the Rifftrax for them occasionally as they were actually decent, but I won't lie if asked about them either.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
the world-building they did (and the actual stories of the prequels themselves) was great

I find both those points incorrect, therefor you are now history's greatest monster.

 Future War Cultist wrote:
The world building was good for sure but the story...and the acting...I can't accept those movies.

Sounds like a you problem, then.

I think there's some confusion over the difference between world building and nice sweeping vistas. About the only world building in the Star Wars prequels was in the first film, which also happened to be the worst of the three by a wide margin. Even worse, the world building that went on revealed the Republic to be corrupt, dumb beyond belief, and the Jedi unwilling to do anything about it (and indeed, refusing to even acknowledge how broken the system they were part of had become). It's the opposite of setting up for a good story for the second two films which were about saving the broken and corrupt Republic, and tried really hard to make me care that the incompetent Jedi Order was going to fall.