How would you do it?

flogen

There are a lot of people who complained about the prequals, saying there was too much crap in it. I have to agree with this in relation to Ep. I and II, but not so much with III. So given the chance, what would you do?

Starting at the start, I'd cut back the pod races a hell of a lot, cut back Jar Jar (naturally) and get a new actor to play Anakin Jnr. I'd probably try and make Anakin a small bit older too, or perhaps show some passage of time (not sure how), and compress some of the stuff from early episode II into the first one. I'd also change the war and at least try and make it less stupid/CG-ed.
In Ep II I'd give more time to Anakins inner battles, show his mothers death early on and the effects it has on his mind. I would also have the film deal heavily with The Clone Wars, and not just the very beginning of it. I like the idea of the cartoons, but when I heard about the prequals I drooled at the thought of finally seeing the clone wars on the big screen. I honestly felt a bit robbed afterwards! I'd cut out that cheese (love and marriage scenes) and make it more to the point, no running through the field crap. I'd also make the Yoda lightsabre scene a little less OTT.
In Ep III... will put spoliers here

I would give more time to Anakins inner-turmoil and make the film darker in general... more rage and anger.I'd also cut what was a pointless battle on Kashyyk, or else make it worthwhile

Overall I'd chance the scripts a lot, maybe change an actor or two. I'd put more emphasis on the manipulations by the Senator, as I feel this only really happened in some of Ep II and Ep III which made it feel rushed. Obviously he had to look like a nice guy at first, but his behind the scenes dealings could have been treated better. I'd probably cut back on as much of the CGI as I could too, the nature of the beast is that after a few years it looks dated... watching TPM and AOTC recently really shows that, I'm sure ROTS will be no different.

User45701

Id follow the orginal plan for episode 3 that i read about 10 years ago allot of the scenes where the same the opening battle the final scenes and how anikan becomes vader. ill post it later im off t work now

Kingsize

overall i'd cut out all the obvoius references to our own world( death sticks,american sports commentators & all that shyte ) part of the charm & success of the original movies was that they immersed the viewer in this new universe with little or no explanation.
i hate this type of humour its totally unnescessary but seems to be very prominent in modern films- a cheap gag usually done very badly too- like "comedy" remakes that take the piss out of the original, or "80,s" movies that overdo the "80's" references

i think JAR JAR wouldve been more .erm palatable if he didnt speak in that stoopid pidgin english gay rasta voice,like scrappy doo ( or poochie d)here was a character that was created to be popular & the plan backfired.
also there is no need to tie absolutely everything in with the 2nd trilogy (chewbacca,the droids etc)it only serves to make the vast sw universe seem smaller.

Crucifix

I'd try to avoid making Anakin seem like an angsty teen. I would put more middle distance shots in light saber battles; Lucas tends to go for too close up for the duelling, and then the occasional long shot for special things (such as back flips etc). I try to make the films more structured. Try to cut down on all the bloody CGI. And much, much more.

iguana

It would have been better if Phantom and Clones were rolled into one good movie. Beginning where PM does but ending it with the beginning of the clone wars. I'd have left out the pod-race (which you couldn't get emotionally involved in as if Anakin lost the galaxy might have been saved), the stupid car chase around Coruscant and all the earth refrences as mentioned by kingsize. Then the 2nd movie could have concentrated on the Clone Wars and the growing disillusionment that some were having with Palpatine.

But I would probably have kept Anakin's mother being killed in the 2nd movie. But had a bit more than 2 scenes showing his upset and anger. And Anakin would be a little older in the first movie (because if nothing else the fact that he and Padme were to fall in love was kind of creepy) and for it to take place over the space of about five years. Not sure who would have played him, Hayley Joel Osmont is about the only young actor who springs to mind, that boy is amazingly talented. (Then again maybe Jake Lloyd isn't as bad as he was in the movie as Christiansen is much better in Shattered Glass than he is in AOTC or ROTS.)

Padme could have had a bit of a sense of humour/sarcasm to go along with her sense of duty, she was incredibly difficult to care about as you couldn't relate to her. Scenes showing Anakin's anger and frustration would have been better plotted. I'd show a better sense of comraderie between Obi Wan, Anakin and Padme, a little of which appears at the end of Clones. Obi Wan didn't need to be such an attempt at imitating Alec Guinness. And there should never been a Jar Jar, (or we should have seen him killed in a horrible manner).

That awful Anakin and Padme running up hills would never have happened, neither would the awful "romantic" parts of ROTS. In ep's 4-6 there can't be more than 5 minutes in total showing Han and Leia falling/being in love yet their relationship is a million times more believable than Anakin and Padme's.

I would have liked to see more of the Jedi in action, of course if the clone wars had been expanded we would have seen that. Then the order66 scene would have been even more poigniant. And ROTS could have had more of the beginnings of the rebel alliance, I believe there were scenes with Mon Mothma that were cut. (But I guess they are planning the live action tv series to detail that.) More of the Jedi becoming wary of Palpatine and more of the division of senators that must have occured as many would have shared the sentiments of the Jedi while others would have followed Palpatine blindly.

