Star Wars Poll : The Prequels vs The Sequels

[Mike S]

Prequels easily if it includes Clone Wars but still pretty easy even without it. Yes they’re not particularly good except Revenge of the Sith but at least I can still have fun watching them. Only TFA did that for me out of the sequels. Going back to Clone Wars holy CRAP those last 4 episodes. Masterpiece. Better than anything Disney put in theaters.

 

[Joesixtoe]

Prequels world building, characters and overall story are great, and I believe are much better than the sequels(characters aside as both are good I think). However the dialogue, editing, futuristic look and lack of any real humor just make it tough to watch. The sequels I believe are the total opposite. Good characters, dialogue, acting, editing, and the look feels more like 30 yrs have past from the original trilogy(The prequels feel more futuristic than all of them). However the story is a mess, degrading of our beloved heroes of the past and the political correctness feels very forced upon.. pun intended. It's so simple, just honor what the fans grew up with and we will follow you into the new.

 

[Phroobar]

Did we really need a lesbian kiss at the end of TROS? Nothing in the plot of the movies lead up to it or gave any reason for it. It was kind of like the last scene of the recent Voltron animated show.

 

[Mike S]

Did we really need a lesbian kiss at the end of TROS? Nothing in the plot of the movies lead up to it or gave any reason for it. It was kind of like the last scene of the recent Voltron animated show.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

The Phantom Menace does not hold up well. That movie feels like George Lucas playing in his digital sandbox, with story and character largely neglected. The worst thing about TPM is not Jar Jar, but rather the decision to focus the movie on a character we've never heard of and never see again. Qui-Gon feels very unnecessary, and the movie would have been better served by developing the Obi-Wan & Anakin relationship.

I will give credit to the prequels for getting better as they went along. Attack of the Clones had more of a story, and the idea of the Republic starting to morph into the Empire, rather than be conquered, was far more interesting than TPM.

The prequel trilogy arguably has the best third act of the three trilogies. They saved a lot of story and character development for the third film.

The original trilogy just ran out of story. Return of the Jedi doesn't offer up much in the way of plot developments, with the the bulk of the movie just action pieces. It has a great third act, but they could have done so much more.

Rise of Skywalker suffers from giving Rey a backstory at the last minute, and it consequently feels too rushed. She's a Palpatine, but there's no conflict. She never waivers from being good. I wish they'd introduced that in The Last Jedi - we could have seen her be more tempted into joining Kylo after Snoke dies, and would have given that storyline time to develop and at least allowed for a bit of mystery as to whether or not Rey would go the dark side.

I like the sequels better overall because of the performances (so much bad acting in the prequels) and the feeling of nostalgia. The Force Awakens was a safe movie, but it was like being wrapped up in a comfortable warm blanket. The Last Jedi was good, but they could have condensed some of it (the slow speed chase) and introduced some of those story elements from The Last Skywalker. The lack of an overall plan for the trilogy and inconsistency between the films is their greatest flaw. The Last Skywalker had a lot of questionable plot points, but was a satisfying finale overall for me.

 

[LSLS]

Through the first 2. They, well, are pretty freaking bad. Maybe I'm just not a Star Wars fan? TFA easily beats those 2. I'd probably put TLJ better than Phantom Menace. Episode 9 I'll really need to watch again to judge. Honestly Prequels are going to have a tough time for me. So far they are pretty much just as boring as 8 was, but with more annoying characters.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Force Awakens is probably a better movie than any of the prequels but the sequels as a whole lack any kind of charm, humanity or logical thinking so prequels win.

 

[Robbiem]

Definitely the prequels. Rewatching them as a whole I think you can really see how they work as a whole. The long term set up of Anakin leaving his mother, then having visions of her death implanted by the emperor, then her death and the same thing with Padme leading to his turn to the dark side is more visible when you watch them close together rather than three years apart. The slow fall of the republic and its morphing into the empire is interesting and there are little things which go through the three like the charm anakin makes Padme. Yes they aren’t perfect but then neither are the originals

To me the prequels work really well as a trilogy, much better than the originals, which are great stand alone movies. I love the way they do new things but still blend in things for the old fans like appearances from Jabba and Boba etc.

