The bit about how the music at the end of TPM is just an upbeat happy version of the Emperor’s theme blew my mind. I’ve always loved the prequels but little things like that enhance my love for them, awesome video!
In that scene Palpetine's personal guards wore similarly styled robes - ableit black - and similar shaped helmets to the Emperor's Imperial Guards in Return of the Jedi.
This film (this is a documentary film, not a mere RUclips video) deserves far more awareness and acclaim than it has, and I hope George has the opportunity to see it.
@@RC-qf3mp So, did you watch the entire essay, AND THEN rewatch the prequels with your new knowledge? If you didn’t rewatch the prequels after seeing this, your opinion (in this conversation) is meaningless. The entire point of the essay is to prompt us to reappraise the prequels, but if you’re going off pure memory of past viewing, you haven’t actually reappraised anything.
Wow, it's almost as if George Lucas is a professional filmmaker who's intimately familiar with his craft-on top of history, literature, and politics-and many of his detractors aren't. Truly makes one ponder.
@Adam Wasiura Yeah Shut the hell up about "racist stereo types" Your seeing ghosts. as to the dialogue well thats just realistic and the cgi was definately great then and still looks awesome now.
@Adam Wasiura as someone who doesnt have a dad and also gets f*cked over bye decisions made bye other people who think they know better than you whats good for you i can confirm his constant state off confliction is accurate.
Man I’m speechless. I myself am an avid prequels fan, for and for only half the reasons you brought up in this video essay. I truly had no idea how deep these ties ran. Thank you so much for showing why these films are so incredible.
Adam Wasiura Alright, please enlighten me on why I’m not a prequel fan, even though the prequels are my favorite trilogy of the Saga, ROTS, is my favorite Star Wars film, and I stated outright that I like the prequels. Also if you’re going to call the prequels “dumb action movies”, please backup you’re claim. As there is an entire sect of the fandom that thinks otherwise and finds these movies are fantastic. And the movies ARE good. Whether you find them enjoyable or not is your opinion. But I would love to hear it. It helps my knowledge of the fan base grow.
Adam Wasiura Wow, this will be interesting. That first statement is false. Nobody’s brainwashing anybody here. Nobody gets to tell me what I can and can’t enjoy. That’s why we have brains, so we can think for ourselves. I love the prequels. Are they flawless? No. Are they bad movies. No. Are they good movies with flaws? Yes. Just like the Original Trilogy. Secondly, I’m not going to “get out of the internet.” Because I have just as much right to it as you do. Thirdly, there’s plenty of things to enjoy in the prequels. For the “1 inch brains” as you call it, there’s lots of action. Well choreographed lightsaber duels, pod racing, and plenty of battles. For people with normal sized brains, there’s the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, the romance between him and Padme. The relationship between Obi-Wan and his Padawan. The devious schemes of Palpatine. Not to mention the incredible acting of Liam Nesson, Ahmed Best, Jake Lloyd, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Sir Christopher Lee, Ian Mcdiarmid, Temura Morrison, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz, and many more. Not to mention the Prequel Trilogy use more practical effects than the originals. Especially Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. That’s an irrefutable fact and you can look it up. And this video you linked, so what? Of course Marcia Lucas is one of the biggest factors in the success of the Originals. Nobody denies that. She has incredible talent and was invaluable to production. Lastly, I don’t need you to tell me what I can and cannot like. I’m an adult and I have no clue who the hell you are. I could honestly care less about whether you like them or not. But if you’re going to try and push that the prequels are “objectively bad” then you better actually put in the time and effort to back up your claims otherwise your credibility is going to fly right out the window. Because, like it or not, the prequels are OBJECTIVELY an integral part of STAR WARS and OBJECTIVELY MAKE SENSE, and are GOOD. Whether you can enjoy them or not is up to the individual. And before trying to bash Mr. Lucas, you’d better get on your hands and knees and praise him for giving you your “perfect” Original Trilogy in the first place. George Lucas CREATED STAR WARS. STAR WARS is what it is because of George’s singular vision. It’s HIS story. Now if you want to have an actual intellectual debate, and bring forth some real, ORIGINAL arguments that don’t consist of letting other videos do the talking for you then be my guest. I’ll have a response for every single point you make. Who knows, we may even agree on something. But please, try your best to be intelligent and civil, because your not the ultimate authority on Star Wars. George Lucas is. And he doesn’t give a shit whether you like his films or not. So unless you want to actually add something worthwhile to the debate, go back to sucking on your pacifier that is “opinions”. -VortexFlash
@Adam Wasiura He's the nerd, when you've went out and vomited on every single thread? Please, give us your filmography. I think one thing is clear from this doc; a lot of these RUclips critics who have tried to tear down the prequels just don't know very much about filmmaking.
Adam Wasiura okay so replaying to your comment after my last one: yes I’m a Star Wars nerd. I’m not a filmmaking expert but sure as hell am a Star Wars lore expert. And making an essay in the comments sections is a sign of effort, something you clearly lack. I’m tempted to let you flounder since you are most likely a troll, but I’m having fun. You say Lucas has ideas but he can’t EXECUTE them. But he did. The prequel trilogy’s existence is evidence that he DID execute his ideas. He completed his mission. That’s an objective fact. Whether or not you like or agree with how he did it is your opinion. But it still doesn’t change that George did what he wanted and had every right to as the CREATOR OF STAR WARS. Now this is where I started laughing. Your “credible source” is Cosmonaut Variety Hour’s prequel review? You’re joking right? There’s no way you’re not a troll. I just don’t think you could possibly be that stupid. But then again you’ve been acting like a sheep. Just following the herd. If you’re going to keep using videos to backup your arguments, then oh buddy I got a treat for you. Allow me to introduce you to a series Called “Revenge of the Prequels” by a wonderful Channel called Anomaly Inc. Cosmonaut is just the latest target on his list of Boba Fett pajama wearing ass-clowns, such as yourself. While Cosmonaut went ahead and made an hour long video made entirely of opinions and baseless claims, Anomaly made a 5 VIDEO RESPONSE SERIES part of “Revenge of the Prequels” called “Dissecting a Dumbass” which is what I’ve been doing to you all day, and is what he does to Cosmonaut for almost five hours. That’s effort, quality, and intelligence. So far your sources have been completely useless and unreliable, and not to mention biased. You claim the prequels are objectively horrible yet don’t show any evidence. What’s even funnier is the creator of your source video, Marcus, has gone on record stating that all art is Subjective, and can’t be objectively judged. Which #1, invalidates your argument, and #2, is utter bullshit. Not to mention Cosmonaut is NOT an expert on filmmaking, whatever he says. I would consider film school graduates “reasonable experts” on filmmaking. However, true experts of filmmaking include people like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Tarantino, Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Nolan, Peter Jackson (my personal favorite), and George Lucas himself, which are responsible for being the leaders and driving minds behind some of the most successful and widely acclaimed and impactful films of all time. So next time you want to cite a reputable source that criticizes George’s editing choices or filmmaking decisions, use someone with actual film experience and some serious notches on their belt. Nice try buddy. We can play this troll game of yours all day. I’m quite enjoying your pitiful attempts at “attacking” the prequels. But so far you haven’t done anything to legitimize yourself. And here is a link to Anomaly’s response video. Hope you enjoy it and find it enlightening. ruclips.net/video/H25-iklgQLs/видео.html
I love this video, thank you so much for making it! This is the first real analysis of Star Wars as films I've seen, most people just act smug about what they like and dislike, but I love that you kind of showed Lucas' perspective on the movies and what his intentions were when making them. The amount of research and hard work you must have put into this is also so impressive, this level of dedication truly makes your video a shining example of how interesting analysis videos could be.
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 Rick never claimed to be "deep" he just likes old movies, analysed these movies endlessly and dedicated a lot of effort into making this video as good as it could be.
@Adam Wasiura See what I mean? You're foaming at the mouth. You just can't help yourself. And we're supposed to take *_your_* word for it? Oh, please... 🙄
I've seen a fair few people in the comment section either misunderstanding the point Worley has been trying to make or simply mocking it , so let me try to explain : Lucas is NOT 'ripping off' or 'being lazy' by repeating these specific scenes. In fact , the word 'repeating' does a disservice - he is using *MOTIFS*. When Lucas mirrors Anakin's "No!" in ROTS with Vader's "No!" in ROTJ, he's doing it to show an motif of how Anakin has evolved from making the wrong , selfish choice in the former to making the right , selfless choice in the latter. It's a thematic motif - just like so many other scenes across the original 6-film saga. When Lucas models the birth of Vader in ROTS after the birth of Frankenstein , he is NOT just "taking inspiration" or making a trivial "reference" to a classic film of his liking. He is asking us to compare the two scenes , which focuses on man being brought back from the dead in a tortured and twisted way. Now you may be asking how the average moviegoer is supposed to know all of this , particularly concerning the complexities of certain motifs/visual parallels across not just the Star Wars Saga , but classical films too. Well that's meant to be a job for the experienced film critic who knows his film history - something most film critics lack today. This is no different to being given a text in an English class and trying to figure out *WHY* the author has chosen to do something a specific way. Whether or not you subjectively like the text because of it's style is irrelevant - you're meant to objectively analyse what the author is trying to achieve or tell us.The same method applies to film - except nowadays the lines between subjective preferences and objective analysis has become blurry . I hope my attempt at explaining Mr. Worley's point in this wall of text has helped to clear things up. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk :)
Nonsense. Just because the prequels were inspired by mythological archetypes and other motifs doesn't make them good. They are terribly written and lack any understanding of the language of cinema.
@@edwardelric603 By the way, it's the way in which the motifs are used. JJ Abrams can reference the entire plot of ANH but is unable to allow for deeper themes or parallels to study :/
@@onemoreminute0543 Unsubstantiated? Are you kidding me? Having you been listening for the past 20 years? Ever heard of cognitive dissonance? Ok. Here I go… Anakin is the biggest idiot in the galaxy, easily duped by Palpatine. Palpatine initially told Anakin “I HAVE THE POWER to save the ones you love” ‘Learn to know the dark side of the force and YOU WILL be able to save your wife from certain death…use MY KNOWLEDGE I beg you.” Then after Anakin kills Mace, all of a sudden Palpatine says, “To cheat death is the power ONLY ONE has achieved but I’m sure IF we work together we can discover the secret.” Anakin should have said “I thought YOU HAD THE KNOWLEDGE to save people from death!! What do you mean only one has achieved this power and IF we work together we can discover the secret?!! You lied to me!” Instead stupid Anakin just goes along with it and murders children in a span of 20 minutes, which totally ruins his redemption for me in Return of The Jedi, if I were to watch Revenge of the Sith before it, which I never will. Furthermore, Palpatine insisting the Jedi are traitors and are trying to take over and Anakin believing this and that they are evil, from his point of View, is so stupid. Palpatine ADMITTED HE WAS A SITH LORD! The Jedi’s suspicions are valid! Anakin’s turn makes no sense and was written terribly. In addition, he wants to save Padme but stupid Anakin can’t even realize that Padme would never condone him killing children to save her. Plus, when Obi Wan tell her that he killed children, she says, “He wouldn’t” knowing that he killed the tusken children in Attack of the Clones. Her reaction makes no sense. I hate Revenge of the Sith. It’s the worse Star Wars movie because it ruined Anakin and is written like a 7 year kid wrote it playing with action figures. On top of all that, the continuity error with Padme dying at child birth ruins Leía remembering her mother in Return of the Jedi. And don’t give me that she is using the force to remember her rubbish! Speaking of continuity issues, here are a lot more: R2-D2 knows Yoda and doesn’t tell Luke R2-D2 knows Luke’s father and doesn’t tell Luke R2-D2 knows Luke and Leia’s mother and doesn’t tell them R2-D2 knows Obi Wan left Luke’s father for dead and doesn’t tell him. In Empire Strikes Back Obi Wan says Yoda trained him but in the prequel it was Qui Gong. And don’t even try to tell me that Yoda trained everyone because of that awful scene with Yoda training a group of children in Attack of the Clones. Obi Wan said “THE Jedi master who instructed me” in Empire Strikes Back, not “A Jedi master who instructed me.” This was a retcon/continuity error Lucas didn’t care about. In the Return of the Jedi Obi wan says when he first met Anakin he was “Amazed at how strong the force was with him” and that “he took it upon himself to train him and thought he could train him just as good as Yoda.” This isn’t what happened in the prequels. Obi Wan trained him because it was his master’s dying wish, it had nothing to do with being as good as Yoda. And Obi Wan was not amazed with Anakin. He called him a pathetic life form and thought the boy was too dangerous to train. C-3PO spend a long time with Uncle Owen and Owen fails to recognize him in A New Hope. And don’t give me that “there are many protocol droids in the galaxy”nonsense. He kept the name C-3PO throughout all the movies and acts exactly the same; it’s a continuity error If Qui Gong taught Yoda and Obi Wan to be a force Ghost, how did Anakin learn this? Continuity error. Obi Wan doesn’t remember R2-D2 or C-3PO. And don’t bother with the “he’s pretending in order to fool Luke, so he can go on his journey.” Obi Wan acknowledging R2-D2 and C-3PO from his past has no relevance on whether Luke would go on the journey or not: Knowing that his father is Vader does. This is a continuity error. I rest my case about serious mental gymnastics being required to try to stitch these contradictory elements together. These kinds of continuity errors and retcons suck and are lame. They are obviously not at all what anyone had in mind when the earlier stories were made, and frankly they insult the intelligence of the viewer by expecting us to believe they actually make any kind of sense. Now as far as terrible writing; Anakin admits to Padme that he killed tusken women and children, then Padme, a huge philanthropist and Senator, literally has no reaction other than, “You were mad and you’re just human.” LOL. What a joke. The Jedi blindly use a clone army that was secretly ordered by Syfo Dyas, possibly Tyranus, and rather than deliberating if this is a set up and investigate how this army was paid for they just blindly use the army just to rescue 2 Jedi and 1 senator. The Jedi are so stupid they never question on who actually made this order and how it was paid for. Yoda is so stupid that he can’t conclude that Dooku erased Kamino from the Jedi database, despite Yoda himself saying that only a Jedi can erase those files. Dooku is an ex-Jedi, who is leader of the separatist who are causing trouble for the republic and Padme, who is being targeted for assassination, specifically said she thinks he’s behind it! This script makes Yoda look like a moron. Also the Jedi send Anakin to protect Padme despite him explicitly expressing to Obi Wan that he has feelings for her. Stupid Jedi! Now here is the number one thing that gets my blood boiling and why I HATE the prequels with all my heart: This is a galaxy where the Jedi, who are asexual, unemotional monks, take infants from their parents and forbid them from seeing their families ever again and forbid them from ever getting married and discourage having sexual relationships or having emotions for their entire lives. They make these force sensitive children consent to this bizzare and outright twisted life choice when they are infants! There is no way you can ever get me to believe that any sentient being would ever give their children away to some asexual emotionless weirdo monks and agree to never see them again. This idea is so stupid, it is literally the dumbest thing I have ever seen in story telling. Nothing has topped this George Lucas idea in regards to the magnitude of stupidity that it is. With this dumb idea, why would anyone in their right mind want to ever be a Jedi?! I won’t even get into the Padme and Anakin romance, Jar Jar or the awful droid humor. They speak for themselves. George Lucas is a hack and a con man. He made 3 classic movies (THX, American Graffiti, and Star Wars )and produced some good ones in the 80’s but ever since the special editions he has stopped caring about making good cinema and just churned out stupid commercialized nonsensical cartoons. He parades around like he is a genius and his fans scarf it all up but what made his original trilogy and original Indiana jones movies so good was that he collaborated with other people. Cinema is a collaborative art. Lucas was no longer a film maker when he made the prequels, he was a CEO of a corporation and it shows. I almost admire his con job in a Machiavellian sort of way because he has fooled so many. I was fooled once but no longer. For me, the Return of the Jedi novelization account of what happened is my back story for Vader: Because of Obi Wan’s hubris and Palpatinés seduction Anakin went dark, He was unaware that his wife was pregnant, the Jedi hid his children from him, Obi Wan tried to disuade Anakin from Palpatinés influence but failed, threw him in a molten pit, and Luke and Leia’s mom died when they were 4 years old. I wish I could erase these films from existence like a Thanos snap!
George Lucas is responsible for pioneering the CGI technology that almost every modern movie uses. His company Industrial Light & Magic made the CG elements in Spielberg films such as Jurassic Park, and had a big influence in Pixar's cartoons like Toy Story. Jar Jar Binks is the first fully CGI character, and Attack of the Clones is the one of the first movies to use digital cameras for filming. Without George and ILM, people might not be enjoying MCU movies today. Which by the way are a lot more digital than the Prequel films, which actually used a ton of practical effects in addition to CGI.
That's something I'm going to talk about in my upcoming videos, that the whole CGI vs. practical debate with these movies is completely false. The truth is that TPM actually had more practical models than the entire original trilogy combined, and all three prequels had big location shoots and dozens of gigantic sets. It's particularly galling how Disney plays into this stuff to try to win over prequel haters by going on about all the practical effects in the ST, when the truth is that TFA actually has more effects shots than TPM. Lucas was so far ahead of the game that, 20 years later, armchair critics complaining about this stuff in the prequels still don't understand what they're looking at.
One thing that really pissed me off about the production of The Force Awakens and that was the choice to use film instead of digital cameras. Now my dad is not a Star Wars fan, but something he always commended the movies for was how they advanced cinematography and VFX. I remember when seeing Attack of the Clones we saw it with a digital projector. There was even an intermission during the movie to point out the technology. I vividly remember after walking out the theater my dad commending how clean the movie looked. Digital cameras are just so much more practical. One huge benefit was they could review a scene almost immediately after shooting and make a judgement, instead of developing it later and hoping you got the shots you wanted. Star Wars was always about pushing the technological bar to improve and revolutionize cinema and here we had a director taking this franchise and looking backwards. Looking to do what was done before, what was safe and proven.
I first had the VHS tapes for the Star Wars Special Editions, and even at 5 years old, I remember being at my baby sitter's house, she would let me watch the tapes in the bedroom and I never skipped the featurettes before the movie. I was always impressed with the details behind making a movie, it carried into adulthood. I am bummed I never had a friend to share a love of documentaries with, I was always told "how can you watch a 3 hour documentary?" I never had anything ill to say about George, I'm one of the millions of kids, who had sparked synapses from his movies.
Okay, I'm not the most socially adept person but I'm pretty sure that bragging about stealing a Boba Fett action figure from a child is not an acceptable conversation topic.
That experimental Russian film where they show a man's face juxtaposed with different imagery reminds me of the scene where Luke sees the burning corpses of Owen and Beru. I recall that Lucas actually told Mark Hamill to emote less during that scene, as it is the juxtaposition of images more than the performance that sells Luke's grief.
To be fair, Rian Johnson makes a lot of references to Kurosawa in his movie, among other things. But he really just puts them in as... references. And the execution of these ideas is still lacking.
I agree, there’s way too much focus on plot in Rian’s film compared to Lucas’s trilogy. I mean, having different writers and directors each time is against the entire personal vision of the saga.
@Adam Wasiura You didn't watch this How to Watch Star Wars video, did you? People cherrypick the silly things George has said over his 40+ years in the film world to make him look like an idiot without ever trying to understand what he was going for. Every film is "saved in the edit" and FUCK Disney, they're a hyper-commercialized monopoly feeding people slop while manipulating their nostalgia for years.
What's great about this video is that it doesn’t fall into the trap of “defending” the prequels with backhanded compliments, claiming they succeed despite "terrible acting and dialogue," or saying, "I know they're bad, but I still enjoy them.” I don't remember ever coming across a single negative review of the prequels (honestly, not one!) that wasn't either disingenuous or missing the point entirely. The most common complaints usually concern the acting or dialogue. Rarely do these critics acknowledge that the prequel trilogy, like the original trilogy before it, is a pastiche of Saturday matinee serials, B movies and old Hollywood epics. It’s not exactly subtle. The titles of the films are all based on B movie standards. One of them is called “Attack of the Clones” for Christ’s sake! Even “The ___ Strikes Back” was a fairly common B picture title, though these days I suspect most people think Star Wars invented the phrase. The dialogue is exactly what George Lucas wanted it to be. Tom Stoppard of all people did some script doctoring on Revenge of the Sith, but then Sir Tom isn’t known for writing Marvel films so he probably falls outside the scope of your average RedLetterMedia fan’s erudition. I actually get why people don’t like the prequels. The original trilogy films are, at least on the surface, fairly simple adventure movies; people don’t have any major objections to these being told in that pulpy 1930s-style. They are Lucas’s “Odyssey”. The prequels on the other hand are his “Iliad”. They are essentially a character drama. I understand why certain people find that story told using the same B movie language and aesthetic to be jarring. That’s a perfectly valid subjective opinion to hold. Of course, rather than just admit these films don’t work for them on a subjective level, these people spew nonsense about how the prequels are objectively bad. Not liking the artistic choices Lucas made is fine, but refusing to acknowledge that they are artistic choices is just outright dishonesty. Star Wars is not a flawed imitation of modern action blockbusters; modern action blockbusters are flawed imitations of Star Wars. The other major complaint is that these films turn Darth Vader into a whiny little bitch of a mummy’s boy who spends his time rolling in meadows instead of choking people and cutting them to bits with his lightsaber. They completely fail to understand that this was the point. The first thing Obi Wan says in relation to Anakin is “Why do I sense we’ve picked up another pathetic life form?” For all that people denigrate Lucas’s dialogue, I think he chooses his words very carefully. The use of the word “pathetic” was not accidental. He wanted to challenge the audience’s idea of who Darth Vader was. The truth is that Darth Vader has always been a whiny little bitch, even in the originals; he was just a whiny little bitch who stood at six foot six with the voice of James Earl Jones. Watching the films in chronological order, you notice how consistent the character actually is across both trilogies. You realise that in moments such as the “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” scene, Vader actually just has anger management issues. When I first saw Revenge of the Sith, while I loved the movie as a whole, I hated Darth Vader’s “Nooooo!” at the end. This wasn’t the Darth Vader I remembered. For a long time I was convinced this was the worst moment in all of Star Wars. It just seemed so jarring. What was Lucas thinking? A few years ago, rewatching Revenge of the Sith, I realised Lucas was right and I was wrong. The reason I found Vader’s final “nooooo!” to be jarring was because it was supposed to be. I was still thinking of Anakin and Darth Vader as two separate characters. I expected him to take on an entirely new personality now he was in the suit. But Lucas was trying to show me that underneath the mask, he was still that same little boy from Tatooine. Star Wars at its core is a tragedy. There’s a line in AOTC spoken by Yoda: “Young Skywalker is in pain, terrible pain.” If you ever need a one sentence summary of the whole six film saga that’s it right there. Of course the Stoklasas and Stuckmanns just wanted cool spaceships and Darth Vader murdering people. I don’t think it’s any accident that what has to be the most celebrated scene from the Disney Star Wars films is just Darth Vader slicing people up in a corridor. If it’d been up to them, the prequels would have just been this scene played on a loop for three films. I’m so glad we got George Lucas’s prequel trilogy and not the generic fan service action movies the cynical Gen-X OT fanboys wanted.
Sorry for the long comment, but like you I’ve been incubating a lot of Star Wars thoughts for some time. This is actually the heavily abridged version. Keep up the good work.
Lucas has said many times... I think I even have a clip of one time in this video... that Darth Vader is meant to be a pathetic character. He's a messed up guy hooked up to life support, and it's mostly his own fault he got that way. Many fans never got past the fact that the suit looked cool to think about what was inside it, so when the prequels made them think about it, they got upset. If Lucas DIDN'T say that Vader was messed up and it was tragic that he was in that suit, he would be saying that evil is cool, which obviously was not his intention. Anakin had all the potential in the world, and he threw it away... for some sympathetic reasons, and in the prequels you see why, but the point was to show that his choices were sometimes understandable, but wrong. Fans just wanted a badass slicing up people with a lightsaber like they got in Rogue One. That's an adolescent first reaction, that being a powerful badass is a great goal, and Lucas had a message designed for adolescents in the movies to show why that's not a good thing to be, but many adult fans haven't advanced far enough to understand it.
Man your stuff on vader is spot on i agree. People just couldn't accept the truth of what darth vader is. Vader is just a scared weak minded slave boy. OT fans just couldn't accept the truth george was giving to them about vader. That why i love what lucas did he made vader way more human.
@@rickworley9081 I say he's both. Vader is intimidating. He is a badass. He has become a boogieman for the Empire and the Rebels fear him for a reason. And yet he's pathetic in spite of all that. He's a crippled man that squandered everything he had and everything he was and he spends each day of his life in hatred and self-loathing. He has no hope, no future, nothing to aspire to. All he has is the hellish life he created for himself. All of his fearsome fighting skills and power are for naught, because they give him nothing. He has nothing. Not even a will of his own - he's the Emperor's enforcer, his right hand man, his hitman. His slave. As one reporter put it in an interview with George, he's not Satan, he's the guy Satan sends to get his cigarettes. He has nobody to blame for it but himself and he knows it. And he spent a half of his life consumed by this, living purely on autopilot because he has nowhere else to go to. He can't just stop because he has no one to turn to. He believes that it's too late for him, that nobody else will ever accept him. And up until Episode VI, he's right. Anyone wanting to be Darth Vader is laughable because Darth Vader himself doesn't want to be Darth Vader. As for his portrayal in the prequels, I think people just kind of forget just how much a person can change over the course of few years.
