First of all let me say that Star Wars is the most influential and important thing in my life. I love Star Wars. Almost all my happiest moments have "Something" to do with Star Wars. It has entertained me since I was 6 and kept me sane when the world threatened to tear my mind apart. I wouldn't have met my wife without my interest in Star Wars and the first words I spoke to both of my daughters were "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away..."

I am sitting in my hobby room right now writing this completely surrounded by Star Wars memorabilia. Well....there's a little perspective...

I told myself I would never write this commentary because I felt it would be doing two things. To those that agree with me I would be "preaching to the choir" and to those that didn't it would "fall on deaf ears". But I heard another "Bashing" of the prequels story and I can no longer be silent...

I was listening to the latest theforce.net Podcast in which Jason and Pete reported a news story about someone claiming Star Wars "jumped the shark" with the introductions of Midiclorians.

He went on at length about how as a child he grew up with the original films. He liked how anyone with enough work and dedication could become a Jedi. He felt that midiclorians made the Force a "Members only" club (I'm paraphrasing, not quoting) and ruined Star Wars.

First things first...I never got the impression from episode IV-VI that anyone could become a Jedi, Never. It was something you were born with, not a higher midiclorian count but still something you either had or didn't. So I feel his entire argument was baseless. "The force is strong in this one." Vader said that of his completely untrained son, not someone who had a lot of training. "I was amazed at how strongly the force was with him..." Ben said this of Vader. He didn't say how quickly he took to his training but instead of Vader's natural connection to the Force. Luke has skills before ever being trained. He could "Thread the needle" in beggars canyon without ever being trained. (My wife actually suggested the "Thread the Needle" Reference. That's right boys and girls. My wife pulled up and EU reference to expand on an argument about the Force and shes all mine!)

However, this is just one story in a MUCH larger problem. That problem would be people's refusal to enjoy the prequels. It's become the popular opinion that the prequels are not good films and dissenting opinions are simply ignored or passed over out of hand. I have been dealing with this since The Phantom Menace hit theaters and I for one am tired of it.

For 16 years I waited for the glorious return of Star Wars and ever since The Phantom Menace was released I have had to endure people bashing Star Wars. Everyone, everywhere has been raining on the parade I was waiting 16 years for to return.

Before the Phantom Menace hit theaters it was marketed in every conceivable way. Was it over the top? Sure. Did I care? No. Star Wars was EVERYWHERE!! You couldn't go anywhere or do anything without running into Star Wars and I loved it! The only thing that I felt was out of place was the fact that they hadn't marketed any Star Wars infant room decorations because at that time my first daughter was still just a baby. How am I supposed to raise my Padawan correctly?

After the movie was released I couldn't read/watch/listen to a single story that had anything to do with Star Wars without a snide comment about the prequels. The return of my favorite thing ever was in a large part ruined, not by anything that Lucas had done but by the media and the preconceived expectations of older Star Wars fans who didn't "get" the prequels. Or even worse by fans who accused the prequels of having shortcomings that they failed to notice the original trilogy also had. (More on that later)

Unfortunately, this problem did not start there. Lets back up to the release of the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition. There are for the most part two camps of thought on the Star Wars films where the Special Editions are concerned. Those that love them and "purists" who hate them.

There were people that didn't even buy The Original Trilogy when released on DVD because they were the Special Editions and not the Original Theatrical Releases. I do not for one moment understand this. I love the Special Editions. Here are the original films with more added to them, more special FX and additions that George had always wanted to do. I think they are great. Are they perfect? No, but then, neither are the original releases.

