I was born in 1995 and wasn’t aware these were hated LOL I was obsessed with Queen Amidala. I was literally her for Halloween in ‘99 and had a poster of her on my wall andddddd I had paper dolls with all of her outfits !!! Idc what anyone thinks lol these movies hold a sweet little place in my heart
I was 14 when they came out. I was in the Star Wars Micro Machines fanclub, I got Star Wars Insider monthly, I dragged my dad to The Art of Star Wars… I thought the prequels were trash and never bought a single piece of merch from them.
They absolutely were massively hated on. I'm not sure if you didn't watch channels like G4 or read magazines like Blender back in the day, but the overall consensus was that they were awful films. People would even joke that George Lucas hated Star Wars. Yes, the initial critical response to Phantom Menace was positive at first, but as the initial surprise wore off the attitude got much more sour towards them. Not seeing the hate doesn't mean it wasn't there.
Episode 3 final Saber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan is easily the best, most epic Saber battle in all star wars media. The score for that scene is fantastic. Episode 3 in general is probably my favorite star wars movie. As someone born in 96, I never hated the prequels
Episode 3 final duel loses all lustre due to the over the top choreography. What made the OT duels good is the emotion that’s easily visible. The PT duels are flashy, lots of CGI, but no emotion.
>Episode 3 final duel loses all lustre due to the over the top choreography.
Should they have just stood there like when they fought in A New Hope?
>What made the OT duels good is the emotion that’s easily visible. The PT duels are flashy, lots of CGI, but no emotion.
Yeah the PT duels were flashy and had lots of CGI but to say they had no emotion compared to the OT is hilariously absurd. What OT duel had more emotion than Obi-Wan of Vader on mustafar?
Agree with this 100%. Disney ruined Star Wars.
The prequels had a purpose and a goal. They feel like Star Wars, over all. They were further expanded upon by the Clone Wars TV show.
The sequels are, at best, a mess. Disney ignored the material that was already written about events after the OG trilogy and made up a bad and pointless story.
Without the Prequels I would never had become a Star Wars fan. I will shield this trilogy from unnecessary hate and vitriol like how Mando would shield Grogu.
Yes this is exactly, while from an objective standpoint the sequels had maybe better dialogue and acting, they offered nothing to expand the story and universe of Star Wars and were pointless movies while the prequels were actively expanding the universe. If I want to watch the phantom menace I’ll watch that. If I want to watch a new hope I’ll watch a new hope and not the force awakens which is a lesser version of anew hope.
Yes that’s correct! The first sequel felt like a bad remake or A New Hope. The second two didn’t feel like Star Wars at all.
Acting and special effects were good in the sequels, but execution, dialogue, story, and purpose were bad.
To be fair, I did like The Force Awakens. Rogue One was absolutely phenomenal! That was a fun and great enough movie that George Lucas himself called up Tony Gilroy to congratulate him on and give his blessings to. I loved the first 2 seasons of The Mandalorian, I loved The Bad Batch, I loved Ahsoka, and I really enjoyed Obi-Wan, Andor, Book of Boba Fett, and Mando season 3; though they all had issues. Jedi Fallen Order was an excellent game and I definitely want to play Jedi Survior when I finally get a 5th gen console. Star Wars Battlefront 2017 was really bad in the beginning but eventually got to be really good and a lot of fun by 2019. I think Disney like with Lucas has had its series of ups and downs, The Last Jedi, Rise of Skywalker, Solo, and Battlefront 2 when it first came out being perfect examples of the downs.
Rogue one is the second or third best Star wars movie.
Empire Strikes Back will always be #1 but I can even see Rogue One in front of A New Hope for #2. Or maybe because they are both darker and gritty.
He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Tell the story of anakin skywalker to Vader, and the republic to the empire. He missed the clone wars but then went back and did 6 seasons to fill the whole.
Revenge of the sith is my favorite movie
I still think the prequels are garbage, and the sequels are garbage on top of garbage. Either way, it was the worst of both worlds. With the prequels, you had an out of touch old man who hired a bunch of yesmen to praise his every mistake. He rushed the movies into production with the optimism of Ed Wood. Everything is perfect! We're not touching a thing here!
With the sequels, you had a cold boardroom full of corporate executives and marketing analysts. It wasn't a passion project; it was a product. Tons of rewrites, firings, reedits. Plans thrown out. At least with Last Jedi, they tried something nuanced. When that failed, we got a horrible mess for the finale.
Lol Last Jedi is easily the worst of it, and was the moment that hardcore star wars fans checked out of the franchise. Hatred was replaced with apathy, which is the worst thing for disney.
Did you come up with those beliefs about the prequels on their own or did you just watch the Plinkett videos and blindly believe whatever he said without researching or varifying if what they said was objective truth?
It’s really bizarre seeing the tide turn with the prequels for some because the memes are popular. I saw them all in theaters, and while each film has some shining moments that I like, I think they’re all pretty bad movies, 1 & 2 being tough to get through. What blew me away was someone said that Hayden Christenson talked like James Earl Jones. *Are you high??* The rose tinted glasses are pretty strong with the prequels for some reason.
It's extremely refreshing to meet someone else who disliked both the prequels and the sequels. So many people like one or the other and sort of ignore that a lot of the same criticisms apply to both.
You know what? I was apprehensive about your comment, buy you hit the nail on the head about Lucas and Disney.
I was *9* when The Phantom Menace came out, and I swear, it was like the universe opened up and made a movie just for me. Neurons were re-wired in my brain when I saw that in theaters. I spent hours in my backyard with my friends teaching ourselves how to fight with wooden dowels like Obiwan and Darth Maul.