Rick Worley You generalize some fan’s legitimate criticisms. It’s not necessary to see Vader slicing up enemies ALL the time. It was nice to see ONCE why he is so feared and the true scope of his mastery of the force. As far as critiques on bad delivery or clunky dialog being purposeful, look at Ewen Mcgregor’s or Portman’s delivery, or anyone else’s for that matter. Same dialog, just more talented and seasoned actors at work. Jake Lloyd and Christensen just needed more coaching. Qualified actors have stated George’s directing style is sometimes lacking, where he’ll say to do another take and he’ll just say “Do it again, but better this time”. The man’s a genius but many ppl need a little more direction to know where to go or get into the mindset of the character. That said, I love the prequels.
I've been an ardent, unironic supporter and defender of George Lucas and the prequels ever since they came out. This whole video was a catharsis for 20 years of frustration with having to constantly fight tooth and nail to get basically anyone I ever met to acknowledge that there are even some things that the prequels do well. Even with just that, I would adore this video. However, the extra effort you put in to show the true greatness and beauty of the prequels (and all of the passion and love that Lucas put into making them) is what I truly appreciate about this video. Your work has just further enhanced my love of the films, as I can now better explain/put in to words/show examples of what makes me love them so much. So, sincerely, thank you.
@@Floki-D. except Lucas' messages are NOT exactly 'hidden'. They've always been there in plain sight, it's just up to the audience to notice them. And for that you will need to understand Lucas better, know some Shakespeare, and be a bit (or a lot!) more cinema literate. When Lucas explained that 'Star Wars' (the Original Trilogy) was structured according to Joseph Campbell's monomyth, how many of the audience do you think had read Campbell? Have you? I haven't either, I've looked it up to get the gist, and that helped me see the ideas Lucas was using in Luke's 'hero's journey'. I understood better what 'Star Wars' represents and appreciated the art all the more for it. There are often deeper meanings and levels to art. So to fully appreciate art, you firstly need to know what it represents. This video takes us through that, if you paid attention you'll hear Lucas himself explaining his intentions and influences for the artistic choices in his films. Rick is helping us see the references Lucas draws on by presenting the relevant film clips alongside Lucas' commentary. I presume you watched the whole video right? So what 'hidden messages' are you talking about?
@@Floki-D. what did Lucas say afterwards 'just to sell the movie'? I don't understand what you think Lucas had to 'make up' afterwards? Whatever is 'in the movie' is in already 'in the movie'. He couldn't have put it there afterwards. Like I said, nothing is 'hidden', you just need to be able to notice it.
@@Floki-D. do yourself a favour and listen to this detailed video essay on why the Prequels are now more popular than ever: ruclips.net/video/RfMDCFf0wEM/видео.html
@@Floki-D. sorry what's your point? And do you know many people who aren't on the Internet? That essay was about how Lucas developed the Star Wars world and created something to parallel Tolkien or Frank Herbert's Dune. It explained how Lucas changed, and moved up several gears when writing the Prequels. The world's he created were considerably more detailed and fleshed out. As were it's characters. Lucas was seeking the approval of the serious Science Fiction writers. The same ones that derided the OT as derivative banality. That's why he made the Prequels story far richer and a far more complex one. And we're now in an age where audiences are far more receptive to that.
It's kind of funny that you mentioned the Droid Factory having hellish imagery, because Lego Star Wars has even more of that by having sections of the Droid Factory level literally be filled with lava. Even Lego Star Wars understood the subtle techniques in the film.
As someone who's always dismissed the prequels as "underrated but just fine either way," I'm glad I found this excellent video. George is a creative, ingenious auteur.
Not to antagonize you here but i saw you in the comment section of net alliance's star wars movies ranked video. You commented that you dislike the prequels but now here you compliment the prequels and george lucas. Why? I'm just asking.
@@CC-Cody-di2uq He never said he disliked the prequels. He said he dismissed them. That's not an indication of what he thinks about their quality and he also said that he's always acknowledged that they're underrated.
I bet a small minority of Star Wars fans saw themselves as behind George Lucas's back as he was writing the Star Wars prequels saying don't do this don't do that don't do this meanwhile George Lucas is like this screw off let me work. What those fans don't understand is that it was George Lucas's stuff he could do what he wanted with it
"I don't like watching the prequels first because it ruins the "I am you father" twist in Empire Strikes Back" Oh, you mean the movie you've already seen 30+ times? You can't watch them chronologically because you don't want that spoiled for you?
It's still a powerful moment chronologically. I knew the twist beforehand and watched Star Wars for the first time chronologically. It was still impactful as you see Luke's view of the world and his destiny crumble around him. Plus, saying that Empire is only good for the twist is like saying Sixth Sense is a bad film if you know the twist. There are other qualities to the film that give it the reputation it deserves
@@onemoreminute0543 Exactly. I’ve seen all the Star Wars movies more times than I can count and Empire is still my favorite. Still get something new out of it every time I watch it
@@jasonshaneyfelt1039 For me, Empire and Sith are neck and neck for the title of GOAT Star Wars film. It's honestly quite hard for me to pick which one I think is better than the other. In a sense, I feel that Empire has fewer flaws but Sith has greater strengths
@@onemoreminute0543 I understand that completely. Sith used to be my #3 (after a New Hope), but very recently I've found that it's crept its way into the #2 spot. Who knows? Maybe in a few years it will be #1 lol My ranking (Lucas' films only) right now would have to be 1. Empire Strikes Back 2. Revenge of the Sith 3. A New Hope 4. Return of the Jedi (very similar to Revenge of the Sith in that it has more flaws, but also incredible strengths) 5. The Phantom Menace 6. Attack of the Clones I love all six a ton, though! Don't think me putting Attack of the Clones last means that I don't like it. Not the case at all. It's just that one of them had to be last.
Just like Star Wars I'm a fan of the The Man With No Name good Bad and The Ugly I just don't get why these so-called Star Wars fans have never branched out and actually tried to look at the references that George Lucas used in his movies
yet there are still people who seem to hate the guy for reasons that make no sense yet love the awful writing of the tv shows. Star Wars never was meant to be a MCU type project.
I would consider the prequels as soulless too. Everything thanks to the overuse of CGI looks to clean and fake. Even the things that where full models achieve this sterile computer look too, thanks to that. And not even to mention the things that contradicts to the original but where explained by off sources because the movie where not able to do it
@@ichmich9324 I'd argue the prequels almost have more soul than the originals. You are conflating technological limits with a deficit in soulfulness, by your logic, the mere fact that the sequels came out almost 2 decades where computer graphics had advanced leaps and bounds gives them more soul. That is similar to people complaining that old movies look bad, which is why they won't watch them. You don't know what people mean when they claim a work of art has or lacks soul.
@@ArgentWolf95 You have no idea how many times my friends have tried to get me to watch the tv shows. Whenever I give in, we get one episode in and I have to call it quits. They are horrible money grabs that just leech off of and defile the first 6 movies. There is a reason they haven't attempted any serious show based on the sequels, because there is nothing there for them to leech off of, because the sequels themselves did the exact same.
@@macicoinc9363 that's why I use the term overuse and the sterile computer look and funny enough the things that actually still look good are the ones they also excessively used models in the prequels. Or just make the comparison in the Original trilogy with the old version and the version that will now forever stick (not everything became worse sure the new filters are great and the lightsaber effects, but CGI the puppets and put scene in it back that where not in the Movie theater version had a reason.) ...... But not everything and Alot was CGI a whole set. Technology is a tool and thanks the sequels I finally have a marker how dumb something can be that most star wars fans reject it...... Or when in some years the people that grew up with it come and say "it was not that bad!" which make the hypothesis of child indoctrination as more important
This is easily the most compelling, well-researched fan documentary on the brilliance of Star Wars and its creator that I've ever seen. I've became a fan of these films in 1997, have been a regular member on TFN's Jedi Council Forums since 2003 and visited countless Star Wars Celebrations, and still, here I am, getting introduced to so much compelling analysis on the films and the creative vision behind them. Not only was it a joy to watch, but also a blessing to know there are still this many things to learn about these works after +23 years of experiencing them. I went to film school in the mid-00's and would often argue with people who wouldn't look beyond the word "blockbuster" or "escapist film" to appreciate the abundance of pure artistry and refined storytelling qualities. It was worth it then, and this documentary eloquently describes why it is just as worth it now. Thank you for making me appreciate these gems even more!
@@davidanderson4748 What are you talking about? Marcia Lucas was only on the editing side of production of A New Hope from August 1976 until Thanksgiving 1976. George meanwhile was in the editing room the entire time and had final say in all the decisions. She suggested some good ideas but like with editing George could say no. Like his telling no to Brian de Palma when he suggested George cut mention of the Force. Gary Kurtz also I'm sure contributed but he isn't the one who wrote the script. He also let Empire go over budget. This forced George to go back to the bank and Howard Kazanjian to take over as uncredited producer on Empire when Gary Kurtz left.
@@zoetropeguardian He only believes in the *secret history of Star Wars* conspiracy nonsense. Basically some odd SW fans feel "betrayed" by whatever GL did after 1980 / 1983 and they do anything, no matter how petty, to discredit the creator from his creation. Meanwhile, when you watch / read interviews with GL, he is clearly a humble person with a self-deprecating sense of humor who has no problem admitting to personal faults and is always praising others for their input and always talks about the influx of creativity in the collaborative team-effort that is filmmaking.
@@StarmanSkywalker Well said. It's funny as if they actually did their research they'd see how honest George is about the developmental phase. Here's a quote from him that shatters the narrative they like to have that he made things up as he went along and had nothing planned. "Back when I was writing Star Wars in 1974. I didn't really flesh out the storyline of the first three episodes. I had a rough of idea of what happened and who the major characters were, but I didn't include a scene-by-scene scenario of what happened in my treatment. That is what made writing the script in 1995 and 1996 more difficult because I had to go back to my sparse treatment of the prequel and greatly flesh it out. Some old ideas that really didn't work anymore were thrown out. And I added a great deal of ideas that have developed in my mind over the years to the script. Over the past 15 years since the release of Jedi, I have been jotting down neat ideas I've come up with in one of my spiral notebooks. I took all the new ideas and the old ones from my original treatment and came up with a character-driven adventure."
@@StarmanSkywalker If he were also such a terrible person he wouldn't be restoring films, starting an art's literacy museum, devoting time to his educational foundation he's had since the 90's, starting a school at NYU in recognition of Marty Scorsese, philanthropy, and countless other things like this. He continues to do good for society. I wish we could say the same with the individuals he trusted to continue his life's work.
I first saw this video 4 years ago. This video not only changed my perspective on Star Wars, it also changed my perspective on cinema in general. Not only did I grow a bigger appreciation for Star Wars, I also started watching films like Metropolis, Woody Allen's filmography, The Godfather trilogy, Martin Scorsese's filmography and the Dollars Trilogy. This video also changed the way I approached criticism. I rewatched the films Alien Resurrection and Prometheus, two movies I hated initially but now like. I hated them because they didn't do what I wanted them to do, but I now appreciate those two movies for what they did. Thank you for improving my perspective on cinema.
This man poured his heart into the Prequels and the fanbase absolutely eviscerated them, calling him a money-hungry, talentless hack. No wonder he sold the franchise to Disney. Now with the Sequels, we get to see what Star Wars looks like when it's made by actual greedy hacks who don't know what they're doing. The Maker is gone, Prequel bashers. Are you happy now?
In an ironic way, Lucas selling to Disney probably redeemed the Prequels for many fans. They saw the Sequel Trilogy had no story, no arc, just rehashed ideas of redeeming Ben Solo, The First Order, The Resistance and The Emperor. It showed that the Prequel Trilogy had a real story, a real arc and a real reason to be called 1,2,3. 7,8,9 were just 3 movies made on the fly with no objective. Maybe Lucas was The Phantom Menace selling time Disney and seeing how the fanbase would turn on them? Lol
Please give evidence Rian Johnson or Gareth Edwards are greedy hacks. Are you saying Ron Howard is a greedy hack? Its funny to me that EVERYTHING Rick says about how the prequels are lied about and misconstrued applies as much to the Disney films.
@@TheJiminatorHS Wow besides an attack on Ron - why do you say this. George thought he was good enough to do episode 1 TPM LOL I believe a certain youtuber thinks George's opinion matters
This is maybe the best video essay I’ve watched on RUclips and I have watched countless video essays on RUclips. A great work of art yields more depth no matter how closely you look. I hope Lucas is taken seriously in his lifetime, not just as a popular Hollywood director, but as a grandmaster of visual media. His films know more about ourselves than we do.
52:30 The podrace is such a great sequence. You always looked forward to seeing it as a kid, never got old. It's exciting in itself but the way it's framed narratively as the redemption of a slaveboy really sets it off.
I'm so glad I found this channel. This dude is the real deal. I'm tired of listening to people who don't know more than me about star wars Yap about star wars. Learning something while watching something like this is refreshing.
It is unfortunate that film "critics" are not just illiterate in the domain that they critique in but that they tend to appeal to the average consumer who readily accept their "criticism". Within academia research papers are reviewed by a hand picked group of people known to be experts on the subject (or similar subjects) of those papers; In the interpretation of law we turn to lawyers for their expertise on legal matters; in the realm of film the world has decided that the authorities on film making are people who simply watch films.
This is true, I say all the time that most people wouldn't just pick up a scalpel and start doing brain surgery (not if the goal was for the patient to live, anyway) because they understand that it's a subject you have to learn about, you aren't born knowing how to do it. And yet any yokel with $10 for a movie ticket thinks they can tell Terrence Malick what he did wrong.
@@rickworley9081 I understand the sentiment, but there is a saying "you don't need to be a chef to tell the cake is shit". Roger Ebert was one of the most famous critics certainly knew cinema and what he like but he did once try make a film which turned into a mess. Everyone's a critic now with the internet for better or worse.
I think it's because most "film critics" are either Communications, Journalism, or English majors who are just looking for a job that pays the bills. Newspapers and websites hire them because "oh you know how to write" and in the case of English majors it's also "you know how to evaluate plots and characters" Except a film is a sum of so many parts that as far as media goes, only video games can rival it, so if you only judge a film by its acting and script you're missing out on so much of the final result.
As the other poster said, you don't have to be an expert on cinematography to either enjoy a movie or dislike it. Knowing extra details about it can make you appreciate some things more or less but, watching movies isn't rocket science, it isn't surgery, it isn't law. Those professions either are applied sciences or have serious real world implications that a poor professional will make a difference. Movies are meant to be liked or disliked by audiences. How good a film will be does not determine if someone will continue living with a brain tumor or not. That the original argument in this thread is really pretentious and absurd. A more apt comparison is car design. Most likely all of you have or had a car in your life. Most likely you bought the one you liked the most. Did you have to know everything about automotive history, the entire inner workings of engine, chassis and suspension or how to design a car in order to like it? NO. Know those things are a good thing but either it looks good or it doesn't. Either it feels like it drives well or not. You don't need to know anything about a car in order to mostly appreciate it or enjoy it.
Watching this essay convinced me to seek out American Graffiti, and the combination of the two was enough to completely change my opinion on George Lucas. I started appreciating the Prequels around 5 years ago, but my perception of Lucas had already been skewed by the sheer amount of mis-information about the man that is floating around. The amount of erasure of his legacy and responsibility for even the original trilogy is both concerning and puzzling. Thank you for this, genuinely. Great job.
I remember the first time I saw American Graffiti and being confused by it, because I only knew Lucas from Star Wars at the time and this just wasn't what I was expecting at all. But looking at it more and seeing how many things they do have in common really helps you understand Star Wars. The superficial stuff that most people notice about Star Wars isn't there, but the filmmaking, the camerawork, the themes of the movie, all have so much in common with what's going on in Star Wars once you get past the superficial parts. Once you realize these movies are two ways the same guy was talking about many of the same things, you start to understand much more about how Lucas thinks as an artist.
@Adam Wasiura Yeah, no it isn't. Actually look in to it, it's 100% narratives circulated by gen X and half truths. No common story surrounding Lucas is complete fact
@Adam Wasiura Literally the biggest piece of misinformation about Lucas. Do you not think Lucas had final cut of his own film? Or have you asked yourself how a film can be "saved in editing" when prior to editing no film exists? The cut this refers to is the John Jympson cut, which was deemed bad by Lucas and he was promptly fired and replaced by Lucas with Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch, and Richard Chew. Interviews on this subject are incredibly easy to find, as Paul Hirsch especially has been transparent about this. Every film has massive amounts edited out. Do you ever hear about how "Apocalypse Now" was saved in the edit, and that Ford Coppola was a hack because of it, or morever the same about Lucas in reference to American Graffiti? Of course not, the notion is a ridiculous half truth circulated by Lucas hating gen-X'ers that want to believe so bad he was a hack and a cheat who had nothing to do with the success of any Star Wars film. It's demonstrably false and tarnishes the reputation of a genuinely great, or at least once great filmmaker. It's flat out cultural erasure.
@Adam Wasiura Bad for you, I maintain they have positive qualities, but definitely a dip from the OT imo. The answer is, plenty of reasons. Lucas did a lot (contrary to semi-popular belief) , but wasn't a one man show. Also sometimes creatives just lose "it", no one has the spark forever man. He's pretty open about having young children changing how he felt about creating art and also star wars as a franchise, you can draw a line pretty directly from that to stuff like Greedo shooting first or the Phantom Menace seeking a younger audience. But Lucas was heavily involved in Indiana Jones, and all OT films and all his directorial efforts prior to the contentious prequels are incredible.
The rapidly growing number of people who inanely spout RLM quotes every time Star Wars is mentioned is annoying. This video is interesting, and I appreciate it.
This is, bar none, the greatest Star Wars video on RUclips, probably only second to my Kreia video. Many people, especially the RLM idiots, have criticized Star Wars for being dumb and silly, yet you do it justice in every way imaginable. I think your very last few minutes criticizing people like RLM and Chris Stuckkman is not on the level as the rest of the video, but the absolute irony of him echoing RLM makes it worth it. I will try to have more people to watch your video.
@@rickworley9081 Thank you, I greatly appreciate it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it after you've watched it. I think I give the Star Wars movies the rightful examination it deserves but I am ever so happy to have found your video; to not be the only one to properly defend the franchise, including the prequels, is a delight.
Even the dialogue makes sense when you consider that Padme's a sheltered royal, and a main part of the Jedi Religion is to suppress your feelings and keep your emotions in check. Of course they wouldn't talk like say, Han Solo or Princess Leia, since the former is down-to-earth, and the latter is very emotive and emotional.
Oh definitely. The main prequel characters generally come from quite high up positions in society , so it makes sense that the dialogue for them would generally be quite formal. Meanwhile, most of the OG characters come from quite low backgrounds , such as Han being a smuggler and Luke a farmboy. Leia had a bit of that formal dialogue in ANH, but it disappeared over the following films as she integrated more with the lower peoples of the rebellion. Heck , the dialogue makes even MORE sense when you consider the fact that the prequel characters are literally meant to be from the previous generation. Each generation brings their own style to the linguistics table :)
So literally everyone talks in that monotone tone? Like even when they are in danger they dont show emotions at all in epsiode 1, ep 2 and 3 are defintely much better in acting department
The thing that always boggles my mind when discussing the prequels with people is the complaints about Christensen's acting, they say he's wooden and awkward and dislike-able. That's the whole point, he's supposed to be. Jedi are raised to suppress emotion and not feel lust or anything like that, but Anakin was taken too old to properly do this; Yoda even warns about it in phantom menace. Of course he's going to come off weird, he's told he can't feel these things and to shove them down, but too late, so you get an awkward horny bastard who doesn't know how to handle his feels. If you see his character that way, Christensen actually does a fantastic job and fits the movie perfectly.
Darth Sonic 413 - There is no argument to make. The writing was terrible and the story was cut-n-paste lackluster. Other than Ewen McGregor as Obi-wan, the casting was pretty awful. It’s a tragedy on every level and a hubristic waste of talent.
I came back to this video because someone said George Lucas should've looked at Rome while writing the prequels, I wanted to find the bit where TPM's parade quotes _The Fall of The Roman Empire_ and _Ben-Hur._ Say what you will about media analysis and reading too much into things, but the real proof we're media illiterate is that someone is claiming George Lucas should've done something _that he did do,_ and not even recognizing that. Thanks for the video, Rick!
Spot on. It's really sad how lacking visual literacy is in our cultures. We really need to do better. I should note you can also find the Roman influence on the costumes worn by the Naboo citizens. Particularly those in audience of Padmé in the throne room at the beginning. Likewise the podrace is very Roman in nature with how chariot races were used to distract the populist. There's so many more I'm sure. The fact that people don't see these things baffles me.
Terminator 2's drain canal chase is another example of the invisible line done well, only cutting right to left as opposed to left to right. It also has a well-placed breather moment amid the action where Arnold (or Peter Kent his stunt double) does a slow-mo jump down into the canal like Anakin's drawn-out jump above the canyon. Naturally Stuckmann never complained about this in T2 because a) it's more modern in its technique and aligns with his finite, short-term understanding of film, and b) unlike the Star Wars prequels, meets his shallow values of consensus approval. Great video, by the way.
Thanks! Obviously, Stuckmann doesn't understand anything about editing or screen geography, so he'd usually never notice something like that. He just bitched about it in TPM because he was looking for things to complain about, because that's what some people do with the prequels.
@@rickworley9081 Yeah, it's unbelievable. He's not even a journalist (at least). Btw, I'm so glad you're making these videos! I stumbled upon your blog a few years ago, when I was looking for positive reviews of the prequel films. That was the first time I watched Star Wars in full, and I had absolutely no idea what it was actually all about before that. I was blown away by all the six films, and I'm happy I'm in good company. Thank you for making these. And I love your writing on Woody Allen too - great analysis of his themes.
Katherine Tawlu Thanks! I’m working on videos about Woody Allen and others, too. This wasn’t meant to be just a Star Wars channel, I’m just doing those first.
I really enjoyed this. It's not often that you learn things from an opinion or review anymore. You can tell a ton of time and care went into making this. Theres a ton of editing and detail that most RUclipsrs wouldn't bother with when, "lawl, your opinion sucks" is so much easier to produce. More people need to see this video, and I hope it blows up soon. :D
@@rickworley9081 i wanted to add to your great anaylsis, that lightsabers lighting up fights was also in empire strikes back (luke vs vader in the bespin carbonite freezing contaiment room) and luke vs vader in return of the jedi but yes that guy was being intellectual dishonest about it not only showing up in tfa but its the first time....there was many japanese films decades ago that had the samurai fighting someone else in the dark with their swords in the moonlight showing their faces for split seconds
I remember as a kid, I was part of a children's Christmas program. I was maybe 9 or 10 years old at the time, but there were some older teenagers, 17-19 ish helping. One teenage boy was talking to a teen girl about how much he loved Star Wars and my happy little child self chimed in "oh I love Star Wars, too!" He turned to look at me and sort of stared me down and asked, "Which do you like? The Original Trilogy or the Prequel Trilogy?" And as at that point in my young life I hadn't seen the OT yet (besides Empire) I said, "I like the Prequels!" And he turned away from me and as he turned away he said, "Don't talk to me." That kinda crushed me as a little kid. So I stopped watching the PT after that, or any Star Wars really. I kinda got back into it with the Sequels (until I came to the conclusion that those sucked), but I hadn't re-watched the Prequels yet. I decided to watch them again before I saw Rise of Skywalker (bleh). By then I had seen dozens and dozens of RUclips reviews crapping on the PT. I figured that any pleasure I had gotten out of the Prequels before then must have been just because I was a silly kid, since everybody seemed to unanimously declare that they were utter garbage. So when I re-watched them, I decided to take into consideration every complaint about them I had heard, so I could see just how bad they were. The "wooden acting and bad dialogue," Jar Jar being absolutely annoying, midichlorians ruining how the Force worked, everything. And... I absolutely adored them upon re-watch. And it'd been about 15 years since I'd last seen them. Saw Revenge of the Sith in theaters twice in 2005, and didn't re-watch them until 2020. I really didn't remember much about them. But none of the criticism bothered me. I didn't mind the acting (in some cases I thought it was great), I didn't mind the dialogue (in some cases I thought it was great), Jar Jar didn't seem to be in it nearly as much as people complained about and I genuinely still thought he was funny, I thought the midichlorians enhanced the force instead of diminishing it, I really liked all of it. There were a few things I wasn't super fond of, sure. For one thing, there was a lot of CGI. Didn't mind it in most cases, but come on, they couldn't make at least a _couple_ of real sets of Clone Trooper armor? Just a couple? But overall, I love them. I'm a die hard Prequel fan. And incidentally, not that anyone cares, The Phantom Menace is my absolute favorite Star Wars film.
I think this comment breaks it down really well. While my journey wasn’t the same as yours, I had much the same reaction when watching the prequels, to the point they’ve become my favorite part of the saga! I love all 6 Star Wars movies but there’s something about those 3 that just does it for me (too long so say here) Ah yes, and “that business with [Disney] doesn’t… doesn’t count”
They're fine. They aren't terrible, the problem mostly stems from the fact that they had to follow the OT, which is a daunting fucking task. Unfortunately, the prequels at their peak never really reached the same heights that the OT did. Also the CGI in ep2 was kinda bad even for the time. It's become more understood that Lucas was trying to pave the road for a new kind of streamlined, efficient, and affordable CGI pipeline, and in that respect, they were successful. They helped to make CGI something that is attainable at significantly lower budgets, and I'm sure ILM/ Lucas Film were able to make buckets of money doing SFX work for other projects. But... that doesn't make ep2 look any better. There IS some gorgeous CGI work in Attack of the Clones, but those moments are relatively sparse and what we got in the end was a movie that repeatedly slips and falls back into the uncanny valley. Revenge of the Sith made MAJOR improvements to the quality of the CGI work and looks pretty good, and I think that Phantom Menace holds up very well, visually, largely because it had to lean the most on practical effects of any of the prequels. Also, also, ep2 is probably the worst movie in all of Lucas Star Wars, just in general. I... "Like" it, but I don't "like like" it...