If people were really purists they would only want a mono audio mix of the Original Release. Because the stereo mixes were still being worked on as Star Wars was initially released. They would want all the matte boxes around the tie fighters and film grain still in place. No one complains about digital clarity and 5.1 stereo mixes do they? But I digress. (updated 12-18-08 Sorry SW was orginally released in stereo and George was working on the mono mix the day it came out. My bad I got it wrong and I'll admit it)

Back to the Special Editions, as I said they were not perfect. But their benefits far outweigh anything detrimental. I will now explore some of the benefits:

* Landspeeder bottom cleaned up - This special effect was not perfect and is no longer as jarring as it used to be. It adds to the film.
* Stromtroppers and shuttle added to the "Look Sir, Droids!" scene - We finally see a Stormtropper actually ride a dew back. It adds to the film.
* Mos Eisley. - Another great addition. And the addition of Dash Rendar's ship helps tie in the EU.
* Greedo shooting first - OK no one likes this, not even me, it is however not the sacrilegious event people have made it into. Who cares, get over it, move on.
* The new footage in the attack on the Death Star - Absolutely beautiful. This attack WAS becoming dated and the updated footage solves this issue.
* The addition of Jabba - Jabba didn't look quite right and the walking over the tail thing was not that smooth. However, it was re-worked for the DVD release and now Jabba looks better than he does in Return of the Jedi. Plus this scene adds Boba Fett to Star Wars, always a good thing.

I could cover the changes to Empire and Jedi as well but that would only be a variation on a theme. At the end of the day the Special Edition adds far, far more to the original editions then they could ever take away. The people that refuse to watch or buy the Special Editions frustrate me. Especially when they use the excuse of "They aren't the movies I saw a kid." And they turn right around and buy extended editions of other films. I am not a fan of hypocrites.

(Side note: this brings me to the multiple releases of the Star Wars films. I see people complain about how often the Star Wars movies are released, first on VHS and now on DVD. This is another thing I don't get. Lots and lots of movies have multiple releases and no one complains about those. They only seem to complain about Star Wars being re-released. They accuse Lucas of being money grubbing scum and continually re-releasing the movies in a bid to separate Star Wars fans from more of their money. All studios do this with a multitude of movies. Your recourse? Don't buy them. Its that simple. I will continue to buy the multiple copies of Star Wars and enjoy them. You needn't, stop complaining when the solution is so simple.)

Back to The Phantom Menace. It's a mystery to me how a movie that made over $400 million nobody seems to like. First I will address the most common complaints about The Phantom Menace. I'll take the biggest two first, Jar-Jar and Midiclorians.

Everyone hates Jar-Jar. Everyone. No one can deny that. But I am going to. Children love Jar-Jar. My twelve year old nephew likes Jar-Jar. You are all adults and see Jar-Jar through adult eyes. Your hatred of Jar-Jar is understood by me. I hate Jar-Jar. Hate him! But if Return of the Jedi were released today what would your honest opinion of Ewoks be? Teddy bears that destroy the empire and out fight Stormtroopers? You would loathe them far more then poor Jar-Jar. The Gun-Guns don't bother me, I only dislike Jar-Jar, and also the Ewoks don't bother me. They are fine. I was twelve when I saw Return of the Jedi and that twelve year old was (mostly) in the theater when he saw the Phantom Menace.

Jar-Jar does not destroy Star Wars. No one single thing ever could.

Midiclorians. No one likes midiclorians. I don't like them, you don't like them. One does not need to explain the mechanics of the Force. It's a spiritual thing. However I felt there had to be a reason why they were mentioned and briefly explained in The Phantom Menace and all but ignored in Attack of the Clones. For me this reason became clear during Episode 3. Palpatine explains to Anakin that Darth Plagueis could influence the Midiclorians to create life and stop people from dying. This of course was an important manipulation of Anakin and a major story element. I'm convinced Lucas planned this from the beginning hence the reason for midiclorians.

I think it could have been done differently and midiclorians are weak. Does this one thing ruin Star Wars? No. Was there a reason for it? I believe so. There was a bigger picture to be considered and this is something that NO ONE does concerning the prequels. They take the prequels on the surface and nothing more. I submit to you that if the original trilogy is looked at not through the glasses of children from 30 years ago but by today's adults it suffers from the same issues.

