Samuel L. Jackson Talks Star Wars: Episode 7 and Harrison Ford’s Injury.

Star Wars


Samuel L Jackson has told the Mirror he’s too busy to appear in the new Star Wars film and he still hasn’t received a call. He also shared his thoughts on Harrison Ford’s injury…

From Mirror:

Speaking on Lorraine this morning, the Mace Windu star said he had not been asked to appear in Star Wars: Episode VII, currently filming at Pinewood Studios.

“No, not really – I thought I did and it would’ve been interesting but if I don’t get the call, I have so many things going on that I can do and hopefully that new era of Star Wars films will be as popular as the ones that we did and the ones that were done before.”

The 65-year-old also speculated that “something went terribly awry” to cause Harrison Ford’s recent on-set accident.

“I’m sure it wasn’t because he wanted to or it was something he was doing,” said Samuel.

“I’m sure something went terribly awry if that happened because most times insurance companies don’t like us doing those things!”
Star Wars bosses fear Ford will miss up to eight weeks of filming for the new sci-fi movie – but he is on the mend.

Doctors have now confirmed the 71-year-old actor has a broken ankle but despite reports of a pelvic injury he has no other problems and is expected to leave hospital shortly.

Well no Samuel L Jackson for Episode VII so far but still good news that Ford indeed only injured his ankle.

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

96 thoughts on “Samuel L. Jackson Talks Star Wars: Episode 7 and Harrison Ford’s Injury.

  • June 16, 2014 at 5:51 pm
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    “hopefully that new era of Star Wars films will be as popular as the ones that we did”
    Okay so who’s going to tell him? …

    • June 16, 2014 at 5:59 pm
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      monetarily speaking, the prequel trilogy was very popular. They weren’t critically panned films either. They just weren’t as good as the originals.

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:04 pm
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      “Okay so who’s going to tell him?”

      Oh, IDK, probably the MILLIONS of kids (at the time) all around the world that LOVED the Prequel Trilogy when the films came out?

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:06 pm
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      Yeah and millions of people praise and buy and rate Justin Bieber’s music very highly. But then there’s people who like real music.

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:13 pm
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      ^LOL^

    • June 16, 2014 at 7:09 pm
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      AnonymousJune 16, 2014 at 7:04 PM

      Why would they, above all people, want to tell him the prequels sucked?

    • June 16, 2014 at 7:57 pm
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      “Yeah and millions of people praise and buy and rate Justin Bieber’s music very highly. But then there’s people who like real music.”

      This is YouTube-comment-levels of bad argument. If you looked beyond the insulated group of people that obsess over the Original Trilogy and think that everything else is awful (in spite of the Original Trilogy having many of the problems that the other movies have), you would find that there are plenty of people that enjoy the Prequel Trilogy. And it isn’t like Justin Bieber, where the enjoyment rests on something shallow – Episodes I, II, and III have a degree of thematic depth in terms of a political commentary that was absent from the original movies (which simply told an admittedly effective story about a black-and-white conflict). Of course the Original Trilogy is better, but you’re simply dismissing a majority (if not everyone) of those who like the prequels as a lowest-common-denominator strawman using one of the most tired figures in the music industry as an example.

    • June 16, 2014 at 8:48 pm
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      “Episodes I, II, and III have a degree of thematic depth in terms of a political commentary”

      That didn’t stop “missa step in icky poo” from happening. Yeah… not mindless garbage produced for the masses at all.

    • June 16, 2014 at 9:16 pm
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      How is it a bad argument when it’s absolutely correct hahaha. “you would find that there are plenty of people that enjoy the Prequel Trilogy.”
      So what? Like what was said before, you would find that there are plenty of people that think justin biebers music is a work of art. But it isn’t. Yes, it’s a classic example that people use a lot, but that doesn’t defeat the argument that the prequels were bad films and were hugely hated on like, as I say, justin biebers music. If you are a music fan, you will struggle to like Justin Biebers music. If you are a movie fan, then you will struggle to like the prequels. Just because there are bias fanboys and fangirls out there, doesn’t justify the fact that they were universally despised, and rightly so. rant over.

    • June 16, 2014 at 9:44 pm
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      For the record, Anon 10:16, everything you’re arguing is entirely based on individual opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own.

    • June 16, 2014 at 10:29 pm
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      “Critics gave mixed reviews to the Star Wars Prequels, therefore everyone thinks they suck.”

      And? A lot of critics tend to dislike special-effects movies in general because they see it more as an attempt to cash in on audiences than to tell a story. Over half the critics and audiences on RottenTomatoes alone gave the movies positive reception, showing that, hey, maybe there’s a little more to the Prequels than exploding robots. If the movies really were as bad as you argue, ratings would be more similar to M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Last Airbender” (sitting at a ripe 6% critical approval and a 31% audience approval).

      “The movie had a poop joke, therefore it’s shlock.”

      Throwaway gags are not a measure of the quality of the film as a whole. If they were, then by your logic, “Return Of The Jedi” would be a juvenile mess because the Sarlaac burps.

      “So what? Like what was said before, you would find that there are plenty of people that think justin biebers music is a work of art. But it isn’t.”

      The quality of his work was not the centerpiece of my argument (spoiler alert: Bieber’s music is garbage). Moving on.

      “Yes, it’s a classic example that people use a lot, but that doesn’t defeat the argument that the prequels were bad films and were hugely hated on like, as I say, justin biebers music.”

