Top Ten Best Things From the Star Wars Prequels
With a new Star Wars
about to hit theaters, I’m sure many people have considered re-watching the
older Star Wars films in preparation,
but which ones should you watch? Given The
Force Awakens is following up the final installment in the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi, many fans probably
feel it’s unnecessary to go back and re-live the nightmare (or joy) of the
prequel trilogy. Star Wars Episodes I-III are definitely not considered
classics like Episodes IV-VI, but are
they really all that bad?
Yes, yes they are.
I know lots of people like them, but generally speaking, there’s
not as much universal love for them as the original films. However, the
prequels aren’t without some merit. Everyone always likes to pick them apart
and make fun of the shoddier aspects, and even though I’m not a big fan of them,
I still appreciate some of the content of those three movies. Being the eternal
optimist that I am, here are ten things I liked from the Star Wars prequels.
10. Yoda is still
cool
Did we really need to see the little green Jedi master with
a little green lightsabre doing crazy flips and fighting Sith lords and
throwing rocks around using the force? No, but to be honest, some of it was
kinda badass. Of course we already knew Yoda was a boss from what he said and
did in Empire and Jedi, and part of the charm of the
character is knowing this diminutive alien is the greatest Jedi in the galaxy,
despite his size and appearance. Seeing Yoda throw down his cane so he can pick
up a lightsabre might negate that, but it’s still pretty cool to see one of the
greatest Jedi ever fight one of the greatest Sith ever (the Emperor) in Revenge of the Sith, and the cgi that
replaced his puppet form in Episodes II
and III isn’t that bad. The character
himself is so cool, he transcended the crappy puppet used in Episode I, the less-than-memorable
dialogue in Episode II, and the
cartoony moments in the fight scenes in Episode
III (and II), and proved to be
one of the better parts of the prequel trilogy, despite leaving an impact far
less significant than in the original films.
9. Darth Maul +
Double-ended Lightsabre = Awesome
Speaking of characters leaving an impact, before The Phantom Menace was released, Darth
Maul seemed like he’d be the new Darth Vader, with an awesome character design
and double-ended lightsabre, something that blew all the fans away when first
revealed, but sadly, he was barely in the movie, hardly spoke, and was killed
off by the end. Even though he did very little, Darth Maul is still one of the
most memorable parts, and proved so popular, he was even resurrected for The Clone Wars TV series. Did his fight
with Qui Gon and Obi Wan look highly choreographed and lack any emotion? Yes,
but some of those moves were still pretty sweet, and you can’t argue his
character design is fearsome. If only he had decapitated Jar Jar Binks and went
on to be the primary antagonist of the prequels, then he would have been the
best part of all three movies.
8. Christopher Lee makes
Count Dooku cooler than he should’ve been
In the same way Frank Oz’s voice made Yoda still pretty great
in the prequels, Christopher Lee took the character of Count Dooku, a generic bad
guy who randomly shows up in Episode II,
does some stuff with a lightsabre and electricity, then somehow is defeated in Episode III, and made him much cooler
than he had any right to be, given the character’s simplicity and
one-dimensionality. If the role had been portrayed by some no-name actor or a
stunt guy like Darth Maul was, he would have been completely forgettable, but
Lee’s chilling demeanor, haunting British accent, and intense stare made you
forget about how dumb his name was. Hey, Christopher Lee is most famous for playing
Dracula, what should his character be named? How about Count Dooku? Get it?
Count Dracula, Count Dooku? Wow, serious creativity right there. "It's like poetry..."
7. Paying More Homage
to Classic Cinema
In Episode IV,
there was Peter Cushing as General Tarkin, an actor famous for his roles in
Hammer Horror Films, including Dr. Frankenstein and vampire hunter Van Helsing.
In Episode II and III, there’s
Christopher Lee, who had acted alongside Cushing in many Hammer productions in
the past. Beyond the aspect of casting, George Lucas still paid tribute to the
films that inspired him to make Star Wars
in the first place. There’s Darth Vader rising from the slab like
Frankenstein’s monster, the titles of the prequels reflecting the titles of old
film serials, the E.T creatures seated at the Galactic Senate, and many more.
Unfortunately, shoving in stuff from old adventure serials isn’t what made Star Wars great in the first place, and
while a lot of it was nice to see, it didn’t do much to make the movies better.
6. “There’s always a
bigger fish.”
By far my favourite part of all the prequels is the scene
with Obi Wan and Qui Gon and Jar Jar travelling from the Gungan City through
the planet core of Naboo in Episode I,
where they encounter monstrous deep-sea creatures. It reminds me of the giant
worm in the asteroid in Empire Strikes
Back, but not quite as cool. Maybe it’s my deep-seeded love for giant
monster movies, but those giant aquatic predators thrilled me as a kid, and I
still love that short but memorable scene. Nowadays, some of the cgi in The Phantom Menace does not hold up
well—hell, some of it looks like a damn cartoon—but those creatures, lurking in
the murky depths, still look great. The only way the scene could have been
better is if the bigger creature had grabbed that little pod and eaten it, Jar
Jar and all.
