Prequel trilogy

Why does LucasFilm insist on giving their "ethnically diverse" cast members the WORST dialog and acting cues??

Like I'm convinced they give these poor actors the worst, most cringe and horribly worded and performed moments in their films/shows.

SW is no stranger to poor dialog, it's been a problem since the OG trilogy but that for every character, regardless of skin color.

But these days since Disney too the rains it has gone out of its way to ruin actors that have the misfortune of being hired on.

Of course the amazing man who played Jar Jar who didn't deserve any of the hate and I am so supremely happy he worked through it and came out stronger (forgive me, I forgot his name). That was of course George's fault still.

Then there's Disney's SW.

Boegas character, Finn, inconsistent direction, some poor dialog and just the way he got shat on by fans and the directors for the intire sequel trilogy.

The actress who played Reeva (don't remember he name), they set her up to fail! Everything with her character was horrible! And that poor women got dragged through the ringer because of Lucasfilms BS!

And just about everyone in Acolyte got absolutely wrecked. The show was bad in so many ways. But the main characters got some of the worst dialog and story directions in cinema history! The amazing actor who played Sol, had some genuine great bits but got overshadowed when they told to act like a crazy creepy glory seeking weirdo. The actresses that played the Twins, younger and older versions, were the most hurt by the writing and a bit of the fact maybe the girls used for the flashbacks didn't get enough time to really get into the characters they were portraying. And the actress that plays the older versions, i felt the only problem that she genuinely had was switching between the Sisters, maybe some extra work either a acting coach or some other actors who have played Twins or even multiple personalities like James Macavoy from Split to give her some few pointers. The rest was of course terrible directing and story telling that murder this poor woman.

And there's other actors that get mutilated by this company and I feel so sorry for them and hopefully their careers don't tank for years like many have.

The two things that all of the people have in common is that they are not white and are giving the worst roles imaginable. There's also many who are even though are white, their women or have a different sexually or gender identity than the normal (vanilla, lol) heterosexual identity that is "normal".

It makes no damn since to me why they do this. Is it just a bad draw of the poorly written stick? Or are the actively being racist sexist bigots? Or just people don't want us to have good things and good stories so they purposely make these shows terrible.

I am very aware I don't particularly have a right to complain or talk about this. I'm a white, mostly straight, male in his late 20's. I don't deal with the racial and gender issues most people have to deal with, I have plenty of people I love who deal with it everyday, so I'm mostly informed.

What do y'all guys think? Do y'all agree or am I just blowing hot air out of my flux capacitor?

So based on the high republic stories and other stories about the Jedi their numbers appear to have been exponentially bigger than what we see during the Prequels and proven by the quick knighting of padawans during the Clone Wars. I have two ideas on what could have caused the drop in numbers.

The first being the Jedi became arrogant in their high place in society that they rejected more candidates for being in a lower class. As a result, kids like Anakin who were on Outer Rim worlds may not have been considered as often as those on larger planets. We know the Jedi can sense things from far away so shouldn't they be able to sense kids even if they are outside of the Republic?

The other theory I considered was the arrogance of the Jedi caused fewer kids to be born with force abilities because of the force is pushing back in a way or possible the arrogance has reduced their ability to pick out kids who have the abilities. I don't know but I feel like there is some reason related the failures of the Jedi for their lack of numbers. What do you think?

Introduction

The Sequel Trilogy is likely the most contested contemporary piece of Star Wars media since the Disney acquisition of the franchise in 2012. Both fans and critics alike have mixed views on the movies, with the more negative viewpoints generally receiving the most attention in online spaces. In fact, the most criticized aspect of the sequels is often centered around various forms of “bad writing”, which, when presented reasonably, have validity.

Therefore, how can fans, ranging from the most involved to the most casual, find any value in the content of these movies when there is such a convincing body of evidence suggesting otherwise?

Here, common criticisms labeled as bad writing such as “Rey never loses”, “Rey has no arc” and “There was no plan” that are often used to criticize Rey and the sequels are examined and compared to the other Star Wars trilogies in order to explore the extent of their validity, and to probe how personal preference plays a role in shaping negative attitudes about Rey. Ultimately, it would appear that enjoyment of Rey and the sequels relies less on a planned overarching connectivity among the sequel movies (which the sequels do poorly), and more on smaller-scale character dynamics and narratives (which the sequels do well).

Rey never loses or has to learn anything

One of the most common criticisms of Rey in the sequels is that Rey easily wins every duel or confrontation without a plausible explanation, and, in turn, never has to train or learn anything in order to progress as a character. She largely begins the trilogy perfect and ends perfect.

Examples of this throughout the trilogy point to Rey and Kylo Ren’s duel on Starkiller base in The Force Awakens, the duel in Snoke’s throne room in The Last Jedi, and Rey and Kylo Ren’s final duel on Kef Bir in The Rise of Skywalker. In all of these confrontations, Rey is seen as wining easily and, moreover, learns nothing from these encounters from movie to movie.