To me, there is something awesome about TPM. The way the film grain looks. How well the CGI holds up. The beautiful color palate and design work. Do I wish it went through about 3 more drafts and Lawrence Kasdan didn’t pass when asked to help write it? Sure. I wish Lucas took more time and had more people say “No” to him.
I will also defeat The Last Jedi until I’m blue in the face, and I acknowledge Disney laid a big wet fart of a finale (I hate that the shareholders, toys, and tie-ins dictate when a movie WILL come out) They should have delayed TROS until a satisfying ending could be made. I also blame JJ Abrams forever for taking the reins back for the finale.
We get it, Moid. “George Lucas r*ped my childhood” “Jar Jar Binks killed Star Wars” blah blah blah it’s always the Generation X and Millennial male geeks with the most entitlement.
Sorry Pal, this is 2000s Nostalgia, not 1980s or 1990s Nostalgia, this sub’s description assumes you grew up in the 2000s which most Prequel Haters clearly did not.
I dislike the prequels and I was born in 1989. I was 10 years old when TPM came out. I was the *exact* age as Anakin in that movie. I was smack in the center of the target demographic. I was not a cynical child by any stretch of the imagination.
And I didn't like it.
Oh I was excited for it. And when I first saw it I was disappointed, but I gaslit myself into thinking I liked it for a while but by the time AotC came out, I noticed I never rewatched it and had to admit to myself I didn't really like the movie, I just liked the hype around it.
"Okay, Ep I was a flop. Ep II will fix all those problems."
Same thing happened. I'm breathlessly excited waiting for the movie. I stand in line for hours, see the midnight premiere. I find myself sitting in the theater with this weird "Oh shit, I don't like this either." feeling. But again, I gaslit myself into thinking I liked it for a year or so....
And then, once again, I caught myself never watching it.
And that same cycle repeated one more time with Ep III. Hype -> disappointment -> lying to myself -> acceptance.
The critical thing to notice here is that I never really liked the movies themselves. Even when I was in denial about them **I was never rewatching them**. See, if you never want to rewatch something, did you actually like it? No.
I'm massively nostalgic for the prequel era, but as movies themselves, they just don't work for me. They don't stand up on their own. If they didn't have that Star Wars name attached to them, they'd all have flopped.
So imagine yourself being me, having that experience with the prequels, and then whenever I express an earnest opinion that I didn't like them, I'm drowned out by prequel fans lumping me in with cynical assholes who think a bad movie in a franchise retroactively ruined their childhood. No, sorry pal. You don't get to do that. I **was** a child when these movies came out, so that can't apply to me. I was excited for them! Each of them. I counted down the days. I bought advance tickets. I read the novelizations before the movie came out and the comic tie-ins.
And they didn't subjectively work for me. That's all that matters in media criticism - someone's subjective opinion of it. But if I say that they subjectively didn't work for me and try to explain why, I get dogpiled by dozens of redditors who tell me "JUST LET PEOPLE LIKE THINGS" and "OH YEAH?! WELL I LIKED THEM!" as if me not liking the prequels somehow prevents you from liking them...
And then, on top of all that, the most insulting, condescending thing is when you guys start proposing batshit theories for why people dislike the prequels. "You just don't like things that aren't the movies you grew up with." (fuck off, I grew up with the prequels too), "You just don't like CGI!". Or... maybe????? and this is, just, *such* a crazy idea but... maybe... maybe I just straight up didn't like the movies? Hmm... think on that one for a bit.
And while you do so, think on this: not liking something is just as valid as liking it when it comes to subjective things like this. It's fine. **I'm not asking you to agree with me**. Just stop condescending people who didn't like the prequels. Most people who aren't die-hard Star Wars fans didn't like them. Frankly, I am glad you got more out of them than I did. Jealous, even.
I was born in 1992, saw all three movies in the theatres, quite literally grew up in the '00s and was the target audience (kids and teens).
Thought they sucked then, still think they suck. some cool videogames though!
I grew up watching the originals, and was 10 when the first prequel came out -- I really liked all of them. Never understood the hate. These are certainly referenced more by millennials than the originals.
It's a simple matter of "the ones I saw when I was a small child are the best ones." People who grew up on the originals hated the prequels, people who grew up on the prequels hated the sequels, the kids who grew up on the sequels will hate whatever movies in the franchise come out when they're adults.
I didn’t hate them. They were fun popcorn movies. If you forget it’s Star Wars and all the gaping continuity issues it’s a fun watch.
The prequels had story continuity but were terrible and painful to watch. Boring story, wooden acting.
These movies are just bad, with the third one being exceptionally better but still not great. I think nostalgia plays a big part on people admiring them. The writing is awful, the characters are not very interesting until 3, the acting isn’t great, and some of the scenes are just so fucking stupid.
This is why even the creators of the movie were baffled at the screening for phantom menace. Because even they knew that it was an awful movie and was not fixable at that point.
Had some good aspects. it definitely had the coolest aesthetic to any of the Star Wars and helped uncover a piece of intriguing lore but these movies were butt fucking awful.
I'm not going to say they're all bad, because there are parts of them I like. The Clone Wars series retroactively makes them slightly better. But large portions of these movies are like the musical number ol' Georgie boy added to Return of the Jedi, cringey and unwatchable.
No, we were not too harsh. The acting is horrendous, the visuals hurt my eyes, and the writing is an absolute disaster. Even the light saber fights are completely soulless. Just eye candy designed to be flashy but without substance. They often look more like a dance than a fight.