      Again, “hugely hated on”? Look at the RottenTomatoes scores I mentioned and scores on other aggregate websites. It’s not so widely hated as you might think – in fact, you’ll find that a lot of the public actually (gasp) enjoyed the movie.

      “If you are a music fan, you will struggle to like Justin Biebers music. If you are a movie fan, then you will struggle to like the prequels.”

      Apples and oranges. Comparing the work of a kid that has his music written for him to be auto-tuned and the work of a guy who struggled to get his films made are two entirely different measures of effort.

      “Just because there are bias fanboys and fangirls out there, doesn’t justify the fact that they were universally despised, and rightly so. rant over.”

      Oh, that’s a good one. You keep claiming that I’m biased for enjoying something that a majority of people enjoyed. Look at the box office returns for the prequels – if people hated them, why would they be record-breakers and some of the most successful films of the twenty-first century? If anything, your constant denial of the facts of these films – that they were financial and critical successes, and they were liked by audiences – makes *you* the biased one.

      Also, Anon 10:44 hit the nail on the head. You can say that you personally don’t like the Prequels (which is a perfectly fine opinion to have), but asserting that everyone hated them is a foolish notion.

    • June 16, 2014 at 10:44 pm
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      OMG dude get over it, the prequels sucked… you know somone’s losing an argument when they have to bring M. Night Shyamalan as a point of reference for how bad a movie can be.

      Here’s the difference between Sarlac burp and Jar Jar icky poo-poo: That actually was funny, Jar Jar was just irritating.

      “everything you’re arguing is entirely based on individual opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own.”

      But things do objectively suck, I think saying it’s all just based on opinion is a cop-out. Look at George Bush paintings… tell me they don’t suck. Yes people may like them and a culture has developed around enjoying objective crap for ironic purposes, but no one can deny Bush’s paintings suck even if some might like them. Kinkade is objectively bad, actually I think there is scientific rationale for being able to pinpoint why it’s objectively bad, along with anything else that sucks like the prequels did.

    • June 16, 2014 at 10:50 pm
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      Prequel haters need to get a life, notice you also hate every other film that wasn’t released when you were a kid?

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:03 pm
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      “You brought in a movie that people hated – therefore, your argument has no merit.”

      Would you have I preferred that I brought in “Jawbreaker”, “Battlefield Earth”, or Gigli? Either way, it doesn’t discredit the fact that plenty of people unironically enjoyed the Prequels.

      “But things do objectively suck, I think saying it’s all just based on opinion is a cop-out.”

      …Which demerits your ability to carry out a debate. You’re more or less shutting yourself out by saying “I hate it, so I’m going to work under the illusion that absolutely everyone thinks the same way I do.” Any form of art is subject to opinion – critics seemed to like “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, for instance, but I thought that it was a pretentious mess. That doesn’t give me the right to say that it’s an objectively terrible movie, nor does it give the critics the right to declare that it’s an objectively good movie – it’s a matter of *subjective* opinion.

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:04 pm
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      “Yeah and millions of people praise and buy and rate Justin Bieber’s music very highly.”

      Never listen to anything other than good music, so I’ve obviously never even heard one single song by this “teen idol”, Lady Gaga or anything of the like.

      But, I’ll try another comparison here that might just be more accurate…

      As a game, football—as in Soccer for you U.S. folk—is a far cry to games like baseball, basketball and (American) football for instance. Yet it is the most popular sport on Earth, and 90% of the world is tuning in to the FIFA World Cup as we speak.

      Never said that popularity equals quality in my previous comment (@7:04 PM). I merely said that the PT is very popular amongst kids from that particular generation. That’s a fact. Now, if you don’t like those films, you can do exactly as I do with Bieber and the FIFA WC. Don’t watch them.

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:26 pm
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      “Which demerits your ability to carry out a debate. You’re more or less shutting yourself out by saying “I hate it, so I’m going to work under the illusion that absolutely everyone thinks the same way I do.” “

      Fine then… tell me George Bush paintings don’t suck/ that it can be debated even.

      Here’s the thing about the prequels… a lot of the things that people complain about are the same things… these are objective, it’s not just opinion… it’s not a taste based thing. You know like an orange might be just an orange, but 2 different people will say what they will about it based on their own taste receptors, that’s subjective. But there is logic involved with the rationale of what the Prequels did badly… do you understand what I mean now?

      Lets try this: Darth Vader’s “nooooooooooooooooooooo!”. How can you explain why that scene wasn’t objectively bad?

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:48 pm
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      Prequel movies are very popular.

      Some fanatics just want to hate them, but that is their problem.

    • June 17, 2014 at 1:09 am
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      I’m a kid…I loved the prequels. I personally thought that the story was good in Episodes IV-VI, but it wasn’t as action-packed as the prequel trilogy just because the special effects weren’t as good back then. Also, I might add that I agree with “AnonymousJune 17, 2014 at 12:48 AM”, and would like to add one more thing to that. Kids and young adults loved the prequel trilogy. Some adults did not. Who writes the reviews online? – Adults. So don’t bring that into it.

    • June 17, 2014 at 12:53 pm
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      Hey, it’s been over 10 years and people still talks about Phantom Menace, and they’ll continue to so for many years to come. They are so popular, that they inspired the much successful and amazing Clone Wars show.
      Popularity has nothing to with the films being good or bad.