In isolation there is truth to these statements. However, when the movies are examined more holistically and as a unit, it does not appear that Rey wins in many important confrontations. In fact, Rey actually loses in each of the three trilogy movies in an important way (Figure 1). Moreover, when she does win, even when it appears that she should not, it plays into the context of Rey’s larger story that unfolds throughout the trilogy.

Figure 1. Unlike the protagonists of the other trilogy movies, Rey loses in each of the three sequel movies to principal antagonists. A. To Kylo Ren on Takodana. B. To Snoke in his throne room. C. To Kylo Ren on Kef Bir.

Rey’s loss in The Force Awakens

In The Force Awakens, most of the criticism directed at Rey comes from the duel between her and Kylo Ren on Starkiller base. This duel appears to show an unskilled fighter, Rey, best a skilled Dark side user, Kylo Ren. However, in order to better understand this climactic duel, one must consider the confrontation that occurred between Kylo Ren and Rey before this one on Takodana that is generally overlooked.

On Takodana, Rey and Kylo Ben confront each other for the first time. Rey tries to shoot Kylo Ren many times with her blaster, but Kylo effortlessly deflects these attacks, and then easily Force-freezes Rey, knocks her out, and carries her away (Figure 2). During this confrontation Rey does not even put up a fight. This is a clear loss for Rey, but more importantly it demonstrates that on her own, Rey is no match for Kylo Ren.

Figure 2. Rey is easily overpowered by Kylo Ren on Takodana in an often overlooked confrontation.

So when Rey and Kylo Ren duel again later in the movie on Starkiller base, Kylo is again easily overpowering Rey despite Kylo being severely injured and internally conflicted. He Force-tosses her into a tree, then pushes her further and further backwards with his lightsaber while Rey swings her saber wildly. And, once Kylo has the opportunity to defeat Rey, he chooses not to do so. Instead, he tries to persuade Rey. It is only there that Rey then taps into the Force, catches Kylo off-guard, and is able to win that duel by harnessing an immediate and powerful use of the Force.

Indeed, just by watching this scene it is easy to question Rey’s immediate use of the Force, and how winning this duel so early in the trilogy would seem implausible. However, this win for Rey is not merely a superficial “girl boss” moment for the audience, but has narrative significance for the character in the long-term of the trilogy.

First, it begins to illustrate the unique Force connection Rey and Kylo Ren have (also shown when Kylo interrogates Rey earlier in the movie) that is later revealed as a (very powerful) Force dyad in the third movie. But it also illustrates that when Rey does tap into the Force, she appears to struggle with its significance afterwords. Rey’s win on Starkiller base ultimately frightens her, and her reaction is not to go out and “win everything”, but to seek help from Luke Skywalker in the next movie, The Last Jedi (Figure 3).

Figure 3. After Rey taps into the Force in The Force Awakens, she goes to Luke for help. She says, “Something inside me has always been there, and now it’s awake. And I’m afraid. I don’t know what it is or what to do with it … I need help.”

Rey’s loss in The Last Jedi

In The Last Jedi, during another important confrontation in the trilogy where Rey is considered to win easily, Rey encounters Snoke and Kylo Ren in Snoke’s throne room. However, and unlike what is generally perceived, Rey again loses quickly and easily to Snoke. Even after training with Luke on Ahch-To, Snoke effortlessly deflects any attacks Rey makes, drags her to him, lifts her in the air with the Force, and extracts the information he wants from her (Figure 1B). It was no contest. Rey only escapes Snoke because Kylo Ren intervenes. Likewise, Rey is only able to escape the Praetorian guards because of Kylo’s help. Moreover, when Kylo and Rey then confront each other, it is a draw. Neither wins. Therefore, the confrontations in Snoke’s throne room are far from an easy win for Rey.

More importantly, Rey’s loss to Snoke and her draw with Kylo Ren makes sense from a narrative perspective. First, it continues the development of Rey and Kylo’s connection in the Force (two parts of a powerful Force dyad). But more importantly for Rey’s character development, her naivety in her belief that she can turn Kylo Ren from the Dark, and her overconfidence in her ability to defeat Snoke are checked.

She is forced to reconcile that she alone cannot do these things. She learns that she cannot help Kylo Ren and that he has to confront his own demons (which he does in the next film), and by the end of the The Last Jedi when Leia tells Rey “We have all we need”, she is suggesting that it’s the people around Rey, including Leia, that can help her. And in the next and final movie, Leia takes on the role of Rey’s master and matriarch, and spends more than a year training Rey to be a Jedi so she can confront her destiny.