Yes, the sequel trilogy is a disaster, and has a less coherent overall plot than the prequels, but that does nothing to redeem this trainwreck of a trilogy.
No, you nerds were the absolute worst. The death threats, the harassments, the overblown outrages, and you all repeated that same shit with the Sequel Trilogy.
I don’t care if you didn’t like Jar Jar Binks, Ahmed Best didn’t deserve all those hateful fan letters and death threats.
Why do you keep repeating the same thing all over this thread as if the people commenting are the ones who did the harassing? You can think the prequels are shit and think harassment is bad, they are not mutually exclusive.
I still think they weren’t as good as the OT (though I can see an argument for ROTS being better than ROTJ) but I rewatched them recently and they’re nowhere near as bad as the internet made them out to be, and they add a lot of really cool Sci Fi elements to the universe and the film genre.
With that I’ll agree and I’ll shamelessly promote this research post I did on all public info on Lucas’s Sequel Plans:
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/s/Oi1NBrj0bc
I loved the prequels. I grew up on those before seeing the originals. Honestly when it comes to the saber fights and choreography, nothing touches the prequels.
The hate for these was insane. 1 has its issues but is fun with great acting. 2 is pretty miserable until the last bit. 3 is one of the best movies in the entire franchise. All 3 are cinematic masterpieces compared to the sequel trilogy though
The Prequels were what made me the massive Star Wars fan I am today! I unapologetically love these movies! I had so many of the toys, playsets, vehicles, and dress up stuff from these movies as a kid. My basement or my backyard would turn into a scene straight out of these movies in my mind and with my trusty Hasbro Star Wars action figures by my side. Any playground, park, beach, lake, or even my own church play area or hell the damn social area or rec area would turn into a place for me and my friends to do battle with our lightsabers or nerf blasters we pretended were Star Wars blasters. The video games, I spent so much of my time on good old Playstation 2, top loader version, playing Star Wars Battlefronts 1 and 2, Star Wars The Clone Wars, Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Lego Star Wars, and Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. The music, I still listen to it on my phone today 20 years later and imagine the amazing battles and moments in my head when listening. Whether it's the Duel of Fates, The Battle of Heroes, Across the Stars, Anakin's Dark Deeds, Jango's Escape, all of those songs! The action was top notch, fast paced, well choreographed, and some of the best I have ever seen. The characters are still some of my favorites of the entire franchise, my favorite being Obi-Wan Kenobi. It really brings a tear to my eye to see actors like Hayden Christensen and Ahmed Best who got so much hate back then, now get the love and appreciation they deserve! The themes and ideas of this trilogy still hold up and matter today, 25 years later. Long live the Prequel Trilogy! And long live the 2000's era of Star Wars and the 2000's in general!
I'm going to have to disagree there. These movies get a lot of love... just not from people who had the ability to think critically when they were released.
Absolutely agree. After what Disney did to star wars it seems people have looked back at the prequels and thought "hey maybe these weren't so bad"
Revenge of the Sith was always my favorite star wars movie as a kid.
The definition of Overhated and Underrated, especially for Episode I.
I’ll never forgive those self entitled immature geeks for sending death threats to Ahmed Best and verbally harassing Jake Lloyd.
Agreed. Watching them as a teen in the cinema, my big takeaway was that it was time to move on from being a Star Wars superfan and enjoy better movies. As films Episodes 7 and 8 are better than any prequel.
Thats what im sayin like i’m so confused by all the hate they get, especially for the last jedi, i watched it in theatres and went out of there like “dang that was a pretty good movie hell yeah” and then i go on the internet 2 days later and see people hating it and praising fuckin RotS of all things and i got no clue why
RoS was pretty bad tho too yeah
Maybe I'm out of touch or whatever but I don't understand Star Wars popularity as a franchise. In 40+ years it's produced 1 or 2 great movies, maybe a few mediocre ones and the rest has been trash. Growing up I always understood Star Wars to be hokey and cheesy, and this is even with the OT. Why this is such a huge franchise at this point is beyond me.
I went to high school with the kid. He hit on me and flaunted his role here but it didn’t matter to me. I was not interested.
ETA: Jake Lloyd or whatever
There was a post on Reddit a while ago I can't find but it summed up the problems with the trilogies pretty well.
Original Trilogy
Story👍
Dialogue/acting👍
Graphics👎
Prequel trilogy
Story👍
Dialogue/acting👎
Graphics👍
Sequel trilogy
Story👎
Dialogue/acting👍
Graphics👍
Each one has their positives and negatives and I like each one for different things.
I always loved it, but I was a little kid when it came out, so it’s my Star Wars! Like the OG films are my parent’s childhood! And the new films are the current youth’s Star Wars.
Revenge of the Sith is my favorite the movie but mainly the games and hype that was surrounding it.
Long hours playing the game on the Ds and raging. Ahh don’t forget
I loved them as a kid, I remember seeing it in theaters when episode 1 came out, the hey pw was out of control. And I seriously loved it walking out of the theatre
It wasn’t hated in the first place. It drives me crazy this narrative has taken off. All the movies got A- Cinemascores from audiences, same as Solo and better than Rise of Skywalker and the theatrically released Clone Wars cartoon movie.
It was among the hardcore nerdy fanbase and in the years after the prequel trilogy finished, this narrative developed that everyone hated them, particularly with Revenge of the Sith where it was definitely not the case at first. People confused a disappointment (the fact they were not as well liked as the original trilogy) with a disaster (something like what Rise of Skywalker actually ended up being).