    • June 17, 2014 at 10:34 pm
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      lol I just love prequel fans. “Prequel haters need to get a life” and then “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.” ..Well you can’t have both lol. The prequels are bad films. There’s no defending it. Poorly written and poorly directed. Stop coming up with rubbish about why people don’t like it. They don’t like it because they are bad films. It has nothing to do with childhoods or people comparing it to the OT. Grow up. They are just extremely mediocre films. Anyone who thinks the prequels are popular have brainwashed themselves or are surrounded by other people who like them. I think it’s safe to say around 85% of the prequel audience didn’t enjoy them. Just because you are in that other 15% doesn’t automatically mean they were popular or good films.

    • June 17, 2014 at 7:37 pm
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      “But things do objectively suck, I think saying it’s all just based on opinion is a cop-out. Look at George Bush paintings… tell me they don’t suck. Yes people may like them and a culture has developed around enjoying objective crap for ironic purposes, but no one can deny Bush’s paintings suck even if some might like them.”
      BOOM. At least Aras has common sense.

  • June 16, 2014 at 5:59 pm
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    Tell me what?

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:08 pm
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      Well Mr. Jackson, Episode I, II and III sucks. And just to update about the character that you played, Mace Windu has an adventure with Jar Jar Binks in Clone Wars which is Canon.

      Nailed it.

      /Just Someone with nothing to do.

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:16 pm
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      H8ERS GON’ H8

    • June 16, 2014 at 7:04 pm
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      To be fair the prequels sucked but Mace Windu was kinda cool.

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:39 pm
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      Yeah. Kinda. He would’ve made a much better Sith lord or badass bounty hunter.

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:51 pm
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      Prequel trilogy is better than Original trilogy.

      And Mace Windu was cool.

    • June 17, 2014 at 8:39 pm
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      Everything above ^ is false… “A SITH… LORD?!? Mace Windu’s only show of emotion in the PT was laughable. I love Samuel Jackson, in Pulp Fiction especially, but either his acting in the PT was terrible, or the dialogue he was given was worse. Based on the other dialogue in the film, it is likely the latter. But Mace Windu was not a strong character by any stretch of the imagination…

  • June 16, 2014 at 6:00 pm
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    I wouldn’t want to see a hundred year old Mace Windu in the new films. It’s not he was anything other than a cardboard cutout character anyway.

    Character trait: Purple Lightsaber.

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:11 pm
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      Purple Lightsaber and ethnic diversity for the movie.

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:34 pm
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      I did not like the character of Mace Windu- too much ‘down in da hood’ attitude, awkward fit with SW.

  • June 16, 2014 at 6:01 pm
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    It seems amazing that Sam Jackson would even entertain the notion that he might get a call to be in Episode 7. On what possible grounds could his character make a return??

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:06 pm
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      Easy.

      Luke could unearth some old holo-recording of the Jedi Council in its waning days, featuring Mace Windu. The character doesn’t have to be alive for SLJ to make a cameo.

    • June 16, 2014 at 7:13 pm
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      Yeah, but that would be shoe horning him in for no good reason. Mace Windu has no business in the ST. None.

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:11 pm
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      Martin Mackillop,

      That’s your opinion and I respect it.

      Not saying it’s got to happen, but I’d rather see Windu back in holographic form (as part of Luke’s research into the Jedi Order’s history, for instance) a gazillion times before seeing ANY EU character, Palpatine or Plagueis (be them alive, as clones or ghosts) in the new films.

  • June 16, 2014 at 6:36 pm
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    I am very sick of this guy complaining every chance he gets about not getting called to be in EP 7. Hey Sam, guess what? Nobody owes you Anything. You are not entitled to appear in every single movie ever made in Hollywood. That honor goes to Morgan Freeman. So do us all a big fat favor and get over yourself! Mace Windu is DEAD.

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:41 pm
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      SAY THAT TO MY FACE FOO

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:42 pm
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      No but david prowse takes the title of being a diva in this area. Literally every single interview he gives he always says he should be given a role in the new films. Drives me mad.

    • June 16, 2014 at 9:45 pm
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      S. Jackson’s appearance in Star Wars was one of the biggest catastrophies of the prequel movies. Never again!!!

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:25 pm
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      SLJ has been milking his tiny role in the Prequels for ever. I guess being in the Avengers is not enough for him? They should resurrect Mace Windu? Puh lease. He is greedy as hell.

    • October 23, 2014 at 4:04 am
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      There actually is a possibility for all the Jedi characters from the prequel trilogy to appear in the sequel trilogy in spirit. Just like Obi-Wan did in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. And of course Yoda did one time in Return of the Jedi.

  • June 16, 2014 at 6:47 pm
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    He knows they were crap, but he asked to be in them. What’s he going to do? Ask? They say yes. Then say they were crap? Come on.

  • June 16, 2014 at 7:46 pm
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    mace windu is fucking awesome second only 2 master yoda so stop slagging him sam was awesome as mace,and i would fucking welcome him in seven,he could only come back through holocron recordings but so the fuck he will chracter to the film

  • June 16, 2014 at 8:03 pm
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    But Steve, he has no place in Episode 7 whatsoever… Don’t get me wrong he had a few good moments in the PT but seeing as he has no direct connection to any of the existing and current characters in Star Wars it makes no sense for him to be involved. As Mace said… ‘This party’s over…’

    • June 16, 2014 at 8:41 pm
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      Besides, of course, the fact that he’s was a Jedi Master on the council.

