I think you underestimate children. When Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor
Who he said that you had to make the plots complicated enough for the kids to enjoy and simple enough for the adults to enjoy. Kids can handle alot more complexity than Holloywood marketing people can appreciate.
In general it is hard to compare the original trilogy with TPM, even in terms of demographics because the two trilogies face two different audiences: one that did not know how the trilogy would end and one that does. The OT had surprise on its side. We didn't know what was going to happen. With the prequels we know what the end is. Star Wars is a major part of popular culture now. We all know so much about it. This calls for a different approach to the drama on screen. Lucas knows that we are watching TPM looking for clues to why Anakin turned, how Palpatine became emperor etc. So he gives us in TPM a great action film with astonishing set pieces but with a plot line that goes "Look how Palpatine became Supreme Chancellor. Look what he'll do to get power. Look how the Jedi will not act decisively when Anakin is brought before them. Look at the good people manipulated by others. Doesn't this scare you because you know where this will all end up?
Essentially TPM is a much more complicated beast than people make it out to be. It has a wonderfully foreboding atmosphere and is extremely frank about how easy it was for Palpatine to achieve his goals due to bureaucracy, procrastination and willful blindness of those around him. That is what is there for the adults, the kids and the fans and I believe that it fulfills Douglas Adams requirements admirably..
Having just moved from a Linux development environment to a Windows one I have found it interesting how hard it has been to adjust to point and click again. I tried to re-create my Linux/WindowMaker ways on Windows (this post is being written using GNU Emacs for Windows). I delved into the shallow depths of DOS just to get a command line.
I have found the lack of control and flexibility of Windows frustrating (purely from a UI point of view, not MS bashing, sorry).
But my colleagues here find my old-fashioned, command-line ways quaint and, frankly, passed their sell-by-date. I, of course, do not agree. Their knowledge of their systems: how they work, what they do, what they could do and what they should do is woeful.
What is wrong? The problem is that the GUI presents a seductive and often insurmountable barrier to what a user could be producing.
A command line gives you the ultimate power and flexibility that a computer user needs to wring the best out of the machine and out of themselves. To use a command line requires an enquiring mind, knowledge and intelligence: qualities that are sadly lacking in most people with a mouse in their hand.
Take away the GUI and give the user back the computer.
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I think you underestimate children. When Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor Who he said that you had to make the plots complicated enough for the kids to enjoy and simple enough for the adults to enjoy. Kids can handle alot more complexity than Holloywood marketing people can appreciate.
In general it is hard to compare the original trilogy with TPM, even in terms of demographics because the two trilogies face two different audiences: one that did not know how the trilogy would end and one that does. The OT had surprise on its side. We didn't know what was going to happen. With the prequels we know what the end is. Star Wars is a major part of popular culture now. We all know so much about it. This calls for a different approach to the drama on screen. Lucas knows that we are watching TPM looking for clues to why Anakin turned, how Palpatine became emperor etc. So he gives us in TPM a great action film with astonishing set pieces but with a plot line that goes "Look how Palpatine became Supreme Chancellor. Look what he'll do to get power. Look how the Jedi will not act decisively when Anakin is brought before them. Look at the good people manipulated by others. Doesn't this scare you because you know where this will all end up?
Essentially TPM is a much more complicated beast than people make it out to be. It has a wonderfully foreboding atmosphere and is extremely frank about how easy it was for Palpatine to achieve his goals due to bureaucracy, procrastination and willful blindness of those around him. That is what is there for the adults, the kids and the fans and I believe that it fulfills Douglas Adams requirements admirably..
Having just moved from a Linux development environment to a Windows one I have found it interesting how hard it has been to adjust to point and click again. I tried to re-create my Linux/WindowMaker ways on Windows (this post is being written using GNU Emacs for Windows). I delved into the shallow depths of DOS just to get a command line.
I have found the lack of control and flexibility of Windows frustrating (purely from a UI point of view, not MS bashing, sorry).
But my colleagues here find my old-fashioned, command-line ways quaint and, frankly, passed their sell-by-date. I, of course, do not agree. Their knowledge of their systems: how they work, what they do, what they could do and what they should do is woeful.
What is wrong? The problem is that the GUI presents a seductive and often insurmountable barrier to what a user could be producing.
A command line gives you the ultimate power and flexibility that a computer user needs to wring the best out of the machine and out of themselves. To use a command line requires an enquiring mind, knowledge and intelligence: qualities that are sadly lacking in most people with a mouse in their hand.
Take away the GUI and give the user back the computer.