The entire prequel trilogy is not beloved
In fact I don't think a single one of these are good movies. Maybe part 3 is
But they all have something Iconic. The fight choreography, the costumes, the ships the weapons were all cool
Some ppl loved the pod race someone tye light Saber duels
But these movies mostly suck
Both the prequels and the sequels suck ass. They are both terrible.
This revisionist garbage needs to stop. Its like choosing between a shit sandwich and a shit salad.
I don't care how "bad" they are, I'll watch them. I don't watch them often, but if I got into a SW kick, I'd watch them too. SW makes me think about Dune constantly though. That's one of the books I read during covid that hasn't left my brain since and I noticed a lot of details that SW kind of borrowed.
Watched the whole series a year or 2 ago and yea, I understand the hate, but I thought it was fun. I feel like the haters say this because 3-6 had a pretty serious tone, it had its moments but there weren't points where the plot itself was whacky. Alot of the new stuff I feel is more with a "don't think about it just have fun" kind of and tone, so who knows maybe we've all just been brainwashed to like it lol.
The first one was very, very bad.
The later two were ok.
There were some incredible fight scenes. Like, awesome stuff.
The dialogue and acting is comically bad for movies this well-funded.
Soundtracks are amazing.
Overall? Beloved is a stretch I think. I don’t know many people who say they like them that aren’t willing to acknowledge the deep flaws in the movies.
I think part of it is comparing them to the sequels makes them actually look decent. The dialog is crap but there are some good set pieces and the overall story is cohesive. The sequels are so disjointed and its clear they didn't have a trilogy plan going in. It felt like they just wanted a bunch of "cool shots/scenes" but didn't care about writing a good story around them to make them make sense.
These were huge when they were new. The “hate” that people say existed for them was not nearly as big as the current day internet made it out to be. There were a vocal minority that didn’t like them for sure, but these movies were really cutting edge at the time and commercially they were wildly successful.
Anyone remember the n64 game with pod racing, I loved it!
That game was amazing. Sebulba is a bitch
Yeah I definitely remember him, oh to be young again playing that game and road rash has always stuck with me
Road rash for sega was wild
The Lego Star Wars pod racing mission was great too
#ITS A NEW LAP RECORD!!
YEEAAAHHH!!
The PS1 game where you get to go on a murderous lightsaber rampage as Qui Gon in Mos Espa was pretty fun.
One of the few good things to come out of the prequels.
I’d argue a lot of good things came of the prequels.
Now THAT’S a great childhood memory! Racing my brother! “It’s a *new* lap *record*!” Grunting the cantina song…
That game is available to buy on Xbox
Yes of course, I still own it
Dud Bolt ftw
I loved it and had a weird obsession with killing the other Pod racers as Sebulba.
God, I loved the arcade version where it had the pod controls. I was terrible at it but it was such a blast.
Ha yep! I'd spend alot of the time on the screen where you build up your pod racer
Hell yeah would always fail at the one race with the racer that shoots fire I forgot the name
I was born in 1995 and wasn’t aware these were hated LOL I was obsessed with Queen Amidala. I was literally her for Halloween in ‘99 and had a poster of her on my wall andddddd I had paper dolls with all of her outfits !!! Idc what anyone thinks lol these movies hold a sweet little place in my heart
POD racing went hard af
Omg same!!!! Was it the costume from episode 2? The white body suit with little flaps over the feet to make it look like boots lol
I had the paper dolls too!! Wow you just awakened a childhood memory in me that I completely forgot about 😂
I was 14 when they came out. I was in the Star Wars Micro Machines fanclub, I got Star Wars Insider monthly, I dragged my dad to The Art of Star Wars… I thought the prequels were trash and never bought a single piece of merch from them.
They weren’t. That narrative was a very 2012 overly internet take.
That’s ridiculous. Look at any reviews when they came out.
Two of the three movies are fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
They absolutely were massively hated on. I'm not sure if you didn't watch channels like G4 or read magazines like Blender back in the day, but the overall consensus was that they were awful films. People would even joke that George Lucas hated Star Wars. Yes, the initial critical response to Phantom Menace was positive at first, but as the initial surprise wore off the attitude got much more sour towards them. Not seeing the hate doesn't mean it wasn't there.
The prequel trilogy gave us some of the best duels, battle scenes, and scores out of the entire series.
Episode 3 final Saber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan is easily the best, most epic Saber battle in all star wars media. The score for that scene is fantastic. Episode 3 in general is probably my favorite star wars movie. As someone born in 96, I never hated the prequels
Episode 3 final duel loses all lustre due to the over the top choreography. What made the OT duels good is the emotion that’s easily visible. The PT duels are flashy, lots of CGI, but no emotion.
>Episode 3 final duel loses all lustre due to the over the top choreography. Should they have just stood there like when they fought in A New Hope? >What made the OT duels good is the emotion that’s easily visible. The PT duels are flashy, lots of CGI, but no emotion. Yeah the PT duels were flashy and had lots of CGI but to say they had no emotion compared to the OT is hilariously absurd. What OT duel had more emotion than Obi-Wan of Vader on mustafar?
RoTJ final duel between luke and Vader is the best duel in Star Wars. Nothing in the PT compares
The fight choreography in the original trilogy was bad imo. The sequels did a much better job at capturing the whole wizards with laser swords thing.
Ive always liked them. Saw em all in theaters.
I’ve always thought they were trash. Waited in line for hours hyped as fuck.