People complain about the acting in the prequels....HELLO!?!? Have you seen the original movies? Mark Hamill?? HE CAN NOT ACT!! Carrie Fisher is not that good either. Are Christensen and Portman stiff in the prequels, (although Portman not as much as others) Yes. Are Hamill and Fisher any better? No.

But here is the biggest difference between The Phantom Menace and the Original trilogy, the story. Was the story as good as the previous films? Here Lucas did the unforgivable. Not only did he write a good story he made this one more in depth and multi-layered than any of the others. At the end of The Phantom Menace most people (not SW fans) don't realize that the bad guys actually won. Palpatine created the whole blockade on Naboo to manipulate himself into getting elected as Supreme Chancellor. He was elected. The bad guys had won. This story is much more complicated than any of the original movies. I have had to actually explain the plot to non-Star Wars fans. Your average movie goer doesn't want complicated. They don't like to think. An example would be once my wife overheard a couple renting a movie who rejected their initial DVD choice because it had "too much acting." We wouldn't want that now would we?

So to sum up. Jar-Jar is no worse than Ewoks, Midiclorians were part of the overall plan, the story is great and the acting is on par with the original series.

Yet, I still can't read any story or commentary about Star Wars without someone bashing the Prequels and the Phantom Menace in particular. This is done by fans and non-fans a like. I submit these people don't understand Star Wars or Lucas, don't want to and only wanted the Original Trilogy rehashed. They didn't want anything new or better. They wanted to see Leia, Han and Luke again, they didn't want new characters and more complicated stories.

People complained about the length of the pod race. Since when does the length of an action sequence EVER get complained about? People were only looking for things to hate in this movie. I don't understand why. People who complain about the length of a race in a Lucas film just do not understand him. That is all I will say about that. (Not to mention that the pod race is absolutely spectacular)

And no one can deny that the best lightsaber fight ever is in the Phantom Menace!

On to Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

George Lucas said that he didn't think most people would like the movie as it was the love story for the prequels. I could not have been happier to hear this. Take the original trilogy, which movie in that series is the love story? Empire. Which film in the OT is commonly held as the best? Empire.

So Episode 2 is going to be the love story? Fantastic. But people hate Episode 2 as well. They complain about the chemistry between Hayden and Portman. I won't comment on acting as I have already done that.

I was shocked to find out that a good friend of mine did not like Episode 2 because she could not understand why Padme would fall in love with Anakin. Nor could she accept that if Padme wasn't trying to fall in love with Anakin or lead him on why would she wear that sexy black dress? Simple.

First I will address why she would fall for Anakin. Are you telling me you expect a logical answer as to why someone would fall in love? People asked why a woman of Senator Padme's strength and intelligence would fall for Anakin? Even my wife brought up this point. First let me say that there are many traits I share with Anakin and why I identify with him so closely. Traits that may not be, shall we say, for the better, but honesty forces me to accept these things about myself. I said, "You don't understand why a strong, intelligent woman could fall for an angry man with a persecution complex?" She replied, "You're right! I can't argue that one." We as humans have no control how our heart will guide us.

(Although not a valid argument for the theatrical releases, I must point out the deleted scenes for Episode 2. Padme's scenes with her family and the extended arrival on Naboo give MUCH more weight to Padme's feelings for Anakin and can give fans insight to her position.)

Now why would Padme wear that sexy black number while trying to convince Anakin that they should not pursue a relationship? The answer seems obvious to me. Padme was already in love with Anakin and while her mind was trying to convince herself and Anakin she was not in love with him, her heart said "Put the black dress on."

People complained about the Sifo-Dias plot line. It was not fully explained in the movie and I will agree with that. This lack of story development is not limited to the PT. The beginning of Empire says that Lord Vader has become obsessed with finding Skywalker...What? Why? How?

