Phantom Menace

[I, Brian]

Hi Bones, and welcome to the chronicles-network.

Nice to see one of the originals among us.

[SDNess]

I'm disappointed with the prequel trilogy in general. Both Episode 1 and 2 have had some interesting aspects, but there are too many problems (that have been listed all over the thread.) Episode 1 did fufill its purpose in being a filler episode, though. It set up an [average] plot.

I'm really hoping for Episode 3 to fill this gap. GL, please, don't screw this one up.

I'm wondering if it is possible for the prequel trilogy to possess the flair of the classic trilogy; like many you have said - the industry is very different today.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Hi Bones, and welcome to the chronicles-network.

Nice to see one of the originals among us.

Thanx.

I do think Clones was a step back in the right direction though, most importantly it "felt" like a star wars film whereas Phantom Menavce did not. There are still a few niggles i have with Attack of The Clones but mostly i liked it and still attest it is greatly better than PM.

[Adm. Meltan Hralg]

Hello to you all,

I may shock some of the guys out there but I am not one of the rabid Phantom Menace haters...I admit that AotC is a much better film, sure, but all that stuff about Lucas 'losing' it or never having been a good director in the first place, just escapes me.

point - Lucas, more than a director, always strived to be a good 'Storyteller' and much of the things that drove you mad about PM are to be seen not in relation to the movie itself but to whole tri(esa?)-logy.

Phantom Menace is set in a moment where the Republic is safe and secure (apparently) where the jedi lend their benign help to sustain and support it, where (mind it!) the forces of chaos and corruption are already at work to subvert and destroy it but with subtlety...it's a situation much like that of late 19th century Europe...when the strains and greed which would have exploded themselves in the carnage and barbarism of WWI were all present but no one seemed to notice or care about them and everyone was set about having a good time between liberty decorations and lighted up ballrooms.

Just think at the Naboo starfighters, just to name a thing...they're sleek, elegant, aquatic in their appearance, coloured up for esthetical reasons...now compare them to the X and Y wing starfighters of the Galactic Civil War...rugged, dotted from laser bolts and grimed with dust...built for actual warfare and nothing more.

Ok the Jar Jar carachter may seem obnoxious, but Lucase is SUCH a devoted reader and scholar of epic literature and mythology that you can even THINK him of dropping a silly character in just for fun and to entertain the kids?

Real world epics are filled with comic relief sidekicks but beside that, compare Jar Jar's role in PM to what he does in AotC...in the happy-gaudy(apparently) time of PM it's 'possible' for a dumbass like JJ to save the day out of blind luck, just as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin got out of trouble, in their mute short comic movies, out of their naiveness...now go put a Keatonesque or Chaplinian character in the Somme trenches...how will they fit in?

And exactly like that Jar Jar is out of place in the darkening landscape of 'Clones' and, actually, he furthers Palpatine's plans fostering the creation of the Clone Army which will become the tool the ambitious canchellor will use to erupt the Wars in which he'll have the jadi bled white until he stands as the sole galactic power broker.

I think that the only time in which an impartial and fair judgment on PM can be made will be AFTER Ep.III comes out, when we'll be able to see all of the prequels in a row and to note how one flows in the other, in a descending and darkening spiral, granted, but (in my hopes and as far as the things went I think I 'should' be right) according to a well developed pattern that should have much to owe from Lucas' vison and studies supporting it and much less on commercial reasons or to the fans' pressures,

sincerely,

Admiral Meltan Hralgo.