Rey’s loss in the Rise of Skywalker

In the final sequel movie, The Rise of Skywalker, after training with Leia for over a year, and harnessing the skills of a Jedi (all of which are shown onscreen), Rey loses yet again in the movie’s pivotal duel with Kylo Ren on Kef Bir, a loss that is often overlooked. Here, a full strength and fully focused Kylo Ren uses Rey’s weakness against her, namely, that she is quickly angered and loses focus, and he slowly overpowers her until she is exhausted and on the floor with Kylo reaching up to give what appears to be a final blow (Figure 1C).

Of course, it is not until Kylo’s mother, Leia, connects with with him through the Force that he is given pause which allows Rey to take advantage of the otherwise lost situation, and she delivers a near fatal strike to Kylo with his own lightsaber. Presumably, this may be how this duel is incorrectly interpreted as a win for Rey. And yet again, Rey’s response is not to run off and “win everything” and go defeat Palpatine, but to isolate herself in fear on Ahch-To where she ultimately receives guidance from Luke about fear, and reflects on her internal conflict of being a descendant of Palpatine.

And, during the climactic confrontation with Palpatine at the end of the movie, Rey is similarly unable to defeat Palpatine on her own. A redeemed Ben Solo arrives to help Rey. And, when her and Ben are taken down by Palpatine, Rey then communes with, and receives help from, the past Jedi in order to defeat Palpatine (she also dies). So even by the end of the third movie of the trilogy, Rey is hardly a character that is “perfect”, “always wins”, and “never learns anything”, but continually self-reflects on her actions, her destiny, and needs help from others to succeed.

How do Rey’s duels and training compare to the protagonists of the other Star Wars trilogies?

Many critiques of Rey rely on some measure of how much she needs to lose or is shown training, or some other subjective measure of suffering she must endure in order to be legitimized as a Star Wars character. However, when losses by the principal protagonists of the three Star Wars trilogies (Anakin, Luke, and Rey) are examined, Rey is the only one who loses in significant duels or confrontations with principal antagonists in every movie of their respective trilogy, and she is also shown training the most onscreen (see previous section).

For example, Anakin is not shown onscreen training to be a Jedi in any of the prequel movies, or struggling with how to utilize the Force. He is simply shown as naturally and exceptionally gifted. He does not have to meet a subjective threshold of suffering to be a powerful Force user. In fact, no deep narrative explanation or exposition is given except that he is the Chosen One (with a high midi-chlorian count), and that the audience simply already knows he will become Darth Vader so he must be powerful.

This is not inherently bad from a writing perspective, except that other Star Wars characters like Rey are not given such liberties, and she is often held to a different standard. Very specific criteria from fans are required in order to legitimize her character that are mostly ignored for other characters like Anakin. Anakin’s backstory of being the Chosen One (i.e., one of the most powerful Jedi ever, and never shown training in the Force) is acceptable. But Rey, whose backstory of being part of a very powerful Force dyad (with Kylo Ren), and is shown training on how to use the Force as well as losing in confrontations throughout the sequel trilogy does not meet an acceptable standard.

Even when Anakin is shown losing in a duel, it is largely insignificant for the character. For example, the only major loss Anakin suffers (besides the inevitable confrontation with Obi-Wan that everyone knew was coming since A New Hope) was to Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones. He loses his hand by a lightsaber strike and is knocked unconscious with a Force push (Figure 4A). This loss, the literal loss of a limb, is often cited as an example of how Anakin loses (and suffers) in a more significant and meaningful way than Rey.

Figure 4. Anakin’s loss to Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones is mostly narratively insignificant. A. Anakin loses his hand. B. He does not suffer any consequences from this and kills Dooku in the next movie by himself without much effort.

However, only a few scenes later in the same movie, Anakin is shown with a new prosthetic hand. But more importantly, he does not suffer any consequences for his actions that led to losing his hand. Anakin can use his new prosthetic hand just as he did before. He never has to contend with any weakened abilities or contemplate his decisions. He never really learns anything from this experience except that in the next movie, Revenge of the Sith, Anakin simply agrees with Obi-Wan to attack Count Dooku together before Anakin kills Dooku by himself anyway (Figure 4B). Anakin never really needed Obi-Wan’s help. Therefore, Anakin’s loss (and his hand) is narratively insignificant and only serves as a superficial visual for the audience.

This again is not inherently bad from a writing perspective. However, the litmus test applied to Rey that finds constant fault with her not sufficiently dealing with consequences is generally not applied to characters like Anakin. I don’t imagine Rey getting a limb amputated would go so easily uncriticized. As outlined above, Rey is shown losing and dealing with the consequences of her interactions despite not having to lose limbs in order to qualify for subjective levels of sufficient suffering.

In A New Hope, Luke receives minimal instruction on the Force by Obi-Wan. He takes a few nicks from a training droid, and then proceeds to take his “first step into a larger world” by not only deflecting a few strikes by the same training droid, but by delivering arguably one of the most difficult shots in the galaxy. He blows up the Death Star solely by using the Force after essentially one lesson (not to mention the ability to fly the Star Wars equivalent of an F-18 Hornet when only ever flying Cessnas).