    • June 16, 2014 at 10:02 pm
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      Yeah but that is nothing to do with Luke Skywalker… Why would/could he appear? What would he do??? The business with Anakin and Palpatine is all wrapped up. Not to mention that he died… member of the council or not. What would Luke do? Watch footage of Mace talking about some thing or another? Very doubtful. Also very unlikely that he would appear as a Force ghost as they didn’t meet and have no direct connection.

    • June 16, 2014 at 11:27 pm
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      He’s done. It’s over. You would have to write a whole freaking narrative about why he came back. He was a glorified extra in SW who only got in bc he begged George Lucas. Denzel would have been better, lets face it.

  • June 17, 2014 at 12:37 am
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    Hopefully the Sequel Trilogy can end the PT vs OT arguments among our community. I love the OT more then the PT, but I am never going to rip Lucas for the PT simply because each fan can take it or leave it. The 4-6 story still works fine as you don’t need the PT or ST to make them complete. Where I will always rip Lucas is that he never released the OOT remasterd on DVD or BluRay, as there were fans like me that loved those versions. There is no reason he couldn’t have released a Lord of the Rings or Bladerunner type BluRay or DVD version that all of the versions on it so ALL of the fans could be happy.

    • June 17, 2014 at 5:14 am
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      Well that’s one of the many reasons fans rip on Lucas, cuz he wouldn’t release it despite the popular demand. He actually thinks the special editions are better… I remember reading somewhere that He showed physical signs of discomfort when being shown the OOT at a screening. I guess no one can fault him for that, He was never happy with the old special fx… but I don’t understand why they put that fake looking Jabba in or that horrid dance sequence.

      But I do share in the hope that the Sequel Trilogy will bring the nerds together… I have zero worries. If the sequel Trilogy is what I think it will be then the prequel folks will get a taste of what they missed out on being a young person in the 80’s… I think they need to keep in mind there really was nothing before the OT which was so inspiring. 2001 space odyssey is the only film that comes to mind really. (not saying there weren’t good films before that, just nothing like Star Wars that looked so believable).

  • June 17, 2014 at 5:07 am
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    So I’m gonna go ahead and throw this out there….as a fan of both series, it kind of bothers me that soooo many fans hate the PT. And it doesn’t bother me in the sense of offending me because people don’t like something that I do, but I feel it’s because people, generally speaking, as a whole, are followers. Star Wars brings the inner child in all of us adults. And generally speaking children are much more unbiased, and less likely to dislike something until their friends, family, or a general group around them begin to dislike it. Or make fun of it. Now when I saw episode one I was 14. Still obsessed with Star Wars, and could NOT wait to see it. And I LOVED it. We finally got to see Jedi in all their glory. What they could do with their powers. What the sith were capable of. And not just darth vader choking people or the emperor shooting lightening out of his fingers….darth maul, regardless how people felt about the chereography…was a BADASS. The fight with him, obiwan and qui-gon was simply amazing at the time. No Star Wars film before had a fight like that. The music was incredible. Being a classical musician my whole life, I was pretty blown away by the complexity of it, overall tone, and incredibly different use of a full choir. The story, and the politics kind of were hard for me to grasp because I was a 14 year old teenager who didn’t quite grasp it all the first go round, but the more I watched it, the more I got it and was impressed with how palpatine made some pretty ingenious moves. Along with the next two movies, the clone wars series, and reading darth plageius (which more than likely will become canon) the story of how the sith took over and played anakin, was quite ingenious. When you sit down and know all the facts. The movies more or less skimmed over them just so it didn’t get too complex too quick. Oh and let me not forget….I LIKED jar-jar binks just fine. I didn’t love him, or crack up, but didn’t really distract me too much at all. Everyone in the theater laughed at him, and at the end of the movie stood up, cheered and applauded. Everyone of my friends LOVED it, all my family LOVED it, and it’s all anyone I knew would talk about. Now he’s my point…not until people started pointing out how stupid jarjar binks was, did I ever hear people talk bad about it. Then it spread like wildfire. This person I knew, that critic, this other person I hear talking about it….it was ALL anyone could talk about. Then it even started effecting me. I’d watch it again and think “oh yea these people are right, he’s pretty dumb”. Of course he’s dumb, that’s what a character like him was meant for. Now going back and watching the PT again and again over the years, I realized…he really wasn’t all that bad. I feel like negativity as a whole is extremely contagious and when people criticize these movies so harshly it’s just because most people tend to be negative in general. Nothing ever pleases them enough. Nothing ever lives up to some crazy standard in their head, and they just WILL NEVER be as pleased by a movie that you grew up watching as a kid like the OT trilogy. Cause let’s face it, life as a kid beats most any part of life. At least I’ve noticed as I am about to turn 30. I’m fine with everyone having their opinions and hateful things to say about the PT but it’s really not that bad. At all. It’s pretty damn good if you take that metaphorical stick out of your ass, and stop trying to be cool. Since it seems bad mouthing any and everything, be it movies, politics, music or tv shows is all people do on the internet. The one epic fail Lucas committed on these movies was Hayden Christiansen in episode 2. Especially his dialogue. Horrible. It wasn’t quite as bad in ep3 thankfully.

    • June 17, 2014 at 6:05 am
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      Trust me, if you have to say “wasn’t all that bad” to describe a film then what else can I say? Would you want to eat somewhere if a friend told you it “wasn’t all that bad”?

      You act as if people are just cynical for the purpose of being cynical… but here’s the thing… the Star Wars fans liked the OT, and we wanted to like the PT. We were excited about it too… trust me, the absolute last thing that the OT generation wanted was to hate the Prequels… we’d been waiting a decade and a half for that.