I wouldn't have had both Darth Maul and Count Dooku, I'd have just had Maul, and had Anakin kill him toward the start of of ROTS as he does with Dooku. And I wouldn't have had Yoda look like Sonic the fu**ing Hedgehog when they fight. I'd also have had Yoda be the one to inflict the injuries on Palpatine when they fight rather than when Windu does it. I hated nearly everything in that scene, Palpatine seems to be faking rather than hurt but with Yoda he just laughs manically through the whole fight. I'd also have showed much more of Anakin attacking the Council building, see him actually kill a few Jedi, including the children, who I would have called Children! It's a pity the couldn't have gotten Neeson for the Qui Gon scenes as well. And isn't the Palpatine supposed to be predjudiced against non-humans or is that just the books? Perhaps added a little bit of that to his personality.

So Yeah! I wouldn't change much at all!

The fact that Sith was really good at the end makes me feel worse about the first 2 movies. As it just goes to show that Lucas hasn't lost his touch. He just wasn't trying very hard! :mad:

dearg_doom

iguana wrote:

I would have liked to see more of the Jedi in action

ZING!!!

That is my main gripe, I would also have choreographed the fights a lot better, most of them(esp. in the new films) look like they were choreographed.. ie they look fake, half the time it seems as if they're dancing. Also, how were those two Jedi masters (in RotS) killed by the clones so easily, I know they were taken by surprise and all, but surely they would have some feeling or put up a bit of a fight or something. The blue girl one was especially weak!

in fact I'd agree with the bulk of what most of ye said!

Glancing over the Clone wars was one of the biggest mistakes imo, when I was a kid, most of what I was most curious about was what happened then, Obi-Wan's reputation in 4 was(for me) based on Leia saying he served her father in the cold war as a General, which I thought would have been cool.

One thing I used to love about the old trilogy was they were basically WW2 movies, but based in space. I'd love it if the new ones had more of an overbearing feeling of doom about them, as if the people were reluctantly expecting war by the time the CW happened.

Teg Veece

There are a lot of things i'd change about the prequels, definitely concentrating far more on the clone wars. But one of my main gripes is definitely the lack of space battles. That's what star wars is all about! Lucas really snookered himself by not having a pilot as a main character, that way forcing him to seriously cut back on the whole star aspect of star wars.
Anyone else agree?

BloodNinjaCult

I'd hire GOOD actors for a start(some terrible, terrible acting up on that sliver screen). Then, with that done, write a GOOD script. The script was pants *most* of the time(in all six movies, less so in EpV), K, so some the the injokes raised a smile but a two hour movie made up of them? no. thank. you.

More space battles for sure, the opening to EpIII is sublime and really puts the EpII naboo ground battle to shame, miserable start to finish that one.

Actually, scrap EpI altogether start three or four years before the clone wars. Benefits? Faster pace to the story, for one, EpI(esp) & II plod along at places. Now forget the fact that EpI is the weakest movie, forget Jar Jar(please lord, let me forget), *EpI is just filler*;

EpI script meeting at Lucasfilm;
G.Lucas: Anakin is from tatoonie.
Exec: yeah? cool, what else?
G.Lucas:..........(cough).........eh...pod races an' stuff.....yeah, POD RACES!
Exec:..mmm what are they then? Cars or somfin?
G.Lucas: yep, SPACE cars!!!

Genius.

I've alot more issues but i LOVE StarWars, I grew up with it and for all the rubbish bits, it is still the greatest kids movie(s) of all time.
So, ultimately, i wouldn't chance a thing.



No, no sorry thats a lie... NO EWOKS AND NO JAR JAR AND NO DANCING AT THE START OF SE:JEDI AND NO GEEDO SHOOTING FIRST AND NO YOUNG ANAKIN AT THE END OF JEDI DVD AND NO OVERDRESSING NATALIE PORTMAN.....NO!

Pigman II

* Remove any mention of 'midichorlians'. Like JarJar they got a fair share of screentime in Ep1 but were then practically discarded for ep2+3. In fact I don't believe they were even mentioned once in either Ep2+3? So what was the point of bringing it up in the first place then? We got along fine for nearly 20 believing in 'the force' without having to know how it workd. Also it makes a nonsense of HanSolo in Ep4 going on about how he doesn't 'believe in the force'. If it can be scientificially proven by a microscope then what's not to believe?

* Get rid of the Mace Windu character completely. The guy serves absolutely no purpose in the movies other than to get the fanboys excited. He's basically the BobaFett of the prequel series only even more superfluous. Every scene he is in could have been rewritten to not include him and no-one would have been any the wiser.

* The idea that the emperors face was deformed by an electricity attack is a bad idea. It was clear that he was toying with Mace during what I now call the 'Mace Window' scene so why lets himself be permanently disfigured just to prove a point? I'd have written it so that the evil of being a Sith was somehow physically manifesting and deforming Palpatine but that he had the power to retain his normal features for short spells of time in order to carry out his Senator/Chancellor work ... kinda like a changling I suppose.

