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Another Star Wars Prequel?

boarder8925 writes "George Lucas said he was finished with the Star Wars movies, but it seems George Lucas has an idea for another add-on to the Star Wars movie series: a prequel to The Phantom Menace. The story would follow the Jedi regaining control of the universe from the many Dark Lords some 88 years before Anakin Skywalker ever graced the universe. Yoda, who, according to Lucas, was instrumental in the effort, would apparently have a headlining role. However, Lucas, now age 60, says he won't be captaining such a ship if it ever happens."

14 of 661 comments (clear)

  1. Well, /. has one thing right... by achurch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Nothing for you to see here. Please move along."

    1. Re:Well, /. has one thing right... by Anti+Frozt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Having played and finished SW: KotOR, they mention in the game that the Sith as a race died out long ago, but that Korriban (the Sith home planet) was populated by outcast Jedi who took on the Sith name as a faction.

      More information here

      --
      In C++, friends can touch each others private parts.
  2. Could be interesting. by TiggsPanther · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Could also stand a good chance of being done right. Personally I enjoyed Episodes I & II (not seen RoTS yet), but I can see the main problem with them - which wouldn't be so pronounced in a much earlier prequel.

    Episodes I through III were dealing in the too recent past directly dealing with known characters who many older fans have had 20 years to come up with their own theories about.

    Now a pre-Phantom-Menace film wouldn't have quite so much "known" events to deal with. It would be somewhat harder to really jar with people's own perceptions of what could have happened. Plus if Lucas did step back and leave such a prequel to someone else it might well end up better than the current prequels. Not many people can create good stories in on their own - and even those who do don't (usually) do films on their own.
    Editors, screenwriters, directors. As long as they're not all at odds then they stand a better chance of coming up with a great finished product.

    --
    Tiggs
    "120 chars should be enough for everyone..."
    1. Re:Could be interesting. by theefer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Episodes I through III were dealing in the too recent past directly dealing with known characters who many older fans have had 20 years to come up with their own theories about.


      No.

      I just saw Episode III last night and it was just as I thought: plain, without any originality or feelings. Bad.

      The reason why Episodes I-III are so bad has nothing to do with the fans. Nothing to do with them growing up, their imagination, or whatever. It has to do with George Lucas' (in)ability to screenplay and direct a movie. The dialogues are pathetic from beginning to end (not to mention the love scenes), the actors (though all capable of excellent performances) look bored as hell as they walk through the ridiculous evolution of their character. The complexity of the storyline is as astounding as you would expect from a 13 year-old boy, without any surprise or depth. Most of it is an excuse to visit dozens of various environments, rendered by gorgeous yet overused FX.

      There is not a single tiny bit of emotion in these three movies, although that 3rd movie was supposed to be the emotional apotheosis of the saga, with the beloved Anakin turning to the Dark Side, Padme dying, etc. But instead, the spectator is too busy bitching at how Lucas screw up those parts by putting them together in the most primitive, easy way one could think of.

      There is no talent in here. George Lucas was simply not good enough a director to make these prequels worth watching, let alone enjoyable. The same thing happened with the Matrix Trilogy, brilliant at first but then spoiled by the greed of the Wachowsky Brothers who couldn't handle the breadth of what they had started. Many praise to Peter Jackson built his trilogy with true genius.

      Maybe a Star Wars pre-prequel could be interesting as long as Lucas stays away from it.
      --
      theefer
    2. Re:Could be interesting. by Lisandro · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As you pointed, cheesy dialogues, love scenes, character development, etc... the only thing that saves the day (or night if u didnt go to matinee) is that after the movie ends, you think "it was cool how Anakin die and how he become DV, and how he become to the Dark Side, and how Yoda fought Darth Sith...", this is, just the "things" that happened... I think I can not explain myslef here, but for it it was like to see how things happened was the cool thing, but if I had not seen the other movies it would be an ok SciFi movie with terrible effects/dialogue/etc...

      I have to disagree, the way the story unraveled was EXTREMELY poor, IMHO. So, basically, Anakin turned to the Dark Side because he was a whiny brat?

