I saw the original "Star Wars" years ago, and...

[kay1864]

(sorta-copycat)

...I noticed that I cared more about the characters in 20 minutes of that movie than I did in TWO HOURS of Episode 1.

Had no interest in what happened to Qui-Gon, or the young Obi-Wan, or even Padme. None. Movie failed to engage me.

And why was this? Well, the answer might lie in the answer to these questions:

1. How many movies did George Lucas write between Star Wars and Episode 1? (answer: Zero)

2. How many movies did George Lucas direct between Star Wars and Episode 1? (answer: Zero. He produced many, but directed nary a one)

And there's evidence that he had a LOT of help writing the script for the original. Which may account for its clever lines and excellent story.

But by the time of Ep 1, he was convinced he was infallible.

[Deja Q]

1. LOL

Eps 1-3 seem to be more preachy than character development. Partly because we all know what's going to happen.

And if you try to show these in Lucas-order (1,2,3,4,5,6 -- rather than 4,5,6,1,2,3) a viewer is more inclined to give up long before reaching 4.

The retconning of Greedo firing first is lame.

Jabba doesn't look or sound convincing other; both technologically or as a character - he comes across too NICE in ep 4. a far cry from the threat imposed in 5 and what we do see in 6. The dude looks like an immobile blob, but his dialogue in 6 speaks for itself.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. It bothers me that maybe Lucas was a talentless hack all along, but my 4th grade self just failed

to recognize it.

Star Wars (original, I HATE the "ep IV ANH" crap) had a lot of different things going for it. I will credit Lucas with a great vision for the film. The John Williams score cannot be underestimated, it's a HUGE part of the film's strength. Lucas lucked out bigtime with Harrison Ford in the Han Solo role (although to be fair he'd already worked with him in American Graffiti), and that Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill did such a good job with their roles (Alec Guinness doing a great job was a given).

I LOVED American Graffiti in my youth also, although they had a pretty stellar cast there and a great soundtrack too.

[kay1864]

4. Agree 100%

Although he did do an excellent job directing the original.

And heck, for all I know he did a decent job of directing Ep 1--but I couldn't see past the incredibly awful and listless script to find out.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. The thing is, Lucas had first rate actors in the prequels, too. Ewan MacGregor,

Natalie Portman, Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson... (not so much with Hayden Christiansen and the little boy, LOL)

So I'm convinced it's all crappy writing/dialogue, weak direction and overreliance and seduction by the "dark side" of fimmaking, CGI special effects toys.

I remember a scene towards the end of one of the prequels with CGI generated stormtroopers. The troopers would have looked better as guys in suits. Although perhaps it's actually cheaper for LucasFilms to generate a CGI stormtrooper than put a suit on an extra.

Gives you an idea where the films have gone wrong.