@@Kevin-jb2pv I couldn't disagree more. Episode 2 does not deserve the hate it gets, you can deny it all you want, but the arena scene with the Jedi fighting for their lives is a memorable climax. Anakin's stilted dialogue makes a lot of sense when you consider he's lived with monks his entire life who have all learned how to suppress their emotions, but he was unable to detach himself from his emotions and was in an internal battle to suppress them. I could go on, there is some much depth in the prequels that OT fanboys want to ignore and pretend it's bad... it's infuriating. Artistic interpretation is subjective. From a story point of view, the narrative is astonishingly strong. But if your main concern is the CGI then I could see why you may have a strongly different opinion. Episode 3 is the best Star Wars movie.
@ar I also hate how some OT fans say that the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan is bad because "it goes on for too long", "nothing interesting is happening," "they aren't even trying to kill each other," and how its "all style with no substance," but Nick Gillard, the choreographer of all the prequel trilogy fights, perfectly explained what the fight was about, what Obi-Wan was trying to do, what Anakin was trying to do, both of their mindsets, and the fact that they known each other's moves and counterattacks so well from training and fighting together for so long, etc. Plus, the fact that the novelization itself reaffirms all of that, is what makes the fight so compelling to me, along with John Williams' brilliant score.
Revenge of The Sith is my favorite movie, but One of my biggest Criticisms of ROTS is that Cody's is a CGI trooper with Temuerra Morrisons face slapped on top, would have been cool to have him be the only one with real armor, other than that ROTS is great, I wish they'd make a 3 and a half hour cut with deleted scenes and stuff from the Novelization
@Adam Wasiura Uhuh.....thats not copying thats just encorporating something i mean in my projects i take elements from stuff i like all the time its not at all unusual or wrong to do so.
Rick, I loved it when you finally got to talking about the depth of meaning in the prequels after enduring a three-hour gish-gallop on EFAP 84; I'm so glad to see a full exposition of it. For me, the pain of that debate was worth it if only for introducing me to your work. Bravo!
This is beyond the current level of media analysis, at least compared to what I have seen. This isn't just analytical, insightful and holistic - working like a very good documentary or lecture - it's crafted so well and could stand on it's own as a movie! Probably enjoyable even by those who have never seen Star Wars. You've raised the bar! Bravo! And I mean that it is like a movie, at least how I watched it: Starting with the "why critics got it wrong" video first. The public has reached a consensus and we start with the story of a dismissed, ridiculed movie maker "who sloppily does it for the money", while the annoyed narrator defends his work against ridiculous nitpicks that aren't even mistakes. It goes into the corrupted nature of the reviewers and the narrators desire for quality insights and truth. Despite the mainstream criticism the movie maker seems to not be an idiot after all, when we understand how his intended vision recontextualizes story and structure, creating a depth that many must have missed and misunderstood, because they wanted to see their own instead of the artist's vision. That movie maker isn't a bumbling fool... And still: The artist seems broken, as the industry itself is corrupted, commercialized, soulless and the viewers simply don't want to see or even consider the art that is so important to him. (Now to the beginning) It goes back to the artist's intentions and roots. The narrator makes a desperate plea to showcase the quality (at the level neighboring obsession!) and connections to countless other movies and the pure medium of film itself! And beyond! So much seems intentional and seems part of the artist's brilliance to materialize his vision into a piece of art - not soulless moneygrabbing by some amateur, but a well crafted, filigree, self referencing design created by a master. And then we reach the climax - with a crescendo of energetic music where even basic designs like circles start to carry philosophical meanings, meanings that are everywhere where they have purpose. The narrator ends with the demonstration how even the color of a robe communicates purposefully, despite being so subtle that most won't notice it or dismiss it as a continuity error. The work has intention and design to such a degree that I feel nearly paralyzed, because I couldn't even comprehend how deep the complexity CAN go and how purpose is shaping and connecting everything in that universe - like the force. The narrator has successfully demonstrated the brilliance of the artist, who could have deserved standing ovations instead of ridicule by opinionated "critics" and viewers who were too intellectually lazy to even engage with what the creation actually is. Thank you for this wonderful journey. It has changed my perspective on the movies and on George Lucas. In fact I believe it has changed the nature of how I will experience movies, stories and art from now on.
The Prequels are like a Stanley Kubrick film that's stretched over three movies. The Shining was ridiculed when it came out and A Clockwork Orange resulted in people sending death threats to Kubrick and his family. Now they're seen as two of the greatest movies of all time. The Prequels will be the same. I think they're actually better than the good but overrated Original Trilogy.
@@lucasoheyze4597 Why ever not? A films reputation is not stuck in time. The comparison was not between the quality of Kubrick and Lucas , but instead between how their works have a garnered a more positive reception over time. :)
@@poppag8281 There first was someone who commented on almost every comment (but those reactions dissappeared). He said stuff like CGI=bad, Prequel fans are child idiots, etc.
@@VibingMeike Well, the CGI in those movies was bad. It doesn't hold up today, and it was very over used. There's nothing wrong with it as a tool but so many scenes in those movies are just some actor standing in front of a completely cgi background, talking to cgi characters. It just feels and looks weird in the end. They honestly would have been better off going full clone wars and just animating it all. At least then there wouldn't have been dissonance.
@@Audiodump Well, you're talking to the right person! Because I've done my research on the CGI and practical effects of the Prequels. This comment will be long, so I won't have to reply a second time. Let's see what practical effects the Prequels have. TPM (this one has more practical effects than the three Original Trilogy movies combined, TPM also has more practical effects than TFA, and possibly more than TLJ and TROS) Real models were built for: Battle droids, podracers, droidekas, Naboo's castle and many many other buildings on Naboo, like for the ending scene there was built a massive model (the inside of the castle was also actually built). The kind of tanks from the Trade Federation on the battle of Naboo, big parts of Coruscant, like the landing platform, Naboo Starfighters. There was a real forest and a real desert, big parts of Mos Espa, the Jedi Councel room, the entire slave city and big parts of the underwater city of Naboo were built, many explosions in the podrace and the final battle were done with models, many aliens were made with practical effects. Backgrounds were a mix of practical effects and CGI. AOTC Things that were built: Palpatine's office, Lars' homestead, again, the Jedi Councel room, big parts from the inside and outside from the buildings on Naboo (like the fireplace scene, the foreground of the 'stolen kiss' and picknick scene), Kamino and Geonosis were built and models were made. The Tuskan Raider camp, Anakin's yellow car in the chase scene at the beginning of the movie. There is again a real desert, filmed in Tunesia and they went to Italy and/ or Spain to film parts of Naboo. ROTS The last shot was already filmed during the filming of AOTC (Lars' homestead). There were models for: the battle droids again, big parts of Utapau, Kashyyyck, Mustafar, Coruscant, Jedi Starfighters and other ships, other planets in the order 66 scene. Palpatine's office, the Jedi Councel room, Padmé's apartment, even the lava you see on Mustafar is real lava, but put into the shots digitally, that's why it has aged so well. And a little fun fact: the waterfalls on Naboo were made with salt, so it would look a bit more realistic. Just search: Star Wars Prequels practical effects, and you'll find even more stuff than I already mentioned. Also a few links: ruclips.net/video/p0cpRamEur4/видео.html ruclips.net/video/jhpFsO8wUoI/видео.html ruclips.net/video/VgS3pt0yMvs/видео.html boards.theforce.net/threads/practical-effects-in-the-prequels-sets-pictures-models-etc.50017310/ www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-The-Phantom-Menace-used-more-practical-effects-than-all-the-other-Star-Wars-films The Prequels pioneered the CGI technology, they didn't overuse it.
Watching that kid get excited about Attack of the Clones... damn, I haven't felt that amount of joy for Star Wars in so long, that thrill of discovery and sense of wonder, that I'm almost envious. It's good to know that beyond all the analyses and internet slapfights the core of Star Wars endures, and will still find an audience in each generation with a need for that kind of myth-making.
it's like if you ever wanted to show someone one group of films that displays all the most successful motfis and genres of film history, the Prequels and the OT would be the ideal films to show them. it's like a collage of all the subtle things that resonate with the viewer, whether we immedietely know why it does or not. when i was a kid watching EP2 i was so obssessed with the way Yoda equips his ligthsaber, and now i know it was because of the successful nature it was used in westerns.
I never noticed the purple color symbolism! Even after analyzing the films by means of mythology, and seeing many reviews as well as articles, I still find out more! That was an amazing video. Thank you for making this!
Still my favourite video essay on RUclips. Made me realise that George Lucas' only real weakness as a filmmaker, was that he completely underestimated the sheer stupidity and ignorance of Star Wars fans. Who never understood his intention with these films in the first place. Authorial intent matters, you don't get to dismiss it out of hand just because you don't understand what he's conveying with his writing and directorial style.
That's the case for many fandoms, some 'fans' dislike something, because they don't understand it. And some of them don't think: 'hey, maybe it's my fault for not understanding it, maybe I missed something?' I was in a similar situation with reading the Warrior Cats books. I had to read the first 3 books twice to fully understand the story, I just couldn't understand the little details the first time.
Thank god he didn´t try to play it to the fans. Which didn´t prevent him from making some adjustments, like cutting down Jar Jar´s role in episode 2. But he stuck to his overall vision, which was great.
I just want to say that I couldn't get through EFAP 84 - my sanity lasted about 2 hours.... I'm amazed that you were so patience and calm. I don't know why the focus of "debate" was so heavy on plot nitpicks and constant questions about obvious things like what Trade Federation wants from Naboo...Too bad it didn't get to an actual discussion about TPM from movie standpoint. I hope you're working on another great video! Stay safe and good luck with your channel.
When they said "What do the Trade Federation want?" and I said "Money" and an hour later we were still just repeating that, I started to guess that the conversation wasn't going to go very far...
Rick Worley but what does the trade federation? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?
Adam Wasiura uh prequels had duel of the fates, battle of geonosis,battle over coruscant, Anakin v Obi wan/Birth of Vader, I can go on. Yea the sequels are an actual adventure that was unoriginal
This is a critical evaluation of misunderstood and much-maligned, though not as often as some loud critics would like you to think, cultural masterpieces if I ever seen one and it might be the first time, or at least on a larger publicized scale, that I have witnessed the fair share of credit being given to this saga by a open-minded viewer without him later backpedaling to the ingrained flaws we are led to believe these movies have by the consumer mania and mass media, big kudos to you sir and I encourage you to create more such terrific material !
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 Ah The Last Jedi. You mean one of the most poorly written, poorly edited, and poorly structured mega-budget movies of recent times? With a cast of horribly incoherent characters to top it off? Yeah. A cultural masterpiece, for sure.
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 TLJ's main and fatal flaw is the same for the whole Sequel trilogy. They don't look, feel, or sound like Star Wars. And they are made by people who don't really care about Star Wars as much as they care about profits and popularity. Even TLJ shamelessly copied scenes from the OT, but at least it tried to be kinda original, even though it utterly failed. Sequels are not Star Wars, even though they share the same title with OT and Prequels, they are just casual fan fictional imitations. No George Lucas = No Star Wars.
1:32:31 - love how the Dunning-Kruger effect works on more than just cinematic level. Stuckmann clearly doesn't know that using poisonous animals, spiders, snakes, etc. is one of the oldest methods of assassination, that's why it's a common trope in movies. And in a galaxy full of unique dangerous species and genetic engineering creating a perfect living weapon that's a hard to detect and even harder to even notice outright to take out the target is going to be the first trick in the book for a hitman. Not to mention longer more complicated autopsy and investigation of the causes, harder time tracking the bioweapon to the supplier, then the killer and the client. The movie clearly shows that the only way the attempt on Padme's life was thwarted is because the Jedi sensed the danger. Would a regular bodyguard sense a worm? Is a worm easier to spot than possibly odorous poison gas? Is a worm less stealthy or more complicated than a blaster shot from the outside trying to hit a target in a dark room? Suckmann is a complete buffoon.
@Nathan Cox I guess it comes down to the idiotic statement from Cosmonaut Variety Hour that "Star Wars should be simple". An elaborate plot to assassinate a politician is too boring for these people. They wanted big explosions and chase scenes and jokes... wait, that's exactly what happened next, only with far more logic and story structure behind it, and they complained it was stupid. I was a teenager when I saw ATOTC, having watched all the other movies by that point, and the story was amazingly easy to follow and engaging, so their complaints are simply false. Don't get me wrong, Attack of the Clones is probably my least favourite of the real Star Wars films, but only because it had far more potential than what was realized. It's simply a personal preference. Some story bits felt rushed, but what we got was great. There was lots of great stuff and tons of brilliant filmmaking, it just left me wanting even more. I was left hungry for more of the world and the interactions between characters, particularly Dooku. I really wish the extended cut would get released one day.
@@UncleJoeNeonCherry I recently realised that Attack of the Clones is my second favourite Star Wars movie, after Revenge of the Sith. A good chunk of this is because of Christopher Lee who stole the show in the second half of the movie and, being a master of less is more, made Dooku far more interesting than he was in either of the Clone Wars shows, despite his limited screen time. The only time Dooku showed his softer side in The Clone Wars was when he protested when Sidious ordered him to kill Asajj Ventress, even straight up admitting that she was important to him. Outside of that, he was just a generic villain in both the 2003 and 2008 Clone Wars. However, Attack of the Clones had Dooku showing his softer side several times, most notably when he spoke wistfully about Qui-Gon, flinched after Jango was beheaded, apologised to Mace Windu, and shut off his lightsaber after defeating Anakin and Obi-Wan with an expression of either regret, fatigue or both. It's amazing that Dooku had more depth in half a movie than he did in two TV series, one of which lasted for 7 seasons. In addition to Dooku, I also have a soft spot for corny romances because they have a sincerity that is rare these days. For example, watch Anakin and Padme's body language in the fireplace scene. If you take out the dialogue, it's still crystal clear that they're into each other so anybody who thinks their romance was forced is full of shit. I suspect that many of the haters are reminded of how awkward THEY were around their first love and because they don't like being reminded of that, they lash out at the movie. I also feel that characters who say dialogue that was intentionally corny are basically saying "I know this sounds lame, uncool and maybe even creepy but I don't care. This is how I feel." I think the seeds of this realisation were planted when I was watching Victoria, or possibly in Doctor Who when Clara Oswald told Danny Pink that she loved him and frowned when she added "those words from me are yours now", showing that she was fully aware of how corny she sounded but was speaking from the heart. Some of Queen Victoria's scenes with Albert had corny dialogue too - she even called him "my angel" - and it was partially BECAUSE it was corny that it came across as sincere. Alita: Battle Angel also had a corny romance - at the end of the "I'd give you my heart scene", Alita acknowledged the corny moment by saying "That was pretty intense, huh?" and giggling which served the double purpose of both breaking the tension and showing that the corniness was intentional - and the seeds that Victoria and/or Doctor Who planted began to grow. The trick to handling corny dialogue is KNOWING that it's corny dialogue and I eventually realised that it feels more real because it shows that the character cares about their lover so much that they're willing to allow themselves to be vulnerable and sound uncool. They aren't beating around the bush and hiding their feelings and because of this, I'll take Anakin and Padme over Han and Leia any day of the week.
@@CC-Cody-di2uq I tried to sit through that video of Cosmonaut, it had a million views or something so I thought: this will be good. I wanted to kill myself when I heard him say that ;-;
Thank you for this. The biggest tragedy is Lucas not being able to finish his saga the way he intended to. The prequels were so ahead of their time. Society became too closed minded to accept anything different.
Its just as well that he didnt. The only reason he was doing a sequel trilogy anyway was to maintain the profitability of Lucasfilm and protect his employees. He really didnt want Star Wars to become like Star Trek. The Disney sequels are so horrid it is very easy to keep them out of my head canon.
Why RLM are extremely sloppy, nebulous and contradictory in their analysis, I don't see how this video works as a "rebuttal" of either them, their takes on the PT taking visuals from other works, or the general notion that they were very uneven in their acting and dialogue etc. and had a terrible awkward dating lovestory, while the OT had none of these issues?
1:54:25 His point there is wrong - he knows his references, but doesn't think everything through: For 1, the question is also what the Neimoidians are thinking there - unless they're complete idiot pawns? And there's no evidence that what happened in Tpm was Palpatine's sole A plan - it's just as possible that his main plan was whatever he was trying with that Naboo invasion and taking over the entire planet incl. the Goongas? And also this has nothing to do with the "forge signature" point. RLM also get all this mystery plan wrong lol, bug this guy isn't the one to set things straight here. Then he brings up kids' commercials for OT? But the movies had no 12 year olds? What a sloppy point lol. Excuses for supposedly bad dialogue? But the OT didn't need such excuses lol The "dark" contradictions are quite spot on lol, I could expand on that with more contradictory quotes. Anyway this guy isn't Jesus either - we need some other "voice of reason".
He did get to finish it. He never intended for there to be an Episode VII. Part of the agreement with Disney was that if they bought they'd have to use his ideas for Episodes VII-IX because he knew that's what Disney wanted to make. Unfortunately for him Disney reneged because he didn't get it in the contract but they did get it in the contract that he's not allowed to talk shit about them.
Bob Dylan and George Lucas are two of my artistic heroes. I love how you used Dylan as a sort of juxtaposition to Lucas, it was perfect. Both are brilliant men who are highly misunderstood by many people. There’s a huge difference between outright stealing and paying homage, but some people just don’t understand that for whatever reason. Excellent video.
George Lucas's films = Intertextuality done right because they are a reference that is transformative into something new. Disney's films = Intertextuality done wrong because they are a copy-paste copy and there is nothing new just something old again. If the two where RUclipsrs Disney would get compyright sticks and George Lucas wouldn't.
In one of the prequel documentaries, you can see a copy of Henry W. Simon's "100 Great Operas And Their Stories" in a close-up of Lucas' book shelf. It helps to think of Star Wars as a cycle of operas like Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Opera, after all, is a precursor to film in many ways. The way you point out how Revenge of the Sith culminates is similar to the final opera of the Ring Cycle, where something like 50 leitmotivs are weaving in and out of its culmination. Fantastic work. Thank you
I always found the prequels good, but this video shows just how much depth they pack in and an enlightening view of film analysis in general. So, is there an estimated date of when we can expect Part 2?
Very soon. The release of the 4k versions created another new version of the movies to talk about and that changed up my plans, but now I've done the research and most of the script and I'll finish soon.
@@rickworley9081 you can't rush art. Please take your time Rick. What you're doing is bigger and more important than just for the Star Wars 'Prequels'. This extends to all of modern 'blockbuster' cinema. It's a whole new conversation about where modern pop culture is going, and where it came from. Most of us here wish they had even half of your film exposure, and talent, or this fluid way of blending and expressing ideas through video. RUclips needs this. Any future aspiring 'George Lucas' needs this. But most people don't even know it yet. Fight the good fight. And best of luck.
I saw the prequels in theater(and I grew up with the originals on VHS in the early 90s). I believe The Phantom Menace came out when I was in 8th or 9th grade. I thought it was great, and so did everyone else that I knew at the time. I thought the same about episode 2 and 3. I must have been about 20 when ep3 was released. I never heard a negative word about any of them. I am not exaggerating here. I didn't buy them on DVD, and hadn't seen them since, and years later, probably when I got the first Galaxy phone(2010? 2011?) and started watching RUclips, I came across the Plinkett reviews, and was quickly sold. I was hopped up on pride and outrage. Outrage! As if I had been personally wronged. I wasn't even into Star Wars then. It was as if I now "knew" that the films were awful...like the worst things ever created. And like anyone who is outraged about some perceived injustice, I wanted to tell others, and searched the internet for more "prequel takedowns." The whole thing is so ridiculous and pathetic looking back. Fast forward another few years, and news comes out that episode 7 was in the works. I now have a ten year old daughter who had never seen any of the Star Wars movies. So we watched all 6 in sequential order(1 to 6), then planned to go see ep7 in the theater when it came out. She loved them all, especially episode 1. As for me, I liked them too, just like when I first saw them. She also liked episode 7, which I didn't care for, especially as a recovering Plinkett proselyte, Force Awakens left a really bad taste in my mouth. We didn't go to ep8 and still haven't seen it. I saw Rogue One on Netflix, my wife and I went to Solo in theater(we liked Solo). My sister and her husband want us to go see ep9 with them since they're in town for the holidays, but we haven't seen the last one, so I'm not sure we should go. Moral of the story: it's amazing how influential a RUclips video can be. The Plinkett reviews are like a slander hit-piece, using manipulation, half-truths,and falsehoods to destroy a guy's reputation and life's work. And we are all incredibly easily persuaded, and parrot things that confirm our biases.
I had a conversation with a guy a while ago and he was parroting all the Plinkett-isms about TPM, and when I brought up other things about the movie, it became obvious he didn't have any idea what I was talking about... finally, after a few minutes, he admitted he had never actually seen TPM. Haha. I guess it saves all the hard work of coming up with your own opinion if you just let somebody else do it for you. At least you eventually came around. If you haven't seen TLJ, I would say don't bother... to quote Yoda, "Only pain will you find." But then, don't take my word for it.
Christus Regnet i feel like i’m the only one who grew hating the prequels yet loving the originals. i’m only 16 but back when i saw all the movies when i was about 7, i remember thinking that. i wasn’t influenced by anything, i didn’t really watch youtube, since it was kinda new at the time. hell, I’M the one who discovered Star Wars myself. my parents didn’t introduce it to me. i’m an American kid growing up with a Latino family. but yeah, i just happened to agree with the popular opinion as a kid. now, i don’t hate any Star Wars movies anymore. i don’t necessarily like the prequels, but they’re not godawful. Return of the Jedi isn’t great, but i don’t hate it. and The Rise of Skywalker, while bland, isn’t something i passionately go out of my way to hate on. episodes IV, V, VII, and VIII are my favorites and i know i might get a lot of hate for that but, eh, whatever. and i think it is totally fine to like the prequels. there is plenty to appreciate in those movies. just not really my thing
@@ZacTheFirst please point out exactly what you think sounds "exaggerated as hell." I gave a simple narrative of my experience. Where did I even have the opportunity to exaggerate? That's my exact experience. I honestly never heard a negative word about the Prequels from either friends or family, or acquaintance, or girlfriends, etc for a quite a few years after they came out. I never claimed criticism didn't exist, I just claimed I never heard any. It's possible I just don't remember, but then that would mean it was probably insignificant enough to not create an impression on me. Now perhaps you got into some intense Star Wars complaining on some obscure message board in the dark corners of the early 2000s internet, but I would never have been exposed to anything like that at the time. I had to find out ex post facto that the Prequels sinned, along with an always increasing list of other movies that I saw when I was younger that I'm finding out were actually "awful." I've also heard many similar stories to mine. People are easily persuaded by what seems to popular opinion. It's been shown in a plethora of studies and experiments that people experience a negative cognitive reaction and moment of unpleasant confusion when they find out that "popular opinion" on a given subject doesn't conform with their own, and experience a release of endorphins when they change and adapt their opinion to fit what is perceived to be socially acceptable, which can happen instantly, even if just by being told "everyone loves this" or "everyone hates that." If a view is ingrained enough, it may then cause a cognitive dissonance. There was nothing like a major popular narrative of "Prequels bad" during the early 2000s. There was certainly nothing remotely close to what is going on with the Sequels, where we're exposed to incessant whining and lamenting about them without having to seek it out. Even searching online, or online archives for Prequel articles or content from the early 2000s, there's relatively little, almost nothing. You can find a few articles that are negative, film critic reviews, etc, but they read *nothing like* your modern day hyperbolic Prequel complainer. The worst complaints about the Prequels back then seem to involve Jar Jar, little Anakin, or monotone Hayden Christensen. From what I have seen, critics from the time were somewhat mixed for the first one, more positive for the second, and pretty unanimously praising the third. Even the most negative critic of the Phantom Menace was still praising the visuals of the film, or the podrace or other sequences, or the story, or the music. And then there's a lot of positive critics for ep1 & 2. Looking back at RUclips contents from the early 2000s regarding the prequels, there's was an endless supply of "tribute videos" to "Anakin and Padme," and other such content. We are not objective creatures, and what is more subjective than art or taste in film? What kind of impression were general audiences(of which I certainly was at the time) supposed to have when they go to see the Prequels in theaters and the whole room is obnoxiously cheering and clapping through each film? That most people hated them or thought they were awful? I think probably not.
@@ZacTheFirst which 'people' are you referring to when you say 'people disliking the films'? This video shows in detail how RLM and the Plinkett reviews specifically, used invalid criticism of the Prequels to get views. It doesn't claim ALL criticism is invalid. Rather it goes to great lengths to explain why Plinkett is wrong in saying that TPM was 'bad' due to having 'poor structure', and by not having a 'clear protagonist' etc. To make a valid criticism of any art, you DO need to fully understand it. But these amateur internet 'reviewers' need to first have a good understanding of film making in general. That's sound logic, how does that excuse or 'shut down' legitimate reviewers complaints? If you really want Plinkett picked apart point by point just read this: writerdisease.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/red-letter-media-episode-i-review-a-study-in-fanboy-stupidity.pdf
Excellent observations and appreciation for Lucas's craft. so glad to see something positive talking about the artist and their intentions rather than the cultural phenomenon and the expectations that come with that. Can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve for part 2!