      (Spoilers below, sort of)

      Palpatine: "Kill him".
      Anakin: "No, it's not the Jedi way."
      Palpatine: "Come on, just do it."
      Anakin: "Ah.. well, ok"

      Or my favorite ...

      Sidious: "Join the dark side!"
      Anakin: "NO! I'm a Jedi!"
      Sidious: "Come on.. do it!"
      Anakin: "No.."
      Sidious: "Come on now, you fool. Don't be a meanie."
      Anakin: "Oh, OK. You're my master now and i'll do what you say!"

      Come on, Lucas had 3 MOVIES to get it right, and not only we find Anakin turning into Darth Vader in 5 minutes of plot, it's also because of the most retarded reasons posible. Not to mention the terrible dialogs, the way all Jedis are killed (weren't they Jedi *MASTERS*?! Sheeze...), and the cherry on top: Vader screaming "Nooooo!" with fists up, like it was a teen soap opera. Darth Vader, one of the meanest bad guys in movies ever.

      I could go all day with things that were wrong in that film. Just like Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, i kept my expectations low to avoid dissapointment and got something much worse than i imagined possible.

    3. Re:Could be interesting. by Kombat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And when Anakin cuts Mace Windu arm and Darth Sith kills him, and "suddenly" Anakin says "ok, I am on your knees, at your service" WTF! it didnt took to much time for him.

      I had this discussion with a friend of mine after the movie, and I concluded that I don't think there's any problem at all with the speed with which Anakin turns to the dark side. The explanation is simple, and you've heard it before: "You underestimate the power of the dark side." Once Anakin started to turn, the dark side drew him in faster than anyone could have expected (except Yoda, he's the one who was always warning us about it in the first place). Also, don't forget that Palpatine wasn't just a smooth-talking politician. He was the surpreme overlord of the Sith. The ultimate manifestation of the dark side. It's not inconceivable that he was exercising mind control to help push Anakin over to the dark side.

      --
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  3. Re:Ideas by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Vader seems to be subordinate of Tarkin

    According to the backstory, Tarkin was challenging Palpatine for Emperor at one point, so this could be correct.

    What's more puzzling is why Palpatine keeps Vader on the payroll at all, when he allows the Death Star to be destroyed, lets Luke escape in ESB and is clearly treacherous ("join me, and we will rule the galaxy as father and son"). I'd have relegated him to droid-polishing duties after Ep IV.

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
  4. Re:This can only lead to good by Timesprout · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And this is the main problem around here with Star Wars, you watched it as a child and now moan you are an adult (ok thats debatable in a lot of cases) you dont view movies with the same child like wonder and amazement. How so many slashdotters manage to blame Lucas for the ageing process and their overactive childhood imagination has always escaped me.

    Face it, the ground breaking special effect aside star was was nothing special. Its an old tried and trusted story of young boy with destiny meets mystical mentor yada yada yada. Replace excalibur with light sabres, the black knight with vader and off you go. The story is a rehash of a couple of old concepts, the acting was dire, the dialog chronic. The only redeeming feature is the effects, you no longer needed an imagination because it looked to a child like the fucking things were real. And this is why we loved it as kids, now we just see the crap acting and dialog.

    Just because you dont like the current trilogy does not mean Lucas is somehow trying to destroy your childhood memories or abuse you in some way. Also since its his rehashed idea Lucas can do whatever he wants with the story and clearly from the amount the current trilogy has grossed people are quit happy to part with their cash to see the results.

    --
    Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
    What truth?
    There is no dupe
  5. Re:Dune was much more deeper than SW by fleck_99_99 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think Dune, SW, Matrix, etc all share a lot of themes due to use of standard heroic story forms. (The Call, Acceptance, yada yada.)

    Don't skip the sociopolitical commentary of Dune. Let's see... valuable substance, used for damn near everything, only found in a desert place, guarded by fierce people with a suspiciously Arabic language... Nope, no idea what he was talking about there.

    SW doesn't (or at least, doesn't seem to) try to pull these concepts in. (Phew -- just think, if the dialog is bad NOW....)