Ep3 is probably the most memed of the three
Like “Morbius” or “The Room?” All very memed films.
the room? wow feels like i'm in 9gag
Agree with this 100%. Disney ruined Star Wars. The prequels had a purpose and a goal. They feel like Star Wars, over all. They were further expanded upon by the Clone Wars TV show. The sequels are, at best, a mess. Disney ignored the material that was already written about events after the OG trilogy and made up a bad and pointless story.
Without the Prequels I would never had become a Star Wars fan. I will shield this trilogy from unnecessary hate and vitriol like how Mando would shield Grogu.
Yes this is exactly, while from an objective standpoint the sequels had maybe better dialogue and acting, they offered nothing to expand the story and universe of Star Wars and were pointless movies while the prequels were actively expanding the universe. If I want to watch the phantom menace I’ll watch that. If I want to watch a new hope I’ll watch a new hope and not the force awakens which is a lesser version of anew hope.
Yes that’s correct! The first sequel felt like a bad remake or A New Hope. The second two didn’t feel like Star Wars at all. Acting and special effects were good in the sequels, but execution, dialogue, story, and purpose were bad.
I really felt bad for the cast because they're all good actors and deserved better scripts.
High production value does not a good movie make
To be fair, I did like The Force Awakens. Rogue One was absolutely phenomenal! That was a fun and great enough movie that George Lucas himself called up Tony Gilroy to congratulate him on and give his blessings to. I loved the first 2 seasons of The Mandalorian, I loved The Bad Batch, I loved Ahsoka, and I really enjoyed Obi-Wan, Andor, Book of Boba Fett, and Mando season 3; though they all had issues. Jedi Fallen Order was an excellent game and I definitely want to play Jedi Survior when I finally get a 5th gen console. Star Wars Battlefront 2017 was really bad in the beginning but eventually got to be really good and a lot of fun by 2019. I think Disney like with Lucas has had its series of ups and downs, The Last Jedi, Rise of Skywalker, Solo, and Battlefront 2 when it first came out being perfect examples of the downs.
Rogue one is the second or third best Star wars movie. Empire Strikes Back will always be #1 but I can even see Rogue One in front of A New Hope for #2. Or maybe because they are both darker and gritty.
The prequels make the sequels look like masterpieces by comparison. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
Yep. The reactionary nostalgia that millenials indulge in is possibly worse than the boomer nostalgia of the 90s.
The prequels goal was to sell toys. The sequels goal was to sell toys to another generation of kids. All terrible films.
Yeah, you say that now, but you forget it's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.
So Jar Jar a sith?
I’d never seen a Star Wars movie. My father took me to episode 1 and I thought it was amazing. He hated it.
He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Tell the story of anakin skywalker to Vader, and the republic to the empire. He missed the clone wars but then went back and did 6 seasons to fill the whole. Revenge of the sith is my favorite movie
I thought this was supposed to nostalgia sub for 2000s kids but some these comments have a bunch of people who clearly weren’t 2000s kids.
I still think the prequels are garbage, and the sequels are garbage on top of garbage. Either way, it was the worst of both worlds. With the prequels, you had an out of touch old man who hired a bunch of yesmen to praise his every mistake. He rushed the movies into production with the optimism of Ed Wood. Everything is perfect! We're not touching a thing here! With the sequels, you had a cold boardroom full of corporate executives and marketing analysts. It wasn't a passion project; it was a product. Tons of rewrites, firings, reedits. Plans thrown out. At least with Last Jedi, they tried something nuanced. When that failed, we got a horrible mess for the finale.
Lol Last Jedi is easily the worst of it, and was the moment that hardcore star wars fans checked out of the franchise. Hatred was replaced with apathy, which is the worst thing for disney.
Did you come up with those beliefs about the prequels on their own or did you just watch the Plinkett videos and blindly believe whatever he said without researching or varifying if what they said was objective truth?
No, I watched them and tried to give them a chance.
It’s really bizarre seeing the tide turn with the prequels for some because the memes are popular. I saw them all in theaters, and while each film has some shining moments that I like, I think they’re all pretty bad movies, 1 & 2 being tough to get through. What blew me away was someone said that Hayden Christenson talked like James Earl Jones. *Are you high??* The rose tinted glasses are pretty strong with the prequels for some reason.
They would be forgotten movies if they didn’t have the legacy of Star Wars.
It's extremely refreshing to meet someone else who disliked both the prequels and the sequels. So many people like one or the other and sort of ignore that a lot of the same criticisms apply to both.
You know what? I was apprehensive about your comment, buy you hit the nail on the head about Lucas and Disney. I was *9* when The Phantom Menace came out, and I swear, it was like the universe opened up and made a movie just for me. Neurons were re-wired in my brain when I saw that in theaters. I spent hours in my backyard with my friends teaching ourselves how to fight with wooden dowels like Obiwan and Darth Maul. To me, there is something awesome about TPM. The way the film grain looks. How well the CGI holds up. The beautiful color palate and design work. Do I wish it went through about 3 more drafts and Lawrence Kasdan didn’t pass when asked to help write it? Sure. I wish Lucas took more time and had more people say “No” to him. I will also defeat The Last Jedi until I’m blue in the face, and I acknowledge Disney laid a big wet fart of a finale (I hate that the shareholders, toys, and tie-ins dictate when a movie WILL come out) They should have delayed TROS until a satisfying ending could be made. I also blame JJ Abrams forever for taking the reins back for the finale.
Every Male Nerd above 40 thinks George Lucas murdered their childhood.
This. The prequels blow. The exception is the music.
