The Fall Of The Star Wars Saga

[Pippin Skywalker]

A sad truth.

The prequels of the classic Star Wars Trilogy are almost all finished and I realize what has befallen...the fall of the saga...

The classic trilogy was well acted, often well scripted (ESB the most but also in ANH) and generally was more character driven.
Jump twenty years into the future. Prequels are being made to the trilogy so many love and they come out and are sadly dissapointing.

Episode 1: Worth 3 out of 5 stars. Liam Neeson was as brilliant Qui Gon Jinn, as was Pernilla August as Anikan's mother. Although a lot of the movie felt fake in an aweful video game sort of way and there was some lack of real emotion and connection with the characters, it still matained some depth and good acting.

Episode 2: ACK! No Qui Gon, Very little Pernilla August and the rest in the hands of two teeny teen actors, and Christopher Lee who belongs in LOTR more than SW. The acting was poor, the script was BAD, the story lacked real depth, wit or substance and I came out feeling this picture was mostly a FX extravaganza going under the name of the noble Star Wars Family.


WHAT happened? I think a couple of things.

George Lucas was great in the 70's and 80's but then he did not direct a motion picture for 20 years until the new SW films. I believe his graces "decayed" from lack of use and also he fell prey to the temptation of the vast array of special effects he could now do which he wanted to use in the early days. He then put the story on the back burner. Also screenwriting is not really his gift. He is great at creating a story but should get screenwriters to of quality to write out his dream. Star Trek Nemesis is a very good trek film why? Because although it is using the story of Star Trek the script was written by the person who wrote Gladiator-and oscar nominee. Therefore the story was strong as was the script and although not everything was spit polish perfect it still was pretty impressive where impressive counts. Ironically the most recent Trek film had old fx but good story/script while Episode 2 of SW had it the other way around.


What should Lucas do? He should get a new scriptwriter other than himself to do Episode 3 and he can still oversee the story.
Not much can be done about the casting now..but maybe some good actors can be put in supporting roles to give the acting more heft.


What do you all think?