Again, this is not necessarily bad writing. And, in fact, in the case of Luke and the original trilogy his journey into the Force to become a Jedi is explored more deeply in the following movies, although a good piece of it occurs offscreen between movies. Even so, Luke’s story is well-received (as it should be, nothing’s flawless), but so much so that Luke’s arc in the original trilogy is often used to demonstrate how badly written Rey’s story is in the sequel trilogy.

Maybe so in some cases, no character is realistically “perfectly written” in Star Wars (not even Luke’s). But, this negative comparison is largely based on restricting how the Force can work in different individuals and how stories can be told by not allowing for new ones in different characters. Luke’s journey into the Force is his own and satisfying. And Rey’s journey is also her own, and is satisfying to many in that her experience is new and, in many ways, the inverse of that of Luke’s. Instead of gaining Force strength in smaller increments, Rey receives it suddenly and in large doses. So much so that she is frightened and seeks help throughout her journey in Luke and Leia. Neither Luke’s nor Rey’s story should negate the other.

Rey’s raw Force ability is explained as Rey being part of a Force dyad with Kylo Ren, which is very powerful. It is a new addition to the lore and adds to the mythology of Star Wars as a new manifestation of the Force. If the concept of the Chosen One is good enough, so should the concept of a Force dyad. This new view of how the Force can work appeals to many fans and ties into that of Rey’s larger story arc.

Rey has no arc

The perception that Rey’s character has no story arc is likely the result of the different flavors of the character portrayed by the two different directors of the sequel trilogy, J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson. The two directors had varying visions of the same theme of self-discovery common to stories of The Hero’s Journey. Rian Johnson chose to explore Rey through a more “existential” view of a generic everyman while deconstructing what it means to be a hero, while J.J. Abrams explored Rey’s journey as someone tied to her world while exploring what it means to be a Skywalker.

Undoubtedly, these differences were too much for many fans who could not connect with seemingly clashing tones of the character, which is understandable. However, even though there are tonal differences between the two directors, the overall arc of Rey’s character is intact, and in many ways Rey’s journey flows well between the movies.

What is consistent among all the sequel movies is that Rey’s arc is a story of self-discovery specifically through family and how that is reflected through her destiny as a Jedi.

In the first movie, The Force Awakens, Rey is introduced as a young adult who was left alone as a child and forced to raise herself, all the while waiting for her family to return. She continually avoids her call to adventure by clinging to her desire to wait for her family to return. However, when she is forced to move ahead by the larger-than-life events in which she finds herself, this desire for family drives Rey’s character throughout the trilogy.

And in The Last Jedi, it is not until she accepts that her family will not return, and that she has to make her future her own, is she able to move forward. In return, this desire for belonging through family then translates into Rey’s destiny as a Jedi.

In the final movie, The Rise of Skywalker, Rey has to contend with her inner conflict of being a descendant of Palpatine, and the perceived inevitability of her following in her grandfather’s path to the Dark. Rey ultimately rejects her destiny to the Dark and chooses her own path. As Luke tells her “Some things are stronger than blood”.

In the end, it does not matter if Rey’s story is of an “everyman nobody” (Rian Johnson) or a “nobody because your family wanted to keep you safe” (J.J. Abrams). The underlying themes of not letting your past define you, and your family is what you make it resonates with many fans. Moreover, it is often the smaller character dynamics that are most satisfying. For example, Rey’s friendship with Finn and Poe and her connection with Ben Solo as a Force dyad are executed well on screen (and well-acted) and many fans connect with those interactions and smaller narratives.

Ultimately, personal preference and unmet expectations also play an important role. Many fans now connect with the characters and arcs of the prequel trilogy despite a previous generation of fans that could not, who mostly considered them stale, wooden or poorly executed (like Anakin and Padmé’s love story or Anakin’s transformation to Darth Vader). Rey and the sequels are not so different in that many fans simply end up connecting with those characters and their stories despite other shortcomings.

There was no plan or overarching artistic vision to the sequels

The most obvious and well-recognized critique of the sequel trilogy lies in the way Disney/Lucasfilm chose to handle the writing of the three movies. Instead of establishing a narrative scaffold with the core story elements pre-determined that the individual directors could build around, they opted for each director to have the creative freedom to determine major story elements for their respective movie, and then pass that along to the next director. Any future story elements suggested by one director could be ignored or reshaped by the other.

This was largely a creative experiment that in hindsight resulted in a thematic and artistically disjointed trilogy. Even fans who enjoy the sequels recognize the disconnect. Although the overarching narrative lines that link the movies are there, many are retroactive which ends up working for some fans but not for others. Consequently, the larger thematic explorations of the sequels mostly work within each movie.