      Yes, you are right, the music was good. The jedi fighting scenes were good. There’s a lot of movies with good action scenes and good music, but it takes more than that to make a good film.

      Totally disagree about the story… really Anakin’s change to the dark side was way too fast to make any sense. It was a weak story, a total let down. There was no “I am your father” moment in the PT if you know what I mean. That was such a crazy shock as a kid, I can’t describe it… but that’s what good story telling is. When I was a child, what I pictured in my mind as Darth Vader was way more interesting than what Lucas came up with: an annoying kid who became an annoying teenager who became a Sith Lord with no other reason than taking advice from a politician? I mean they didn’t even seem to have much of a relationship established, it just sort of came out of nowhere. The scene where Palpatine told Anakin about Darth Plaguis… do you honestly think a hardcore Jedi who’s part of the council would listen to that story and not stop to think “hmmm, maybe this guy is a sith?” C’mon. Weakest story link ever.

      + one other thing:

      I still feel like the “noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” needs some addressing, I’ve yet to see *ONE* PT fan legitimize that moment. I remember it well because the guy sitting next to me in the theater burst out into laughter. It is awful, no doubt about it. It should have been one of the most powerful scenes of the series!

  • June 17, 2014 at 9:24 am
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    Spot on Aras. That moment was completely fumbled and was indeed laughable when it should have been a moment of high drama. I’m afraid to say I was one the people laughing… I know the whole PT/ OT debate has been talked about to death but it is always still worth discussing, especially in light of the new trilogy. One of the major flaws in the PT trilogy is that from a stylistic point of view it doesn’t ‘feel’ like Star Wars. Episode 1 was also so deeply flawed from a character and story point of view that it made everything feel hollow and groundless. One of the brilliant things the OT had going for it, which made it feel grounded was it’s use of real locations and practical effects, not to mention the amazing special effects model work which to this day STILL kicks work from the PT into touch. Above those things the characters from the OT were people you could believe in and we rooted for them in their adversity to the Empire. Who were you rooting for in Episode 1?? This is not about being PT hater… I love Star Wars to my very core and it will always play a significant role in my life and my that of my family but the fact of the matter is the PT was a major let down no matter which way you want to wrap it up. It had it’s moments but as Aras said it takes more than a few good moments to make a good film.

  • June 17, 2014 at 9:25 am
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    I am absolutely an original Star Wars fan. I saw Star Wars twice on opening day, May 25th, 1977, at the age of 15 and it changed my life forever. That Empire was as good and, in some ways, even better was something of a miracle in 1980. Virtually all sequels at that time were cheap knock-offs that almost never came close to living up to the original film.

    I get the sense that most of you are younger Star Wars fans so you may not realize that, 16 years before the Prequel Trilogy began coming out, Return of the Jedi was absolutely despised by a large number of Star Wars fans! I still have friends today who haven’t liked a Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back! And I always think, “How sad for those people. They have no ending to their story.” But Jedi was a noticeably weaker film than it’s two predecessors. The story is more haphazardly told and it is, indeed, where Lucas began his penchant for inserting cheap jokes at the expense of the story. The burping frog is inappropriate but Chewbacca’s Tarzan yell (sadly repeated in Revenge of the Sith) is absolutely inexcusable! And don’t get me started on how much people hated the Ewoks! I liked them but had to admit that, in an age of Yoda and E.T., they could have been done much more believably.

    I felt disappointment the first time I saw Jedi. So much was wrong with it. But the key story line between Luke, Vader, and the Emperor was so awesome and so satisfying that it made up for all the other faults. And while I’m not a fan of many of the changes in the Special Edition, I actually believe that the special edition of Return of the Jedi was actually superior to the original, not because of the Jabba scene which traded one silly song for another, but because the ending was so much more powerful, showing the celebrations all over the Galaxy and using music that didn’t seem wildly out of place for the conclusion of an epic trilogy. Too bad Lucas had to totally screw up the ending on the DVD by replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christiansen at the end, which made no sense whatsoever.

    (To be continued in next post)

  • June 17, 2014 at 9:25 am
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    (Continued from last post)

    Anyway, my real point is that Star Wars bashing didn’t start with the Prequels. And this is one original Star Wars fan that loves the Prequels! Sure, Phantom Menace is the worst of the Star Wars films but that’s the worst of the greatest film series ever made! It’s full of great moments, none more so than the amazing lightsaber duel with Darth Maul, accompanied by Duel of the Fates, one of the greatest pieces of music John Williams has ever written! And Ian McDarmid is absolutely brilliant throughout the Prequels!

    When Attack of the Clones came out, everyone I talked to about it loved it. It was mere months before Revenge of the Sith arrived that I discovered that many people regarded it with the same contempt with which they regarded Phantom Menace. And this is my main problem with most Prequel bashers. They speak as if all three films are on the same level. When Lucas made The Phantom Menace, he hadn’t directed a film in 24 years! I think he was a bit rusty! But Attack of the Clones is leaps and bounds better and Revenge of the Sith is nothing short of astonishing! I think it’s actually a better film than Return of the Jedi. The last stretch of the film is incredibly powerful and, yes, if you were as caught up in it as I was, you too would have wept, not laughed, when the last vestiges of Anakin screamed “Noooo!” from the depths of the hellish future he’d condemned himself to.