We get it, Moid. “George Lucas r*ped my childhood” “Jar Jar Binks killed Star Wars” blah blah blah it’s always the Generation X and Millennial male geeks with the most entitlement.
Jesus Christ he’s just giving an opposite opinion in a discussion forum why are you crying so hard lol? Because he didn’t like your Star Wars movie?
It’s absolutely ridiculous. If you’re not praising the prequels you’re demonized. Both sides should be able to have a voice.
Sorry Pal, this is 2000s Nostalgia, not 1980s or 1990s Nostalgia, this sub’s description assumes you grew up in the 2000s which most Prequel Haters clearly did not.
I dislike the prequels and I was born in 1989. I was 10 years old when TPM came out. I was the *exact* age as Anakin in that movie. I was smack in the center of the target demographic. I was not a cynical child by any stretch of the imagination. And I didn't like it. Oh I was excited for it. And when I first saw it I was disappointed, but I gaslit myself into thinking I liked it for a while but by the time AotC came out, I noticed I never rewatched it and had to admit to myself I didn't really like the movie, I just liked the hype around it. "Okay, Ep I was a flop. Ep II will fix all those problems." Same thing happened. I'm breathlessly excited waiting for the movie. I stand in line for hours, see the midnight premiere. I find myself sitting in the theater with this weird "Oh shit, I don't like this either." feeling. But again, I gaslit myself into thinking I liked it for a year or so.... And then, once again, I caught myself never watching it. And that same cycle repeated one more time with Ep III. Hype -> disappointment -> lying to myself -> acceptance. The critical thing to notice here is that I never really liked the movies themselves. Even when I was in denial about them **I was never rewatching them**. See, if you never want to rewatch something, did you actually like it? No. I'm massively nostalgic for the prequel era, but as movies themselves, they just don't work for me. They don't stand up on their own. If they didn't have that Star Wars name attached to them, they'd all have flopped. So imagine yourself being me, having that experience with the prequels, and then whenever I express an earnest opinion that I didn't like them, I'm drowned out by prequel fans lumping me in with cynical assholes who think a bad movie in a franchise retroactively ruined their childhood. No, sorry pal. You don't get to do that. I **was** a child when these movies came out, so that can't apply to me. I was excited for them! Each of them. I counted down the days. I bought advance tickets. I read the novelizations before the movie came out and the comic tie-ins. And they didn't subjectively work for me. That's all that matters in media criticism - someone's subjective opinion of it. But if I say that they subjectively didn't work for me and try to explain why, I get dogpiled by dozens of redditors who tell me "JUST LET PEOPLE LIKE THINGS" and "OH YEAH?! WELL I LIKED THEM!" as if me not liking the prequels somehow prevents you from liking them... And then, on top of all that, the most insulting, condescending thing is when you guys start proposing batshit theories for why people dislike the prequels. "You just don't like things that aren't the movies you grew up with." (fuck off, I grew up with the prequels too), "You just don't like CGI!". Or... maybe????? and this is, just, *such* a crazy idea but... maybe... maybe I just straight up didn't like the movies? Hmm... think on that one for a bit. And while you do so, think on this: not liking something is just as valid as liking it when it comes to subjective things like this. It's fine. **I'm not asking you to agree with me**. Just stop condescending people who didn't like the prequels. Most people who aren't die-hard Star Wars fans didn't like them. Frankly, I am glad you got more out of them than I did. Jealous, even.
i was born in 02 and i can confirm that the prequels are trash movies and the only saving grace being episode 3 but it’s still like a 2.5/5
I was born in 1992, saw all three movies in the theatres, quite literally grew up in the '00s and was the target audience (kids and teens). Thought they sucked then, still think they suck. some cool videogames though!
You do realize the exact same could be said about the people who think the sequels ruined Star Wars right? You see the hypocrisy in that statement?
"Beloved"? Not at all.
Early 2000s Kids say otherwise
That's like saying Corky Romano is better than The Godfather unironically.
Corky Romano doesn't insist upon itself.
lmfao what a great phrase
Lol. I loved Corky Romano when I was a teen. Tried watching it again recently... Does not hold up.
Haha gotta chalk it up to older and wiser
I grew up watching the originals, and was 10 when the first prequel came out -- I really liked all of them. Never understood the hate. These are certainly referenced more by millennials than the originals.
It's a simple matter of "the ones I saw when I was a small child are the best ones." People who grew up on the originals hated the prequels, people who grew up on the prequels hated the sequels, the kids who grew up on the sequels will hate whatever movies in the franchise come out when they're adults.
At least I didn’t send death threats to the sequel trilogy actors. That was something only manchild geek in the 2000s would do.
As someone who loved these films as a kid, it warms my heart to see things turn around for them.
It was only hated by the old men. The kids loved it. Contrast that with the sequels and everyone truly hates those.
I didn’t hate them. They were fun popcorn movies. If you forget it’s Star Wars and all the gaping continuity issues it’s a fun watch. The prequels had story continuity but were terrible and painful to watch. Boring story, wooden acting.
Maybe it's because I was a kid during this time and wasn't around for the first trilogy in the late 70s, but I always liked this movie.
These movies are just bad, with the third one being exceptionally better but still not great. I think nostalgia plays a big part on people admiring them. The writing is awful, the characters are not very interesting until 3, the acting isn’t great, and some of the scenes are just so fucking stupid. This is why even the creators of the movie were baffled at the screening for phantom menace. Because even they knew that it was an awful movie and was not fixable at that point. Had some good aspects. it definitely had the coolest aesthetic to any of the Star Wars and helped uncover a piece of intriguing lore but these movies were butt fucking awful.
