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LTTP: Star Wars Saga [Updated as I watch]

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Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
Oh, I should say that I fell asleep last night while watching this one. I may have had a few drinks, but still. The attention grabbing wasn't fully there for me.
 

eot

Banned
It's not bad though.

giphy.gif
 
One of the weirdest things about Phantom Menace: The whole film has this slightly reddish/purple tint to it. It's really light, and not as noticeable in some scenes, but it's definitely noticeable. I have no idea why it's there. Someone tried to tell me that's because it was shot on film and the other two were shot digitally, but that doesn't make any sense to me. The first three were shot on film (as are the large majority of all films ever made) and they don't have that weird tinting to them.
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
One of the weirdest things about Phantom Menace: The whole film has this slightly reddish/purple tint to it. It's really light, and not as noticeable in some scenes, but it's definitely noticeable. I have no idea why it's there. Someone tried to tell me that's because it was shot on film and the other two were shot digitally, but that doesn't make any sense to me. The first three were shot on film (as are the large majority of all films ever made) and they don't have that weird tinting to them.

Didn't notice that. Thankfully.


:)
 

Sawneeks

Banned
I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on 2 and 3 seeing as you kind of liked Episode 1. I'm sitting in the same boat as you, the move wasn't horrifically awful like a lot of people make it out to be but it isn't a fantastic movie either.

That Darth Maul fight was the shit though.
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on 2 and 3 seeing as you kind of liked Episode 1. I'm sitting in the same boat as you, the move wasn't horrifically awful like a lot of people make it out to be but it isn't a fantastic movie either.

That Darth Maul fight was the shit though.

It was by no stretch of the imagination, A great movie, but I did get enjoyment out of it. If it gives anyone an idea of how I feel, I'm still looking forward to II, and III.
 
Phantom Menace isn't very good, but it is just as much a specific cultural touchstone as it is a movie, and unfortunately, that touchstone is one of percieved generational disappointment on a very wide scale. The quality of the film itself is almost always going to be viewed through that particular prism, and it makes the quality of the film seem lower than it actually is in a large number of cases, which leads to people being surprised that it's not a total affront to the sensibilities when they finally give it a shot.

It's still not good, though.
 
Didn't notice that. Thankfully.



:)

The Phantom Menace isn't nearly as terrible at people pretend it is. It has problems and some head scratching moments but its the strongest of the prequels.

Also please watch the Clone wars CGI series afterwards. Its pretty dammed amazing.

My guess is you'll think Clones is the worst of the three and Sith is the best. That's my ranking.

I personally feel that Phantom just edges out Sith for best of the Prequels.
 
The Phantom Menace isn't nearly as terrible at people pretend it is. It has problems and some head scratching moments but its the strongest of the prequels.

Also please watch the Clone wars CGI series afterwards. Its pretty dammed amazing.



I personally feel that Phantom just edges out Sith for best of the Prequels.

More memorable scenes in Revenge of the Sith for me. The
opera scene, Order 66, the opening and though it's a bit dodgy at times, I do like the Anakin vs Obi-Wan battle.
It's probably my favourite soundtrack of the three as well.
 

Sawneeks

Banned
It was by no stretch of the imagination, A great movie, but I did get enjoyment out of it. If it gives anyone an idea of how I feel, I'm still looking forward to II, and III.

As you should! Each of the Star Wars movies have their faults but they are all still enjoyable movies. When you're done watching all six movies you should rank them in terms of favorites because it would be cool to see where you put everything.

Also I echo watching the Clone Wars TV show. It's all on Netflix and is an absolutely incredible show through and through.
 

mrkgoo

Member
I liked episode far more than 2. And I wanted to like 3 but while it had the right tone, pacing to get the story where it was needed was way off.

Perhaps that's episode i's fault, however as a lot of that story didn't even need to be told.
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
The Phantom Menace isn't nearly as terrible at people pretend it is. It has problems and some head scratching moments but its the strongest of the prequels.

Also please watch the Clone wars CGI series afterwards. Its pretty dammed amazing.