    I recently watched the films in this order in anticipation of how I might first show them to my daughter: A New Hope, The Phantom Menace, The Empire Strikes Back, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and Return of the Jedi. And it worked AMAZINGLY well! Jedi has never seemed a more powerful conclusion then when I viewed it right after having seen Revenge of the Sith.

    And that’s the real question for the Prequels. Do they add or detract from the original trilogy? For many people, they clearly detract but, for those of us who love them, they add immeasurably to the drama of the amazing saga that is Star Wars. I only hope that the new trilogy does the same!

    May the Force Be With You All!

    • June 17, 2014 at 10:10 am
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      Then why on Earth are you a Star Wars fan? Solely on the basis of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the only two Star Wars films that Lucas did not write and direct?

    • June 17, 2014 at 10:12 am
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      And I’m guessing you’re not much of an American Graffiti fan either?

    • June 17, 2014 at 10:30 am
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      By the way, Duke, we’ll have to agree to disagree on Attack of the Clones. While I acknowledge that the romance is rather stilted and damages the film somewhat simply because it’s such a crucial element of the story, nearly everything else going on around that central relationship works remarkably well!

    • June 17, 2014 at 10:56 am
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      Alan, the central romance fails on a grand scale. It is not believable in the slightest. What girl would fall for a guy who said this? ‘I killed them. I killed them all. They’re dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They’re like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I HATE THEM!’ Now I’m sorry Alan but that the fact that Padme then falls for Anakin is pushing the realms of believability is it not? I would say that making this relationship work would have been one the most important parts of making AOTC work but George seriously fumbled the ball…

    • June 17, 2014 at 11:10 am
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      Lets put it this way. You’re in a restaurant and you are served a pie with mash and gravy. As you’re eating you realise that the pie tastes terrible and the mash has lumps in it. The gravy however was superb and very tasty. Would you say that you had a good meal? The pie being the central element was a let down and the supporting mash didn’t help matters. It doesn’t matter at this stage that the gravy is good… You would not be recommending this to a friend…

    • June 17, 2014 at 6:25 pm
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      Return of the Jedi is the classic example of a Star Wars film where the viewer needs to fill in some blanks. One of the most glaring problems is why the Emperor, presumably the most brilliant evil mastermind in the galaxy, undermines his own efforts to bring Luke to the Dark Side again and again by calling Luke’s attention to what he’s doing each time it looks like Luke might be starting down the Dark path? One has to assume that there is more going on than what we actually see, that the powers of the Dark and Light sides of the Force are battling within and that the Emperor is doing far more to push Luke to the Dark Side via the unseen Force than he is by the conversation we’re witnessing.

      I think the romance in Attack of the Clones is similar. Lucas doesn’t seem to be very good at writing romantic scenes but we have to assume that, given the forbidden nature of their love, that much more is going on on the inside with these two than we see on the outside. Not the way I’d prefer it but, for the sake of the overall story, I can accept it.

      By the way, do you know that mass murderers in prison tend to receive all sorts of love letters from desperate women, including proposals of marriage? I’m not suggesting that Padme is desperate or insane but there does seem to be a certain appeal to many women to the damaged hunk who reacts violently to situations. So often they think that they can be the one to change the man. And, of course, Anakin HAD just learned that his mother had been killed by sandpeople. Did he overreact? Hell, yes, but I don’t find it all that unbelievable that Padme could get past it. On some weird psychological level, the depth of his anguish may actually have helped to attract her more to him. By the way, I find that scene where Anakin admits what he did to be immensely powerful and one of the key scenes in the whole saga of his journey to the Dark Side.

    • June 17, 2014 at 9:49 pm
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      Duke, it doesn’t surprise me that you think American Graffiti was “nothing special.” Lucas virtually invented the teen coming of age comedy with this film and, for my tastes, it remains the best. I can’t think of another teen comedy that’s been nominated for Best Picture, can you?

      For years, it held the record as the most successful movie ever made, when comparing what it cost to produce to how much money it brought in.. I understand, however, that in this day of micro-budgeted “found footage” films like Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity, it has now dropped to #9 on the list.

      It’s young cast almost all went on to major stardom, including one complete unknown by the name of Harrison Ford. .

      In short, without the success of American Graffiti, George Lucas would never have gotten the chance to make Star Wars and . without Star Wars, none of us would be here discussing these matters.

    • June 18, 2014 at 9:22 am
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      You’re entitled to your opinion, of course, Duke, based on virtually nothing as it may be.

  • June 17, 2014 at 9:29 am
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    Sorry. I meant Lucas hadn’t directed a film in 22 years, not 24.

  • June 17, 2014 at 9:39 am
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    And, for the record, no, there is no “scientific method” to justify one’s opinions about art. Art is not fact based. It works primarily on an emotional level and may affect each person who witnesses it differently. There is no right or wrong when it comes to what we love, what moves us, or what leaves us cold. If you’re a Star Wars fan and the Prequels leave you cold or make you laugh where they shouldn’t, well then, I feel sorry for you but I won’t say you’re wrong because you’re as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. I only ask that you afford me and others who disagree with you the same respect. You will never convince me that films that have moved me as deeply as the Prequel trilogy have are lacking in merit. It goes completely contrary to my own experience of the films.