Nonetheless, this is not the first time Star Wars trilogy movies have been unplanned or taken large narrative turns (for better or worse). A clear example would be Princess Leia in the original trilogy. Throughout the first two movies, she was never intended to be Luke’s sister, and it shows. There is no slow reveal, hints or planned foreshadowing. In fact, Luke and Leia kiss on the lips twice (a retroactive gaff that would not be tolerated by today’s fans), and although the sibling reveal in Return of the Jedi had an emotional appeal, it was arguably not well-executed.

A similar situation applies to Darth Vader. He was not originally written as Luke’s father, but his reveal in The Empire Strikes Back is considered one of the best twists in cinema history. Even so, Vader’s road to redemption was not so smooth. There was no real set-up except for one scene in Return of the Jedi where Vader appears to be more than an irredeemable villain.

The point being, is that although the original trilogy had its share of narrative shortcomings, what is important is that it still resonated with the fans on an emotional level. And once people are emotionally connected to the content, there is no intense impulse to aggressively critique and fault-find.

So when it comes to the sequel trilogy, when many fans didn’t connect with the movies, either because of the tonal differences given to Rey by the different directors or the lack of a cohesive narrative scaffold, it became easy to disregard the movies entirely and drag them through the mud with constant incredulity, even for the most inane things. Unfulfilled expectations can be a great negative motivator.

This again is not new. Many fans who grew up with the original trilogy could not connect with the prequels when they were released and found it easy to ridicule them. It didn’t matter if there was a plan or cohesive narrative as is often stated as the reason why people like the prequels. The characters, the tone, the dialogue, the excess CGI, the awkward execution of the primary narratives (and more) were all considered a huge disappointment, and many simply walked away from the franchise (documentaries and songs were even written about it).

So whether one enjoys the sequels or the other Star Wars trilogies, the reasons stem primarily from the emotional connections, or lack thereof, to the content. So much so, that many negative critiques (of all Star Wars content) often end up verging on thinly veiled personal gripes rooted in a sense of disappointment. This often leads to biases where disliked movies often receive excessive critique for things largely ignored, or explained away, in movies that are liked.

In the end, it would appear that Star Wars has grown so large and is so engrained in the psyche of its fans, who now have very specific and varied requirements in order to enjoy Star Wars, that it will never be able to satisfy everyone. And that may be okay. Star Wars is just entertainment. And for the fans who enjoy the sequels, most of their satisfaction appears to lie in the smaller things those movies execute well, which some of the other trilogies may do poorly. Whether one connects with it or not, there is definitely some great Star Wars in the sequels.

Hello Wookieepedians, it's been a while since I last wrote something. Life's been busy lately, but I think you should always take time for Star Wars lol.

To explain my huge love for this trilogy, I have to go back in time, to 5 year old me. One evening, when I wanted to watch an animation movie as usual, my two year older brother, wanted to watch something we didn't watch before. My father suggested that we could watch Star Wars. He had to convince my mother, cause I wasn't 6 years old (the age requirement for ANH). I didn't understand 90% of the movie, but something about it fascinated me. The next day we started with the prequels, because me and my brother were totally confused as to which character did what and why. From then on there was no stopping us. For birthdays, for christmas, we always wanted something Star Wars-themed. My brother just thought Star Wars was cool, but for me it meant much more than that.

TPM's Anakin Skywalker was literally me... You couldn't convince me otherwise. I had the same haircut, the same eye-color and even my crush looked like Padmé (well, a way younger version of Padmé obviously). The time I got into Star Wars was a very hard time for me. My parents' marriage came to an end and they often argued. I escaped into the Star Wars universe. I could relate to Anakin Skywalker, cause he'd do everything to save his loved ones from dying, already back then I was a hopeless romantic. I wanted to be loved the way Anakin loved Padmé and because of my parents' divorce, I saw it as a task, to find someone to stay with me until I die or die for her.

I introduced my first and best friend to Star Wars and he started to like it almost as much as I do. While he was more of a fan of spaceship battles, I particularly loved the lightsaber combat. Back then the Prequels were unrivaled in terms of lightsaber fights (thanks to Disney, there are now many great lightsaber fights in shows and the Sequels), so if I had to pick a SW movie to rewatch, it was usually one of the PT. When I was about 7 years old, I could repeat Attack of the Clones in its entirety (AOTC was (and still is) my personal favorite). My brothers favorite was Revenge of the Sith, so I watched these two movies more than twenty times back then. When I was older and had my first english classes, I started to watch the movies in the original language, english. I thougt many scenes were better and above all less corny in my native language (especially the dialogue between Anakin and Padmé.)