I personally feel that Phantom just edges out Sith for best of the Prequels.

I plan on watching the CGI series.

Wizard!

Now onto the best one!

Haha that line.
 
Ray Wonder said:
That Anakin made C-3PO, and seeing C-3PO and R2-D2 meet for the first time. Pretty cool.

How did the R2-D2 award ceremony seem forced but this seemed fine? Another ridiculous, and fairly nonsensical, coincidence that a slave kid constructed this droid with complex AI designed for diplomacy and etiquette, speaks a zillion different languages, all to help his mother clean the house. I'm imagining in ESB when Vader captures everyone in Cloud City, Vader turns to C-3PO and goes, "Oh ya, I made you when I was a kid for my mom," and then walks into the other room. Everyone just looks at each other.

Actually, in Cloud City we saw a bunch of other identical manufactured protocol droids walking around. Anikan is a dirty liar - he found C-3PO in a dump out back and pretended he made it.
 
Anakin creating C-3PO was a totally unnecessary plot device that added nothing to the story. I mean you could have introduced 3PO as a protocol droid assigned to the queen, and the story wouldnt have been any worse for it.
 

Retro

Member
Say what you want about everyone else's work on the prequels, but Williams delivered.

John Williams on his worst day is still great, but apart from Duel of the Fates and the Across the Stars, nothing in the entire PT really stands out. Contrast that with the Original Trilogy where you have fantastic tracks from one end to the other. Binary Sunset, Leia's Theme, Tie Fighter Attack, The Battle of Yavin... and that's just the first movie (If I used Empire as an example, it wouldn't even be close).

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Well. Here we go.

When you finish the Prequel Trilogy, I'd love to hear if how closely it aligns with the list I made. Looks like you've already checked off a lot of them.
 

TheXbox

Member
John Williams on his worst day is still great, but apart from Duel of the Fates and the Across the Stars, nothing in the entire PT really stands out. Contrast that with the Original Trilogy where you have fantastic tracks from one end to the other. Binary Sunset, Leia's Theme, Tie Fighter Attack, The Battle of Yavin... and that's just the first movie (If I used Empire as an example, it wouldn't even be close).
This is false, as Revenge of the Sith is the best soundtrack in all of Star Wars. Even if you don't like it it most certainly "stands out", because it's so unusual compared to the other scores. It's like two hours of Duel of the Fates.
 

Vicious

Member
R2 and 3PO shouldn't have been in the movie at all. They were just shoved in there because "hey, look who it is!"

Since 3PO isn't active yet, they attempt to use Jar Jar as comic relief and fail spectacularly. I swear they had a meeting to decide how to come up with the most irritating character possible.

Qui-Gon didn't need to exist. I like Liam Neeson, but please fuck off. It should've just been Obi-Wan and Anakin from the start.

The pod race scene could've been cool, but kids are involved so it was awful. Props for the sound effects, though.

The lightsaber duel is only good because of Duel of the Fates.

Darth Maul was almost an interesting character but they didn't do jack shit with him.

All the senate/naboo/underwater city scenes are boring as hell. Actually, the entire movie is boring as hell.

God damn I hate this movie, but I hate the Episode II and III even more.
 

Mariolee

Member
Phantom Menace review is as tame as I suspected. It isn't the worst movie of all time, but coming after what came before it definitely serves it up as a major disappointment.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Watching a bunch of space dogfight sequences on Youtube for work research (and thus watching a lot of Star Wars space scenes. Rewatched the Naboo space battle for the first time in like almost 10 years, and man, I never realized just how yappy and annoying Anakin was in that sequence. Like, it's crazy. I was 10 when that movie came out so theoretically I was the audience for it (even though I'd already seen and adored the OT by that point), so I guess I didn't notice it. But yeah.... I am scared to ever rewatch that movie. I know all well that it's a bad movie, but I don't want to ever have to sit through it again, especially now.
 
Anyone that rates Attack of the Clones better than Phantom Menace needs their head examined. Yeah, Phantom Menace is boring and its hard to care about the characters, but at least you're not melting into your seat trying to escape scenes like you are in AOTC.