Did the rebel alliance take out an ad that said Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star? No. Luke never even meets Vader in A New Hope. How does Vader know of Luke? "The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi." Says the Emperor. Ummm...who told the Emperor? I have never heard one fan complain about this in the 30+ years I have been a fan, never, not once. Yet I feel this plot hole to be huge compared to the Sifo-Dias plot line, or what Padme might be wearing...don't you?
Like I said the OT suffers from the same so-called shortcomings that the PT suffers from.

Now on to Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Before I get into this movie I feel I must add some perspective on my experience with it. With both Episode I and II I was extremely spoiled before going into the theater. There was almost nothing that was a surprise as I knew everything going in. The major exception to this was the scene in Episode 2 when Mace cuts off Jango's head. Somehow I had not been spoiled on this. As a result of not having this scene spoiled, it was one of the coolest scenes in the movie for me. I actually exclaimed out loud "Oh my god!" I decided right then and there that I would be 100% spoiler free when I saw Episode 3. It was to be the last Star Wars movie ever. I wanted 2 hours of that feeling I got with the "Jango decapitation" moment to mark the occasion.

This was one of the most difficult things I ever had to do. I go to 4 or 5 Star Wars websites everyday, I read the magazines, I read the books, I live, eat, breath and sleep star wars. I stopped doing that for 3 years. I avoided magazine stands, I stopped going to web sites, and I cut Star Wars out of my life almost completely for 3 years so it could be as much of a surprise as possible.

I was 95% successful. The only things I was spoiled on were...

* Chewbacca being in the film (This thanks to a headline from theforce.net. I wrote them an email explaining that I felt this was a spoiler and to be more careful with their headlines please. They didn't feel it was a spoiler and at that point I stopped going to theforce.net until after the movie was released.)
* A picture of Tarkin
* A picture of a clonetrooper's helmet (This really upset me. It was in my local forums for theforce.net. Someone had chosen it as their Icon. So I almost stopped going to the forums but instead I put up a strip of paper on the far left hand side of my screen when I visited our forums to block the icons.)
* I saw a small pic of Anakin's Jedi Starfighter, which I quickly turned away from.
* And I saw both posters (as this was really close to release I decided to go ahead and look at them. They didn't really spoil anything and I was dying for a small taste of Star Wars.)

I even had to run out of the theater a couple of times to avoid seeing trailers. But the day finally came when I saw Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith. I got to see it with my wife a day before its release.

I was terrified that the movie would not live up to my expectations. That (at least for me) Episode 3 would be the first Star Wars film to not be any good and on top of that be the last one. Luckily my fears were unrealized.

I loved Episode 3. I loved it A LOT!!! In fact (and here is where I loose anyone that is still reading this) Revenge of the Sith not only lived up to all my expectations but exceeded them on a scale I never thought possible. For up until this time my favorite movie had been The Empire Strikes Back. For twenty-five years the undisputed best film of all time in my opinion had been Empire, and Sith changed that. My favorite film is now Episode 3. I loved every moment of this film. There were things I'd like to change about Episodes 1 and 2, although not on the scale that most fans would, but I had no complaints about Episode 3. I'm sitting here writing this trying to think of something I truly dislike about Episode 3 and I can think of nothing.

George Lucas hit a grand slam with this picture and I am mystified by people that disagree. However, I will now address the complaints some people had about it.

Padme's death
Some people, including my wife, do not like her death as being the result of her loosing the will to live. My wife's specific complaint was that Padme was now a mother, no matter how heart broken she was at the loss of Anakin her priority would be her children. I can see her point. As a father myself if I lost my wife, Amy I would still raise our daughters. I can also see Padme's reaction. Although I would raise our daughters without my wife I would not do so with any enthusiasm. My relationship with my wife is one of the most precious, beautiful and important things to me. She knows and accepts things about me that no one else knows and few would accept. Her loss would create a rift in my...soul (for lack of a better term) that would be inconsolable and would render life largely meaningless, children or no. Although I doubt I would simply cease to live at the loss of my wife, as Padme does from the loss of Anakin, I understand it. It is also right in line with mythic, grandiose story telling which no one can deny Star Wars is.