What do I think of the Prequels now, more than seventeen years after I watched them for the first time? I'd say a large part of my opinion on the prequels is emotionally influenced. This is the trilogy I watched over and over again as a child, the lightsaber fights I tried to mimic with my brother, the scenes I acted out with my best friend and the sayings I quoted on the playground. I think my ideology and character would be very different if I hadn't watched these movies. The dialogue, which is the main reason the Prequels get hated for, isn't half as bad in my native language and I think bickering over the speciall effects is wrong. The effects aren't horrible for that time, especially if you compare it to movies like Green Lantern, which was published six years after ROTS and did a much worse job. The cinematography and lightsaber fights are some of the best in all of Star Wars and I'll die on that hill. This trilogy produced so many legendary, timeless scenes like the Battle of Heroes or the Boonta Eve podrace. The Prequels show the downfall of a good and kindhearted man in the most heartbreaking way. Unlike the OT or the ST, the PT doesn't feature a hero who struggles with darkness but defeats it, but a hero who fails, "dies" and turns into a villain. The Prequels offer a bunch of different profound villains. It portrays a friendship, similar to brotherhood, whose end makes even a grown man cry. I love the Prequels and I'm grateful for George Lucas creative vision!

Please leave a comment, I'm interested to read what makes the PT so special to you!

MTBWY, always

The thing that puts me off the Prequel trilogy the most is the "romance" between Anakin and Padme that was created from the beginning. I don't like how she first says "Anakin, you shouldn't! Don't!" or something like that, and then it cannot be separated from it. At first it's all like a game of hide-and-seek between them. But they both broke that rule anyway. And finally they had children. And overall, this is what bores me the most in the trilogy. And as for the Sequel trilogy, I personally prefer it. Mainly because there is no love game of hide and seek. And no, don't think I prefer this trilogy because of John Boyega and Daisy Ridley. Yes, I love these actors, but I didn't know who they were until just a few years ago. I didn't know who John was, nor did I know who Daisy was. Anyway, let me continue. I'd also rather see Finn screaming Rey's name like he's going to tear his vocal cords, Leia Organa's aged and somewhat jaded face (sorry Leia), or an ex-stormtrooper, a round droid, and a young girl fleeing Abu Dhabi (or Jakku). Yes almost these examples are again related to the characters of John and Daisy, but it is. Ah, I forgot one of my favorite moments in the trilogy! How Rey (Skywalker) blurs Palpatine's wrinkled visage. And no, don't judge me for speaking my mind! Everyone is entitled to an opinion here, and this is mine. I think the Sequel Trilogy deserves more credit than some Star Wars fans and film critics have given it. And why? Because they underestimate her! And I don't think we should underestimate so many young actors and new stories that we saw in the episodes.

May The Force Be With You!✨

Today is the birthday of actor Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Prequel Trilogy and the Disney+ series, "Obi-Wan Kenobi".

🎂 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EWAN! 🎂

In my opinion PHM and AOTC are ok, ROTS is definitely the best episode in the prequels.

I feel like everyone's fav trilogy is the Prequels, am I the only one that is a OG Trilogy fan????

These last couple of weeks or so I gave the ol' First Six a rewatch and wanted to coherentize a bit of my realizations on their strengths and thematic centralities. Not all of it was left unnoticed until now, but I found the films particularly compelling this time around and was defeated by the urge to write about it. Not only am I more sure in my love for these movies now (especially the OT, and double-especially ESB) - which is always nice - but it's always really interesting to gather and understand more of their thematic richness.

Beginning with A New Hope, back when everything else was limited to randomly assorted ideas in George’s whimsical mind, I think it mostly excels because of its simplicity. Something of which Lucas always seemed very proud was his inspirations in devising Star Wars. Flash Gordon, samurai films, and religion were always big ones, but I learned of a more “academic” influence several months ago when assigned an essay in a college English class. I was supposed to write an analysis using the “Hero’s Journey”. Also called the “monomyth” sometimes, it’s that story circle with the guy on it you often see. It’s got the Call to Action, the Crossing of the Threshold, the Road Back, the Reward, the whole narrative enchilada. Anyway, contrary to the belief of a lot of English teachers, the theory, devised by comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell, is 1) descriptive, not prescriptive, meaning it’s meant to describe a historical tendency of mythology, not act as a template for the Platonic perfection of a story, and 2) kinda… not entirely accurate and reductive. That’s fine! The effort was valiant anyway, and according to himself, this “monomyth” was the foundation of Lucas’ effort to create the modern myth. So he ordained the beautiful marriage between space operatic science fiction and fairy tale fantasy, complete with wizards, princesses, and space imperialists. I’ve been more into film criticism lately, so something I definitely noticed when watching the film this time is the flawless pacing and complete lack of subplots. The story is extremely smooth, linear, and seamless throughout each story beat. Anything else just serves to drive the characters forward. Luke follows the “Hero’s Journey” perfectly, but not perfectly in a way that it feels like someone rigidly wrote the story according to a Campbellian template; perfectly in a way that makes it feel truly authentic. A true modern myth.