Thank you so much. As someone who grew up with these movies, it means a lot to me that there is at least people like yourself who take the time to appreciate the love and care that went into making them.
Wow this is the best commentary on Star Wars I've seen. You even manage to zoom out and use the prequels to dissect online film criticism itself, then stick the landing by (correctly) naming the correct viewing order. Great work.
This is the best video I have ever watched on the history of RUclips. This was a wonder to the eyes, ears and mind. It's almost as if Adam Curtis made a film essay about George Lucas. What a wonderful masterpiece you have created. God bless you man.
EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT video!!! NEEDS to be seen by EVERYONE!!! There's one thing that a lot of people over look Jar Jar Binks other side, yes he was there for children just like C-3PO & R2-D2 was as well. But on the flip side Jar Jar was also put there to show how some people can't tolerate people that are different. Even though they are human as well, you know what I mean, they to have merit! Jar Jar always ended saving the day. In the PT and Clone Wars! I've loved Jar Jar since day one.
Can't say that I ever loved Jar Jar, but I never disliked him, either. He was simply another interesting character in a broad galaxy. I think C-3PO was a more annoying character... but he's an interesting part of the galaxy as well.
@Stark1gaming they have no soul that's the problem. They feel cold and sterile. Name one meaningful interaction between two characters in the prequels that actually felt real and had warmth and emotion
@@yousquiddingme well we might as well use that logic on the overall argument then, no one can say which trilogy is better because it's all based in personal opinion.
Thank you for making this! This has been eye opening. I'm walking away interested in learning more about cinema and I'm seeing these six movies in a whole new way.
THANK YOU! This might be one of my favorite video essays i've seen. I feel the order of watching is criminally underrated. 1-6 also has the twist of palpatine being sidious which few people realise immediately, at least when shown the first time.
@@TheJiminatorHS The first time watching TPM I kinda thought Palpatine COULD BE Sidious, but when AOTC confirmed it I was like: oh no what's gonna happen next
The academic approach to this video is something that like 95% of the prequel critics I've seen are lacking. And, considering that one of the biggest sentiments within the prequel hate movement is that of "Fuck the politics bullshit. I want to see more blasters, lasers, and spaceships exploding", it's not surprising.
See... the thing I don't get about that is if you want those 3 things, which trilogy is actually better than the prequels? For space battles you have Naboo and Coruscant, ground battles you have Naboo, Geonosis, and for duels you have The Duel of the Fates, fighting Jango on Kamino, three iterations of a duel with Dooku on Geonosis, Palps kicking council ass, and then you get both the Battle of Heroes along with Yoda fighting the Senate in the Senate! Whereas OT: Space Death star 1 & 2, Ground Hoth and Endor, Duel Death star 1, Cloud City, Death Star 2, maybe the cave if you count that. And the ST? Space: I guess I have to count SK base but honestly, the movie itself can't even focus on it and then Exegol, where the movie again really likes those space horses. Ground: Maz's place, Crait aka "Hoth but we've forgotten that defense in depth exists and there is no actual plan" and lets charitably count the space horses again. The duels: Rey and Finn v Kylo, that... thing with the guards, and Rey v Kylo 2 electric boogaloo. And of course Palpy lightening someone: End of every trilogy. If you want mindless action just watch the goddamn prequels and skip the stuff you find boring
There was politics in the OT, there was silly aliens in the OT (silly is not an insult), there were interruptions to the epic battles in the OT, there were ‘annoying’ comic side characters in the OT everything they complain about was in the OT and no5ing in that list makes a movie terrible or even bad I think they were distracted by nostalgia and just wanted the same thing to be shown with different backgrounds and felt entitled to that.
Came here after watching your excellent Woody Allen documentary. I'm not a Star Wars fan, but this is an excellent analysis of creative endeavour, inspiration, appreciation and fan ownership. I love the long-form approach you have towards your subjects (and one that is so undervalued these days). Seriously, I look forward to seeing your name on a marquee in film festivals or at my local independent cinema because you, sir, are a filmmaker. And a bloody good one at that.
Thank you, that's really nice to hear. I don't see a lot of people who come for a Woody Allen video who will also stay for a Star Wars video... I try to explain, "But it's really more about silent films, and Bob Dylan, and, and..." but I get the feeling that they don't believe me. Haha.
I can't thank you enough for this. I've always loved the Prequels and it's hard to talk about them sometimes because so many people just immediately fall into what RLM says and hold that as the only views you're allowed to have on the Prequels even though the Plinkett Prequel reviews are awful. I'm glad to see such a long and in depth video defending George since he's been unfairly hated for being a hack. It's good to have a longman defending the Prequels.
@@thegoodgeneral1174 Letting other people influence your opinion on anything every is a pathetic trait. Decide for yourself. especially when it comes to stupid useless shit like star trek
Incredible video. I love the prequels and the originals so much. The story is fantastic and I love how you showed the various films that served as the inspirations for Lucas in making Star Wars. This also highlights how these “critics” really don’t know films. They don’t know the history of film, they don’t know the filmmaker and their influences or what made them make the choices they made in their films. These critics don’t actually listen to the commentaries or watch the documentaries and featurettes on the DVDs or Blu-Rays. They don’t look online to see interviews with George Lucas and see for themselves what they may not be getting regarding Lucas and/or the films. I can go on, but you’ve really done a great job here Rick. Hope to see Part 2 in the future!
This is a brilliant video. I've always loved the prequels. What's great about them is how subtle it is visually. And how it tells its story through visual cues AND through dialogue. One of my favorites is that blue guy with the horns in the Senate. I'm sure he has a name in canon. "Order, we shall have order" guy. In Episode 1, he whispers in Chancellor Valorum's ear during the Senate scene. Palpatine tells Amidala "Enter the bureaucrat the true rulers of the Republic. And on the payroll of the TRADE FEDERATION I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear." And then they she calls for a vote of no confidence. Well that guy is always around afterwards. He's always by Palpatine's side. He's also the guy that suggested that someone calls for Palpatine to have emergency powers in AOTC. Then in Revenge of the Sith, the truth is revealed. He refers to Palpatine as "master". That evil bureaucrat that was undermining the Republic was Palpatine's stooge the whole time. He was also on the payroll of the Trade Federation. That's why Nute Gunray trusted Sidious so much. They were getting favors in the Senate through him. So subtle, yet brilliant at the same time. And the prequels are filled with this kind of stuff.
This may sound a bit silly, but when George Lucas talked about how the films are essentially conceived of as silent movies, it made me wonder if perhaps the rich visual symbolism of the source material is what made the Lego Star Wars games so successful with their wordless characters. You don't actually need the dialogue to tell the story of Star Wars, and that's deliberate.
I don't think it's silly at all. I played the Lego Indiana Jones game long before I had seen the movies and honestly didn't understand anything that was going on. As for Lego Star Wars I understood it right away. Granted I knew the movies forwards and backwards first but I think it speaks to the difference. George's six films have a greater focus on linear narrative and telling things visually. You can understand what is happening through the visual storytelling through character subtleties like how they turn their head or look at someone. Plus the environments really reflected each part of the story and what was happening with the characters. I think that translated to the Lego game.
Incredibly insightful and well researched, your care and craft is well on display in this video well done and thank you for time and effort this is a great send up for Lucas' vision.
I didn’t think I could appreciate GL more than after Anomaly Inc’s revenge of the Prequels series but you’ve proven me wrong. Very well done. I won’t watch Star Wars (and hopefully GL’s other films) the same way ever again. Well done on the video👌
Anomaly Inc is just a toxic angry fan of the prequels I don't know how you enjoy that shit he's literally not objective or well researched at all and his only defence is that he's smarter than everyone. This video is way better than anything that joke of a person ever did and comparing the two creators is straight-up disrespectful.
@@adamjanek3511 sounds to me you didn’t actually watch/listen to his videos. He’s defending the Prequels from shit arguments and showing due respect to George Lucas and his creative team when appropriate. He doesn’t claim to be smarter than anyone; he’s letting dumb Arguments speak for themselves. (Personally I don’t know why you’re so against him)
@@LordWyatt It's not what he does, it's how he does it. He literally titled his video "Dissecting a dumbass" and that just straight up tells me he's not a very intelligent individual. Also his arguments are no better than those which he tries to refute so idk what you tryna say here.
@@adamjanek3511 so you’re judging his intelligence by the title of the video rather than his arguments… And on the ‘no better’ part, that is definitely not true: cosmonaut and the others that AnomalyInc has covered use the same bs arguments to back up their points (vague hatred to George Lucas, CGI, subjective story choices). Nomz on the other hand has done a ton of research on Lucasfilm, George Lucas, the bullshit with Disney, and the long arduous process of making the six Star Wars films. It’s ok not to like AnomalyInc, just don’t watch his videos…but to insult his intelligence when you don’t even know the man and refuse to listen to what he has to say is not cool.
I think the big takeaway from this series is that more people need to watch arthouse films. Next time I see a film in theatres, it's been a while, since before covid, I'm going to see something experimental.
I've always said the first six Star Wars films are art house films for kids that tapped into something with mass appeal. It's becoming more and more apparent how true this is with how mindless the series becomes under Disney.
"(Lucas) Sold Star Wars to the slavers because he knew they would milk it dry, eventually releasing movies a lot worse than the prequels could ever be All those fans who insulted him and called him terrible? They knew nothing, they needed to see it for themselves: the quality only corporate greed could create Then they'd be sorry, they they'd be *crawling* back, but too little too godamm late So he took his money and ran off into vindication ranch Looks like the artist does win in the long run" E;R
Superb video essay, Rick. Congratulations! I can't wait for the subsequent ones. Like you, I've been loving and defending the prequels for 20 years. Discovering Mike Klimo's Ring Theory essay was amazing back in 2014 and made me appreciate Lucas' six part saga EVEN more! Following my passion, I was involved in the making of 'The Prequels Strike Back' documentary. Momentum has certainly swung back our way in the last few years (thanks Disney!) and thanks to you, the likes of RLM and Stuckmann are being exposed for the frauds they are. Bring on the Special Edition analysis, we will watch your career with great interest..
Rob Greive Thanks! I was kind of bitter nobody invited me to be part of that Prequels Strike Back documentary. Haha. I’m kidding about being bitter over it since I’m sure they didn’t know who I was, but I would have liked to have been involved.
Oh man, all these quotes: Qui-Gon tells Anakin “Feel, don’t think.” And Obi-Wan tells him “Think”, illustrating in a subtle way that he is the wrong father figure for him. One of many ways.
just passed the concentric circle motif part: i wonder how clued-in to any of this depth JJ Abrams or Rian Johnson were. I was excited for ep 7 and 8 but they both lost my interest by the end. i have no interest in seeing 9 at all.
@@KentKaliber Personally , I'd disagree. Episode 9 was just consumer damage control for everything people didn't like about 8, which thus muddled the story and harmed the trilogy as a whole. 8 tried to actually explore interesting ideas such as moral ambiguity /grey but was just weighed down by the abysmal position 7 narratively put it in. Mike Thorn gave a good review of 8 which basically summarised my thoughts. Though 8 attempts to deconstruct Luke Skywalker , it's limited by the narrative 7 previously established and only scratches the surface of what the prequels had to offer. :/
@@onemoreminute0543 Except 8 was a complete dumpster fire. From the Canto Bight to Luke-not-being-Luke to Leia-Poppins, it was like Rian wrote 8 on acid. Poor writing, awful pacing, tonally-deaf, the worst humor ever in a SW Film ----- 8 succeeded at the Box Office but ultimately damaged the SW brand so badly that it's still recovering to this day.
@@KentKaliber Though I do appreciate some aspects of 8 (compared to 7 and 9, it really does have it's own nice artistic/visual style), I do agree that it did majorly suffer from other plot issues. I've had a mixed relation with 8 - first I liked it, then I hated it, now I mostly dislike it but love certain aesthetics to it :)
@@onemoreminute0543 But that's the thing right there. TLJ does NOT "look like" a Star Wars film. Which makes it feel very bizarre when you back and try to watch the films in order. The artistic / visual style seems more like a Marvel Movie than a Star Wars movie. Such experimentation would be cool in the context of "spin off" Star Wars films (ala Rogue One) b/c the whole point of the "spin off" films was that they could be far more experimental. The Main Saga films should stay at least within the same aesthetic construct --- Rian took every too FAR, he even used different Cameras from 7 and 9 --- cameras, I might add, that had different color hues / color correction from 7 and 9. It really makes the New Trilogy bizarro to watch in tandem. Rian made a movie for HIMSELF, with no consideration to what came before him or what would come after him.
What are the new star wars film lacking that the prequels and originals had? A true understanding of star wars style, which became with time almost effortless to Lucas because he is an autistic genius. You have to take matinee serial DNA from the 40s and 50s. you have to study Joseph Campbell quit a lot and apply his precepts in the script (and if you also study fairy tale literature thats quit the bonus really), you have to be educated in Kurosawa, in particular absorb Hidden Fortress literally into you cinematography genome. You must be also familiar with 50s and 60s care design and car chase movies. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. The sound design and the score s a while another colossal task, the editing has a very simple yet effective style, always ending in parallel edit for reel 5. And in the visual arts side of things, not only you need a large culture of widely different art styles (from art deco, to mongolian, to venetian renaissance to african art eve in the case of prequel droids), you also nee to develop a certain taste for them and even a casual curiosity. Lucas was always open to look for new visual ideas. People underestimate how tricky this all is. Disney underestimated how tricky this all is too. Normies see star wars and they think space battles and lightsabers, but there is a lot of culture and knowledge behind this apparent simple and naive franchise. If it was easy every studio would be doing it flawlessly. Its not easy, its a singular cocktail that everybody loves to drink, but very few barman can make.
What a terrific video! Thank you for spending the time to craft this labor of love. I grew up loving the OT with my first film memory being my father taking me to see TESB when I was a little boy. As I grew older my appreciation for them began to deepen beyond just childhood nostalgia and blossom into appreciation of them as well-crafted films. When the PT was announced, I was very excited, and I loved each prequel as it was released. As the public narrative surrounding them began to become poisoned and dominated by loud and obnoxious hypercritical "fans", I was deeply saddened because no longer could I freely discuss these films that I loved so much without finding myself on the defensive against people eager to mock and attack the object of my love. It has been a breath of fresh air to see more and more prequel fans making themselves known over the years as well as the younger generation of fans who grew up on them. I hope more people come to appreciate through things like this video the layers of artistry that went into these films and stop conceiving of them as mindless roller coaster ride entertainment like the flavor-of-the-month blockbuster cranked out by various Hollywood corporations.
Who would have thought that the creator of Star Wars knows how to make good Star Wars movies? Truly the depths of stupidity of some Star Wars "fans" knows no bounds. The popularity of Star Wars seems to be both a blessing and a curse for Lucas. Without the massive success he never would have had the money to make the films, but such popularity creates conflict between the fans' expectations and the artist's vision.
I agree with the other guys that said that this is of unusually high quality for a RUclips think piece. I actually feel like I learned something. Bravo. If had one suggestion though- Arthur Lipset's "Very Nice" was the most direct inspiration for George's "Look at Life" in my opinion- whenever you getting around to making a Special Edition of this review ;)
That's a good point, too. I think of new things I could have added all the time, and I am considering doing a Special Edition of this video with added material... thanks for the suggestion!
@@rickworley9081 I'm watching the video in chunks, so here's some more praise- I always wondered why Lucas chose to face Anakin as he's looking at the sunset. I aspire to make the same kind of non narrative stuff that Lucas always talks about, and this video is like literally me. But in a much more real sense, it's literally you, since you made it. Bravo again.
I have general technical criticism of your video: most clips you use on Star Wars can only be heard from the left audio channel. I first watched this video on my Iphone and it was fine but I'm watching it again on my computer and it's rather distracting to have the audio at times only come from the left while everything is with both channels.
For some reason the Star Wars clips seem to have the dialog mostly from the left channel. When I was editing it, on the speakers and headphones I used it wasn't noticeable, and then when I went in to do a final edit I noticed it on the headphones I was using, but to be honest I had no idea how to fix it, and at that point I had cut up hundreds of Star Wars clips into the video so it would have been so much work to change each of them... I just hoped that since it wasn't noticeable on most of the equipment I used, it wouldn't be that big of a problem and maybe people wouldn't notice it. So thanks for noticing it. Haha. But you're right. Of course after I posted it I noticed many small things I'd like to change, so maybe I'll do a Special Edition of the video at some point.
It’s not often that I sit down and watch a two hour video, but every bit of this was well thought out, (and thought provoking) and interesting. I was genuinely entertained for all 2 hours and 17 minutes. Good to see that you jumped on the prequel support train early, and this video might have even helped contribute to the masses changing their views on them.
This video gave me the kick I needed to watch "Metropolis" and you know what? I'm getting incredible Tarkin vibes off of Joh Fredersen. Five Republic dataries says you can cut several shots of them together and they'd be identical.
They do look very much alike... I stopped short of speculating that it was an intentional reference, because Peter Cushing looks a lot like Alfred Abel to begin with. Lucas might have had the resemblance in mind when he was casting, but it's not like they did makeup on Cushing to make him resemble Abel or anything. But Lucas references nearly every other part of Metropolis, so he certainly could have been thinking about this.
I like how you use a lot of material from the Audio Commentaries. I watched those years ago and much of what Lucas said always stuck with me, much of which is in this video. But another interesting detail not really relevant to what this video is about is how when talking about the real word dictators he was thinking of with The Empire he talked more about Napoleon III then any of the more famuse examples you'd expect.
Lucas has a deep knowledge of history and anthropology that he uses along with his knowledge of cinema. That's another reason there's so much going on in these movies. Those audio commentaries and the other DVD special features had a big impact on me, too, because they were very honest and talked about the movies with a lot of depth and intelligance. Now in the Disney era, the bonus material on the home video releases is mostly promotional junk where everybody just says how much they love everybody else who worked on the movies and how perfect everything is and how excited they are about all of it, and it's boring nonsense.
@@rickworley9081 i miss the days when there was a emphasis on the deep love of why these artists created their masterpieces and hearing them speak on those great artists that came before them
I watched this a few years back and coming back to it, I realise how this video has completely changed the way I watch and think about media and art in general. Thanks for offering a fresh perspective on these films because the state of Star wars and Disney and how people still lap it up is so depressing.
I hope people realized what they gave up, when Lucas signed over Star Wars to Disney. I want to tie Mike Stoklasa to a chair, and force him to watch this over and over for months.
While there are a few good things in the sequel trilogy, they're good on paper, good in theory only. I am disgusted by the Star Wars fandom, it isn't just the RLM reviews that made this situation worse, we also had alt-right posers pretend to be movie buffs and pretend to be critics.The alt right complain about forced diversity and SJWs in cinema, but funny enough they're using identity politics to combat identity politics, they only use that tactic when convenient for them. These morons are not Star Wars fans, they profit off the drama, many of these people who hate Disney, are the same people who hated the prequels for idiotic reasons. Now they're kissing George's ass and playing revisionism to hide their tracks. Its sad knowing George's episode 7 8 and 9 will never exists. You can tell George is still upset he sold his creation, even with $4 billion in his pocket. Imagine how incredible his sequel trilogy would have looked? He would tried to push the mold of technology, perhaps sign deals with Dolby Vision and get exclusivity rights, much like what Cameron did with IMAX years ago.
Same here. To some people, SW was just the original 3 films or , in more extreme cases, just the first film. The whole sextalogy was about the moving tragedy about the rise, fall, and redemption of Darth Vader :)
I’m genuinely crying watching this. You brilliantly articulated what I’ve been trying to say in my videos for years but never could. Absolutely damn incredible video. Maybe my favorite film analysis on RUclips.
Man, good shit. I've always liked the prequel movies, and the completed story, minus the sequel trilogy, is almost the best fantasy story told in the last 50 years. Also, I love that you hammered Stuckman.
Born in 2001. Can confirm the Prequels were fucking awesome growing up. I can’t say I’d know for sure what a kid today would think of the Sequel Trilogy. George had that special ability to make the Star Wars experience ageless.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
The bit about how the music at the end of TPM is just an upbeat happy version of the Emperor’s theme blew my mind. I’ve always loved the prequels but little things like that enhance my love for them, awesome video!
In that scene Palpetine's personal guards wore similarly styled robes - ableit black - and similar shaped helmets to the Emperor's Imperial Guards in Return of the Jedi.
I KNOW right?! I never noticed that!
If anything, shouldn't John Williams get the credit for this? I really doubt George told him to do this specifically, but you never know.
That also blew my mind I tried to tell my wife who was as excited as I was 😂
@joshuamunn2410 What a stupid thing to be upset about. I'll insinuate whatever I feel like, you'll be fine. So will George.
This film (this is a documentary film, not a mere RUclips video) deserves far more awareness and acclaim than it has, and I hope George has the opportunity to see it.
👏👍👏
It's a video essay, not a documentary.
Hello, this is George. May the force be with you.
It’s a good video essay, but the prequels still sucked.
@@RC-qf3mp So, did you watch the entire essay, AND THEN rewatch the prequels with your new knowledge? If you didn’t rewatch the prequels after seeing this, your opinion (in this conversation) is meaningless. The entire point of the essay is to prompt us to reappraise the prequels, but if you’re going off pure memory of past viewing, you haven’t actually reappraised anything.
Wow, it's almost as if George Lucas is a professional filmmaker who's intimately familiar with his craft-on top of history, literature, and politics-and many of his detractors aren't. Truly makes one ponder.
@Adam Wasiura very deep and well thought out take
@Adam Wasiura Lemmy guess cgi Dialogue and racism bla bla bla.
@Adam Wasiura Yeah Shut the hell up about "racist stereo types" Your seeing ghosts. as to the dialogue well thats just realistic and the cgi was definately great then and still looks awesome now.
@Adam Wasiura as someone who doesnt have a dad and also gets f*cked over bye decisions made bye other people who think they know better than you whats good for you i can confirm his constant state off confliction is accurate.
@Adam Wasiura yeah auto correction sucks.
anyways you have lost the argument becouse you critizize my spelling so il just go my own way now.
Man I’m speechless. I myself am an avid prequels fan, for and for only half the reasons you brought up in this video essay. I truly had no idea how deep these ties ran. Thank you so much for showing why these films are so incredible.
Thank you, glad you liked it!
Adam Wasiura Alright, please enlighten me on why I’m not a prequel fan, even though the prequels are my favorite trilogy of the Saga, ROTS, is my favorite Star Wars film, and I stated outright that I like the prequels.
Also if you’re going to call the prequels “dumb action movies”, please backup you’re claim. As there is an entire sect of the fandom that thinks otherwise and finds these movies are fantastic. And the movies ARE good. Whether you find them enjoyable or not is your opinion. But I would love to hear it. It helps my knowledge of the fan base grow.
Adam Wasiura Wow, this will be interesting.
That first statement is false. Nobody’s brainwashing anybody here. Nobody gets to tell me what I can and can’t enjoy. That’s why we have brains, so we can think for ourselves. I love the prequels. Are they flawless? No. Are they bad movies. No. Are they good movies with flaws? Yes. Just like the Original Trilogy.
Secondly, I’m not going to “get out of the internet.” Because I have just as much right to it as you do.
Thirdly, there’s plenty of things to enjoy in the prequels. For the “1 inch brains” as you call it, there’s lots of action. Well choreographed lightsaber duels, pod racing, and plenty of battles. For people with normal sized brains, there’s the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, the romance between him and Padme. The relationship between Obi-Wan and his Padawan. The devious schemes of Palpatine. Not to mention the incredible acting of Liam Nesson, Ahmed Best, Jake Lloyd, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Sir Christopher Lee, Ian Mcdiarmid, Temura Morrison, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz, and many more.
Not to mention the Prequel Trilogy use more practical effects than the originals. Especially Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. That’s an irrefutable fact and you can look it up.
And this video you linked, so what? Of course Marcia Lucas is one of the biggest factors in the success of the Originals. Nobody denies that. She has incredible talent and was invaluable to production.
Lastly, I don’t need you to tell me what I can and cannot like. I’m an adult and I have no clue who the hell you are. I could honestly care less about whether you like them or not. But if you’re going to try and push that the prequels are “objectively bad” then you better actually put in the time and effort to back up your claims otherwise your credibility is going to fly right out the window. Because, like it or not, the prequels are OBJECTIVELY an integral part of STAR WARS and OBJECTIVELY MAKE SENSE, and are GOOD. Whether you can enjoy them or not is up to the individual.
And before trying to bash Mr. Lucas, you’d better get on your hands and knees and praise him for giving you your “perfect” Original Trilogy in the first place. George Lucas CREATED STAR WARS. STAR WARS is what it is because of George’s singular vision. It’s HIS story.
Now if you want to have an actual intellectual debate, and bring forth some real, ORIGINAL arguments that don’t consist of letting other videos do the talking for you then be my guest. I’ll have a response for every single point you make. Who knows, we may even agree on something.
But please, try your best to be intelligent and civil, because your not the ultimate authority on Star Wars. George Lucas is. And he doesn’t give a shit whether you like his films or not.
So unless you want to actually add something worthwhile to the debate, go back to sucking on your pacifier that is “opinions”.
-VortexFlash
@Adam Wasiura He's the nerd, when you've went out and vomited on every single thread? Please, give us your filmography. I think one thing is clear from this doc; a lot of these RUclips critics who have tried to tear down the prequels just don't know very much about filmmaking.
Adam Wasiura okay so replaying to your comment after my last one: yes I’m a Star Wars nerd. I’m not a filmmaking expert but sure as hell am a Star Wars lore expert. And making an essay in the comments sections is a sign of effort, something you clearly lack. I’m tempted to let you flounder since you are most likely a troll, but I’m having fun.