  • June 17, 2014 at 10:42 am
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    Art is not fact based? I’m sorry Alan but the PT has been criticised for justifiable reasons by professional critics and fans from across the board from casual to die-hard, and so in that sense it is a fact that they were a let down as evidenced from the various testimonials on the subject. I agree that art is subjective but in the case of the PT it is generally considered by many to be a let down after what had come before. The fact that the PT was criticised for justifiable reasons is not up for debate. That actually happened, and is still going on today…

    • June 17, 2014 at 6:48 pm
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      Yes, art is not fact based. People like what they like. There is a large segment of society for whom ALL the Star Wars films and, in many cases, all science fiction and fantasy films, are a complete waste of time. Are they wrong? Well, no, if the films don’t appeal to them, then, for those people, they ARE a waste of time!

      While I concede your point that a great many people are not fond of the Prequels, I think you need to concede the point of myself and others that a great many people LOVE the prequels! Are all those people, myself included, complete idiots simply because they like something that you don’t like?

      It’s okay that the Prequels don’t work for you and don’t add to your enjoyment of the overall saga. But why do you feel compelled to try to take away the joy they bring to others? I wish I could say that your attacks on the films have no effect on others but, sadly, some people are very easily swayed and will decide that they must be wrong if they keep hearing something often enough.

      Frankly, what matters to me is how the films affect ME and my enjoyment of the saga. I know many who agree with me and we can have great in depth conversations about the saga as a whole.

      It doesn’t surprise me that lots of fans don’t like the prequels. There was a sixteen year gap between trilogies, a long time for people to think about, consciously or otherwise, what THEY thought the prequels should be like. Those of us who love Star Wars tend to be very protective and think of them as OUR movies so when Lucas did something different than what fans were expecting, a lot of them were angry. But, when all is said and done, this was George Lucas’s story and I wanted to hear it the way HE wanted to tell it.

      Dislike the Prequels all you like but don’t try to claim that you have some absolute knowledge of which movies are acceptable for others to enjoy and which aren’t. The phrase, “Art is in the eye of the beholder” is very true. There are no absolutes. Art is a conversation between the creator and the beholder. You don’t get to decide how other people should behold it, no matter how many people you can point to who agree with you.

  • June 17, 2014 at 11:18 am
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    Im only 20 and so obviously I wasnt around when the OT came out, but that was the trilogy i watched first as I was shown it by my dad, and i loved the films, then there was the PT that came out and I was able to watch them in the cinema, personally I love all the films, i prefer the light saber battles in the PT but agree that they did look a bit too choreographed at times, whereas in the OT they were a bit slow with them and for some reason Luke preferred to use a gun most of the time when he had a light saber, I think the PT haters are just over protective of their generation of films

    • June 17, 2014 at 12:46 pm
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      This is probably one of the most mature comments I’ve ever read and is likely written by one of the youngest people in this post.

    • June 17, 2014 at 5:23 pm
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      Coming from the guy that was defending the Prequel Trilogy earlier in this post, I personally thank you for your insight.

    • June 17, 2014 at 7:00 pm
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      I’ve been watching Star Wars films and the reactions of fans to them for 37 years. I can’t over-emphasize how angry many original fans were about Return of the Jedi when it came out. Some haven’t gotten over it yet. But an interesting thing happened as the years went by. New fans, who grew up on the Trilogy as a whole, didn’t make a distinction between the quality of Jedi and the other two films the way that older fans had. They viewed the Star Wars trilogy as a whole and they tended to love them all equally.

      Now I believe this is happening with the Prequels as well. I’m not suggesting that ALL young fans love them but, increasingly, as people grow up watching the six film saga, they won’t understand why so many in the previous generation singled out the Prequels instead of just accepting the Saga as a whole.

      Personally, I’m proud to be an original Star Wars fan who kept an open mind and went with George Lucas’s journey all the way through. My experience of the movies and, in many ways, my life, have been the richer for having done so.

  • June 17, 2014 at 12:43 pm
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    Why would they call him to appear in episode VII? He died

    • June 17, 2014 at 5:21 pm
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      I think he was operating on the possibility of appearing in a Holocron, or if they pulled the “they never found the body, so he could be hiding” trope. Of course, he’d have to look a lot older if he were to be included in another movie.

    • June 17, 2014 at 7:14 pm
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      While the holocron idea could certainly work, I don’t know why Mace Windu couldn’t return as a Force ghost. The rules regarding who gets to come back are far from clear. In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda seems to indicate that Qui Gon Jinn discoverd how to return as a Force ghost AFTER his death, i.e. from the other side. Anakin’s return to the Light Side seems to open the door for him. So I don’t really understand why it would be such a stretch to think that Mace Windu might do it as well.

      Personally, I think it would be kind of fun to have a scene where Luke (and perhaps Leia as well) are sitting around chatting with a room full of Force ghosts! Alas, I doubt that Liam Neeson would ever participate although he seems to be willing to appear in just about anything else!

  • June 17, 2014 at 1:28 pm
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    Have to agree with Volodka, the moment when we found out Vader was Luke’s father was incredible, before seeing the film we heard the rumors that Vader was his father but we didn’t believe them, we refused to believe them. And then it turned out to be true…

    I also have to say I realised George Lucas was no genius when I stumbled across a Star Wars book written by him in the seventies or eighties. The quality of the writing is absolutely ATROCIOUS! (it’s like for soccer fans when Maradona opens his mouth, instead of some kind of god, you realise he is a complete idiot) The Prequels only confirmed the fact that Lucas basically had a good idea but not the intellectual/artistic capacity to do it justice…

    • June 17, 2014 at 7:19 pm
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      I can only assume that you’re talking about the Star Wars novelization since I can’t think of any other Star Wars book credited to George Lucas. For your information, the novelization was actually ghost written by Alan Dean Foster, the same fellow who wrote “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye” and countless other movie novelizations. So, sorry to burst your bubble but, if you didn’t care for the writing style,you can’t blame it on George.