Of course, every myth has its hero. I suppose that, since the Prequel Trilogy, the central “hero” to the Lucas canon is Anakin Skywalker, but at least within ANH and the OT as a whole, the hero for which you seek is Luke. Luke Skywalker is one of the most iconic and beloved heroes out there, and I think one of the root causes for that is his relatability. In A New Hope, Luke is defined by his wonder, passion, love, and courage. What’s most important, though, is his imperfections. He’s prone to whining. He has a tendency to be impatient and rush into things recklessly. As the hero of a modern myth, he’s meant to inspire. All of these attributes and aspects coalesce into a fundamentally relatable character. He’s just an ordinary, well-meaning, naïve kid from nowhere who’s dragged into a war and left with nothing to lose.

I’ve always maintained The Empire Strikes Back as my favorite, so my expectations were high, but were yet again succeeded. Virtually every aspect of the film is perfect, from the narrative to the novelty, to the visuals and to the score. In my opinion, it may very well be the greatest sequel of all time (though this doesn’t necessarily mean the greatest movie that is a sequel), but I’m not here for film criticism. In the realm of thematics, it’s interesting that the film works so well as a sequel. Where ANH had hope, ESB had hopelessness. Where ANH had success, ESB had failure. The qualities that defined Luke Skywalker in the first movie are fundamentally challenged in this one. He’s crushed by the revelation of his father’s true identity. His impatience and recklessness leaves him crippled with hypothermia the first time, and, against the advice of his two masters, he faces near death at the coveted two hands of his father. Luke becomes lost, but if you’re stuck in a dark maze with no exit in sight, the only hope of getting out is to advance your steps and learn from your failures.

That’s precisely what he does. One of the central themes of the Skywalker Saga as a whole is about the learning of failure - even The Last Jedi employs this. The hopelessness echoed between the story beats of The Empire Strikes Back is there not to beat the heroes, but to challenge them and stimulate growth. The film’s ending highlights this; John Williams’ closing score is uplifting, despite the heroes’ defeat.

Something I can’t take credit for but nonetheless found interesting was the application of the Hegelian dialectic to the Original Trilogy, and especially Luke Skywalker. This can be formulated as consisting of the thesis, the antithesis, and the synthesis.

A New Hope can be said to be the thesis. Luke’s character is introduced, his attributes are exemplified, and the heroes are met with success.

The Empire Strikes Back is the antithesis. Luke, and all the heroes, experience suffering. Their attributes and history are challenged and turned upside-down. They’re met with failure, but remain steadfast in hope.

Enter Return of the Jedi, the synthesis. The “solution” - the resolution. The heroes (sans the frozen one) have grown and matured since their past failures. Luke has turned his challenges into strengths, especially concerning his father. He has accepted that his father is Darth Vader, but rather than submit to his Darkness or aim to strike Vader dead, he’s steadfast in his determination and compassion. Equally important in the synthesis to Luke’s Light is the Dark of Vader and, of course, the Emperor.

Although I fancy it the weakest in the trilogy, the scenes in the throne room are all spectacular. It’s around such scenes (and the third act as a whole) where the editing and pacing really start approaching perfection. My favorite details happen to be on the side of Darth Vader. Before he and his son stand before the Emperor - the personification of darkness and corruption himself who practically shrouds any room he’s in - Vader actively acknowledges that his power in the Dark Side is weak in comparison to the Emperor’s and that, even if he wanted to free himself from its shackles, “it’s too late for me, son.”

When Emperor Palpatine psychologically torments Luke in his trials of temptation, he knows just what to target. He uses Luke’s attributes against him, such as his care for Leia and his friends, or his values of rebellion. At first, the Emperor’s efforts are successful; Luke gives in, lashing out in anger before amputating Vader’s hand. This prompts him to avert attention to his own mechanical hand. I actually never saw much significance in that scene, but I do now. Darth Vader is “more machine now than man”. The more Luke cedes to the Dark Side, the more he treads the same path as his father. In realization, he grasps ahold of his senses once more, and crafts the best possible retort to the Emperor. “I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”

What could possibly ruffle his folds more than Luke not only rejecting the path he desires for him, but also spitting in the face of the one he groomed into his father? Acting through his own Darkness, he elects to simply destroy Luke. Proving to be no match against the Emperor’s immense power, he appears to be succeeding - until Darth Vader, acting in the Light Side once more, overpowers the Emperor and saves his son. Something I read somewhere, I believe it was referencing a George Lucas interview but can't find it now, has really stuck with me: it posits that the reason Vader was able to overpower Sidious in that moment was precisely because he was acting through the Light Side. The Dark Side, despite according to him much power, blinded Palpatine against anything else. His overconfidence was indeed his weakness. If Vader had acted through the Dark Side - that is, in emotions such as anger, greed, egotism, fear, or the like - he wouldn’t have met success. He acted through the Light Side, for the ends of love, justice, peace, and the like. He acted to save Luke, not destroy the Emperor. Intent and reason is of utmost importance when it comes to action in the Force. Still, Anakin Skywalker wasn’t redeemed absolutely. In my opinion, this is made clear in the lack of depicting Leia or anyone else acknowledging his actions. His redemption was in sacrificing himself for his son and parting from the world absorbing the Light Side of the Force, not killing Palpatine and somehow atoning for his crimes.