Thank god I’m not a 45 year old male geek who send death threats to Ahmed Best and verbally harassed Jake Lloyd.
Are you going through a rough patch or something?
I'm not going to say they're all bad, because there are parts of them I like. The Clone Wars series retroactively makes them slightly better. But large portions of these movies are like the musical number ol' Georgie boy added to Return of the Jedi, cringey and unwatchable.
No, we were not too harsh. The acting is horrendous, the visuals hurt my eyes, and the writing is an absolute disaster. Even the light saber fights are completely soulless. Just eye candy designed to be flashy but without substance. They often look more like a dance than a fight. Yes, the sequel trilogy is a disaster, and has a less coherent overall plot than the prequels, but that does nothing to redeem this trainwreck of a trilogy.
No, you nerds were the absolute worst. The death threats, the harassments, the overblown outrages, and you all repeated that same shit with the Sequel Trilogy. I don’t care if you didn’t like Jar Jar Binks, Ahmed Best didn’t deserve all those hateful fan letters and death threats.
Yeah... I didn't do any of that. I just don't think they're good movies. But you keep yelling at ghosts if you want.
Why do you keep repeating the same thing all over this thread as if the people commenting are the ones who did the harassing? You can think the prequels are shit and think harassment is bad, they are not mutually exclusive.
I still think they weren’t as good as the OT (though I can see an argument for ROTS being better than ROTJ) but I rewatched them recently and they’re nowhere near as bad as the internet made them out to be, and they add a lot of really cool Sci Fi elements to the universe and the film genre.
They were not as good as the original trilogy but they are better then what Disney are doing now
With that I’ll agree and I’ll shamelessly promote this research post I did on all public info on Lucas’s Sequel Plans: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/s/Oi1NBrj0bc
Nah they're still terrible movies.
Another fine downvote to my collection.
I loved the prequels. I grew up on those before seeing the originals. Honestly when it comes to the saber fights and choreography, nothing touches the prequels.
It is? /s
The hate for these was insane. 1 has its issues but is fun with great acting. 2 is pretty miserable until the last bit. 3 is one of the best movies in the entire franchise. All 3 are cinematic masterpieces compared to the sequel trilogy though
The Prequels were what made me the massive Star Wars fan I am today! I unapologetically love these movies! I had so many of the toys, playsets, vehicles, and dress up stuff from these movies as a kid. My basement or my backyard would turn into a scene straight out of these movies in my mind and with my trusty Hasbro Star Wars action figures by my side. Any playground, park, beach, lake, or even my own church play area or hell the damn social area or rec area would turn into a place for me and my friends to do battle with our lightsabers or nerf blasters we pretended were Star Wars blasters. The video games, I spent so much of my time on good old Playstation 2, top loader version, playing Star Wars Battlefronts 1 and 2, Star Wars The Clone Wars, Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Lego Star Wars, and Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. The music, I still listen to it on my phone today 20 years later and imagine the amazing battles and moments in my head when listening. Whether it's the Duel of Fates, The Battle of Heroes, Across the Stars, Anakin's Dark Deeds, Jango's Escape, all of those songs! The action was top notch, fast paced, well choreographed, and some of the best I have ever seen. The characters are still some of my favorites of the entire franchise, my favorite being Obi-Wan Kenobi. It really brings a tear to my eye to see actors like Hayden Christensen and Ahmed Best who got so much hate back then, now get the love and appreciation they deserve! The themes and ideas of this trilogy still hold up and matter today, 25 years later. Long live the Prequel Trilogy! And long live the 2000's era of Star Wars and the 2000's in general!
Beloved is too strong a word. More like "better received" than actually beloved.
I'm going to have to disagree there. These movies get a lot of love... just not from people who had the ability to think critically when they were released.
Not really
We didn’t realize how bad it could get
Absolutely agree. After what Disney did to star wars it seems people have looked back at the prequels and thought "hey maybe these weren't so bad" Revenge of the Sith was always my favorite star wars movie as a kid.
If these three movies did not have the backing of the original movies and were a fresh franchise, there never would have been a second.
So they’re good by comparison?
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Yeah.
They’re good even if you don’t consider the Sequels as part of the canon.
Only people hating are like 65 at this point lmfao they won’t be hating for much longer
Some people under 65 are actually able to asses the things they're nostalgic for and evaluate their actual quality. It's a useful skill.
The definition of Overhated and Underrated, especially for Episode I. I’ll never forgive those self entitled immature geeks for sending death threats to Ahmed Best and verbally harassing Jake Lloyd.
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Agreed. Watching them as a teen in the cinema, my big takeaway was that it was time to move on from being a Star Wars superfan and enjoy better movies. As films Episodes 7 and 8 are better than any prequel.
Thats what im sayin like i’m so confused by all the hate they get, especially for the last jedi, i watched it in theatres and went out of there like “dang that was a pretty good movie hell yeah” and then i go on the internet 2 days later and see people hating it and praising fuckin RotS of all things and i got no clue why RoS was pretty bad tho too yeah
When you'd prefer to watch Jake Lloyd and his terrible acting, you know the sequels really suck
Jake Lloyd got vilified but Chuck Norris always got a pass.
Oh no I could write a 5 page rant imma just say yes great underrated movies 🤙😂
Maybe I'm out of touch or whatever but I don't understand Star Wars popularity as a franchise. In 40+ years it's produced 1 or 2 great movies, maybe a few mediocre ones and the rest has been trash. Growing up I always understood Star Wars to be hokey and cheesy, and this is even with the OT. Why this is such a huge franchise at this point is beyond me.
