This isn’t correct; Ethan Phillips (Neelix) voiced a number of characters in the Knights of the Old Republic games.

Sometimes the method worked — the factory chase scene in Clones was added during the editing process. Pretty wild to watch the shooting of the scene with nothing but blue-shaped obstacles around the actors. Likewise with the Obi-Wan/Anakin fight.

Like I said, to each their own. If anything came across as more than that, my apologies. Nothing was said with rancor or malice, now intended to be taken as anything but good-natured.

It was not my assumption that a 115-million-dollar movie just fell together by accident, but it’s always nice to have confirmation.

The only thing I can say in response is, that’s by design. It kind of explains why the Republic fell apart, don’t it? :o)

The Jedi had lost their way – and were just as bureaucratic as the corrupt senate they served. They had too much power, and when they started to lose that power (Windu: “Perhaps it’s time to inform the senate that our ability to use the Force is diminsihed) they just keep doing what it was that screwed them up to begin with.

Anakin comes along, gets no discipline, is trained against the advice of Yoda, and proves to be the final straw as it were. For me, it works. But then, Jedi was always my fave of the originals,which makes me an oddball. :o)

To each their own. Merry Ramahannukwanzmas!

That said, I have no nostalgia. I thought Return of the Jedi was a poor film when I first saw it and that opinion hasn’t changed (even though, by comparison, I’d rather suffer through RotJ again than suffer through any of the prequels … but it would all be suffering). And frankly, Star Wars itself suffers from some soggy pacing in the midsection.

And yet I still consider myself a fairly huge Star Wars fan, mainly due to characters like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian and the assorted background characters. I’m not so enamored of the self-absorbed Chosen Ones with the high midichlorian counts. Luke was a whiny bitch when I was a kid and his dad’s a whiny bitch now. I think the major flaw in the prequels was the absolute lack of humanizing characters … it’s all icy jedi, starchy big-shots, and one goofy gungan.

I hold out hopes that the live-action show will show us some more of these regular joes, including others who live in the seams and (I hope) the guys who get the Rebellion underway.

My main worry is the apparent plan that Lucas will write the entire first season. If that’s true, I may not tune in ’til the 2nd :)

Incorrrect. Sidious is either lying, or Plagueis is the one who did it. It’s supposed to be ironic that the Sith create the instrument of their own destruction (Vader goes on to eradicate them forever in the films),

“I am just not satisfied with the fact that all the other Jedi (including Yoda) aren’t more wary of his instability ”

Yoda and Mace Windu constantly beat up on Anakin. Windu is the first to voice in Sith that the prophecy may be incorrect about Anakin. He even directly says, “I don’t trust him.”

I think that the biggest problem is that people want things explained syllable-by-syllable in the films. There is a lot about the first films that is never said, that you and I know only because of the merchandising and coloring books we had. Example: find one bit of dialogue that identifies a Y-Wing. Extra bonus: name the only time in all three original films where the term “X-Wing” is even uttered. Again, it’s the rosy filter of nostalgia.

Anakin fears losing his mother. He does, and that leads to anger. He is a powerful man who slowly realizes he does not control the world, and that leads to hate and resentment. Each film of the PT is each stage of the fear-anger-hate progress.

In closing, do you judge Gone with the Wind after her first marriage, or wait for the end? The PT is constructed specifically to act as one film. It does, and when watched as that one continuous story – as opposed to the three separate that the first three were – it works quite well.

Again, preacher in the wilderness. :o)

If you two will allow me to break in, I agree that Anakin isn’t flawed enough. It’s not so much that he isn’t bad enough when he *is* bad, but that he’s too good when he’s good.

“An extremely accomplished prodigy, unbelievable. I see the logic…not. ”

Keep in mind that in Revenge of the Sith, it’s heavily insinuated that Sidious took the knowledge he gained from Plagueis to create life directly from the force, in order to create Anakin. It’s not so much virgin birth as Frankensteinian. So, I don’t have a problem with Anakin being incredibly gifted, I am just not satisfied with the fact that all the other Jedi (including Yoda) aren’t more wary of his instability — which begs the question, why don’t we see this instability more, where’s the “fear” Yoda refers to in Phantom Menace? One bout of rage against the Sand People in AotC isn’t good enough for me to explain his massive Dark Side attraction.

I think Lucas is trying to have his hero cake and eat it with villain frosting too.

That said, I still enjoy the Clones TV series, what I’ve seen of it.

—

#65 Neal — “Clone wars desperately needs new characters. the universe feels very very very VERY small. a galaxy in which about 2 dozen principal players all know each other? my high school had more intrigue …”

So true. I, however, would also be happy seeing more “outsiders” specifically — bounty hunters, smugglers, Jedi outcasts, Sith outcasts, etc. Another CIS big-wig is a bit “yawn”.

And I’m looking forward to more Grievous.

“And the typical scenes with things blowing up, and people dying. This is for kids? I have a six-year-old, and I won’t let him watch this because it depicts a war as a cartoon. The troopers get shot, and they die. That’s not a kid’s show.”

I agree. It’s very much geared toward the PG-13 and older crowd by our standards. This is definitely not for the Elmo or post-Elmo crowd. However, I will point out that for kids in the past (distant non-American past) things like Beowulf were bedtime stories.

You could also easily argue that the presentation of war in the original films “cartoons up” death. It also abstracts it by putting masks on the Imperials. They also show burned corpses and severed arms. I suspect that you, like many others, overlook this through the rosy filter of nostalgia.

“Plus, I have a problem with Anakin’s arc anyway. From a character standpoint, he’s not flawed enough. And the fact that he’s a general at such an early age is hard for me to accept. Kenobi, sure. But not Anakin. He’s still a kid. He’s maybe 20-something in CLONES?”

He is just about 20 in Clones. He also is told he’s basically the messiah from an early age. That could screw with your head and, as they continually show, he’s exceptionally skilled and powerful.

“General,” by the way, is a rank extended to all Jedi regardless of age as I understand it, because once you reach the rank of Knight you are permitted a command position in the army. It’s an honorific because simply by being a Knight you are permitted to boss clone soldiers around. Yes, the point is that the Jedi, who are the police force of the galaxy, are ill-equipped to run a war.

As for his “not flawed enough” – I would think that having enough of a temper to slaugher men, women and children without a moment’s hesitation is a bit of a glaring flaw. But I suppose that the point is that Anakin is simply human and a human with a great deal of power fails on a greater scale.

“Willing suspension of disbelief only goes so far.”
Lightsabers, cool. Hyperspace, cool. An extremely accomplished prodigy, unbelievable. I see the logic…not. Mozart was one of the world’s greatest composers at a very early age. For Anakin, the Force is like that – natural and free-flowing. He is, after all, “The chosen one.”

“And Han Solo fired first.”
Sorry, have to say it: whiner. I prefer it that way, too, but it doesn’t wreck the whole movie. The way they tweaked it again for the DVD made it a little bit better, but I still agree the scene flowed better the way it was shown originally.

I don’t expect to win any converts on trekmovie.com (I’m the proverbial preacher in the wild here), but let me also say that it’s far more than just the TNG movies that had problems. Every fan base acts as apologists for what the non-fans regard as crap (don’t act like TNG movies were the first missteps). There’s a reason ST has always had a more limited audience than other franchises, and it’s not that everyone’s dumber than the fans.

Yet, I still appreciate them for what they are and watch and I am a fan (especially of the old crew and DS9).