    • June 18, 2014 at 8:39 am
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      Okay thanks for clarifying, I just remember seeing that the “author” of the book was Lucas (if it was ghost written, I suppose that changes things).

      Anyway, I think my immense disappointment when I saw the prequels was due to the fact that they were so much worse when COMPARED with the OT (although in reality I suppose they are entertaining enough and not such bad movies in their own right if you don’t compare them with anything)

    • June 18, 2014 at 9:38 am
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      Yeah, I’m not crazy about Foster’s writing style in the novelization either. As for the Prequels, yes, The Phantom Menace is a far cry from being as well written as the original Star Wars film (now Episode 4.) But, as with his direction of them, I think Lucas’s writing improves with each film. There’s little question that they work on a very different level from the original trilogy but, if one lets them, they actually add a lot of depth to the overall story.

  • June 17, 2014 at 3:55 pm
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    WARNING the following is my opinion (Sorry in advance to all you haters; but you have been warned! You may disagree with what I think and than proceed to get upset about it and say something stupid. I’m not listening so just shut up in advance)
    The OT (as great as it is) has just as many flaws as the PT. OT vs PT. Winner OT.
    Any SW Prequel vs. Avatar. Winner any SW Prequel.
    Any SW Prequel vs. The Dark Knight Rises. Winner any SW Prequel.
    Any SW Prequel vs. Any Transformers movie. Winner any SW Prequel.
    Any SW Prequel vs. Indiana Jones 4. Winner Indi…JK…any SW Prequel.
    Any SW Prequel vs. any Hobbit movie (not the cartoon but those shitty movies)
    Winner Any SW Prequel!
    The point is although the PT doesn’t live up to the OT, they are still better than A LOT of other movies.

    • June 17, 2014 at 7:27 pm
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      While I like the Dark Knight, Indy 4, and the Hobbit movies, I agree with you. As I’ve said elsewhere, The Phantom Menace may be the worst Star Wars movie but it’s the worst STAR WARS MOVIE! That still puts it head over heels above the vast majority of what’s out there!

      Okay,I admit that The Phantom Menace is the only Star Wars film that wasn’t my favorite movie of the year it came out. (Actually, Attack of the Clones tied for me with the theatrical version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.) The Phantom Menace was my third favorite film of 1999, coming in after Sleepy Hollow and The Sixth Sense. But I’d still rank it ahead of any other movies that came out that year including the Best Picture winner, American Beauty.

      A poor Star Wars film is still better than a great “almost anything else” film!

    • June 18, 2014 at 8:21 am
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      thatsnomoonthatsaspacestation But Back To The Future 2 , James Bond Skyfall , Hell Boy 2 The Golden Army And Star Trek 2009 were better than the Star Wars prequels.

    • June 18, 2014 at 9:46 am
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      I’m a huge Back to the Future fan so I too would likely rank it ahead of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones but probably not ahead of Revenge of the Sith. I liked all three of the other films you mentioned but wouldn’t rank any of them ahead of the Star Wars films. This is all personal opinion, of course, and your mileage may vary.

      By the way, speaking of films that are wildly hated by large numbers of fans, there are a huge number of Star Trek fans who absolutely DESPISE the two reboots. I’m not one of them but I know many of them.

  • June 17, 2014 at 4:26 pm
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    My main problem with the PT (just my opinion) is very simple: I don’t care for the characters. This maybe Lucas’s fault, this may not be his fault, but if you don’t care for the characters, you are never going to love the movies? Just think of any movie that you truly love, the first reason why you love it is the characters and story. By the middle of Episode II, I just didn’t like Anakin and Padme, so there was no way that I was going to feel their struggle when everything went downhill in Episode 3. The only character I really cared about in the PT was Obiwan, but the Trilogy was not about him, so it wasn’t enough for me to love the PT. So I know we all debate the CGI, Jar Jar, Midichlorians, Jango Fett, but the bottom line is: Do you care about Anakin and Padme? The success of the OT was that we all cared about Han, Luke, and Leia, so we followed those characters for 3 movies and were invested.

    • June 17, 2014 at 5:26 pm
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      Excellent Point “Do you care about Anakin and Padme?” No. Not even for second really. Funny thing is their romance is more believable as a cartoon than in the films. I did care about the Jedi (Jinn!, Windu, Obi Wan, …), the Clones, Grevious, Dooku, Maul, Bail, Watto, Sebulba, and Jango Fett though….

    • June 17, 2014 at 6:50 pm
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      You hit on it there, and that’s the greatest flaw in the PT. Obi-Wan should have been the central character like Luke was in the OT. What we ended up getting was a two episode mashed together attempt at explaining about 3 years of Anakin’s life as a Jedi…sadly, by an actor that couldn’t pull it off. Watched Ep. III again last night and it truly is remarkable how awkwardly he delivers his lines…it’s as if he wasn’t human.

    • June 17, 2014 at 7:36 pm
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      That’s certainly a fair assessment. I do care about Anakin and Padme in the Phantom Menace. The scene where Anakin has to leave his mother (“Don’t look back.”) is particularly affecting. I care about both characters much more in the following two films but I really think that the Jedi, Qui Gon and Obi-wan, particularly Qui-Gon, are really the central figures of The Phantom Menace. And I care about them a great deal.

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