You say Lucas has ideas but he can’t EXECUTE them. But he did. The prequel trilogy’s existence is evidence that he DID execute his ideas. He completed his mission. That’s an objective fact. Whether or not you like or agree with how he did it is your opinion. But it still doesn’t change that George did what he wanted and had every right to as the CREATOR OF STAR WARS.
Now this is where I started laughing. Your “credible source” is Cosmonaut Variety Hour’s prequel review? You’re joking right? There’s no way you’re not a troll. I just don’t think you could possibly be that stupid. But then again you’ve been acting like a sheep. Just following the herd.
If you’re going to keep using videos to backup your arguments, then oh buddy I got a treat for you. Allow me to introduce you to a series Called “Revenge of the Prequels” by a wonderful Channel called Anomaly Inc. Cosmonaut is just the latest target on his list of Boba Fett pajama wearing ass-clowns, such as yourself. While Cosmonaut went ahead and made an hour long video made entirely of opinions and baseless claims, Anomaly made a 5 VIDEO RESPONSE SERIES part of “Revenge of the Prequels” called “Dissecting a Dumbass” which is what I’ve been doing to you all day, and is what he does to Cosmonaut for almost five hours. That’s effort, quality, and intelligence. So far your sources have been completely useless and unreliable, and not to mention biased.
You claim the prequels are objectively horrible yet don’t show any evidence. What’s even funnier is the creator of your source video, Marcus, has gone on record stating that all art is Subjective, and can’t be objectively judged. Which #1, invalidates your argument, and #2, is utter bullshit. Not to mention Cosmonaut is NOT an expert on filmmaking, whatever he says. I would consider film school graduates “reasonable experts” on filmmaking. However, true experts of filmmaking include people like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Tarantino, Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Nolan, Peter Jackson (my personal favorite), and George Lucas himself, which are responsible for being the leaders and driving minds behind some of the most successful and widely acclaimed and impactful films of all time.
So next time you want to cite a reputable source that criticizes George’s editing choices or filmmaking decisions, use someone with actual film experience and some serious notches on their belt.
Nice try buddy. We can play this troll game of yours all day. I’m quite enjoying your pitiful attempts at “attacking” the prequels. But so far you haven’t done anything to legitimize yourself.
And here is a link to Anomaly’s response video. Hope you enjoy it and find it enlightening. ruclips.net/video/H25-iklgQLs/видео.html
I love this video, thank you so much for making it! This is the first real analysis of Star Wars as films I've seen, most people just act smug about what they like and dislike, but I love that you kind of showed Lucas' perspective on the movies and what his intentions were when making them. The amount of research and hard work you must have put into this is also so impressive, this level of dedication truly makes your video a shining example of how interesting analysis videos could be.
Thank you! That's really kind of you to say!
Is it?
@@Dragonage2ftw Is it what?
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 Rick never claimed to be "deep" he just likes old movies, analysed these movies endlessly and dedicated a lot of effort into making this video as good as it could be.
@Adam Wasiura See what I mean? You're foaming at the mouth. You just can't help yourself. And we're supposed to take *_your_* word for it? Oh, please...
🙄
I've seen a fair few people in the comment section either misunderstanding the point Worley has been trying to make or simply mocking it , so let me try to explain :
Lucas is NOT 'ripping off' or 'being lazy' by repeating these specific scenes. In fact , the word 'repeating' does a disservice - he is using *MOTIFS*. When Lucas mirrors Anakin's "No!" in ROTS with Vader's "No!" in ROTJ, he's doing it to show an motif of how Anakin has evolved from making the wrong , selfish choice in the former to making the right , selfless choice in the latter. It's a thematic motif - just like so many other scenes across the original 6-film saga.
When Lucas models the birth of Vader in ROTS after the birth of Frankenstein , he is NOT just "taking inspiration" or making a trivial "reference" to a classic film of his liking. He is asking us to compare the two scenes , which focuses on man being brought back from the dead in a tortured and twisted way.
Now you may be asking how the average moviegoer is supposed to know all of this , particularly concerning the complexities of certain motifs/visual parallels across not just the Star Wars Saga , but classical films too. Well that's meant to be a job for the experienced film critic who knows his film history - something most film critics lack today.
This is no different to being given a text in an English class and trying to figure out *WHY* the author has chosen to do something a specific way. Whether or not you subjectively like the text because of it's style is irrelevant - you're meant to objectively analyse what the author is trying to achieve or tell us.The same method applies to film - except nowadays the lines between subjective preferences and objective analysis has become blurry .
I hope my attempt at explaining Mr. Worley's point in this wall of text has helped to clear things up.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk :)
Nonsense. Just because the prequels were inspired by mythological archetypes and other motifs doesn't make them good. They are terribly written and lack any understanding of the language of cinema.
@@edwardelric603 Can you elaborate on 'terribly written' ?. I see people state this many times : unsubstantiated.
;)
@@edwardelric603 By the way, it's the way in which the motifs are used. JJ Abrams can reference the entire plot of ANH but is unable to allow for deeper themes or parallels to study
:/
@@onemoreminute0543 Unsubstantiated? Are you kidding me? Having you been listening for the past 20 years? Ever heard of cognitive dissonance? Ok. Here I go…
Anakin is the biggest idiot in the galaxy, easily duped by Palpatine. Palpatine initially told Anakin “I HAVE THE POWER to save the ones you love” ‘Learn to know the dark side of the force and YOU WILL be able to save your wife from certain death…use MY KNOWLEDGE I beg you.” Then after Anakin kills Mace, all of a sudden Palpatine says, “To cheat death is the power ONLY ONE has achieved but I’m sure IF we work together we can discover the secret.” Anakin should have said “I thought YOU HAD THE KNOWLEDGE to save people from death!! What do you mean only one has achieved this power and IF we work together we can discover the secret?!! You lied to me!” Instead stupid Anakin just goes along with it and murders children in a span of 20 minutes, which totally ruins his redemption for me in Return of The Jedi, if I were to watch Revenge of the Sith before it, which I never will. Furthermore, Palpatine insisting the Jedi are traitors and are trying to take over and Anakin believing this and that they are evil, from his point of View, is so stupid. Palpatine ADMITTED HE WAS A SITH LORD! The Jedi’s suspicions are valid! Anakin’s turn makes no sense and was written terribly. In addition, he wants to save Padme but stupid Anakin can’t even realize that Padme would never condone him killing children to save her. Plus, when Obi Wan tell her that he killed children, she says, “He wouldn’t” knowing that he killed the tusken children in Attack of the Clones. Her reaction makes no sense. I hate Revenge of the Sith. It’s the worse Star Wars movie because it ruined Anakin and is written like a 7 year kid wrote it playing with action figures. On top of all that, the continuity error with Padme dying at child birth ruins Leía remembering her mother in Return of the Jedi. And don’t give me that she is using the force to remember her rubbish!
Speaking of continuity issues, here are a lot more:
R2-D2 knows Yoda and doesn’t tell Luke
R2-D2 knows Luke’s father and doesn’t tell Luke
R2-D2 knows Luke and Leia’s mother and doesn’t tell them
R2-D2 knows Obi Wan left Luke’s father for dead and doesn’t tell him.
In Empire Strikes Back Obi Wan says Yoda trained him but in the prequel it was Qui Gong. And don’t even try to tell me that Yoda trained everyone because of that awful scene with Yoda training a group of children in Attack of the Clones. Obi Wan said “THE Jedi master who instructed me” in Empire Strikes Back, not “A Jedi master who instructed me.” This was a retcon/continuity error Lucas didn’t care about.
In the Return of the Jedi Obi wan says when he first met Anakin he was “Amazed at how strong the force was with him” and that “he took it upon himself to train him and thought he could train him just as good as Yoda.” This isn’t what happened in the prequels. Obi Wan trained him because it was his master’s dying wish, it had nothing to do with being as good as Yoda. And Obi Wan was not amazed with Anakin. He called him a pathetic life form and thought the boy was too dangerous to train.
C-3PO spend a long time with Uncle Owen and Owen fails to recognize him in A New Hope. And don’t give me that “there are many protocol droids in the galaxy”nonsense. He kept the name C-3PO throughout all the movies and acts exactly the same; it’s a continuity error
If Qui Gong taught Yoda and Obi Wan to be a force Ghost, how did Anakin learn this? Continuity error.
Obi Wan doesn’t remember R2-D2 or C-3PO. And don’t bother with the “he’s pretending in order to fool Luke, so he can go on his journey.” Obi Wan acknowledging R2-D2 and C-3PO from his past has no relevance on whether Luke would go on the journey or not: Knowing that his father is Vader does. This is a continuity error.
I rest my case about serious mental gymnastics being required to try to stitch these contradictory elements together. These kinds of continuity errors and retcons suck and are lame. They are obviously not at all what anyone had in mind when the earlier stories were made, and frankly they insult the intelligence of the viewer by expecting us to believe they actually make any kind of sense.
Now as far as terrible writing;
Anakin admits to Padme that he killed tusken women and children, then Padme, a huge philanthropist and Senator, literally has no reaction other than, “You were mad and you’re just human.” LOL. What a joke.
The Jedi blindly use a clone army that was secretly ordered by Syfo Dyas, possibly Tyranus, and rather than deliberating if this is a set up and investigate how this army was paid for they just blindly use the army just to rescue 2 Jedi and 1 senator. The Jedi are so stupid they never question on who actually made this order and how it was paid for.
Yoda is so stupid that he can’t conclude that Dooku erased Kamino from the Jedi database, despite Yoda himself saying that only a Jedi can erase those files. Dooku is an ex-Jedi, who is leader of the separatist who are causing trouble for the republic and Padme, who is being targeted for assassination, specifically said she thinks he’s behind it! This script makes Yoda look like a moron.
Also the Jedi send Anakin to protect Padme despite him explicitly expressing to Obi Wan that he has feelings for her. Stupid Jedi!
Now here is the number one thing that gets my blood boiling and why I HATE the prequels with all my heart:
This is a galaxy where the Jedi, who are asexual, unemotional monks, take infants from their parents and forbid them from seeing their families ever again and forbid them from ever getting married and discourage having sexual relationships or having emotions for their entire lives. They make these force sensitive children consent to this bizzare and outright twisted life choice when they are infants! There is no way you can ever get me to believe that any sentient being would ever give their children away to some asexual emotionless weirdo monks and agree to never see them again. This idea is so stupid, it is literally the dumbest thing I have ever seen in story telling. Nothing has topped this George Lucas idea in regards to the magnitude of stupidity that it is. With this dumb idea, why would anyone in their right mind want to ever be a Jedi?!
I won’t even get into the Padme and Anakin romance, Jar Jar or the awful droid humor. They speak for themselves.
George Lucas is a hack and a con man. He made 3 classic movies (THX, American Graffiti, and Star Wars )and produced some good ones in the 80’s but ever since the special editions he has stopped caring about making good cinema and just churned out stupid commercialized nonsensical cartoons. He parades around like he is a genius and his fans scarf it all up but what made his original trilogy and original Indiana jones movies so good was that he collaborated with other people. Cinema is a collaborative art. Lucas was no longer a film maker when he made the prequels, he was a CEO of a corporation and it shows. I almost admire his con job in a Machiavellian sort of way because he has fooled so many. I was fooled once but no longer.
For me, the Return of the Jedi novelization account of what happened is my back story for Vader: Because of Obi Wan’s hubris and Palpatinés seduction Anakin went dark, He was unaware that his wife was pregnant, the Jedi hid his children from him, Obi Wan tried to disuade Anakin from Palpatinés influence but failed, threw him in a molten pit, and Luke and Leia’s mom died when they were 4 years old. I wish I could erase these films from existence like a Thanos snap!
@@edwardelric603 Tldr ? ;)
George Lucas is responsible for pioneering the CGI technology that almost every modern movie uses. His company Industrial Light & Magic made the CG elements in Spielberg films such as Jurassic Park, and had a big influence in Pixar's cartoons like Toy Story. Jar Jar Binks is the first fully CGI character, and Attack of the Clones is the one of the first movies to use digital cameras for filming.
Without George and ILM, people might not be enjoying MCU movies today. Which by the way are a lot more digital than the Prequel films, which actually used a ton of practical effects in addition to CGI.
That's something I'm going to talk about in my upcoming videos, that the whole CGI vs. practical debate with these movies is completely false. The truth is that TPM actually had more practical models than the entire original trilogy combined, and all three prequels had big location shoots and dozens of gigantic sets. It's particularly galling how Disney plays into this stuff to try to win over prequel haters by going on about all the practical effects in the ST, when the truth is that TFA actually has more effects shots than TPM. Lucas was so far ahead of the game that, 20 years later, armchair critics complaining about this stuff in the prequels still don't understand what they're looking at.
George Lucas founded Pixar.
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 Because many of George Lucas haters claim that he is a bad person, not just bad director.
One thing that really pissed me off about the production of The Force Awakens and that was the choice to use film instead of digital cameras. Now my dad is not a Star Wars fan, but something he always commended the movies for was how they advanced cinematography and VFX. I remember when seeing Attack of the Clones we saw it with a digital projector. There was even an intermission during the movie to point out the technology. I vividly remember after walking out the theater my dad commending how clean the movie looked.
Digital cameras are just so much more practical. One huge benefit was they could review a scene almost immediately after shooting and make a judgement, instead of developing it later and hoping you got the shots you wanted. Star Wars was always about pushing the technological bar to improve and revolutionize cinema and here we had a director taking this franchise and looking backwards. Looking to do what was done before, what was safe and proven.
I first had the VHS tapes for the Star Wars Special Editions, and even at 5 years old, I remember being at my baby sitter's house, she would let me watch the tapes in the bedroom and I never skipped the featurettes before the movie. I was always impressed with the details behind making a movie, it carried into adulthood. I am bummed I never had a friend to share a love of documentaries with, I was always told "how can you watch a 3 hour documentary?"
I never had anything ill to say about George, I'm one of the millions of kids, who had sparked synapses from his movies.
Okay, I'm not the most socially adept person but I'm pretty sure that bragging about stealing a Boba Fett action figure from a child is not an acceptable conversation topic.
What an a**hole
The worst geek stereotype one can offer.
That was fucking infuriating to watch
Timestamps?
True.
That experimental Russian film where they show a man's face juxtaposed with different imagery reminds me of the scene where Luke sees the burning corpses of Owen and Beru. I recall that Lucas actually told Mark Hamill to emote less during that scene, as it is the juxtaposition of images more than the performance that sells Luke's grief.
Now I understand. I always wondered why Luke looked so cold in that scene.
Another reason to respect Lucas: he will acknowledged the films that inspired him.
To be fair, Rian Johnson makes a lot of references to Kurosawa in his movie, among other things. But he really just puts them in as... references. And the execution of these ideas is still lacking.
I agree, there’s way too much focus on plot in Rian’s film compared to Lucas’s trilogy. I mean, having different writers and directors each time is against the entire personal vision of the saga.
Adam Wasiura you mispelled JJ Abrams
@Adam Wasiura 😕 Just exactly how is Lucas the biggest fraud in Hollywood?
I wait, I need a good laugh from an idiot like you.
@Adam Wasiura You didn't watch this How to Watch Star Wars video, did you? People cherrypick the silly things George has said over his 40+ years in the film world to make him look like an idiot without ever trying to understand what he was going for. Every film is "saved in the edit" and FUCK Disney, they're a hyper-commercialized monopoly feeding people slop while manipulating their nostalgia for years.
What's great about this video is that it doesn’t fall into the trap of “defending” the prequels with backhanded compliments, claiming they succeed despite "terrible acting and dialogue," or saying, "I know they're bad, but I still enjoy them.”
I don't remember ever coming across a single negative review of the prequels (honestly, not one!) that wasn't either disingenuous or missing the point entirely. The most common complaints usually concern the acting or dialogue. Rarely do these critics acknowledge that the prequel trilogy, like the original trilogy before it, is a pastiche of Saturday matinee serials, B movies and old Hollywood epics. It’s not exactly subtle. The titles of the films are all based on B movie standards. One of them is called “Attack of the Clones” for Christ’s sake! Even “The ___ Strikes Back” was a fairly common B picture title, though these days I suspect most people think Star Wars invented the phrase.
The dialogue is exactly what George Lucas wanted it to be. Tom Stoppard of all people did some script doctoring on Revenge of the Sith, but then Sir Tom isn’t known for writing Marvel films so he probably falls outside the scope of your average RedLetterMedia fan’s erudition.
I actually get why people don’t like the prequels. The original trilogy films are, at least on the surface, fairly simple adventure movies; people don’t have any major objections to these being told in that pulpy 1930s-style. They are Lucas’s “Odyssey”. The prequels on the other hand are his “Iliad”. They are essentially a character drama. I understand why certain people find that story told using the same B movie language and aesthetic to be jarring. That’s a perfectly valid subjective opinion to hold. Of course, rather than just admit these films don’t work for them on a subjective level, these people spew nonsense about how the prequels are objectively bad. Not liking the artistic choices Lucas made is fine, but refusing to acknowledge that they are artistic choices is just outright dishonesty. Star Wars is not a flawed imitation of modern action blockbusters; modern action blockbusters are flawed imitations of Star Wars.
The other major complaint is that these films turn Darth Vader into a whiny little bitch of a mummy’s boy who spends his time rolling in meadows instead of choking people and cutting them to bits with his lightsaber. They completely fail to understand that this was the point. The first thing Obi Wan says in relation to Anakin is “Why do I sense we’ve picked up another pathetic life form?” For all that people denigrate Lucas’s dialogue, I think he chooses his words very carefully. The use of the word “pathetic” was not accidental. He wanted to challenge the audience’s idea of who Darth Vader was.
The truth is that Darth Vader has always been a whiny little bitch, even in the originals; he was just a whiny little bitch who stood at six foot six with the voice of James Earl Jones. Watching the films in chronological order, you notice how consistent the character actually is across both trilogies. You realise that in moments such as the “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” scene, Vader actually just has anger management issues.
When I first saw Revenge of the Sith, while I loved the movie as a whole, I hated Darth Vader’s “Nooooo!” at the end. This wasn’t the Darth Vader I remembered. For a long time I was convinced this was the worst moment in all of Star Wars. It just seemed so jarring. What was Lucas thinking?
A few years ago, rewatching Revenge of the Sith, I realised Lucas was right and I was wrong. The reason I found Vader’s final “nooooo!” to be jarring was because it was supposed to be. I was still thinking of Anakin and Darth Vader as two separate characters. I expected him to take on an entirely new personality now he was in the suit. But Lucas was trying to show me that underneath the mask, he was still that same little boy from Tatooine. Star Wars at its core is a tragedy. There’s a line in AOTC spoken by Yoda: “Young Skywalker is in pain, terrible pain.” If you ever need a one sentence summary of the whole six film saga that’s it right there.
Of course the Stoklasas and Stuckmanns just wanted cool spaceships and Darth Vader murdering people. I don’t think it’s any accident that what has to be the most celebrated scene from the Disney Star Wars films is just Darth Vader slicing people up in a corridor. If it’d been up to them, the prequels would have just been this scene played on a loop for three films. I’m so glad we got George Lucas’s prequel trilogy and not the generic fan service action movies the cynical Gen-X OT fanboys wanted.
Sorry for the long comment, but like you I’ve been incubating a lot of Star Wars thoughts for some time. This is actually the heavily abridged version. Keep up the good work.
Lucas has said many times... I think I even have a clip of one time in this video... that Darth Vader is meant to be a pathetic character. He's a messed up guy hooked up to life support, and it's mostly his own fault he got that way. Many fans never got past the fact that the suit looked cool to think about what was inside it, so when the prequels made them think about it, they got upset. If Lucas DIDN'T say that Vader was messed up and it was tragic that he was in that suit, he would be saying that evil is cool, which obviously was not his intention.
Anakin had all the potential in the world, and he threw it away... for some sympathetic reasons, and in the prequels you see why, but the point was to show that his choices were sometimes understandable, but wrong. Fans just wanted a badass slicing up people with a lightsaber like they got in Rogue One. That's an adolescent first reaction, that being a powerful badass is a great goal, and Lucas had a message designed for adolescents in the movies to show why that's not a good thing to be, but many adult fans haven't advanced far enough to understand it.
Man your stuff on vader is spot on i agree. People just couldn't accept the truth of what darth vader is. Vader is just a scared weak minded slave boy. OT fans just couldn't accept the truth george was giving to them about vader. That why i love what lucas did he made vader way more human.
Very well said!
@@rickworley9081 I say he's both.
Vader is intimidating. He is a badass. He has become a boogieman for the Empire and the Rebels fear him for a reason.
And yet he's pathetic in spite of all that.
He's a crippled man that squandered everything he had and everything he was and he spends each day of his life in hatred and self-loathing. He has no hope, no future, nothing to aspire to. All he has is the hellish life he created for himself. All of his fearsome fighting skills and power are for naught, because they give him nothing. He has nothing. Not even a will of his own - he's the Emperor's enforcer, his right hand man, his hitman. His slave. As one reporter put it in an interview with George, he's not Satan, he's the guy Satan sends to get his cigarettes. He has nobody to blame for it but himself and he knows it. And he spent a half of his life consumed by this, living purely on autopilot because he has nowhere else to go to. He can't just stop because he has no one to turn to. He believes that it's too late for him, that nobody else will ever accept him. And up until Episode VI, he's right. Anyone wanting to be Darth Vader is laughable because Darth Vader himself doesn't want to be Darth Vader.
As for his portrayal in the prequels, I think people just kind of forget just how much a person can change over the course of few years.
Rick Worley You generalize some fan’s legitimate criticisms. It’s not necessary to see Vader slicing up enemies ALL the time. It was nice to see ONCE why he is so feared and the true scope of his mastery of the force. As far as critiques on bad delivery or clunky dialog being purposeful, look at Ewen Mcgregor’s or Portman’s delivery, or anyone else’s for that matter. Same dialog, just more talented and seasoned actors at work. Jake Lloyd and Christensen just needed more coaching. Qualified actors have stated George’s directing style is sometimes lacking, where he’ll say to do another take and he’ll just say “Do it again, but better this time”. The man’s a genius but many ppl need a little more direction to know where to go or get into the mindset of the character. That said, I love the prequels.
I've been an ardent, unironic supporter and defender of George Lucas and the prequels ever since they came out. This whole video was a catharsis for 20 years of frustration with having to constantly fight tooth and nail to get basically anyone I ever met to acknowledge that there are even some things that the prequels do well. Even with just that, I would adore this video. However, the extra effort you put in to show the true greatness and beauty of the prequels (and all of the passion and love that Lucas put into making them) is what I truly appreciate about this video. Your work has just further enhanced my love of the films, as I can now better explain/put in to words/show examples of what makes me love them so much. So, sincerely, thank you.
@@Floki-D. and what is your definition of 'art' if you don't mind me asking?
@@Floki-D. except Lucas' messages are NOT exactly 'hidden'. They've always been there in plain sight, it's just up to the audience to notice them. And for that you will need to understand Lucas better, know some Shakespeare, and be a bit (or a lot!) more cinema literate.
When Lucas explained that 'Star Wars' (the Original Trilogy) was structured according to Joseph Campbell's monomyth, how many of the audience do you think had read Campbell? Have you? I haven't either, I've looked it up to get the gist, and that helped me see the ideas Lucas was using in Luke's 'hero's journey'. I understood better what 'Star Wars' represents and appreciated the art all the more for it. There are often deeper meanings and levels to art.
So to fully appreciate art, you firstly need to know what it represents. This video takes us through that, if you paid attention you'll hear Lucas himself explaining his intentions and influences for the artistic choices in his films. Rick is helping us see the references Lucas draws on by presenting the relevant film clips alongside Lucas' commentary. I presume you watched the whole video right? So what 'hidden messages' are you talking about?
@@Floki-D. what did Lucas say afterwards 'just to sell the movie'? I don't understand what you think Lucas had to 'make up' afterwards? Whatever is 'in the movie' is in already 'in the movie'. He couldn't have put it there afterwards. Like I said, nothing is 'hidden', you just need to be able to notice it.
@@Floki-D. do yourself a favour and listen to this detailed video essay on why the Prequels are now more popular than ever:
ruclips.net/video/RfMDCFf0wEM/видео.html
@@Floki-D. sorry what's your point? And do you know many people who aren't on the Internet? That essay was about how Lucas developed the Star Wars world and created something to parallel Tolkien or Frank Herbert's Dune. It explained how Lucas changed, and moved up several gears when writing the Prequels.
The world's he created were considerably more detailed and fleshed out. As were it's characters. Lucas was seeking the approval of the serious Science Fiction writers. The same ones that derided the OT as derivative banality. That's why he made the Prequels story far richer and a far more complex one. And we're now in an age where audiences are far more receptive to that.
It's kind of funny that you mentioned the Droid Factory having hellish imagery, because Lego Star Wars has even more of that by having sections of the Droid Factory level literally be filled with lava. Even Lego Star Wars understood the subtle techniques in the film.
@Adam Wasiura The nine people who liked my comment would disagree. Also, chill out, dude!
@Adam Wasiura ?
@Adam Wasiura ok
@Adam Wasiura You are a dumbass.
@Adam Wasiura Yeah, you are a dumbass.
This doesn’t just make me appreciate the prequels more, but it also does make me appreciate the original trilogy more too.
Thanks, glad you liked it!
Xx_IndiaBladeWolf2009_xX You're a tight-ass idiot
Demitriz sorry :(
Demitriz looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Well you can lead an idiot to knowledge but you can't make them drink
As someone who's always dismissed the prequels as "underrated but just fine either way," I'm glad I found this excellent video. George is a creative, ingenious auteur.
