The Phantom Menace was on ITV this Evening

The thing is Lucas was responsible for putting those images in peoples heaRAB. Vader, in the original trilogy was depicted as the ultimate villain but we later find out (through the prequels) that he was nothing more than a spoilt brat who lacked attention, there was nothing to suggest that Vader was indeed a merciless villain, if anything it was the opposite and in doing so Lucas totally undermined the character.

though I have to say that the attempt to flesh out a back story for The Emperor was far more successful, just a pity the same attention wasn't lavished on Vader.

as listentome suggests, it would have made far more sense and more interesting viewing had the prequels started at a later stage, so we got a clearer illustration of Vader's wrath.
 
I would say a lot has to do with peer pressure. People say it is their favourite to look credible. But in fact nothing of note happens druing the film at all. And Lando is a very poor character that hold no more significance than Captain Panaka or Wicket.
 
Ewan Mcgregor has always said he's extremely happy to have been in them though. He didn't enjoy the acting process with the blue screen which is fair enough, but he's proud to have done them.

As far as Natalie goes, to be honest I've never heard much at all from her good or bad about what she thinks about the films, so I'd be interested to see that quote if you have it?

Of course other actors like Sam Jackson and Ian Mdiarmid absolutely loved acting in these films and were very enthusiastic about it, so its horses for courses. Ultimately I'm not sure it really matters what an actors personal feelings are anyway. What was Hitch said about actors being like cattle?;)
 
It's certainly a point of view, but niether of those two would have been able to say 'Would you get going, you old pirate?' with the extra layer of cheese like Billy Dee did in ROTJ.
 
I never really got that Vader was the "ultimate villain" to be honest. I know a lot of people felt that about him, but I always thought of him (because of the suit and mask) as probably old and fairly severaly injured and also extremely bad tempered. As a young kid the Jawas gave me more nightmares than Vader!:D
 
Well you say nothing much happens, but of course you do get the "I am your father" revelation which kind of blows the whole Saga wide open and infact was the moment that allowed there to be a Saga.
 
My take was always;

1. Anakin is struggling with his anger at the point where he has Dooku at his mercy. In theory he shouldn't kill him, but there are also very good reasons why he should kill him (like ending the Clone War) The point is he makes the wrong decision with Palpatines help. But this isn't where he turns to the dark side. He has Dooku unarmed (literally) and obviously has to decide quickly what he's going to do.

2. A lot of people bring this up. Anakin is expressing his horror and revulsion at what he (and Palpatine) have done. Like I say, he's turned to the dark side to save Padme but he's not happy about it. But once the decision has been made its no good dwelling on it - He decided to side with Palpatine and from that point on has to follow it through to its conclussion. ;) The fact is Anakin once again made a bad choice, but from that moment on he has to deal with it.

There is always a part of him that knows he's wrong. That knows doing all these terrible things is wrong. Thats the part Luke eventually reaches, so it was important in this scene (and the scene thats so full of pathos where he's crying on Mustafar after desending literally into hell) that you see some expression of remorse for whats going on, because the spark of good was never totally extinguished and Luke eventually managed to touch it. Whilst we all thought Vader was this relentlessly evil monster, I bet at times he used to sit in that isolation chamber of his and occasionally think about the evil he'd done. How he'd killed Padme. Maybe he'd even weep. Just occasionally....
 
I'd almost forgotten just how appalling it is.

Young Anakin is an amazingly poorly written character. His all-american 'Whoo's and Mom's' are awful. I still maintain that the kid was either the only one who turned up for the audition or he won the part by finding a golden ticket.

'Ill try spinning, that's a good trick!'. Buggering off is an even better one, I wish he'd tried it.
 
Han and Leia's flirtation is fun, but its not really that important to the overall Saga story. It works well in the context of Empire though because Harrison and Carrie were so good at sparking off one another. People forget now, but Harrison Ford was a really good actor back in the day and could be very funny as well. Now he's just a gruff, grumpy old man.:D
 
There were references, especially in episode 4 IIRC, that Vader was indeed the biggest badass in the galaxy, a myth perpetuated further by things like the Star Wars Weekly during the 70's and early 80's and also in ESB. I think Lucas will probably illustrate this during his planned TV shows, just a pity he didn't bother doing it with the prequels.
 
I never understood the hate for The Phantom Menace really. OK, its the worst of the Star Wars films, but compared to most "popcorn movies" its not too bad, IMO. I remember when I saw it in 1999 I was kind of indifferant towarRAB it. Didn't love it, didn't hate it, but had quite a fun two hours while I was watching it. The lightsaber fight at end was ace. The pod race, at the time, was technically amazing. Jar Jar Binks was annoying, but I didn't hate him like many others seemed to. Overall I've always thought of it as a solid *** movie. Not particularly bad. Not particularly good. But solid family fun.
 
LOL great post and I agree with it totally. Lucas had over a decade to come up with an interesting and dark back story for Vader, and we got this pile of crap. Phantom Menace is way too unbalanced, it's a poor mix of heavy political manouverings and cutesy Nickolodeon fluff. JJ Binks was arguably the biggest error Lucas has ever made in his career. I just wanted him to die after 5 minutes. But sticking to the point the young Vader was shockingly imagined and executed. It didn't help that they constantly called him "Annie", which made me think of a red haired orphan girl.



Portman was appalling in the films, especially PM. More wooden than Pinocchio's nob. The romance between her and Christensen was completely unconvincing, and her death in ROTS was bland and faintly amusing tbh, which wasn't the reaction I expected.As for the origins of Anakin, this is the whole problem I have with the prequels. It wasn't interesting at all, that honour went to the Emperor. Being a fan since the 70s I was hoping for a really dark, brooding and menacing backstory, instead all we got was a spoilt teenager with an attitude problem who lost his Mummy and couldn't keep his light saber in his undercrackers. Wow, thanks George I'm utterly underwhelmed. He should have bought himself Godfather II and watched how a fall from grace is really done.



I agree with you on Clones, it's my favourite of the prequels. Helps that there's lots of Jango/Boba Fett of course.
As for ROTS, about 50% of the cinema burst out laughing when Vader shouted "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO". Not a good sign :D
 
Yes, I suppose future generations starting with Episode I and working through to VI will have a completely differant reaction to the revelation moment than those of us brought up with the Originals coming first, had.
 
Best to get the 2 crap prequels out of the way first before the big daddy of the prequels in Episode 3 is premiered

I just really hope they don't skip over Revenge of the Sith and leave it right till the end (ie air it after episode 6)and then premiere it with a big fanfare because it wouldn't make much sense in terms of the storyline
 
Back
Top