For a while, that’s what we were left with. A trilogy of adventure, failure, and redemption. A story of rebellion against a tyrannical empire. A tale of Light and Dark. It was perfectly fine that way. A wholly complete set of movies with the Expanded Universe teeming with more stories for those thirsting for more. But George Lucas wasn’t entirely satisfied, his whimsical mind wasn’t done yet. So in 1999, a new trilogy was born: the Prequel Trilogy.

From a certain point of view (film criticism), the movies aren’t the most well received, sure. I won’t talk about the cinematic side too much, as this isn't a harangue on film criticism. The focus here is narratives and thematics, and I happen to think the PT does a pretty good job in that department.

What’s the first thing you think of when you read “Prequel Trilogy”? The Clone Wars? Anakin? No, I know just what you’re thinking: politics! The prequels, especially The Phantom Menace, are often criticized for its perceived overemphasis on politics. It was a weird choice to have a movie about the taxation of trade routes to interlying star systems also include a silly guy who talks funny and steps in poo, but I actually kind of like the politics. It allows us to peer into a different aspect of this fantasy universe, tedious as it may be at times.

In the Original Trilogy, Lucas was barely subtle in its political themes. Although it’s not as central to the narrative as the characters are, it’s still irreplaceably important. The heroes fight for a decentralized, guerrilla band of rebels fighting against a centralized, humanocentric, tyrannical empire. Lucas was very critical of imperialism and war, even citing the Vietnam War as inspiration for the Battle of Endor. As important as that was, the Prequel Trilogy only made it more explicit. It portrays the intricately planned and highly concealed plot that Palpatine himself used to orchestrate a war alongside the ruling classes of both the Republic and Trade Federation. He commands both factions, exploiting not only the rest of the government but his constituents as well into bestowing “emergency” powers upon him, centralizing the state further and ceasing the process of republican government, all to the approbation of the Senate. Nine times out of eleven I’d agree the prequels’ dialogue is subpar, but “so this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause” is a powerful quote. The trilogy doesn’t get into the average person very much, partially to my dismay (and I understand why), but material outside of the movies do to some degree, (though the Separatists less so).

Enough of that boring stuff. Political themes aren’t even my main focus here. What about the Jedi? The Force? How does it complement, or perhaps worsen, the themes of the Original Trilogy? The Prequel Trilogy fleshes out the Jedi Order before its destruction. We can gather their philosophy and doctrine, analyze the narrative themes therefrom, and compare and contrast this with the OT.

The first thing on which people often like to focus, and often gripe about, is the Jedi concept of attachments. As I always like to point out, resident essayist WriterBuddha has written several dissertations on the subject, but to briefly touch on it: "attachment" in Jedi philosophy refers to exclusivity and possessiveness as opposed to a mere emotional attachment. Impartiality is central to the Jedi Code and mission: justice is blind and emotion should never cloud one’s feelings on the matter. To lend exclusive, possessive attachment toward someone (or something) and allow it to cloud their decisions, it leads to the perception of an entitlement to a relationship and the inability to let go, cultivating a toxic possessiveness and psychological torment if/when the attachment is lost. This is one of the core themes of the Prequel Trilogy, and Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side isn’t intended to be a criticism of the Jedi position on attachment. It’s to demonstrate why it’s important.

All of this was developed after the Original Trilogy was already finished. Yet, interestingly, the themes are not only still present, but developed upon! Yoda, initially skeptical of Anakin’s older age, hesitantly allows his training and ends up witnessing his downfall as a result of his possessive attachments (Padmé). With Luke, he’s faced with an even older Skywalker. Coupled with the fact that his father is the secondhand-man to the Emperor Darth Sidious, Yoda isn’t particularly keen on it, but he once again gives in. Beautifully, Luke doesn’t make the same mistakes as Anakin did. Where Anakin failed, Luke succeeded. Where he doesn’t form possessive attachments, he manages to turn his love into his strength (which, alongside the age thing, is something that also happens to be continued in other media, like the New Jedi Order novels). This, of course, leads to Anakin returning to save his son and bring balance to the Force via another Prequel-introduced concept: the Chosen One prophecy. If there’s a place where the OT’s themes are actively made worse in my opinion by the PT, it’d be in the prophecy, since it makes Vader’s choice in Return of the Jedi more about destiny and killing Darth Sidious rather than a psychological redemption to save his son, but there’s a lot about destiny in Star Wars so there’s a lot to talk about on that. Alas, not here. Maybe in the comments though, as a treat.

That’s about all I could scrape from my fresh mind. I watched the Sequel Trilogy too, so I might scrape a bit from that in a future post, but I didn’t want to write a book here. I hope it serves beneficial to anyone, and it’s fairly surface level so if anyone has any comments, additions, or criticisms they’d like to add, absolutely do, please! Goodbye, and may the Force be with you.