Not to antagonize you here but i saw you in the comment section of net alliance's star wars movies ranked video. You commented that you dislike the prequels but now here you compliment the prequels and george lucas. Why? I'm just asking.
@@CC-Cody-di2uq He never said he disliked the prequels. He said he dismissed them. That's not an indication of what he thinks about their quality and he also said that he's always acknowledged that they're underrated.
@@tomnorton4277 I don't think he was talking to you.
@@mitchellwilliam95 I know. That doesn't mean I can't speak up for another commenter though.
I bet a small minority of Star Wars fans saw themselves as behind George Lucas's back as he was writing the Star Wars prequels saying don't do this don't do that don't do this meanwhile George Lucas is like this screw off let me work. What those fans don't understand is that it was George Lucas's stuff he could do what he wanted with it
"I don't like watching the prequels first because it ruins the "I am you father" twist in Empire Strikes Back"
Oh, you mean the movie you've already seen 30+ times? You can't watch them chronologically because you don't want that spoiled for you?
It's still a powerful moment chronologically. I knew the twist beforehand and watched Star Wars for the first time chronologically. It was still impactful as you see Luke's view of the world and his destiny crumble around him.
Plus, saying that Empire is only good for the twist is like saying Sixth Sense is a bad film if you know the twist. There are other qualities to the film that give it the reputation it deserves
@@onemoreminute0543 Exactly. I’ve seen all the Star Wars movies more times than I can count and Empire is still my favorite. Still get something new out of it every time I watch it
@@jasonshaneyfelt1039 For me, Empire and Sith are neck and neck for the title of GOAT Star Wars film. It's honestly quite hard for me to pick which one I think is better than the other.
In a sense, I feel that Empire has fewer flaws but Sith has greater strengths
@@onemoreminute0543 I understand that completely. Sith used to be my #3 (after a New Hope), but very recently I've found that it's crept its way into the #2 spot. Who knows? Maybe in a few years it will be #1 lol
My ranking (Lucas' films only) right now would have to be
1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Revenge of the Sith
3. A New Hope
4. Return of the Jedi (very similar to Revenge of the Sith in that it has more flaws, but also incredible strengths)
5. The Phantom Menace
6. Attack of the Clones
I love all six a ton, though! Don't think me putting Attack of the Clones last means that I don't like it. Not the case at all. It's just that one of them had to be last.
@@jasonshaneyfelt1039 I'd have to rank it (at this moment in time)
6)AOTC
5)TPM
4)ANH
3)ROTJ
2)TESB
1)ROTS
Anyone that considers themselves a fan of Star Wars should watch this!
I agree. But i think most won't survive.
crizzydime 66th like?
@Adam Wasiura lmao ok
Just like Star Wars I'm a fan of the The Man With No Name good Bad and The Ugly I just don't get why these so-called Star Wars fans have never branched out and actually tried to look at the references that George Lucas used in his movies
Those who can't movies complain that's a what a so-called Reviewer is I respect the craft I respect the artist more than the uncreative appropriators
Just look at how soulless the sequel trilogy is and you’ll have all the proof you need. Lucas IS Star Wars.
yet there are still people who seem to hate the guy for reasons that make no sense yet love the awful writing of the tv shows. Star Wars never was meant to be a MCU type project.
I would consider the prequels as soulless too. Everything thanks to the overuse of CGI looks to clean and fake. Even the things that where full models achieve this sterile computer look too, thanks to that. And not even to mention the things that contradicts to the original but where explained by off sources because the movie where not able to do it
@@ichmich9324 I'd argue the prequels almost have more soul than the originals. You are conflating technological limits with a deficit in soulfulness, by your logic, the mere fact that the sequels came out almost 2 decades where computer graphics had advanced leaps and bounds gives them more soul. That is similar to people complaining that old movies look bad, which is why they won't watch them. You don't know what people mean when they claim a work of art has or lacks soul.
@@ArgentWolf95 You have no idea how many times my friends have tried to get me to watch the tv shows. Whenever I give in, we get one episode in and I have to call it quits. They are horrible money grabs that just leech off of and defile the first 6 movies. There is a reason they haven't attempted any serious show based on the sequels, because there is nothing there for them to leech off of, because the sequels themselves did the exact same.
@@macicoinc9363 that's why I use the term overuse and the sterile computer look and funny enough the things that actually still look good are the ones they also excessively used models in the prequels. Or just make the comparison in the Original trilogy with the old version and the version that will now forever stick (not everything became worse sure the new filters are great and the lightsaber effects, but CGI the puppets and put scene in it back that where not in the Movie theater version had a reason.) ...... But not everything and Alot was CGI a whole set. Technology is a tool and thanks the sequels I finally have a marker how dumb something can be that most star wars fans reject it...... Or when in some years the people that grew up with it come and say "it was not that bad!" which make the hypothesis of child indoctrination as more important
This is easily the most compelling, well-researched fan documentary on the brilliance of Star Wars and its creator that I've ever seen. I've became a fan of these films in 1997, have been a regular member on TFN's Jedi Council Forums since 2003 and visited countless Star Wars Celebrations, and still, here I am, getting introduced to so much compelling analysis on the films and the creative vision behind them. Not only was it a joy to watch, but also a blessing to know there are still this many things to learn about these works after +23 years of experiencing them.
I went to film school in the mid-00's and would often argue with people who wouldn't look beyond the word "blockbuster" or "escapist film" to appreciate the abundance of pure artistry and refined storytelling qualities. It was worth it then, and this documentary eloquently describes why it is just as worth it now. Thank you for making me appreciate these gems even more!
George would be nothing without Marcia Lucas and Gary Kurtz. He is the Bob Kane to their Bill Finger.
@@davidanderson4748
What are you talking about?
Marcia Lucas was only on the editing side of production of A New Hope from August 1976 until Thanksgiving 1976. George meanwhile was in the editing room the entire time and had final say in all the decisions. She suggested some good ideas but like with editing George could say no. Like his telling no to Brian de Palma when he suggested George cut mention of the Force.
Gary Kurtz also I'm sure contributed but he isn't the one who wrote the script. He also let Empire go over budget. This forced George to go back to the bank and Howard Kazanjian to take over as uncredited producer on Empire when Gary Kurtz left.
@@zoetropeguardian He only believes in the *secret history of Star Wars* conspiracy nonsense. Basically some odd SW fans feel "betrayed" by whatever GL did after 1980 / 1983 and they do anything, no matter how petty, to discredit the creator from his creation. Meanwhile, when you watch / read interviews with GL, he is clearly a humble person with a self-deprecating sense of humor who has no problem admitting to personal faults and is always praising others for their input and always talks about the influx of creativity in the collaborative team-effort that is filmmaking.
@@StarmanSkywalker
Well said.
It's funny as if they actually did their research they'd see how honest George is about the developmental phase. Here's a quote from him that shatters the narrative they like to have that he made things up as he went along and had nothing planned.
"Back when I was writing Star Wars in 1974. I didn't really flesh out the storyline of the first three episodes. I had a rough of idea of what happened and who the major characters were, but I didn't include a scene-by-scene scenario of what happened in my treatment. That is what made writing the script in 1995 and 1996 more difficult because I had to go back to my sparse treatment of the prequel and greatly flesh it out. Some old ideas that really didn't work anymore were thrown out. And I added a great deal of ideas that have developed in my mind over the years to the script. Over the past 15 years since the release of Jedi, I have been jotting down neat ideas I've come up with in one of my spiral notebooks. I took all the new ideas and the old ones from my original treatment and came up with a character-driven adventure."
@@StarmanSkywalker If he were also such a terrible person he wouldn't be restoring films, starting an art's literacy museum, devoting time to his educational foundation he's had since the 90's, starting a school at NYU in recognition of Marty Scorsese, philanthropy, and countless other things like this. He continues to do good for society. I wish we could say the same with the individuals he trusted to continue his life's work.
I first saw this video 4 years ago. This video not only changed my perspective on Star Wars, it also changed my perspective on cinema in general. Not only did I grow a bigger appreciation for Star Wars, I also started watching films like Metropolis, Woody Allen's filmography, The Godfather trilogy, Martin Scorsese's filmography and the Dollars Trilogy.
This video also changed the way I approached criticism. I rewatched the films Alien Resurrection and Prometheus, two movies I hated initially but now like. I hated them because they didn't do what I wanted them to do, but I now appreciate those two movies for what they did.
Thank you for improving my perspective on cinema.
i couldn't agree more
This man poured his heart into the Prequels and the fanbase absolutely eviscerated them, calling him a money-hungry, talentless hack. No wonder he sold the franchise to Disney. Now with the Sequels, we get to see what Star Wars looks like when it's made by actual greedy hacks who don't know what they're doing. The Maker is gone, Prequel bashers. Are you happy now?
In an ironic way, Lucas selling to Disney probably redeemed the Prequels for many fans. They saw the Sequel Trilogy had no story, no arc, just rehashed ideas of redeeming Ben Solo, The First Order, The Resistance and The Emperor. It showed that the Prequel Trilogy had a real story, a real arc and a real reason to be called 1,2,3. 7,8,9 were just 3 movies made on the fly with no objective. Maybe Lucas was The Phantom Menace selling time Disney and seeing how the fanbase would turn on them? Lol
Please give evidence Rian Johnson or Gareth Edwards are greedy hacks. Are you saying Ron Howard is a greedy hack? Its funny to me that EVERYTHING Rick says about how the prequels are lied about and misconstrued applies as much to the Disney films.
@@examiningkubrickphilosofia1530 ... Ron Howard is a legitimate artist? i wasn't aware it was 1987 again.
@@TheJiminatorHS Wow besides an attack on Ron - why do you say this. George thought he was good enough to do episode 1 TPM LOL
I believe a certain youtuber thinks George's opinion matters
Yes, he should have left the three originals.
This is maybe the best video essay I’ve watched on RUclips and I have watched countless video essays on RUclips. A great work of art yields more depth no matter how closely you look. I hope Lucas is taken seriously in his lifetime, not just as a popular Hollywood director, but as a grandmaster of visual media. His films know more about ourselves than we do.
its so crazy to me that this was actually uploaded in 2019, because i only found it last year and im still blown away
I hope so too but he's not Hollywood. He made Star Wars independent of it. Only A New Hope was made inside the system.
52:30 The podrace is such a great sequence. You always looked forward to seeing it as a kid, never got old. It's exciting in itself but the way it's framed narratively as the redemption of a slaveboy really sets it off.
I'm so glad I found this channel. This dude is the real deal. I'm tired of listening to people who don't know more than me about star wars Yap about star wars. Learning something while watching something like this is refreshing.
Thank you!
It is unfortunate that film "critics" are not just illiterate in the domain that they critique in but that they tend to appeal to the average consumer who readily accept their "criticism". Within academia research papers are reviewed by a hand picked group of people known to be experts on the subject (or similar subjects) of those papers; In the interpretation of law we turn to lawyers for their expertise on legal matters; in the realm of film the world has decided that the authorities on film making are people who simply watch films.
This is true, I say all the time that most people wouldn't just pick up a scalpel and start doing brain surgery (not if the goal was for the patient to live, anyway) because they understand that it's a subject you have to learn about, you aren't born knowing how to do it. And yet any yokel with $10 for a movie ticket thinks they can tell Terrence Malick what he did wrong.
@@rickworley9081 I understand the sentiment, but there is a saying "you don't need to be a chef to tell the cake is shit". Roger Ebert was one of the most famous critics certainly knew cinema and what he like but he did once try make a film which turned into a mess.
Everyone's a critic now with the internet for better or worse.
I think it's because most "film critics" are either Communications, Journalism, or English majors who are just looking for a job that pays the bills. Newspapers and websites hire them because "oh you know how to write" and in the case of English majors it's also "you know how to evaluate plots and characters" Except a film is a sum of so many parts that as far as media goes, only video games can rival it, so if you only judge a film by its acting and script you're missing out on so much of the final result.
As the other poster said, you don't have to be an expert on cinematography to either enjoy a movie or dislike it. Knowing extra details about it can make you appreciate some things more or less but, watching movies isn't rocket science, it isn't surgery, it isn't law. Those professions either are applied sciences or have serious real world implications that a poor professional will make a difference. Movies are meant to be liked or disliked by audiences. How good a film will be does not determine if someone will continue living with a brain tumor or not. That the original argument in this thread is really pretentious and absurd.
A more apt comparison is car design. Most likely all of you have or had a car in your life. Most likely you bought the one you liked the most. Did you have to know everything about automotive history, the entire inner workings of engine, chassis and suspension or how to design a car in order to like it? NO. Know those things are a good thing but either it looks good or it doesn't. Either it feels like it drives well or not. You don't need to know anything about a car in order to mostly appreciate it or enjoy it.
Watching this essay convinced me to seek out American Graffiti, and the combination of the two was enough to completely change my opinion on George Lucas. I started appreciating the Prequels around 5 years ago, but my perception of Lucas had already been skewed by the sheer amount of mis-information about the man that is floating around. The amount of erasure of his legacy and responsibility for even the original trilogy is both concerning and puzzling. Thank you for this, genuinely. Great job.
I remember the first time I saw American Graffiti and being confused by it, because I only knew Lucas from Star Wars at the time and this just wasn't what I was expecting at all. But looking at it more and seeing how many things they do have in common really helps you understand Star Wars. The superficial stuff that most people notice about Star Wars isn't there, but the filmmaking, the camerawork, the themes of the movie, all have so much in common with what's going on in Star Wars once you get past the superficial parts. Once you realize these movies are two ways the same guy was talking about many of the same things, you start to understand much more about how Lucas thinks as an artist.
@Adam Wasiura Yeah, no it isn't. Actually look in to it, it's 100% narratives circulated by gen X and half truths. No common story surrounding Lucas is complete fact
@Adam Wasiura Literally the biggest piece of misinformation about Lucas. Do you not think Lucas had final cut of his own film? Or have you asked yourself how a film can be "saved in editing" when prior to editing no film exists? The cut this refers to is the John Jympson cut, which was deemed bad by Lucas and he was promptly fired and replaced by Lucas with Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch, and Richard Chew. Interviews on this subject are incredibly easy to find, as Paul Hirsch especially has been transparent about this. Every film has massive amounts edited out. Do you ever hear about how "Apocalypse Now" was saved in the edit, and that Ford Coppola was a hack because of it, or morever the same about Lucas in reference to American Graffiti? Of course not, the notion is a ridiculous half truth circulated by Lucas hating gen-X'ers that want to believe so bad he was a hack and a cheat who had nothing to do with the success of any Star Wars film. It's demonstrably false and tarnishes the reputation of a genuinely great, or at least once great filmmaker. It's flat out cultural erasure.
@Adam Wasiura You seem mad Adam. Did YOU check the sources? Manipulative attribution of sources can be used to paint any picture.
@Adam Wasiura Bad for you, I maintain they have positive qualities, but definitely a dip from the OT imo. The answer is, plenty of reasons. Lucas did a lot (contrary to semi-popular belief)
, but wasn't a one man show. Also sometimes creatives just lose "it", no one has the spark forever man. He's pretty open about having young children changing how he felt about creating art and also star wars as a franchise, you can draw a line pretty directly from that to stuff like Greedo shooting first or the Phantom Menace seeking a younger audience. But Lucas was heavily involved in Indiana Jones, and all OT films and all his directorial efforts prior to the contentious prequels are incredible.
Can’t believe no one has mentioned the very well executed Mike Dunning and Jay Krueger joke yet. I cackled
The rapidly growing number of people who inanely spout RLM quotes every time Star Wars is mentioned is annoying. This video is interesting, and I appreciate it.
Because none of them have their own opinions, they're all sheep.
This is, bar none, the greatest Star Wars video on RUclips, probably only second to my Kreia video. Many people, especially the RLM idiots, have criticized Star Wars for being dumb and silly, yet you do it justice in every way imaginable. I think your very last few minutes criticizing people like RLM and Chris Stuckkman is not on the level as the rest of the video, but the absolute irony of him echoing RLM makes it worth it. I will try to have more people to watch your video.
Thanks! I’ll check out your video when I have time!
@@rickworley9081 Thank you, I greatly appreciate it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it after you've watched it. I think I give the Star Wars movies the rightful examination it deserves but I am ever so happy to have found your video; to not be the only one to properly defend the franchise, including the prequels, is a delight.
@@The.RUclipsr.with.no.Name. Love your Kreia video.
Yes this comment is perfect.
Shilling your own video, that's what I call B A S E D
Even the dialogue makes sense when you consider that Padme's a sheltered royal, and a main part of the Jedi Religion is to suppress your feelings and keep your emotions in check. Of course they wouldn't talk like say, Han Solo or Princess Leia, since the former is down-to-earth, and the latter is very emotive and emotional.
Oh definitely. The main prequel characters generally come from quite high up positions in society , so it makes sense that the dialogue for them would generally be quite formal.
Meanwhile, most of the OG characters come from quite low backgrounds , such as Han being a smuggler and Luke a farmboy. Leia had a bit of that formal dialogue in ANH, but it disappeared over the following films as she integrated more with the lower peoples of the rebellion.
Heck , the dialogue makes even MORE sense when you consider the fact that the prequel characters are literally meant to be from the previous generation. Each generation brings their own style to the linguistics table :)
@@onemoreminute0543 Exactly. People from the 50s don't talk like Gen X or Millennials.
@@HolyknightVader999 Precisely 👍
So literally everyone talks in that monotone tone? Like even when they are in danger they dont show emotions at all in epsiode 1, ep 2 and 3 are defintely much better in acting department
@@haveidonethisbefore They do show emotion, but not too much.
We failed George lucas and because of that Disney will ruin what he poured his heart and soul into
This isn't a case of whether Disney WILL ruin Star Wars. They HAVE ruined Star Wars.
@@tomnorton4277 Honestly the haters/critics look really dumb since they weren't able to pick up half of the symbolism and poetry these movies had.
@wespozo YES! Star Wars IS Episodes 1-6. I'll give an honorable mention to Gareth Edwards for Rogue One.
speak for yourself, me and my friends always loved the prequels and actually preferred watching those over the originals.
@@ZugzugZugzugson The Originals are overrated. The Prequels are far more interesting.
The thing that always boggles my mind when discussing the prequels with people is the complaints about Christensen's acting, they say he's wooden and awkward and dislike-able. That's the whole point, he's supposed to be. Jedi are raised to suppress emotion and not feel lust or anything like that, but Anakin was taken too old to properly do this; Yoda even warns about it in phantom menace. Of course he's going to come off weird, he's told he can't feel these things and to shove them down, but too late, so you get an awkward horny bastard who doesn't know how to handle his feels. If you see his character that way, Christensen actually does a fantastic job and fits the movie perfectly.
Chan Thorpe In-universe it’s about the Jedi.
No he’s not. He’s a terrible actor the entire casting was unforgivable.
Chris Jenkins ... Make an actual argument please.
Darth Sonic 413 - There is no argument to make. The writing was terrible and the story was cut-n-paste lackluster. Other than Ewen McGregor as Obi-wan, the casting was pretty awful. It’s a tragedy on every level and a hubristic waste of talent.
Chris Jenkins Incorrect :)
I came back to this video because someone said George Lucas should've looked at Rome while writing the prequels, I wanted to find the bit where TPM's parade quotes _The Fall of The Roman Empire_ and _Ben-Hur._ Say what you will about media analysis and reading too much into things, but the real proof we're media illiterate is that someone is claiming George Lucas should've done something _that he did do,_ and not even recognizing that.
Thanks for the video, Rick!
Spot on. It's really sad how lacking visual literacy is in our cultures. We really need to do better.
I should note you can also find the Roman influence on the costumes worn by the Naboo citizens. Particularly those in audience of Padmé in the throne room at the beginning. Likewise the podrace is very Roman in nature with how chariot races were used to distract the populist. There's so many more I'm sure. The fact that people don't see these things baffles me.
Terminator 2's drain canal chase is another example of the invisible line done well, only cutting right to left as opposed to left to right. It also has a well-placed breather moment amid the action where Arnold (or Peter Kent his stunt double) does a slow-mo jump down into the canal like Anakin's drawn-out jump above the canyon. Naturally Stuckmann never complained about this in T2 because a) it's more modern in its technique and aligns with his finite, short-term understanding of film, and b) unlike the Star Wars prequels, meets his shallow values of consensus approval.
Great video, by the way.
Thanks! Obviously, Stuckmann doesn't understand anything about editing or screen geography, so he'd usually never notice something like that. He just bitched about it in TPM because he was looking for things to complain about, because that's what some people do with the prequels.
@@rickworley9081 He's also a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association?! My God, the state of film criticism is atrocious indeed.
@@KateBond642 You mean Stuckmann? Yeah, sorry state of affairs, isn't it? Remember when film critics used to know something about movies?
@@rickworley9081 Yeah, it's unbelievable. He's not even a journalist (at least).
Btw, I'm so glad you're making these videos! I stumbled upon your blog a few years ago, when I was looking for positive reviews of the prequel films. That was the first time I watched Star Wars in full, and I had absolutely no idea what it was actually all about before that. I was blown away by all the six films, and I'm happy I'm in good company. Thank you for making these.
And I love your writing on Woody Allen too - great analysis of his themes.
Katherine Tawlu Thanks! I’m working on videos about Woody Allen and others, too. This wasn’t meant to be just a Star Wars channel, I’m just doing those first.
I really enjoyed this. It's not often that you learn things from an opinion or review anymore. You can tell a ton of time and care went into making this. Theres a ton of editing and detail that most RUclipsrs wouldn't bother with when, "lawl, your opinion sucks" is so much easier to produce. More people need to see this video, and I hope it blows up soon. :D
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
@@rickworley9081 i wanted to add to your great anaylsis, that lightsabers lighting up fights was also in empire strikes back (luke vs vader in the bespin carbonite freezing contaiment room) and luke vs vader in return of the jedi but yes that guy was being intellectual dishonest about it not only showing up in tfa but its the first time....there was many japanese films decades ago that had the samurai fighting someone else in the dark with their swords in the moonlight showing their faces for split seconds
I remember as a kid, I was part of a children's Christmas program. I was maybe 9 or 10 years old at the time, but there were some older teenagers, 17-19 ish helping. One teenage boy was talking to a teen girl about how much he loved Star Wars and my happy little child self chimed in "oh I love Star Wars, too!" He turned to look at me and sort of stared me down and asked, "Which do you like? The Original Trilogy or the Prequel Trilogy?" And as at that point in my young life I hadn't seen the OT yet (besides Empire) I said, "I like the Prequels!" And he turned away from me and as he turned away he said, "Don't talk to me." That kinda crushed me as a little kid.
So I stopped watching the PT after that, or any Star Wars really. I kinda got back into it with the Sequels (until I came to the conclusion that those sucked), but I hadn't re-watched the Prequels yet. I decided to watch them again before I saw Rise of Skywalker (bleh). By then I had seen dozens and dozens of RUclips reviews crapping on the PT. I figured that any pleasure I had gotten out of the Prequels before then must have been just because I was a silly kid, since everybody seemed to unanimously declare that they were utter garbage. So when I re-watched them, I decided to take into consideration every complaint about them I had heard, so I could see just how bad they were. The "wooden acting and bad dialogue," Jar Jar being absolutely annoying, midichlorians ruining how the Force worked, everything.
And... I absolutely adored them upon re-watch. And it'd been about 15 years since I'd last seen them. Saw Revenge of the Sith in theaters twice in 2005, and didn't re-watch them until 2020. I really didn't remember much about them. But none of the criticism bothered me. I didn't mind the acting (in some cases I thought it was great), I didn't mind the dialogue (in some cases I thought it was great), Jar Jar didn't seem to be in it nearly as much as people complained about and I genuinely still thought he was funny, I thought the midichlorians enhanced the force instead of diminishing it, I really liked all of it.
There were a few things I wasn't super fond of, sure. For one thing, there was a lot of CGI. Didn't mind it in most cases, but come on, they couldn't make at least a _couple_ of real sets of Clone Trooper armor? Just a couple? But overall, I love them. I'm a die hard Prequel fan. And incidentally, not that anyone cares, The Phantom Menace is my absolute favorite Star Wars film.
I think this comment breaks it down really well. While my journey wasn’t the same as yours, I had much the same reaction when watching the prequels, to the point they’ve become my favorite part of the saga! I love all 6 Star Wars movies but there’s something about those 3 that just does it for me (too long so say here)
Ah yes, and “that business with [Disney] doesn’t… doesn’t count”
They're fine. They aren't terrible, the problem mostly stems from the fact that they had to follow the OT, which is a daunting fucking task. Unfortunately, the prequels at their peak never really reached the same heights that the OT did.
Also the CGI in ep2 was kinda bad even for the time. It's become more understood that Lucas was trying to pave the road for a new kind of streamlined, efficient, and affordable CGI pipeline, and in that respect, they were successful. They helped to make CGI something that is attainable at significantly lower budgets, and I'm sure ILM/ Lucas Film were able to make buckets of money doing SFX work for other projects. But... that doesn't make ep2 look any better. There IS some gorgeous CGI work in Attack of the Clones, but those moments are relatively sparse and what we got in the end was a movie that repeatedly slips and falls back into the uncanny valley. Revenge of the Sith made MAJOR improvements to the quality of the CGI work and looks pretty good, and I think that Phantom Menace holds up very well, visually, largely because it had to lean the most on practical effects of any of the prequels.
Also, also, ep2 is probably the worst movie in all of Lucas Star Wars, just in general. I... "Like" it, but I don't "like like" it...
