Ten years ago, Star Wars fans were overjoyed when Disney acquired Lucasfilm and announced Star Wars sequels. We could move past the sins of the trilogy written and directed by George Lucas with real Star Wars movies. Fans and casual viewers alike proclaimed The Force Awakens' fidelity to the Star Wars movies when it was released in 2015. It looked like the original Star Wars. It felt like a new version of Star Wars.
It only took a short time for people to change their minds. The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker were criticized for their lack of vision and reliance on tired material. The excitement among fans for shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi is off the charts. Is the prequels considered good now that they have been ridiculed for two decades? What happened to that?
Are you aware of these things? Let's review some key complaints from the last 23 years.
Darth Maul and his double bladed lightsaber, as well as the thrilling battle between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Maul, are still praised by fans. Humans want to remember good things. People say nice things about jerks at their funeral.
Generation X has become very proprietary over Star Wars because it claims to understand its true nature and what future installments should contain. The fans who grew up on the original trilogy were upset with the prequels because they weren't the originals. They often neglected to take into account what Lucas has said about Star Wars being for kids. The mélange of rubber puppets in Jabba's Palace became even stupider in the late-'90s Special Edition of Return of the Jedi. It's all cringe-inducing now. The original trilogy is still defended by Xers.
The generations have always felt the same love for the movies. They are organized enough in fan communities to articulate their appreciation now that they are older. If it weren't for the dedicated fan love, Obi-Wan Kenobi wouldn't have become the biggest premiere on Disney+. Nine seasons and counting of The Clone Wars would never have been made.
There are a lot of video games, comic books, and novels that have expanded the prequel narratives. Darth Maul was set up to be a major character in a sequel that never came because he was a prequel character who went on to menace good guys. The Clone Wars animated series has earned raves for its lush animation and willingness to explore themes in a grown up way for animation.
Everything seemed more interesting and well-rounded because of the profusion of auxiliary material. Our brains have put the acclaimed material in with the subpar material. We probably didn't realize it, but our appreciation of the prequels has increased because of the fan love for The Clone Wars. All boats are lifted by a rising tide.
The Phantom Menace was worse than a Star Wars feature film. You are welcome to The Rise of Skywalker. The Battle of Endor and Caravan of Courage were both made-for-TV Ewok movies that I would watch before seeing The Rise of.
No one can say what the book is about. It looks like Star Wars if you look at your TV through the living room window. The first season of The Mandalorian is very boring. The dullest man in the universe is on a tour with a baby.
In the face of some of the dreck, how could the prequels look worse? They're epic, they're ambitious, they're beautifully photographed, they have lots of thrilling action sequences, and they have a narrative that could be better structured.
Revenge of the Sith is visually stunning and filled with passion and darkness that The Phantom Menace does not. The only one I liked before writing this article was the third one. Attack of the Clones is often ranked near the bottom of lists of Star Wars movies.
When Senator Amidala's ship floats into the upper atmosphere of the Republic planet of Coruscant like one of those gleaming, chrome, early-model Pan Am jetliners, I always admired the opening. Lucas reminds us that Star Wars has its roots in the roar and buzz of World War II dogfights and the ship alights on a landing pad in the mist. The peace is torn asunder as a thunderous explosion blisters orange and black across the screen, sending bodies and pieces of ship hurtling. I didn't think anything else in the film matched its savage eloquence.
As I watched, I kept waiting to roll my eyes, to be bored, to be embarrassed, but I found myself enjoying it. Lucas' best-realized action sequence is Obi-wan and Anakin's night chase. The design owes a lot to Blade Runner, but Lucas masterfully controls editing and cinematography to create the illusion. One of the best parts of the movie is the sequence in which Anakin and Padme go through a huge robot assembly line.
As I contemplated the dross between Anakin and Padme, the most shocking revelation hit. This is supposed to be cringe-inducing. It is amazing to realize that he is a stalker when he is supposed to be working for her. She says that she feels uncomfortable when he looks into her eyes. I really don't know a better word for him. Padme doesn't fall for his charms until a few scenes later, when he's manipulating her with the Force. It is fair to say that people have been slow to catch on to this revelation. I think I was.
Most of Padme's decisions in this movie are a result of her brainwashing. She let Anakin kiss her after she rejected him. She is clearly trying to resist him, yet she is sitting by the fire in revealing clothing. She would marry him. She isn't falling in love with him. She wouldn't leave the safety of home after multiple assassination attempts to accompany him on a dangerous rescue mission on another planet, then comfort him when that mission turns into his revenge killing? She later proclaims her love to him in the most boring romance novels. This is what love sounds like to him, which is why these are her feelings. It isn't an accident that these moments happen when they are alone.
Similar to how we read this in an era more sensitive to harassment, gaslighting, and abuse, younger generations are more likely to read it. The readings make the prequels so much better than they otherwise would be. He doesn't go bad. From the word go, he is a pathological liar. The Vader-ian trait is that people only exist in terms of how they can help him. He talks about how he won't fail again at his mother's funeral. Padme becomes a victim of his own success. Lucas emphasizes this tragedy with a final close-up in which she takes his robot hand and says she hasn't married a man but a monster.
We change our responses to art. Something that used to be beloved is now seen as hopelessly dated, while something that used to be hated is now thought of as visionary. Attack of the Clones may be going through a cultural reevaluation. Maybe the renewed appreciation for the prequels is due to another reason. Our memories and material have made them look better in different contexts. It's possible that they were always good, like Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the Clones. Most of the time anyways. The Phantom Menace is not a good idea.
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