Anakin/Vader
Some people complain that Anakin Skywalker is portrayed as a whiny, self-involved person and that he becomes Vader. Some claim that this ruined Vader for them and the whole movie was disappointing to them as a result of it. I heard this complaint from my good friend who also had the Padme/Anakin relationship complaint about Episode 2. I got into a heated discussion with my friend over this Episode 2 complaint and we both nearly got angry before deciding not to discuss it any further. Before that decision I had told her that I didn't expect her to see Episode 3 then since she didn't like Episode 2. Why see a sequel to a movie you didn't like? She said she wouldn't but I knew that wasn't true. But we dropped it and I didn't ask her until mid 2007 if she had seen Episode 3 and what she thought of it. She said that to see Anakin being portrayed as this whiny, self involved person and for him to become Vader "Broke her heart" as she always loved Vader. I said something to the affect that I didn't understand that reaction to the film and that episode 3 had replaced Empire as my favorite film and how could she say that? I dropped the subject quickly as I did not want to get into another heated debate over Star Wars with one of my dearest friends.

However she is not the only one to make this observation about Anakin/Vader. Once again this comes from people not understanding the prequels or simply applying their own preconceived notions of what the prequels should have been and not enjoying the story that Lucas wanted to tell. Vader has been commonly held as the greatest film villain of all time and for many the prequels have tainted this. Again I am mystified and perplexed by people's reactions. I suppose that Vader came to signify the epitome of all evil to people and making him have an all too human past and all too human frailties disappointed people.

I for one prefer that Vader now has more depth. He is not simply a caricature of evil anymore. He now transforms from a small boy, who despite being a slave still yells yippee (another complaint people have), to a young man who is manipulated into slaughtering children and justifies it to himself as an attempt to hold on to love. If that isn't evil I'm not sure what is. If I was presented with the opportunity to obtain Anakin's level of power in order to save my wife and children I do not know that I would be able to say no, even knowing the cost. How many of you would not give pause in similar circumstances?

I believe this only makes Vader FAR more interesting. He only wants someone to love him and share his life with, be it his mother, or Padme, or later his children.
The prequels are meant to be seen as a whole. They are all PART of a story, not individual movies. Just like in the original trilogy, Empire and Jedi are PART of the larger whole. The only exception to this is A New Hope and that is ONLY because Lucas had no idea if he would be able to finish A New Hope let alone make Empire or Jedi.

The prequels are better movies than the original trilogy with far more complicated plots, the same level of acting and much better special effects than the original trilogy had. I believe this is what truly upsets or angers fans and critics alike. How dare Lucas add to the Star Wars trilogy with the Special Editions! How dare Lucas make a prequel trilogy that is better than the original! How dare Lucas make movies that are more complicated than my childhood films! Who does Lucas think he is?
Why Lucas is the man that invented Star Wars. If you don't like what he has done with it I suggest you come up with a science fiction story that resonates with so many people yourself. You think you can do better? Go right ahead and try. Then let other fans like you judge your efforts and nit pick every decision, consideration, compromise and edit you had to make too!

I for one am a huge fan of Lucas. Overall, I love what he has done with Star Wars. I thank you for taking the time to read this and if you don't agree with what I have said, I at least hope you understand better why I felt I had to write it. I love Star Wars and the reason I get so upset at dissenting opinions stems from my desire to have others share in the joy of Star Wars as I do. If by writing this one person has re-thought his negative opinions of the prequels I will consider the time well spent. If not, then well...at least I got to spend more time entertaining myself thinking, living and breathing a little more Star Wars!!



P.S. Star Wars has NEVER "jumped the shark" and I seriously doubt it ever will. Come on, it survived the Holiday Special.