 

[RandySavage]

Tough choice. Both trilogies are really bad and represent massive squandered opportunities. The Prequels win in the awful-acting category - with performances you'd expect out of a dreadful community theater troupe. The lines and acting by people like Portman (in all three) and the kid in Phantom Menace are so comically-bad it does add the positive of being amusing, if you watch it in that way. Why can't Star Wars trilogies (prequel & sequel) coax real performances out of actors? You never see the same odd, amateur, wooden acting in movies in the MCU. Maybe because the scripted lines are often so bad.

While The Sequel Trilogy also features alot cringeworthy dialogue & performances (the red-haired bad admiral, Carrie Fisher and her daughter, Rose Tico, etc.), many loose ends with no point, and added some obnoxious wokeness, its biggest failure is that there was no over-arching plan or through-plot that made an iota of sense or was rewarding to the audience in any kind of way. E.g., bringing back the Emperor could have been amazing if it had been in mind from the beggining, kept secret and skillfully executed over three films. But the potentially-greatest reveal in Star Wars history was hamfistedly done in one sentence at the begining of the Crawl: "EMPEROR PALPATINE IS BACK!" And that's it. Many other major & minor plot points were handled the same lazy, inept, non-sensical way by JJ Abrams and the Lucasfilm writing team, such as Lando flying around (off-screen) gathering the most massive Resistance (which had been reduced to 11 people by the end of TFA)/Rebel starfleet in history in only 16 hours to fight a Sith Fleet of 10,000 Star Destroyers (which we must assume had been fully-crewed, frozen under an ocean) each of which have the planet-destroying power of the Death Star... And the movie ends with the Solo and Skywalker bloodlines totally extinct and Palpatine bloodline carrying on. What an ingenious, satisfying conclusion, JJ!

As much as I deride the Prequels - and they are inferior visually & performance and script/dialogue-wise - they are still more watchable than the Sequel Trilogy, which is now the biggest dropped ball/misfire in movie history.

 

[The Grand Inquisitor]

Prequels easily if it includes Clone Wars but still pretty easy even without it. Yes they’re not particularly good except Revenge of the Sith but at least I can still have fun watching them. Only TFA did that for me out of the sequels. Going back to Clone Wars holy CRAP those last 4 episodes. Masterpiece. Better than anything Disney put in theaters.

I agree the Clone Wars helped the Prequels a lot. The Clone Wars is the best star wars project since the Original Trilogy IMO. Plus Rebels and Rogue One are fantastic as well. I really hope moving forward Dave Filoni gets a lot more of a say at Lucasfilm.

 

[Mike S]

I agree the Clone Wars helped the Prequels a lot. The Clone Wars is the best star wars project since the Original Trilogy IMO. Plus Rebels and Rogue One are fantastic as well. I really hope moving forward Dave Filoni gets a lot more of a say at Lucasfilm.

Just imagine if Finn was given even a single ounce of the characterization that the Clones got in that series, specifically Fives and Rex.

 

[Prince-1]

Did we really need a lesbian kiss at the end of TROS? Nothing in the plot of the movies lead up to it or gave any reason for it. It was kind of like the last scene of the recent Voltron animated show.

Yes we did.

 

[The Grand Inquisitor]

Just imagine if Finn was given even a single ounce of the characterization that the Clones got in that series, specifically Fives and Rex.

Yeah Finn had such potential. I remember seeing the trailer and being so excited. The premise of a Storm-trooper defecting and becoming a Jedi sounded so cool. Fives and Rex are 2 of my favorite Star Wars characters. They are just awesome.