5. General Greivous
is not a grievance
When you think about it, General Greivous is a lot like
Darth Vader. A weird dude in a robot suit that wields a lightsabre and has a
deep, sinister, modulated voice. The biggest difference is Darth Vader is one
of the greatest movie villains of all-time, and Greivous ain’t. He simply shows
up in Revenge of the Sith, we kind of
figure out he’s this sickly alien that’s alive thanks to his robot body, he has
a collection of lightsabres, and then just so we can have an awesome action
sequence, he battles Obi Wan with like four lightsabres at once spinning around
at high speed. It’s excessive and Obi Wan acts like he’s no big deal, but I
actually like General Greivous, mainly from a character design standpoint. He
looks cool, his spinning wheel ship thing with legs is interesting, and his
overall demeanor just screams Star Wars.
It’s too bad he only appeared in one movie, but we got to see more of him in The Clone Wars TV series and expanded universe literature, including how
he got so messed up that he needed to be put on robo-life support. Imagine if
Vader had been upgraded to a Grevious-type body? Now that would have kicked ass.
4. More cool
creatures
In general, there are still a lot of fascinating alien
creatures in all three prequel films (you know, excluding all the annoying,
racist cartoon characters like Jar Jar and Watto). My Episode I favourites are still the undersea beasties, but I also
like some of the pod racers, especially the guy with the moustache-like
appendages and little folded arms, who I just found out is named Sebulba. I
love the creatures in the colosseum in Episode
II, and the feathered dinosaur Obi Wan rides in Episode III looks (and sounds) awesome. There aren’t as many amazing
aliens as in the original trilogy, like the Asteroid worm creature or the
Rancor, but they definitely feel like Star
Wars aliens, and I can never get too many cool looking creatures in these
movies.3. Things that weren't ruined
This point is actually about what isn't in the prequels, but includes a number of important things. For those who are die-hard fans of the original trilogy and loathe the prequels (Mr. Plinkett comes to mind), there were many things George Lucas "ruined" by going back into the mythology set up in the first trilogy. The biggest screw-ups include: Darth Vader is now a whiny kid instead of the greatest villain in the galaxy, Yoda is now an alien action star instead of a wise old creature, and the force is no longer an energy field that binds the universe, but is instead a microscopic life form that is present in some people and alien creatures for whatever reason. But I'm taking an optimistic look at the prequels, remember, so let's look at the things not ruined by these three films! The biggest things not ruined: Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca (even though he's in Revenge of the Sith, he doesn't really do much and isn't "ruined"), the Millenium Falcon, and Lando Calrissian. But that's just a few; there are numerous aspects of Star Wars fans are thankful George Lucas didn't tamper with, but all we ever hear about are the ones he did tamper with.
2. The Emperor
(mainly in Episode III)
The number one thing everyone seems to agree on, whether
they like the prequels or dislike them, is that The Emperor, A.K.A Emperor
Palpatine, A.K.A Senator Palpatine, A.K.A Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, A.K.A.
Darth Sidious, A.K.A. Sheev (why so many names?!) played by Iain McDiarmid, is
the best character in the entire prequel trilogy. In Episode I he doesn’t do much, and it’s pretty obvious Palpatine and
the evil Darth Sidious are the same person (not sure how so many people were
fooled by a simple black hood over his head), and in Episode II he doesn’t do too much either, but in Episode III, look out! Palpatine tells
Anakin about the legend of Darth Plagueis, in what is arguably one of the best
acted and overall best crafted scenes in all six movies (yeah, I said it, fight
me), The Emperor kills Samuel L. Jackson’s Mace Windu, he names Anakin Darth
Vader, he turns into monster-faced Palpatine, uses “Unlimited Power!” executes
“Order 66”, and of course, fights Yoda in an extremely
over-the-top-but-still-pretty-cool lightsabre battle, apparently defeating Yoda
even though it seemed to end with a draw (I guess Yoda felt like he failed
because he didn’t win). It’s no question about who is the most interesting
character in the prequel trilogy—the Emperor is scary, funny, and overall just
entertaining to watch.
1. The Music and
Sound Effects Are The Best
If someone tried to argue any of my nine other points on
this list, I would probably be able to understand why they dislike them. But
there’s no way you can listen to the soundtracks of all three movies and not
love them. John Williams’ music is as great as ever. “Duel of The Fates” is an
epic and amazing piece of music. In fact, if someone said the only good thing
about any of the prequels was the music, I could accept that. But the music is
only one half of the sound. The other half is the incredible sound design (no,
dialogue doesn’t count). The sounds of the pod racers, the lasers blasting, the
lightsabres twirling and crashing together, the alien roars and screams and
cries, the sounds of the ships, the lava planet of Mustafar, it all sounds
stunning. Star Wars has always
sounded amazing, and hearing all those classic sound effects, from the blasters
to the lightsabres, mixed with a huge library of new sounds, is the best. The
epic music and sound effects from Episode
I are what first stood out to me when I saw a trailer for it on TV when I
was five years old, and it’s still my favourite part of the entire trilogy.
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