* Have more 'urgency' wrt the location hopping. In the ep1+2 it seemed like everyone was just going to places for no real emotional or empirical reason eg 'Obi goto Kaimeno cos there might be a bounty hunter there', 'Anakin leave your mother and come to Corcuscant and become a Jedi because you find life here unsatisfactory', 'QuiGon you goto Naboo and guard the queen because she's in the mood to go back there now'. In the originals it always felt like they were being FORCED TO leave whereever it was they were without a choice (it was either move or die). In the prequels they seem to move around purely because thats what the plot demanded.

* I would have kept the podrace in but I would have made it differently. For one thing it would have been a 1v1 race between anakin and sebulba and I would have made the stakes a matter of life or death rather than just the loss of a ship. As tho anyone in the audience cares about the loss of a ship? I'd have also cut the duration of the race in half. Let's face it at least one 1/3 of the race is purely Sebulba cheating and knocking out opponents that we're barely familiar with anyway. So how exactly does that serve to show Anakin as a great pilot ... which I imagine was the essential point of creating a race sequence in the first place?

* I probably would have handled what everyone’s is now calling it the 'frankenstein' scene differently. Just as an aside it was apparent to me anyway that Lucas was trying to emulate the scene from CITIZEN KANE where CFK goes bezerk and tears apart his wifes bedroom, not Frankenstein! He even had the strange OrsonWelles mummy walk down pat. Anyway, I would also have had made the scene a little more balanced and have had Anakin a little more disturbed with the fact that he now has to live out the rest of his life trapped inside a metal suit effectively as slave of the Emperor. During that scene he only seem to care about Padmes fate and not one jot about the horror of his current predicament.

* I would have completely gotten rid of the 'droid factory' sequence. Whilst it's very exciting, humourous and well constructed its far too slap-stick for my liking and doesn't fit the tone that the film was trying to create. I think it undermines the seriousness of the 'the area' and the 'clone war' scenes that follow and Worst of all it actually serves absolutely no point to the film. It doesn't push either the plot or character development along. By comparison whether you liked the podrace or not at least there was a point to it. I guess Lucas must be a fan of Buster Keaton because I can't see any other reason why that section is in there as is.

//

Anyway, theres lots other other things I would have chopped, tweaked, padded etc but they're probably the main ones I think could have been dealt with in order to make the films a bit tighter.

Buck Owens

Replace Mace Windu with Qui Gon, but still have him discoving Anakin. the scene whwere Wndu dies could have been much more dramatic if it were Qui gon who gets his arm chopped off and go flying out off that window.

I hav'nt watched TPM in a while but wasn't Qui Gon sort of suspicious of Palpatine. I think that would of been a cool little storyline to explore.

i pretty much agee with everything else thats all that i can add.

iguana

Pigman II wrote:

* Get rid of the Mace Windu character completely. The guy serves absolutely no purpose in the movies other than to get the fanboys excited. He's basically the BobaFett of the prequel series only even more superfluous. Every scene he is in could have been rewritten to not include him and no-one would have been any the wiser.

Buck Owens wrote:

Replace Mace Windu with Qui Gon, but still have him discoving Anakin. the scene whwere Wndu dies could have been much more dramatic if it were Qui gon who gets his arm chopped off and go flying out off that window.

I hav'nt watched TPM in a while but wasn't Qui Gon sort of suspicious of Palpatine. I think that would of been a cool little storyline to explore.

Both are very good points.

D-FENS

So if Maul and Qui-gon had been in Eps. 2 & 3 , how would Eps. 1 have ended?

Someone has to get wasted !

TheDoc

The acting is only as good as the script. Ewan McGregor and Haedan are both excellent actors. The script made them not bad but average. I thought they both made the best out of poor script. Lucas was never renowend for his script writing, but for his vision of battle scenes and an overall story.

I would have liked to see a nice big sith vs jedi battle. Are you telling me that there are 3 sith. Palpadine,Maul and Dooku? Where are the others. In the game Knights of the old republic which if made a film would be the best, one jedi mission asks you to infiltrate a sith training school. I would have liked to see a major showdown.

D-FENS

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

Are you telling me that there are 3 sith. Palpadine,Maul and Dooku? Where are the others.

The Jedi had all but wiped out the Sith before the time of Eps. 1 , so yes, there was only Sidious, Maul and later, Dooku.

But i would presume that this new rumoured prequel would have larger numbers of them.

film_gonzo

Simple. I'd get a good writer to help Lucas with the scripts (dialogue, I'm looking at you!) and let another director shoot it. i know that sounds sacraligious but George has never been a great director when it comes to people. (Which why I reckon he likes working with sfx so much.) It would still be Lucas' baby. He'd obviously have complete creative control but in a looser capacity.- Somehow though he pulled his socks up when making Episode 3 and managed to get everything right.-

I still would love to see a Star Wars written by Kevin Smith and Lucas. And directed by Spielberg. Being the kinda people those guys are you'd know that they'd be respectful enough of the material not to take it in a vastly different direction but still could add more to it.