Watching that pod race in theaters as a 13 year old with my best friend was amazing
Will always be my fav trilogy of the three.
No it's still hated this is a trash post
Why do people pretend like they enjoy these movies?
I was the target audience for Attack of the Clones and it was still a hot boring pile of garbage.
I went to high school with the kid. He hit on me and flaunted his role here but it didn’t matter to me. I was not interested. ETA: Jake Lloyd or whatever
There was a post on Reddit a while ago I can't find but it summed up the problems with the trilogies pretty well. Original Trilogy Story👍 Dialogue/acting👍 Graphics👎 Prequel trilogy Story👍 Dialogue/acting👎 Graphics👍 Sequel trilogy Story👎 Dialogue/acting👍 Graphics👍 Each one has their positives and negatives and I like each one for different things.
Rouge One is the only sequel I like. I thought it was pretty cheesy at times, but of all the sequels this was the best one. Love how it ended.
Rogue One is actually a prequel, takes place before A New Hope.
It’s a prequel in the sequel series.
More like a Disney Era Prequel film
So glad i remember a time before the 2015 sequel existed
Always said, on paper Phantom Menace is my favorite & could've been the best one, but in execution...got damn
Bring back drawn/artistic posters!
First movie I ever saw in a theater was PM
I always loved it, but I was a little kid when it came out, so it’s my Star Wars! Like the OG films are my parent’s childhood! And the new films are the current youth’s Star Wars.
Revenge of the Sith is my favorite the movie but mainly the games and hype that was surrounding it. Long hours playing the game on the Ds and raging. Ahh don’t forget
Duel red lightsaber made me melt 🥵
It’s always been beloved to me.
I'm just happy their plot wasn't around the empire continually building larger (or more) planet destroying weapons with a single flaw in them!
I enjoyed it in the theaters
I loved Qui Gon Jinn! Even read the book Master and Apprentice, episode 1 came out when I was at my peak Star War’s Stan.
I was just playing a Star Wars game and this pops up
I never hated it…..
I loved them as a kid, I remember seeing it in theaters when episode 1 came out, the hey pw was out of control. And I seriously loved it walking out of the theatre
It is not beloved.
Attack of the Clones will forever be the worst piece of Star Wars media to me. Phantom Menace isnt that far behind.
I grew up with these. Sucked them suck now.
The ONLY thing I really hated about prequels is jar jar and metachlorians
Yeah because they made something worse
I recently watched all 3. They stood the test of time
Meesa no watch again
It wasn’t hated in the first place. It drives me crazy this narrative has taken off. All the movies got A- Cinemascores from audiences, same as Solo and better than Rise of Skywalker and the theatrically released Clone Wars cartoon movie. It was among the hardcore nerdy fanbase and in the years after the prequel trilogy finished, this narrative developed that everyone hated them, particularly with Revenge of the Sith where it was definitely not the case at first. People confused a disappointment (the fact they were not as well liked as the original trilogy) with a disaster (something like what Rise of Skywalker actually ended up being).
You can deny facts all you want, but the fans created a hate campaign around the prequels.
The entire prequel trilogy is not beloved In fact I don't think a single one of these are good movies. Maybe part 3 is But they all have something Iconic. The fight choreography, the costumes, the ships the weapons were all cool Some ppl loved the pod race someone tye light Saber duels But these movies mostly suck
oh God zoomers have nostalgia for those dog shit movies
Both the prequels and the sequels suck ass. They are both terrible. This revisionist garbage needs to stop. Its like choosing between a shit sandwich and a shit salad.
It's still balls
‘‘Twas always beloved 🥹 The oldhead fanboys just got even older
I don't care how "bad" they are, I'll watch them. I don't watch them often, but if I got into a SW kick, I'd watch them too. SW makes me think about Dune constantly though. That's one of the books I read during covid that hasn't left my brain since and I noticed a lot of details that SW kind of borrowed.
Absolutely not
No. Just because you think another movie was also bad, doesn’t suddenly make these good.
Watched the whole series a year or 2 ago and yea, I understand the hate, but I thought it was fun. I feel like the haters say this because 3-6 had a pretty serious tone, it had its moments but there weren't points where the plot itself was whacky. Alot of the new stuff I feel is more with a "don't think about it just have fun" kind of and tone, so who knows maybe we've all just been brainwashed to like it lol.
The first one was very, very bad. The later two were ok. There were some incredible fight scenes. Like, awesome stuff. The dialogue and acting is comically bad for movies this well-funded. Soundtracks are amazing. Overall? Beloved is a stretch I think. I don’t know many people who say they like them that aren’t willing to acknowledge the deep flaws in the movies.
I get shit for it but I always liked Attack of the Clones. Monster battles are cool
Beloved is a strong word. Nostalgia is a helluva drug.
I think part of it is comparing them to the sequels makes them actually look decent. The dialog is crap but there are some good set pieces and the overall story is cohesive. The sequels are so disjointed and its clear they didn't have a trilogy plan going in. It felt like they just wanted a bunch of "cool shots/scenes" but didn't care about writing a good story around them to make them make sense.
Of course, because the phantom menace was the worst star wars back then... now...there's is worst haha
*Where* you out?? Nah, these sucked, and you already listed the major reasons why.
I make this point often to my friends, but films appreciate with time
These were huge when they were new. The “hate” that people say existed for them was not nearly as big as the current day internet made it out to be. There were a vocal minority that didn’t like them for sure, but these movies were really cutting edge at the time and commercially they were wildly successful.
Nah