Really looking forward to reading your thoughts on Episode II.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Anyone that rates Attack of the Clones better than Phantom Menace needs their head examined. Yeah, Phantom Menace is boring and its hard to care about the characters, but at least you're not melting into your seat trying to escape scenes like you are in AOTC.

Really looking forward to reading your thoughts on Episode II.
Plus the drastic increase in cg backdrops, creeper eyes every time Hayden looks at Natalie Portman being passed off as... romance?
 

odiin

My Apartment, or the 120 Screenings of Salo
Anyone that rates Attack of the Clones better than Phantom Menace needs their head examined. Yeah, Phantom Menace is boring and its hard to care about the characters, but at least you're not melting into your seat trying to escape scenes like you are in AOTC.

Really looking forward to reading your thoughts on Episode II.

Yes, but Episode II had significantly less Jar Jar Binks, so that puts them about on par for me. Gun to my head though, I'd probably say Phantom Menace is the better of the two.
 
Episode 2 is a big budget film serial. The style is so damn obvious with its massive wides, few close ups, and next to no inserts. It runs completely in contrast to all 5 other Star Wars movies. It also has the most obvious throwbacks to the era, such as Padme's silver rocket ship, the poison dart, the robot factory, and the Sinbad style arena sequence. Padme is even dressed like the Buck Rogers character and Christoper Lee rocks a silly vampire cape.

I don't know how much more could have been done to make it look like the era it is meant to represent other than make it black and white. The question is, is the style appropriate for the expectations for a Star Wars film?

Plus the drastic increase in cg backdrops, creeper eyes every time Hayden looks at Natalie Portman being passed off as... romance?

You mean the models they used for almost all of the backgrounds?
 

Gravidee

Member
I plan on watching the CGI series.

Will you be watching the movie/episodes in release order or according to the official chronological order? The first two and a half seasons have a few episodes that take place before/after others but after the first half of season 3, everything is in linear fashion again.
 
Is it just me being over-sensitive or are the idle spoilers creeping in again? We've all got our opinions and it's not like anyone has revealed yet that JarJar turns out to be Obi Wan's mother ... I just don't think this is the place yet to be saying anything very much about Ep. 2 or 3 at all.
 
Episode 2 is a big budget film serial. The style is so damn obvious with its massive wides, few close ups, and next to no inserts. It runs completely in contrast to all 5 other Star Wars movies. It also has the most obvious throwbacks to the era, such as Padme's silver rocket ship, the poison dart, the robot factory, and the Sinbad style arena sequence. Padme is even dressed like the Buck Rogers character and Christoper Lee rocks a silly vampire cape.

I don't know how much more could have been done to make it look like the era it is meant to represent other than make it black and white. The question is, is the style appropriate for the expectations for a Star Wars film?

Yes.
 
Plus the drastic increase in cg backdrops, creeper eyes every time Hayden looks at Natalie Portman being passed off as... romance?

Yes, but Episode II had significantly less Jar Jar Binks, so that puts them about on par for me. Gun to my head though, I'd probably say Phantom Menace is the better of the two.

Episode 2 is a big budget film serial. The style is so damn obvious with its massive wides, few close ups, and next to no inserts. It runs completely in contrast to all 5 other Star Wars movies. It also has the most obvious throwbacks to the era, such as Padme's silver rocket ship, the poison dart, the robot factory, and the Sinbad style arena sequence. Padme is even dressed like the Buck Rogers character and Christoper Lee rocks a silly vampire cape.

I don't know how much more could have been done to make it look like the era it is meant to represent other than make it black and white. The question is, is the style appropriate for the expectations for a Star Wars film?



You mean the models they used for almost all of the backgrounds?

The problem isn't the serial scifi trappings, which I admittedly like, the problem is that the characters are awful. It's hard to care about them as they are written and behave nothing like any person would. They are impossible to relate to.