@@Kevin-jb2pv I couldn't disagree more. Episode 2 does not deserve the hate it gets, you can deny it all you want, but the arena scene with the Jedi fighting for their lives is a memorable climax. Anakin's stilted dialogue makes a lot of sense when you consider he's lived with monks his entire life who have all learned how to suppress their emotions, but he was unable to detach himself from his emotions and was in an internal battle to suppress them. I could go on, there is some much depth in the prequels that OT fanboys want to ignore and pretend it's bad... it's infuriating.
Artistic interpretation is subjective. From a story point of view, the narrative is astonishingly strong. But if your main concern is the CGI then I could see why you may have a strongly different opinion.
Episode 3 is the best Star Wars movie.
@ar I also hate how some OT fans say that the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan is bad because "it goes on for too long", "nothing interesting is happening," "they aren't even trying to kill each other," and how its "all style with no substance," but Nick Gillard, the choreographer of all the prequel trilogy fights, perfectly explained what the fight was about, what Obi-Wan was trying to do, what Anakin was trying to do, both of their mindsets, and the fact that they known each other's moves and counterattacks so well from training and fighting together for so long, etc. Plus, the fact that the novelization itself reaffirms all of that, is what makes the fight so compelling to me, along with John Williams' brilliant score.
Revenge of The Sith is my favorite movie, but One of my biggest Criticisms of ROTS is that Cody's is a CGI trooper with Temuerra Morrisons face slapped on top, would have been cool to have him be the only one with real armor, other than that ROTS is great, I wish they'd make a 3 and a half hour cut with deleted scenes and stuff from the Novelization
The Prequels are pure Kino and the best part of the Star Wars Franchise.
100% agree
Thank to whoever posted this on 4chan! Excellent video. I wish content like this was easier to find on youtube. Eager for part two.
Part 2 coming ASAP!
@@rickworley9081 Great work, this is the kind of video that needs to be made and seen right now!
@@supermot34 Thanks!
This proves it, the prequels are purest kino
@Adam Wasiura They copied the ancient greek tragedies in flash gordon?
@Adam Wasiura Uhuh.....thats not copying thats just encorporating something i mean in my projects i take elements from stuff i like all the time its not at all unusual or wrong to do so.
Kino?? More like Keyed 🔑🔑🔑
@@gandalfgrey91 What does that mean?
Edit: English isn't my native language lol
@@gandalfgrey91 Sneed
Rick, I loved it when you finally got to talking about the depth of meaning in the prequels after enduring a three-hour gish-gallop on EFAP 84; I'm so glad to see a full exposition of it. For me, the pain of that debate was worth it if only for introducing me to your work. Bravo!
Thank you... this stuff in this video is what I would have liked to talk about, not plot minutia. But we never got there.
This is beyond the current level of media analysis, at least compared to what I have seen. This isn't just analytical, insightful and holistic - working like a very good documentary or lecture - it's crafted so well and could stand on it's own as a movie! Probably enjoyable even by those who have never seen Star Wars. You've raised the bar! Bravo!
And I mean that it is like a movie, at least how I watched it: Starting with the "why critics got it wrong" video first.
The public has reached a consensus and we start with the story of a dismissed, ridiculed movie maker "who sloppily does it for the money", while the annoyed narrator defends his work against ridiculous nitpicks that aren't even mistakes. It goes into the corrupted nature of the reviewers and the narrators desire for quality insights and truth.
Despite the mainstream criticism the movie maker seems to not be an idiot after all, when we understand how his intended vision recontextualizes story and structure, creating a depth that many must have missed and misunderstood, because they wanted to see their own instead of the artist's vision.
That movie maker isn't a bumbling fool... And still: The artist seems broken, as the industry itself is corrupted, commercialized, soulless and the viewers simply don't want to see or even consider the art that is so important to him.
(Now to the beginning)
It goes back to the artist's intentions and roots. The narrator makes a desperate plea to showcase the quality (at the level neighboring obsession!) and connections to countless other movies and the pure medium of film itself! And beyond! So much seems intentional and seems part of the artist's brilliance to materialize his vision into a piece of art - not soulless moneygrabbing by some amateur, but a well crafted, filigree, self referencing design created by a master.
And then we reach the climax - with a crescendo of energetic music where even basic designs like circles start to carry philosophical meanings, meanings that are everywhere where they have purpose. The narrator ends with the demonstration how even the color of a robe communicates purposefully, despite being so subtle that most won't notice it or dismiss it as a continuity error.
The work has intention and design to such a degree that I feel nearly paralyzed, because I couldn't even comprehend how deep the complexity CAN go and how purpose is shaping and connecting everything in that universe - like the force.
The narrator has successfully demonstrated the brilliance of the artist, who could have deserved standing ovations instead of ridicule by opinionated "critics" and viewers who were too intellectually lazy to even engage with what the creation actually is.
Thank you for this wonderful journey.
It has changed my perspective on the movies and on George Lucas. In fact I believe it has changed the nature of how I will experience movies, stories and art from now on.
The Prequels are like a Stanley Kubrick film that's stretched over three movies. The Shining was ridiculed when it came out and A Clockwork Orange resulted in people sending death threats to Kubrick and his family. Now they're seen as two of the greatest movies of all time. The Prequels will be the same. I think they're actually better than the good but overrated Original Trilogy.
Please don't compare Kubrick to this Lucas twat, that's obscene.
@@lucasoheyze4597 Why ever not? A films reputation is not stuck in time.
The comparison was not between the quality of Kubrick and Lucas , but instead between how their works have a garnered a more positive reception over time.
:)
The salt in these comments is insufferable, and makes me thirsty for Part 2 of this masterclass of a documentary series
I have seen very few salty comments
@@poppag8281 There first was someone who commented on almost every comment (but those reactions dissappeared). He said stuff like CGI=bad, Prequel fans are child idiots, etc.
@@VibingMeike Well, the CGI in those movies was bad. It doesn't hold up today, and it was very over used. There's nothing wrong with it as a tool but so many scenes in those movies are just some actor standing in front of a completely cgi background, talking to cgi characters. It just feels and looks weird in the end. They honestly would have been better off going full clone wars and just animating it all. At least then there wouldn't have been dissonance.
@@Audiodump Well, you're talking to the right person! Because I've done my research on the CGI and practical effects of the Prequels. This comment will be long, so I won't have to reply a second time.
Let's see what practical effects the Prequels have.
TPM (this one has more practical effects than the three Original Trilogy movies combined, TPM also has more practical effects than TFA, and possibly more than TLJ and TROS)
Real models were built for:
Battle droids, podracers, droidekas, Naboo's castle and many many other buildings on Naboo, like for the ending scene there was built a massive model (the inside of the castle was also actually built). The kind of tanks from the Trade Federation on the battle of Naboo, big parts of Coruscant, like the landing platform, Naboo Starfighters.
There was a real forest and a real desert, big parts of Mos Espa, the Jedi Councel room, the entire slave city and big parts of the underwater city of Naboo were built, many explosions in the podrace and the final battle were done with models, many aliens were made with practical effects. Backgrounds were a mix of practical effects and CGI.
AOTC
Things that were built: Palpatine's office, Lars' homestead, again, the Jedi Councel room, big parts from the inside and outside from the buildings on Naboo (like the fireplace scene, the foreground of the 'stolen kiss' and picknick scene), Kamino and Geonosis were built and models were made. The Tuskan Raider camp, Anakin's yellow car in the chase scene at the beginning of the movie. There is again a real desert, filmed in Tunesia and they went to Italy and/ or Spain to film parts of Naboo.
ROTS
The last shot was already filmed during the filming of AOTC (Lars' homestead). There were models for: the battle droids again, big parts of Utapau, Kashyyyck, Mustafar, Coruscant, Jedi Starfighters and other ships, other planets in the order 66 scene. Palpatine's office, the Jedi Councel room, Padmé's apartment, even the lava you see on Mustafar is real lava, but put into the shots digitally, that's why it has aged so well.
And a little fun fact: the waterfalls on Naboo were made with salt, so it would look a bit more realistic.
Just search: Star Wars Prequels practical effects, and you'll find even more stuff than I already mentioned.
Also a few links:
ruclips.net/video/p0cpRamEur4/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/jhpFsO8wUoI/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/VgS3pt0yMvs/видео.html
boards.theforce.net/threads/practical-effects-in-the-prequels-sets-pictures-models-etc.50017310/
www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-The-Phantom-Menace-used-more-practical-effects-than-all-the-other-Star-Wars-films
The Prequels pioneered the CGI technology, they didn't overuse it.
@@VibingMeike So your entire argument is "Look, they had lots of practical effects too! Therefore the CGI is fine!"
Watching that kid get excited about Attack of the Clones... damn, I haven't felt that amount of joy for Star Wars in so long, that thrill of discovery and sense of wonder, that I'm almost envious. It's good to know that beyond all the analyses and internet slapfights the core of Star Wars endures, and will still find an audience in each generation with a need for that kind of myth-making.
@Adam Wasiura Weak bait, mildly admirable dedication to shitting up every thread here. 4/10, don't quit your day job.
@@GentleHeretic for real bro, does he literally just go in every single positive comment post something Wait for a reaction and then delete his thing?
@ truth seeker so if you like Star Wars that was made by the original creator of Star Wars that doesn’t make you a Star Wars fan
Literally the single worst SW movie before TLJ was released. It's only not the worst SW movie because TLJ and RoS exist.
@@Richard_Nickerson Your omission of TFA betrays your bullshit. "Kenobi, PI" will always beat "The Great Galactic Reset Switch."
it's like if you ever wanted to show someone one group of films that displays all the most successful motfis and genres of film history, the Prequels and the OT would be the ideal films to show them. it's like a collage of all the subtle things that resonate with the viewer, whether we immedietely know why it does or not.
when i was a kid watching EP2 i was so obssessed with the way Yoda equips his ligthsaber, and now i know it was because of the successful nature it was used in westerns.
Actual media literacy
I never noticed the purple color symbolism! Even after analyzing the films by means of mythology, and seeing many reviews as well as articles, I still find out more! That was an amazing video. Thank you for making this!
Thanks, i'm glad you liked it!
Still my favourite video essay on RUclips. Made me realise that George Lucas' only real weakness as a filmmaker, was that he completely underestimated the sheer stupidity and ignorance of Star Wars fans. Who never understood his intention with these films in the first place.
Authorial intent matters, you don't get to dismiss it out of hand just because you don't understand what he's conveying with his writing and directorial style.
That's the case for many fandoms, some 'fans' dislike something, because they don't understand it. And some of them don't think: 'hey, maybe it's my fault for not understanding it, maybe I missed something?' I was in a similar situation with reading the Warrior Cats books. I had to read the first 3 books twice to fully understand the story, I just couldn't understand the little details the first time.
Thank god he didn´t try to play it to the fans.
Which didn´t prevent him from making some adjustments, like cutting down Jar Jar´s role in episode 2. But he stuck to his overall vision, which was great.
"Death of the author" was a mistake.
@Astronaut Diversity Hour are you adam?
I understand what Lucas was trying to do and it doesn't matter because he did a terrible job. The prequels are horribly written and directed
I just want to say that I couldn't get through EFAP 84 - my sanity lasted about 2 hours.... I'm amazed that you were so patience and calm. I don't know why the focus of "debate" was so heavy on plot nitpicks and constant questions about obvious things like what Trade Federation wants from Naboo...Too bad it didn't get to an actual discussion about TPM from movie standpoint. I hope you're working on another great video! Stay safe and good luck with your channel.
When they said "What do the Trade Federation want?" and I said "Money" and an hour later we were still just repeating that, I started to guess that the conversation wasn't going to go very far...
Rick Worley but what does the trade federation?
What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want? What does the trade federation want?
Adam Wasiura nah the sequels didn’t have any moments I can rewatch unlike the prequels which did
Adam Wasiura uh prequels had duel of the fates, battle of geonosis,battle over coruscant, Anakin v Obi wan/Birth of Vader, I can go on. Yea the sequels are an actual adventure that was unoriginal
Adam Wasiura i don’t think any of those moments beats the prequels ones and also the prequels felt like Star Wars just with new things to look at
This is a critical evaluation of misunderstood and much-maligned, though not as often as some loud critics would like you to think, cultural masterpieces if I ever seen one and it might be the first time, or at least on a larger publicized scale, that I have witnessed the fair share of credit being given to this saga by a open-minded viewer without him later backpedaling to the ingrained flaws we are led to believe these movies have by the consumer mania and mass media, big kudos to you sir and I encourage you to create more such terrific material !
Thank you! Many more videos will be coming soon!
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 Ah The Last Jedi. You mean one of the most poorly written, poorly edited, and poorly structured mega-budget movies of recent times? With a cast of horribly incoherent characters to top it off? Yeah. A cultural masterpiece, for sure.
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 I really hope you're joking. I'd agree that TLJ was the best of the Sequels, but better trash is still trash.
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 TLJ's main and fatal flaw is the same for the whole Sequel trilogy. They don't look, feel, or sound like Star Wars. And they are made by people who don't really care about Star Wars as much as they care about profits and popularity.
Even TLJ shamelessly copied scenes from the OT, but at least it tried to be kinda original, even though it utterly failed. Sequels are not Star Wars, even though they share the same title with OT and Prequels, they are just casual fan fictional imitations.
No George Lucas = No Star Wars.
1:32:31 - love how the Dunning-Kruger effect
works on more than just cinematic level. Stuckmann clearly doesn't know that using poisonous animals, spiders, snakes, etc. is one of the oldest methods of assassination, that's why it's a common trope in movies. And in a galaxy full of unique dangerous species and genetic engineering creating a perfect living weapon that's a hard to detect and even harder to even notice outright to take out the target is going to be the first trick in the book for a hitman. Not to mention longer more complicated autopsy and investigation of the causes, harder time tracking the bioweapon to the supplier, then the killer and the client. The movie clearly shows that the only way the attempt on Padme's life was thwarted is because the Jedi sensed the danger. Would a regular bodyguard sense a worm? Is a worm easier to spot than possibly odorous poison gas? Is a worm less stealthy or more complicated than a blaster shot from the outside trying to hit a target in a dark room?
Suckmann is a complete buffoon.
@Nathan Cox I guess it comes down to the idiotic statement from Cosmonaut Variety Hour that "Star Wars should be simple". An elaborate plot to assassinate a politician is too boring for these people. They wanted big explosions and chase scenes and jokes... wait, that's exactly what happened next, only with far more logic and story structure behind it, and they complained it was stupid.
I was a teenager when I saw ATOTC, having watched all the other movies by that point, and the story was amazingly easy to follow and engaging, so their complaints are simply false. Don't get me wrong, Attack of the Clones is probably my least favourite of the real Star Wars films, but only because it had far more potential than what was realized. It's simply a personal preference. Some story bits felt rushed, but what we got was great. There was lots of great stuff and tons of brilliant filmmaking, it just left me wanting even more. I was left hungry for more of the world and the interactions between characters, particularly Dooku. I really wish the extended cut would get released one day.
@@UncleJoeNeonCherry I recently realised that Attack of the Clones is my second favourite Star Wars movie, after Revenge of the Sith. A good chunk of this is because of Christopher Lee who stole the show in the second half of the movie and, being a master of less is more, made Dooku far more interesting than he was in either of the Clone Wars shows, despite his limited screen time. The only time Dooku showed his softer side in The Clone Wars was when he protested when Sidious ordered him to kill Asajj Ventress, even straight up admitting that she was important to him. Outside of that, he was just a generic villain in both the 2003 and 2008 Clone Wars. However, Attack of the Clones had Dooku showing his softer side several times, most notably when he spoke wistfully about Qui-Gon, flinched after Jango was beheaded, apologised to Mace Windu, and shut off his lightsaber after defeating Anakin and Obi-Wan with an expression of either regret, fatigue or both. It's amazing that Dooku had more depth in half a movie than he did in two TV series, one of which lasted for 7 seasons.
In addition to Dooku, I also have a soft spot for corny romances because they have a sincerity that is rare these days. For example, watch Anakin and Padme's body language in the fireplace scene. If you take out the dialogue, it's still crystal clear that they're into each other so anybody who thinks their romance was forced is full of shit. I suspect that many of the haters are reminded of how awkward THEY were around their first love and because they don't like being reminded of that, they lash out at the movie.
I also feel that characters who say dialogue that was intentionally corny are basically saying "I know this sounds lame, uncool and maybe even creepy but I don't care. This is how I feel." I think the seeds of this realisation were planted when I was watching Victoria, or possibly in Doctor Who when Clara Oswald told Danny Pink that she loved him and frowned when she added "those words from me are yours now", showing that she was fully aware of how corny she sounded but was speaking from the heart. Some of Queen Victoria's scenes with Albert had corny dialogue too - she even called him "my angel" - and it was partially BECAUSE it was corny that it came across as sincere. Alita: Battle Angel also had a corny romance - at the end of the "I'd give you my heart scene", Alita acknowledged the corny moment by saying "That was pretty intense, huh?" and giggling which served the double purpose of both breaking the tension and showing that the corniness was intentional - and the seeds that Victoria and/or Doctor Who planted began to grow. The trick to handling corny dialogue is KNOWING that it's corny dialogue and I eventually realised that it feels more real because it shows that the character cares about their lover so much that they're willing to allow themselves to be vulnerable and sound uncool. They aren't beating around the bush and hiding their feelings and because of this, I'll take Anakin and Padme over Han and Leia any day of the week.
pAlPaTiNe sEnDs A mAn, wHo sEnDs A mAn, wHo sEnDs A sHaPeShIfTeR, wHo sEnDs A rObOt, wHo sEnDs bUgS
*TO GO KILL PADMEEEEEE!!!!!!*
@@CC-Cody-di2uq I tried to sit through that video of Cosmonaut, it had a million views or something so I thought: this will be good. I wanted to kill myself when I heard him say that ;-;
Thank you for this. The biggest tragedy is Lucas not being able to finish his saga the way he intended to. The prequels were so ahead of their time. Society became too closed minded to accept anything different.
Its just as well that he didnt. The only reason he was doing a sequel trilogy anyway was to maintain the profitability of Lucasfilm and protect his employees. He really didnt want Star Wars to become like Star Trek. The Disney sequels are so horrid it is very easy to keep them out of my head canon.
Why RLM are extremely sloppy, nebulous and contradictory in their analysis, I don't see how this video works as a "rebuttal" of either them, their takes on the PT taking visuals from other works,
or the general notion that they were very uneven in their acting and dialogue etc. and had a terrible awkward dating lovestory, while the OT had none of these issues?
1:54:25 His point there is wrong - he knows his references, but doesn't think everything through:
For 1, the question is also what the Neimoidians are thinking there - unless they're complete idiot pawns?
And there's no evidence that what happened in Tpm was Palpatine's sole A plan - it's just as possible that his main plan was whatever he was trying with that Naboo invasion and taking over the entire planet incl. the Goongas?
And also this has nothing to do with the "forge signature" point.
RLM also get all this mystery plan wrong lol, bug this guy isn't the one to set things straight here.
Then he brings up kids' commercials for OT? But the movies had no 12 year olds? What a sloppy point lol.
Excuses for supposedly bad dialogue? But the OT didn't need such excuses lol
The "dark" contradictions are quite spot on lol, I could expand on that with more contradictory quotes.
Anyway this guy isn't Jesus either - we need some other "voice of reason".
He did get to finish it. He never intended for there to be an Episode VII. Part of the agreement with Disney was that if they bought they'd have to use his ideas for Episodes VII-IX because he knew that's what Disney wanted to make.
Unfortunately for him Disney reneged because he didn't get it in the contract but they did get it in the contract that he's not allowed to talk shit about them.
As long as he's alive I still hold out hope that somehow he will.
Bob Dylan and George Lucas are two of my artistic heroes. I love how you used Dylan as a sort of juxtaposition to Lucas, it was perfect. Both are brilliant men who are highly misunderstood by many people. There’s a huge difference between outright stealing and paying homage, but some people just don’t understand that for whatever reason. Excellent video.
George Lucas's films = Intertextuality done right because they are a reference that is transformative into something new.
Disney's films = Intertextuality done wrong because they are a copy-paste copy and there is nothing new just something old again.
If the two where RUclipsrs Disney would get compyright sticks and George Lucas wouldn't.
The prequels copy pasted a lot of things from the OT but made them worse
In one of the prequel documentaries, you can see a copy of Henry W. Simon's "100 Great Operas And Their Stories" in a close-up of Lucas' book shelf. It helps to think of Star Wars as a cycle of operas like Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Opera, after all, is a precursor to film in many ways. The way you point out how Revenge of the Sith culminates is similar to the final opera of the Ring Cycle, where something like 50 leitmotivs are weaving in and out of its culmination.
Fantastic work. Thank you
I always found the prequels good, but this video shows just how much depth they pack in and an enlightening view of film analysis in general.
So, is there an estimated date of when we can expect Part 2?
Very soon. The release of the 4k versions created another new version of the movies to talk about and that changed up my plans, but now I've done the research and most of the script and I'll finish soon.
@@rickworley9081 By soon, you mean at least a month later...
(Love you by the way, just saying)
@@rickworley9081 you can't rush art. Please take your time Rick. What you're doing is bigger and more important than just for the Star Wars 'Prequels'. This extends to all of modern 'blockbuster' cinema. It's a whole new conversation about where modern pop culture is going, and where it came from. Most of us here wish they had even half of your film exposure, and talent, or this fluid way of blending and expressing ideas through video. RUclips needs this. Any future aspiring 'George Lucas' needs this. But most people don't even know it yet.
Fight the good fight. And best of luck.
@@rickworley9081 Are you going to do a video on the sequels?
@@rickworley9081 what is the music that starts at about 52:30, absolutely amazing.
I saw the prequels in theater(and I grew up with the originals on VHS in the early 90s). I believe The Phantom Menace came out when I was in 8th or 9th grade. I thought it was great, and so did everyone else that I knew at the time.
I thought the same about episode 2 and 3. I must have been about 20 when ep3 was released. I never heard a negative word about any of them. I am not exaggerating here.
I didn't buy them on DVD, and hadn't seen them since, and years later, probably when I got the first Galaxy phone(2010? 2011?) and started watching RUclips, I came across the Plinkett reviews, and was quickly sold. I was hopped up on pride and outrage. Outrage! As if I had been personally wronged. I wasn't even into Star Wars then. It was as if I now "knew" that the films were awful...like the worst things ever created. And like anyone who is outraged about some perceived injustice, I wanted to tell others, and searched the internet for more "prequel takedowns." The whole thing is so ridiculous and pathetic looking back.
Fast forward another few years, and news comes out that episode 7 was in the works. I now have a ten year old daughter who had never seen any of the Star Wars movies. So we watched all 6 in sequential order(1 to 6), then planned to go see ep7 in the theater when it came out.
She loved them all, especially episode 1. As for me, I liked them too, just like when I first saw them. She also liked episode 7, which I didn't care for, especially as a recovering Plinkett proselyte, Force Awakens left a really bad taste in my mouth.
We didn't go to ep8 and still haven't seen it. I saw Rogue One on Netflix, my wife and I went to Solo in theater(we liked Solo). My sister and her husband want us to go see ep9 with them since they're in town for the holidays, but we haven't seen the last one, so I'm not sure we should go.
Moral of the story: it's amazing how influential a RUclips video can be. The Plinkett reviews are like a slander hit-piece, using manipulation, half-truths,and falsehoods to destroy a guy's reputation and life's work. And we are all incredibly easily persuaded, and parrot things that confirm our biases.
I had a conversation with a guy a while ago and he was parroting all the Plinkett-isms about TPM, and when I brought up other things about the movie, it became obvious he didn't have any idea what I was talking about... finally, after a few minutes, he admitted he had never actually seen TPM. Haha. I guess it saves all the hard work of coming up with your own opinion if you just let somebody else do it for you. At least you eventually came around. If you haven't seen TLJ, I would say don't bother... to quote Yoda, "Only pain will you find." But then, don't take my word for it.
Christus Regnet i feel like i’m the only one who grew hating the prequels yet loving the originals. i’m only 16 but back when i saw all the movies when i was about 7, i remember thinking that. i wasn’t influenced by anything, i didn’t really watch youtube, since it was kinda new at the time. hell, I’M the one who discovered Star Wars myself. my parents didn’t introduce it to me. i’m an American kid growing up with a Latino family. but yeah, i just happened to agree with the popular opinion as a kid. now, i don’t hate any Star Wars movies anymore. i don’t necessarily like the prequels, but they’re not godawful. Return of the Jedi isn’t great, but i don’t hate it. and The Rise of Skywalker, while bland, isn’t something i passionately go out of my way to hate on. episodes IV, V, VII, and VIII are my favorites and i know i might get a lot of hate for that but, eh, whatever.
and i think it is totally fine to like the prequels. there is plenty to appreciate in those movies. just not really my thing
ZacTheFirst hard agree with everything you’ve said
@@ZacTheFirst please point out exactly what you think sounds "exaggerated as hell." I gave a simple narrative of my experience. Where did I even have the opportunity to exaggerate?
That's my exact experience. I honestly never heard a negative word about the Prequels from either friends or family, or acquaintance, or girlfriends, etc for a quite a few years after they came out. I never claimed criticism didn't exist, I just claimed I never heard any. It's possible I just don't remember, but then that would mean it was probably insignificant enough to not create an impression on me.
Now perhaps you got into some intense Star Wars complaining on some obscure message board in the dark corners of the early 2000s internet, but I would never have been exposed to anything like that at the time. I had to find out ex post facto that the Prequels sinned, along with an always increasing list of other movies that I saw when I was younger that I'm finding out were actually "awful."