 

[Joesixtoe]

Did we really need a lesbian kiss at the end of TROS? Nothing in the plot of the movies lead up to it or gave any reason for it. It was kind of like the last scene of the recent Voltron animated show.

Forced Political Correctness

 

[InnKpr]

Did we really need a lesbian kiss at the end of TROS? Nothing in the plot of the movies lead up to it or gave any reason for it.

Those weren't lesbians, that was Ben Solo and Rey, though I can understand how there might be confusion.

But I concur it seemed outta place. It seemed like a slap in the face to characters such as Finn & Poe that she chose the genocidal, parent-killing, maniac who attempted to murder not only her, but those she cared about the most on multiple occasion. It completely threw the chemistry she and Finn developed in TFA out the window, and downgraded her morale as a protagonist considering she fell for the one character who stood against everything she stood for, minus one good deed at the very end. Made no sense to throw that in there. They could've parted ways as having a mutual understanding and forgiveness of his past (though how is killing your father and wiping out villages something to easily overlook?), but the romantic smooch seemed a bit much. (Imo).

 

[Phroobar]

Those weren't lesbians, that was Ben Solo and Rey, though I can understand how there might be confusion.
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But I concur it seemed outta place. It seemed like a slap in the face to characters such as Finn & Poe that she chose the genocidal, parent-killing, maniac who attempted to murder not only her, but those she cared about the most on multiple occasion. It completely threw the chemistry she and Finn developed in TFA out the window, and downgraded her morale as a protagonist considering she fell for the one character who stood against everything she stood for, minus one good deed at the very end. Made no sense to throw that in there. They could've parted ways as having a mutual understanding and forgiveness of his past (though how is killing your father and wiping out villages something to easily overlook?), but the romantic smooch seemed a bit much. (Imo).

I totally agree that that kiss throws out any build up with Finn from TFA. I always felt he was in the friend zone anyway. She didn't really know Poe very well. Besides, she saw Kylo with his shirt off which added some sexual tension and sealed the deal there.

However, I was referring to this one between Commander D'Acy and this unnamed pilot. There is no plot development for D'Acy's character to justify this. It just seems to be a political throw away on Disney's part. It would have been more interesting to see Doctor Aphra from the comic books show up. She would have been closer to D'Acy's age at that point anyway.

 

[InnKpr]

I was referring to this one between Commander D'Acy and this unnamed pilot. It just seems political fan service on Disney's part.

Now I feel like an unworthy Star Wars fan, because I have no memory of Commander D'Acy, and I've seen TROS twice.

#Ashamed

 

[Phroobar]

Now I feel like an unworthy Star Wars fan, because I have no memory of Commander D'Acy, and I've seen TROS twice.

#Ashamed

She was the commander in the Last Jedi that announced Admiral Ackbar's death and then put Vice Admiral Holdo in charge. Basically the Jar Jar of the Last Jedi.

 

[InnKpr]

She was the commander in the Last Jedi that announced Admiral Ackbar's death and then put Vice Admiral Holdo in charge. Basically the Jar Jar of the Last Jedi.

Now I remember her.

I can call myself a Star Wars fan again.

 

[The Grand Inquisitor]

On a side-note, I know people like to rip on Attack Of The Clones, and for good reason. That movie has no shortage of faults. The eye-wateringly awful dialogue & chemistry between Anakin and Padme, CGI in some battle scenes that aged TERRIBLY, the most forgettable and unmarketable villain in the SW library of films (Dooku), the list goes on.

But, that movie did one thing better than most others: The perfect ending that left audiences craving the next chapter. From Palpatine overseeing the clone army as the Imperial March score plays, to the secret Anakin/Padme wedding as their score plays. Those few short moments at the very end were executed brilliantly (imo), and gave one saving grace to the otherwise dumpster fire of a film.

I agree the ending is perfect. I disagree on Count Dooku he is a really good villain. In the movies he did not get much to do but in the clone wars he is a great villain. Clone Wars really helps strengthen the prequels, it truly fleshes out a lot of characters.