That being said I love the ships and coruscant street scenes
 

Gleethor

Member
Phantom Menace isn't very good, but it is just as much a specific cultural touchstone as it is a movie, and unfortunately, that touchstone is one of percieved generational disappointment on a very wide scale. The quality of the film itself is almost always going to be viewed through that particular prism, and it makes the quality of the film seem lower than it actually is in a large number of cases, which leads to people being surprised that it's not a total affront to the sensibilities when they finally give it a shot.

It's still not good, though.

On point. I still like it though, and I will continue to assert that Jake Lloyd's presence in the film is a way worse offense than Jar Jar.
 
I enjoyed the prequels for what they were. Then again I'm not overly critical of things, I'd never enjoy anything if I were (I know I would over-dissect things).
 
Then again I'm not overly critical of things, I'd never enjoy anything if I were.

Well, the suggestion there is that disliking the prequels is evidence of being "overly" critical as opposed to "regular strength" critical or even "mildly" critical.

Which I don't think is a fair argument to make. "You only dislike bad movies because you think too hard."

Nah. It's that the movies are bad. You don't have to think all that hard to recognize it. Just like you probably don't have to remind someone that opinions aren't the same as facts.
 
Well, the suggestion there is that disliking the prequels is evidence of being "overly" critical as opposed to "regular strength" critical or even "mildly" critical.

Which I don't think is a fair argument to make. "You only dislike bad movies because you think too hard."

Nah. It's that the movies are bad. You don't have to think all that hard to recognize it. Just like you probably don't have to remind someone that opinions aren't the same as facts.

It was a general summation, not a suggestion like that.

But I can see how it read that way.
 

Mr Cola

Brothas With Attitude / The Wrong Brotha to Fuck Wit / Die Brotha Die / Brothas in Paris
Clones is an abomination, I can find some joy in the Phantom Menace and the story of Sith is acceptable, the acting better too, I can find seldom to no redeeming qualities in Clones.
 
I enjoyed the prequels for what they were. Then again I'm not overly critical of things, I'd never enjoy anything if I were (I know I would over-dissect things).
That's why I see why people hate the prequels cause they sit there and dissect Im here to watch an action Sci fi flick and that's what I get I go in and I'm always entertained I love all 6 and 7 is gonna be an awesome ride but that's my 2 cents.
And OP make sure you have tissues for ep 3 that shit hits you in the feels
 
So far you seem to have the same feelings as me towards all of them. I look forward to hearing about AotC as it is by far my least favorite. I just tried to watch it again and I turned it off about 10 minutes in. I just can't.
 

Mr Cola

Brothas With Attitude / The Wrong Brotha to Fuck Wit / Die Brotha Die / Brothas in Paris
That's why I see why people hate the prequels cause they sit there and dissect Im here to watch an action Sci fi flick and that's what I get I go in and I'm always entertained I love all 6 and 7 is gonna be an awesome ride but that's my 2 cents.
And OP make sure you have tissues for ep 3 that shit hits you in the feels

Biggest problem I have with the prequels is how, in some cases, they drastically change or alter my perception of characters in the films I grew up with, 4, 5 and 6, I can accept them, watch them as films, but I cant forgive what they do to my perception of some characters.
 
So far you seem to have the same feelings as me towards all of them. I look forward to hearing about AotC as it is by far my least favorite. I just tried to watch it again and I turned it off about 10 minutes in. I just can't.
You not like the second half the kamino and genosis parts are awesome just sucks it goes so slow to lead up to it
 
I'll just say one more time that I really think there's too much material from Ep. 2 & 3 being posted. Pictures even. Please think carefully about what you post.
 
I detest what became of the lightsaber battles in the prequel trilogy. That being said, the three way at the end of episode 1 is still very good. It doesn't quite stand up to the fights in Empire and ROTJ, but it managed to me make emotionally engaged at the end and there are some great moments of suspense starting with the hallway barriers. The choreography, while more active than the OT, doesn't quite get to the levels of the flippy, flashy, oh look how cool we are bullshit of episodes 2 and 3. I like how Maul integrates some martial arts into his fight style. Also, at least it looks like these guys are actually trying to hit each other.
 
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