    --
    seven two six five
    seven four six one seven
    two six four two e
  6. Re:Dune was much more deeper than SW by cahiha · · Score: 3, Insightful

    LOL and though it was written well before any of this became relevant, the Emperor is Shaddam! On the note of plagiarism:

    Reusing themes, ideas, concepts, characters, etc. may be copyright infringement in our new corporate-copyright-overlord-dominated media culture, but it isn't plagiarism.

    If such similarities were plagiarism, most great Western literature and art would have to be considered "plagiarized".

  7. Re:This can only lead to good by stlhawkeye · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The acting was fine in V and acceptable in VI. Coincidentally, Lucas didn't direct either film. The screenplay for V is the best of all the films by any reasonably standard. Written by Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett. Kasdan also did Indiana Jones with Lucas. Lucas didn't direct Jones either. In fact, every film George Lucas has ever directed has been a pile of festering crap. Two of his films, Howard the Duck and Ishtar, have become synonymous with bad films in pop culture. "This is the worst film since Howard the Duck!"

    I think it's fair to say that Lucas struck gold once and then wisely let other people handle the aspect of filmmaking that he sucks at. Namely, directing and authoring. Lucas is a talented and imaginative story creator (plagiariser, depending on your perspective), but he cannot tell a story to save his life. Star Wars was a western in space, I'm tired of this "space opera" bullshit. It's a western. The good guys wear white. The bad guy wears black. The stormtroopers are only white so the audience wouldn't confuse them with Vader. They swing over chasms, escape from a room where the walls are closing in. I'm surprised Lucas didn't have Leia tied down over some railroad tracks while Tarken twirled his moustache.

    And there's no question that the acting was superior in the original films. Compare Harrison Ford saying, "You're trembling" in V with Christianson saying it in III. Ford's acting carries emotional weight and significant. Christianson is reciting something he read in the script.

    --
    "I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
  8. No, no, and no by freeweed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've said it before, and I'll say it every time someone posts this tripe: this is most definitely NOT the rose-coloured glasses of aging here.

    Listen, when Star Wars came out in 1977, millions of adults went to see it, loved it, and anxiously awaited the sequels. So did millions of kids. However, the children's market was nowhere near as established as it is today. Star Wars would NEVER have been as successful if it only appealed to children. My parents, who in general can't stand sci-fi or action films, and were in their late 30s at the time, loved it. THEY were almost as interested in seeing the sequels as I was.

    Flash-forward to the prequels. By and large, 6-12 year olds love them. Other than that, however, the vast majority of adults don't. Believe it or not, there are many people in their 20s and 30s now who've never seen Star Wars before. And most of them really don't think the prequels are all that good.

    Believe me, many things from my childhood I can now recognize as the crap it is. The original Star Wars movies were good back then, and are still good. The prequels are less so.

    --
    Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
  9. Re:Simpler explanation: by Ucklak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A) Because it looks cool
    B) So Ma and Pa Sixpack get an idea of what's happening because
    C) If it didn't tilt, every movie mistake geek would point it out as it pertains to the Star Wars Universe Physics

    I did like the quick shutters on the glass breaking scenes.

    Star Wars is fun. Nothing more. There isn't weighty subject matter like Lord of the Rings but just a bunch of fast moving ships, blasters, light sabers, good guys, bad guys, and a plethora of creatures.
    The sound effects are cool too.

    This is our generation Western serial. They had bad dialogue, bad guys, good guys, romances that didn't make sense and quick to evolve, cliffhangers, fast moving horses and trains, gunfights, and secret hideaways.

    --
    if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
  10. Re:Simpler explanation: by swv3752 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can accept artificial gravity and space stations the size of a moon, but the orientation of a badly damaged ship bothers you?

    I figured it was pretty easy to explain. The engines are in the back so that is where the anti gravity field that was keeping the up is the last to go. So as the antigravity field goes, the artificial gravity goes, and the planet's normal gravity asserts itself.

    But all that is besides the point. Star Wars is not science fiction. It is fantasy. In fact, Star Wars epitomizes a sub-genre of fantasy known as space opera. Instead of dragons, unicorns, and wizards; you have lasers, robots, and spaceships.

    --
    Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life