I've also heard many similar stories to mine. People are easily persuaded by what seems to popular opinion. It's been shown in a plethora of studies and experiments that people experience a negative cognitive reaction and moment of unpleasant confusion when they find out that "popular opinion" on a given subject doesn't conform with their own, and experience a release of endorphins when they change and adapt their opinion to fit what is perceived to be socially acceptable, which can happen instantly, even if just by being told "everyone loves this" or "everyone hates that." If a view is ingrained enough, it may then cause a cognitive dissonance.
There was nothing like a major popular narrative of "Prequels bad" during the early 2000s. There was certainly nothing remotely close to what is going on with the Sequels, where we're exposed to incessant whining and lamenting about them without having to seek it out.
Even searching online, or online archives for Prequel articles or content from the early 2000s, there's relatively little, almost nothing. You can find a few articles that are negative, film critic reviews, etc, but they read *nothing like* your modern day hyperbolic Prequel complainer. The worst complaints about the Prequels back then seem to involve Jar Jar, little Anakin, or monotone Hayden Christensen. From what I have seen, critics from the time were somewhat mixed for the first one, more positive for the second, and pretty unanimously praising the third. Even the most negative critic of the Phantom Menace was still praising the visuals of the film, or the podrace or other sequences, or the story, or the music. And then there's a lot of positive critics for ep1 & 2. Looking back at RUclips contents from the early 2000s regarding the prequels, there's was an endless supply of "tribute videos" to "Anakin and Padme," and other such content.
We are not objective creatures, and what is more subjective than art or taste in film? What kind of impression were general audiences(of which I certainly was at the time) supposed to have when they go to see the Prequels in theaters and the whole room is obnoxiously cheering and clapping through each film? That most people hated them or thought they were awful? I think probably not.
@@ZacTheFirst which 'people' are you referring to when you say 'people disliking the films'? This video shows in detail how RLM and the Plinkett reviews specifically, used invalid criticism of the Prequels to get views. It doesn't claim ALL criticism is invalid. Rather it goes to great lengths to explain why Plinkett is wrong in saying that TPM was 'bad' due to having 'poor structure', and by not having a 'clear protagonist' etc.
To make a valid criticism of any art, you DO need to fully understand it. But these amateur internet 'reviewers' need to first have a good understanding of film making in general. That's sound logic, how does that excuse or 'shut down' legitimate reviewers complaints?
If you really want Plinkett picked apart point by point just read this: writerdisease.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/red-letter-media-episode-i-review-a-study-in-fanboy-stupidity.pdf
Excellent observations and appreciation for Lucas's craft. so glad to see something positive talking about the artist and their intentions rather than the cultural phenomenon and the expectations that come with that. Can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve for part 2!
Thank you so much. As someone who grew up with these movies, it means a lot to me that there is at least people like yourself who take the time to appreciate the love and care that went into making them.
Wow this is the best commentary on Star Wars I've seen. You even manage to zoom out and use the prequels to dissect online film criticism itself, then stick the landing by (correctly) naming the correct viewing order. Great work.
This is the best video I have ever watched on the history of RUclips. This was a wonder to the eyes, ears and mind. It's almost as if Adam Curtis made a film essay about George Lucas. What a wonderful masterpiece you have created. God bless you man.
EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT video!!! NEEDS to be seen by EVERYONE!!!
There's one thing that a lot of people over look Jar Jar Binks other side, yes he was there for children just like C-3PO & R2-D2 was as well. But on the flip side Jar Jar was also put there to show how some people can't tolerate people that are different. Even though they are human as well, you know what I mean, they to have merit! Jar Jar always ended saving the day. In the PT and Clone Wars! I've loved Jar Jar since day one.
Can't say that I ever loved Jar Jar, but I never disliked him, either. He was simply another interesting character in a broad galaxy. I think C-3PO was a more annoying character... but he's an interesting part of the galaxy as well.
Great analysis that deserves a lot more views. The Prequel trilogy has as much soul as the OT.
Bwahahaha. No.
@Stark1gaming they have no soul that's the problem. They feel cold and sterile. Name one meaningful interaction between two characters in the prequels that actually felt real and had warmth and emotion
@@yousquiddingme well we might as well use that logic on the overall argument then, no one can say which trilogy is better because it's all based in personal opinion.
@WaddleSenpai In that case we'll have to do with the wisdom of crowds. Original trilogy are rated higher by every aggregate site on the internet.
@@CDStoner They weren't at release.
Thank you for making this! This has been eye opening. I'm walking away interested in learning more about cinema and I'm seeing these six movies in a whole new way.
The guy of the Boba Fett toy seems like a psychopath 💀 Who would enjoy stealing a toy from a child?
THANK YOU!
This might be one of my favorite video essays i've seen.
I feel the order of watching is criminally underrated. 1-6 also has the twist of palpatine being sidious which few people realise immediately, at least when shown the first time.
The best part is when people watch it and realise at the end of 2.
@@TheJiminatorHS The first time watching TPM I kinda thought Palpatine COULD BE Sidious, but when AOTC confirmed it I was like: oh no what's gonna happen next
The academic approach to this video is something that like 95% of the prequel critics I've seen are lacking. And, considering that one of the biggest sentiments within the prequel hate movement is that of "Fuck the politics bullshit. I want to see more blasters, lasers, and spaceships exploding", it's not surprising.
See... the thing I don't get about that is if you want those 3 things, which trilogy is actually better than the prequels?
For space battles you have Naboo and Coruscant, ground battles you have Naboo, Geonosis, and for duels you have The Duel of the Fates, fighting Jango on Kamino, three iterations of a duel with Dooku on Geonosis, Palps kicking council ass, and then you get both the Battle of Heroes along with Yoda fighting the Senate in the Senate!
Whereas OT: Space Death star 1 & 2, Ground Hoth and Endor, Duel Death star 1, Cloud City, Death Star 2, maybe the cave if you count that.
And the ST? Space: I guess I have to count SK base but honestly, the movie itself can't even focus on it and then Exegol, where the movie again really likes those space horses. Ground: Maz's place, Crait aka "Hoth but we've forgotten that defense in depth exists and there is no actual plan" and lets charitably count the space horses again. The duels: Rey and Finn v Kylo, that... thing with the guards, and Rey v Kylo 2 electric boogaloo.
And of course Palpy lightening someone: End of every trilogy.
If you want mindless action just watch the goddamn prequels and skip the stuff you find boring
@@Darkfyreofthezenith dang, it’s like the Prequels have what they wanted.
These are the same people who want context in the ST.
There was politics in the OT, there was silly aliens in the OT (silly is not an insult), there were interruptions to the epic battles in the OT, there were ‘annoying’ comic side characters in the OT everything they complain about was in the OT and no5ing in that list makes a movie terrible or even bad I think they were distracted by nostalgia and just wanted the same thing to be shown with different backgrounds and felt entitled to that.
@@sunsetsky9885 “there was politics in the OT.”
“The regional governors now have direct control..”
Came here after watching your excellent Woody Allen documentary. I'm not a Star Wars fan, but this is an excellent analysis of creative endeavour, inspiration, appreciation and fan ownership. I love the long-form approach you have towards your subjects (and one that is so undervalued these days). Seriously, I look forward to seeing your name on a marquee in film festivals or at my local independent cinema because you, sir, are a filmmaker. And a bloody good one at that.
Thank you, that's really nice to hear. I don't see a lot of people who come for a Woody Allen video who will also stay for a Star Wars video... I try to explain, "But it's really more about silent films, and Bob Dylan, and, and..." but I get the feeling that they don't believe me. Haha.
I can't thank you enough for this. I've always loved the Prequels and it's hard to talk about them sometimes because so many people just immediately fall into what RLM says and hold that as the only views you're allowed to have on the Prequels even though the Plinkett Prequel reviews are awful. I'm glad to see such a long and in depth video defending George since he's been unfairly hated for being a hack. It's good to have a longman defending the Prequels.
Grow some balls.
weez says the guy who doesn’t have any smh.
@@DumpsterFire2048 grow an opinion then
@@thegoodgeneral1174 Letting other people influence your opinion on anything every is a pathetic trait. Decide for yourself. especially when it comes to stupid useless shit like star trek
the RLM reviews are pretty cringe looking back with all the kidnapping and rape skits in them. His opinion is invalid with that
Incredible video. I love the prequels and the originals so much. The story is fantastic and I love how you showed the various films that served as the inspirations for Lucas in making Star Wars. This also highlights how these “critics” really don’t know films. They don’t know the history of film, they don’t know the filmmaker and their influences or what made them make the choices they made in their films. These critics don’t actually listen to the commentaries or watch the documentaries and featurettes on the DVDs or Blu-Rays. They don’t look online to see interviews with George Lucas and see for themselves what they may not be getting regarding Lucas and/or the films. I can go on, but you’ve really done a great job here Rick. Hope to see Part 2 in the future!
This was amazing. Thank you. The Episode 1 fanfare being the Emperor's theme in a major key tidbit unironically blew my mind. Cheers mate!
Thanks!
This is a brilliant video. I've always loved the prequels. What's great about them is how subtle it is visually. And how it tells its story through visual cues AND through dialogue. One of my favorites is that blue guy with the horns in the Senate. I'm sure he has a name in canon. "Order, we shall have order" guy. In Episode 1, he whispers in Chancellor Valorum's ear during the Senate scene. Palpatine tells Amidala "Enter the bureaucrat the true rulers of the Republic. And on the payroll of the TRADE FEDERATION I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear." And then they she calls for a vote of no confidence. Well that guy is always around afterwards. He's always by Palpatine's side. He's also the guy that suggested that someone calls for Palpatine to have emergency powers in AOTC. Then in Revenge of the Sith, the truth is revealed. He refers to Palpatine as "master". That evil bureaucrat that was undermining the Republic was Palpatine's stooge the whole time. He was also on the payroll of the Trade Federation. That's why Nute Gunray trusted Sidious so much. They were getting favors in the Senate through him. So subtle, yet brilliant at the same time. And the prequels are filled with this kind of stuff.
KwameAdu 007 His name is Mas Amedda. I have two action figures of him. Haha.
@@rickworley9081 Loll I just looked him up
This may sound a bit silly, but when George Lucas talked about how the films are essentially conceived of as silent movies, it made me wonder if perhaps the rich visual symbolism of the source material is what made the Lego Star Wars games so successful with their wordless characters. You don't actually need the dialogue to tell the story of Star Wars, and that's deliberate.
I don't think it's silly at all. I played the Lego Indiana Jones game long before I had seen the movies and honestly didn't understand anything that was going on. As for Lego Star Wars I understood it right away. Granted I knew the movies forwards and backwards first but I think it speaks to the difference. George's six films have a greater focus on linear narrative and telling things visually. You can understand what is happening through the visual storytelling through character subtleties like how they turn their head or look at someone. Plus the environments really reflected each part of the story and what was happening with the characters. I think that translated to the Lego game.
Incredibly insightful and well researched, your care and craft is well on display in this video well done and thank you for time and effort this is a great send up for Lucas' vision.
Thank you!
when's part two dropping bro? this is still the best star wars video on youtube
This video not only helped me uncover a deeper appreciation for the prequels, but the medium of film making as a whole. Thank you, sir.
I didn’t think I could appreciate GL more than after Anomaly Inc’s revenge of the Prequels series but you’ve proven me wrong.
Very well done. I won’t watch Star Wars (and hopefully GL’s other films) the same way ever again. Well done on the video👌
Anomaly Inc is just a toxic angry fan of the prequels I don't know how you enjoy that shit he's literally not objective or well researched at all and his only defence is that he's smarter than everyone. This video is way better than anything that joke of a person ever did and comparing the two creators is straight-up disrespectful.
@@adamjanek3511 sounds to me you didn’t actually watch/listen to his videos. He’s defending the Prequels from shit arguments and showing due respect to George Lucas and his creative team when appropriate.
He doesn’t claim to be smarter than anyone; he’s letting dumb Arguments speak for themselves. (Personally I don’t know why you’re so against him)
@@LordWyatt It's not what he does, it's how he does it. He literally titled his video "Dissecting a dumbass" and that just straight up tells me he's not a very intelligent individual.
Also his arguments are no better than those which he tries to refute so idk what you tryna say here.
@@adamjanek3511 Red Letter Media also did insults on his pseudo reviews.
@@adamjanek3511 so you’re judging his intelligence by the title of the video rather than his arguments…
And on the ‘no better’ part, that is definitely not true: cosmonaut and the others that AnomalyInc has covered use the same bs arguments to back up their points (vague hatred to George Lucas, CGI, subjective story choices). Nomz on the other hand has done a ton of research on Lucasfilm, George Lucas, the bullshit with Disney, and the long arduous process of making the six Star Wars films.
It’s ok not to like AnomalyInc, just don’t watch his videos…but to insult his intelligence when you don’t even know the man and refuse to listen to what he has to say is not cool.
I think the big takeaway from this series is that more people need to watch arthouse films. Next time I see a film in theatres, it's been a while, since before covid, I'm going to see something experimental.
I've always said the first six Star Wars films are art house films for kids that tapped into something with mass appeal. It's becoming more and more apparent how true this is with how mindless the series becomes under Disney.
"(Lucas) Sold Star Wars to the slavers because he knew they would milk it dry, eventually releasing movies a lot worse than the prequels could ever be
All those fans who insulted him and called him terrible? They knew nothing, they needed to see it for themselves: the quality only corporate greed could create
Then they'd be sorry, they they'd be *crawling* back, but too little too godamm late
So he took his money and ran off into vindication ranch
Looks like the artist does win in the long run"
E;R
Superb video essay, Rick. Congratulations! I can't wait for the subsequent ones.
Like you, I've been loving and defending the prequels for 20 years.
Discovering Mike Klimo's Ring Theory essay was amazing back in 2014 and made me appreciate Lucas' six part saga EVEN more! Following my passion, I was involved in the making of 'The Prequels Strike Back' documentary.
Momentum has certainly swung back our way in the last few years (thanks Disney!) and thanks to you, the likes of RLM and Stuckmann are being exposed for the frauds they are.
Bring on the Special Edition analysis, we will watch your career with great interest..
Rob Greive Thanks! I was kind of bitter nobody invited me to be part of that Prequels Strike Back documentary. Haha. I’m kidding about being bitter over it since I’m sure they didn’t know who I was, but I would have liked to have been involved.
Oh man, all these quotes:
Qui-Gon tells Anakin “Feel, don’t think.” And Obi-Wan tells him “Think”, illustrating in a subtle way that he is the wrong father figure for him. One of many ways.
Subtle as a brick with ‘brick’ written on it. Incredible what midwits will praise as subtlety these days.
just passed the concentric circle motif part: i wonder how clued-in to any of this depth JJ Abrams or Rian Johnson were. I was excited for ep 7 and 8 but they both lost my interest by the end. i have no interest in seeing 9 at all.
Ep 9 was certainly better than The Last Jedi, that film was just disgusting.
@@KentKaliber Personally , I'd disagree. Episode 9 was just consumer damage control for everything people didn't like about 8, which thus muddled the story and harmed the trilogy as a whole.
8 tried to actually explore interesting ideas such as moral ambiguity /grey but was just weighed down by the abysmal position 7 narratively put it in.
Mike Thorn gave a good review of 8 which basically summarised my thoughts. Though 8 attempts to deconstruct Luke Skywalker , it's limited by the narrative 7 previously established and only scratches the surface of what the prequels had to offer.
:/
@@onemoreminute0543 Except 8 was a complete dumpster fire. From the Canto Bight to Luke-not-being-Luke to Leia-Poppins, it was like Rian wrote 8 on acid. Poor writing, awful pacing, tonally-deaf, the worst humor ever in a SW Film ----- 8 succeeded at the Box Office but ultimately damaged the SW brand so badly that it's still recovering to this day.
@@KentKaliber Though I do appreciate some aspects of 8 (compared to 7 and 9, it really does have it's own nice artistic/visual style), I do agree that it did majorly suffer from other plot issues. I've had a mixed relation with 8 - first I liked it, then I hated it, now I mostly dislike it but love certain aesthetics to it :)
@@onemoreminute0543 But that's the thing right there. TLJ does NOT "look like" a Star Wars film. Which makes it feel very bizarre when you back and try to watch the films in order. The artistic / visual style seems more like a Marvel Movie than a Star Wars movie. Such experimentation would be cool in the context of "spin off" Star Wars films (ala Rogue One) b/c the whole point of the "spin off" films was that they could be far more experimental. The Main Saga films should stay at least within the same aesthetic construct --- Rian took every too FAR, he even used different Cameras from 7 and 9 --- cameras, I might add, that had different color hues / color correction from 7 and 9. It really makes the New Trilogy bizarro to watch in tandem. Rian made a movie for HIMSELF, with no consideration to what came before him or what would come after him.
What are the new star wars film lacking that the prequels and originals had?
A true understanding of star wars style, which became with time almost effortless to Lucas because he is an autistic genius.
You have to take matinee serial DNA from the 40s and 50s. you have to study Joseph Campbell quit a lot and apply his precepts in the script (and if you also study fairy tale literature thats quit the bonus really), you have to be educated in Kurosawa, in particular absorb Hidden Fortress literally into you cinematography genome. You must be also familiar with 50s and 60s care design and car chase movies. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. The sound design and the score s a while another colossal task, the editing has a very simple yet effective style, always ending in parallel edit for reel 5. And in the visual arts side of things, not only you need a large culture of widely different art styles (from art deco, to mongolian, to venetian renaissance to african art eve in the case of prequel droids), you also nee to develop a certain taste for them and even a casual curiosity. Lucas was always open to look for new visual ideas.
People underestimate how tricky this all is. Disney underestimated how tricky this all is too. Normies see star wars and they think space battles and lightsabers, but there is a lot of culture and knowledge behind this apparent simple and naive franchise. If it was easy every studio would be doing it flawlessly. Its not easy, its a singular cocktail that everybody loves to drink, but very few barman can make.
One barman, to be precise ;)
What a terrific video! Thank you for spending the time to craft this labor of love. I grew up loving the OT with my first film memory being my father taking me to see TESB when I was a little boy. As I grew older my appreciation for them began to deepen beyond just childhood nostalgia and blossom into appreciation of them as well-crafted films. When the PT was announced, I was very excited, and I loved each prequel as it was released. As the public narrative surrounding them began to become poisoned and dominated by loud and obnoxious hypercritical "fans", I was deeply saddened because no longer could I freely discuss these films that I loved so much without finding myself on the defensive against people eager to mock and attack the object of my love. It has been a breath of fresh air to see more and more prequel fans making themselves known over the years as well as the younger generation of fans who grew up on them. I hope more people come to appreciate through things like this video the layers of artistry that went into these films and stop conceiving of them as mindless roller coaster ride entertainment like the flavor-of-the-month blockbuster cranked out by various Hollywood corporations.
Agreed, absolutely!
Who would have thought that the creator of Star Wars knows how to make good Star Wars movies? Truly the depths of stupidity of some Star Wars "fans" knows no bounds. The popularity of Star Wars seems to be both a blessing and a curse for Lucas. Without the massive success he never would have had the money to make the films, but such popularity creates conflict between the fans' expectations and the artist's vision.
I agree with the other guys that said that this is of unusually high quality for a RUclips think piece. I actually feel like I learned something. Bravo.
If had one suggestion though- Arthur Lipset's "Very Nice" was the most direct inspiration for George's "Look at Life" in my opinion- whenever you getting around to making a Special Edition of this review ;)
That's a good point, too. I think of new things I could have added all the time, and I am considering doing a Special Edition of this video with added material... thanks for the suggestion!
@@rickworley9081 I'm watching the video in chunks, so here's some more praise- I always wondered why Lucas chose to face Anakin as he's looking at the sunset.
I aspire to make the same kind of non narrative stuff that Lucas always talks about, and this video is like literally me. But in a much more real sense, it's literally you, since you made it. Bravo again.
I have general technical criticism of your video: most clips you use on Star Wars can only be heard from the left audio channel. I first watched this video on my Iphone and it was fine but I'm watching it again on my computer and it's rather distracting to have the audio at times only come from the left while everything is with both channels.
For some reason the Star Wars clips seem to have the dialog mostly from the left channel. When I was editing it, on the speakers and headphones I used it wasn't noticeable, and then when I went in to do a final edit I noticed it on the headphones I was using, but to be honest I had no idea how to fix it, and at that point I had cut up hundreds of Star Wars clips into the video so it would have been so much work to change each of them... I just hoped that since it wasn't noticeable on most of the equipment I used, it wouldn't be that big of a problem and maybe people wouldn't notice it. So thanks for noticing it. Haha. But you're right. Of course after I posted it I noticed many small things I'd like to change, so maybe I'll do a Special Edition of the video at some point.
sounds fine to me
It’s not often that I sit down and watch a two hour video, but every bit of this was well thought out, (and thought provoking) and interesting. I was genuinely entertained for all 2 hours and 17 minutes. Good to see that you jumped on the prequel support train early, and this video might have even helped contribute to the masses changing their views on them.
This video gave me the kick I needed to watch "Metropolis" and you know what? I'm getting incredible Tarkin vibes off of Joh Fredersen. Five Republic dataries says you can cut several shots of them together and they'd be identical.
They do look very much alike... I stopped short of speculating that it was an intentional reference, because Peter Cushing looks a lot like Alfred Abel to begin with. Lucas might have had the resemblance in mind when he was casting, but it's not like they did makeup on Cushing to make him resemble Abel or anything. But Lucas references nearly every other part of Metropolis, so he certainly could have been thinking about this.
congratulations on what you've accomplished and thank you for making this essay
Thank you!
Just adding to the chorus of people hoping you’ll finish part 2. This is probably the best Star Wars documentary I’ve ever seen.
I like how you use a lot of material from the Audio Commentaries. I watched those years ago and much of what Lucas said always stuck with me, much of which is in this video. But another interesting detail not really relevant to what this video is about is how when talking about the real word dictators he was thinking of with The Empire he talked more about Napoleon III then any of the more famuse examples you'd expect.
Lucas has a deep knowledge of history and anthropology that he uses along with his knowledge of cinema. That's another reason there's so much going on in these movies. Those audio commentaries and the other DVD special features had a big impact on me, too, because they were very honest and talked about the movies with a lot of depth and intelligance. Now in the Disney era, the bonus material on the home video releases is mostly promotional junk where everybody just says how much they love everybody else who worked on the movies and how perfect everything is and how excited they are about all of it, and it's boring nonsense.
@@rickworley9081 i miss the days when there was a emphasis on the deep love of why these artists created their masterpieces and hearing them speak on those great artists that came before them
I watched this a few years back and coming back to it, I realise how this video has completely changed the way I watch and think about media and art in general. Thanks for offering a fresh perspective on these films because the state of Star wars and Disney and how people still lap it up is so depressing.
Im so sorry George. Sorry we ever doubted you.
I hope people realized what they gave up, when Lucas signed over Star Wars to Disney. I want to tie Mike Stoklasa to a chair, and force him to watch this over and over for months.
While there are a few good things in the sequel trilogy, they're good on paper, good in theory only. I am disgusted by the Star Wars fandom, it isn't just the RLM reviews that made this situation worse, we also had alt-right posers pretend to be movie buffs and pretend to be critics.The alt right complain about forced diversity and SJWs in cinema, but funny enough they're using identity politics to combat identity politics, they only use that tactic when convenient for them. These morons are not Star Wars fans, they profit off the drama, many of these people who hate Disney, are the same people who hated the prequels for idiotic reasons. Now they're kissing George's ass and playing revisionism to hide their tracks.
Its sad knowing George's episode 7 8 and 9 will never exists. You can tell George is still upset he sold his creation, even with $4 billion in his pocket. Imagine how incredible his sequel trilogy would have looked? He would tried to push the mold of technology, perhaps sign deals with Dolby Vision and get exclusivity rights, much like what Cameron did with IMAX years ago.
@Adam Wasiura Care to elaborate?
@Adam Wasiura Poor little soul.
@Adam Wasiura Ok Smockplays.
Thanks for this. I really loved it. Great analysis. Always good to find fellow George enthusiasts. Looking forward to further parts.
As a person, that grown up on whole sextalogy, I never get, why people are so upset about prequels? They are great, just as original trilogy!
Same here. To some people, SW was just the original 3 films or , in more extreme cases, just the first film. The whole sextalogy was about the moving tragedy about the rise, fall, and redemption of Darth Vader :)
They are better.
@@Atheismo9760 NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH still okay but NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Because the prequels are badly written and shot movies. It's genuinely surprising how bad they are.
@@Valoe7 "From a certain point of view"
I’m genuinely crying watching this.
You brilliantly articulated what I’ve been trying to say in my videos for years but never could.
Absolutely damn incredible video. Maybe my favorite film analysis on RUclips.
Thank you! That's a wonderfully nice thing to say!
@Nathan Cox I appreciate the praise, but I think Rick's videos far surpass my own. Thank you for the comparison though, I'm flattered!
You need to work on your life if you cry about someone defending a starwars movie on youtube
@@chaosjut it's called being passionate. You should try it sometime.
I was wondering if you were still working on this. Great job! Super interesting to see what influenced Lucas and what he incorporated into his films.
Thanks!
Man, good shit. I've always liked the prequel movies, and the completed story, minus the sequel trilogy, is almost the best fantasy story told in the last 50 years.
Also, I love that you hammered Stuckman.
Born in 2001. Can confirm the Prequels were fucking awesome growing up. I can’t say I’d know for sure what a kid today would think of the Sequel Trilogy. George had that special ability to make the Star Wars experience ageless.
I for one doubt zoomers even care about those movies or that they will leave any sort of imprint on them.