Is Star Wars perpetually dumbing down?

[Naja]

Post an explanation with your vote, too!

 

I think that despite how Lucas may have tarnished his once infallible creation with...well...his choice of dialogue and plot, there is a thriving EU community that writes surprisingly good novels, and expands so much on the SWU that sometimes Lucasarts itself is pressured to adjust their content to keep up with it (Victory Star Destroyers, "Shadows of the Empire," and the Emperor's locale on Byss, to give some examples). As long as it's good and still keeps giving fresh ideas, I don't think Star Wars will go the way of the Trekkies. I'm actually optimistic that it will be better once Lucas croaks, sacreligious as that sounds; Lucas will no longer be able to piss on his own work, and there might be room for someone to take more constructive creative liberty where he left off. Who knows...maybe some ambitious slob might re-do the prequels and do them well??

[The Saint]

Hmm you have a varied amount of options sure, but you leave out a few. Such as even the original trilogy went downhill because of Lucas. The first two movies were the best and then came Return of the Jedi. Ewoks anyone? Lucas went from Wookies to Ewoks to make a quick buck marketing wise(heck it spawned two Ewok movies). Frankly the prequels up to Episode 3, which itself was only slightly redeming(we never did see a Victory SD..even though VSDs should be the prevailant class before the ISDs show up) were complete let downs.

 

Lucas and his need for teen angst and horrible crappy romantic subplots, completely took away from the story. Han and Leia were no where near as tacky as Anakin and Amidala. Watching Episode I also felt like watching a sci-fi version of Baby Geniuses..I mean Obi-Wan Kenobi says he fought with Anakin during the war, and here comes Anakin as a six year old?...Lucas sold out this franchise long ago.And then he pissed on it when he said there wouldnt be another three movies after the sequel..frankly all I can say is good. Lucas would end up messing up everything further and stepping on the toes of a lot of good EU literature.

[Foshjedi2004]

I think that the EU is even starting to go down the sh*tter the Dark Nest Trilogy had such possibilities. Jag and Jaina, Jacen finding a new nest of Sith Lords while going around the galaxy. I mean what the F*ck is with this Ang Tii Flow Walking and all this stuff about Coruscant being repopulated!!! Lucas obviously wants the EU to get even more f.ed up so that people can look at other stuff he's done. SW may go the way of ST!!! I don't care if it does. Kirk is still the best Captain.

[Gen.Vader]

it seems that with all of the classic movies from 60s-80s whenever they get redone/added on to they ALWAYS get pissed on by critics and fans of the originals,i wonder why? just because it wasnt made in the same time doesnt mean it is crap, it has its own pros/cons like any other movie

[Naja]

Ehh, maybe so, Gen. Vader, but subjectivity in standards is one thing, compared to a certain discernable quality - a "magic," if you will - about some original material, compared to newer, more redone stuff. There's just something about the original trilogy that the prequels lack; hense my idealistic hope that some maverick will re-do them properly once Lucas becomes one with the force.

[Foshjedi2004]

Well For Episode 1 i'd get rid of this whole Slave thing. Anakin will be a pod racer and will pilot loads of things like fighters and stuff they will already live with the Larses and Only Quin jin Gon will bring anakin to coruscant. Obiwan will have been doing the trials on Coruscant.

 

Then Obiwan will meet Anakin at the end of EP I at the Jedi Temple and they will go and have an Adventure in the underworld. The at the End Qui Jin Gon has a Duel with Darth Maul and is killed when Count Dooku joins in and is impaled. Palpatine then coerces him to the Darkside.

 

EP2: Attack of the Clones

Obiwan a new Knight has been training his padawan for 10 years they are like brothers. Obiwan is attacked and Anakin reflexively uses the force to kill the attacker. He is so wrought with grief that he seeks consolence from a friend in the senate whom he met a few years before on a Diplomatic mission- Amidala. They meet in a passionate embrace and spend the night together. Anakin then goes on a Diplomatic Mission to Anchoron where he and Obiwan discover the slayer of Qui jin Gon and some Spaarti Cloning Cylinders and The Seperatist's Clone Army.

They escape as massive Trade Federation (death Star like things) rise and move away towards the Republic.

Then the Clones assault the republic Army training centre on Carida with Obiwan and Anakin and a legion of Jedi beginning to fight back. Anakin Jumps into his Delta7 Fighter and destroys legion after legion of troops as they assault the Training Complex. the Jedi have won.

 

EpIII.Revenge of the Sith

Recent events have hit Anakin Hard, he has killed through the force and is angry about his trust in some of the Jedi who are using the dark side to fight the Seperatist clones. Anakin is Leading a force of Jedi across the Sluis sector finding these "dark Jedi swarms", Yoda has recently left coruscant as he feels the Dark Side growing and needs to try and turn these Dark Jedi back to the light. one of his former Padawans has captured a freighter and is fleeing from Yoda and crashes onto Dagobah.

(massive battle between them and when it ends the Dark jedi explodes in a flash of blue light)

Yoda finds a gentlemen and a lady on the freighter. He recognises one of them as Amidala and senses soemthing Familiar in her and recognises Anakin. he nurses her and Jor'j Cardas back to health. He modifies Cardas' memory to ensure that he cannot remember Amidala and lets him go. Yoda then takes amidala to Obiwan and as she dies they feel Anakin's Shout into the void. He loved here and felt her death. He had sent her and Cardas on his personal transport away from Mustafar where he Slaughters all the Jedi and Dark jedi Alike while on Coruscant Palpatine has ordered a massive bombardment of the Jedi Temple. Thousands of jedi are dead the Jedi library is gone. Obiwan realises that Anakin has turned and with yoda's leave travels to Mustafar to battle him and try to save him. They battle and he cuts off Anakins legs arms etc. Anakin is then saved by agents of Palpatine who say they can save him if he swears fealty to the Emperor. He does and the film ends with him Attending Amidala's funeral in his Dark suit. It was effectively just a pressure suit. After that he designs the suit we all know and love.

[Naja]

- No more of that fucking 'midichlorian' crap. It's the Force. Stop trying to rationalize that which is fictitious. It just comes off as forced, childish, and trite. Save that for the Happy Meal merchandice.

 

- Jake Loyd, Hayden Christensen, JAR JAR BINKS...eliminate them. Anakin, kid and adolescent, must be played by stellar actors who can deliver his very strong and contradictory emotions. And if you tell me that no young child can act well, watch Leonardo DeCaprio's performance in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."

 

- More thoughtful dialogue, all the way through. No more of this tripe that could have been written by stoned, prepubescent 12 year olds.

 

 

Etc.

[Gen.Vader]

what about ewan McGregor? i liked him as obi wan...

and what diffrence does it make understanding the force through science? nothing changes about it. it is, will always be the force, explained or otherwise. and by stellar actors, can you name a few names? i dont know any kid-teenager-young adult who is well know and is worthy of starwars unlike todays pop icons.ex.britney spears,lindsey lohan,etc.

[Naja]

Ehh, he was a decent Obi-Wan. Sure as hell wasn't Alec Guiness, but he sure didn't make me cringe like Hayden Christensen's and Natalie Portman's love scenes. *shudder*

 

As for great child actors? Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds, "Taken"), Haly Joel-Osmond (6th Sense), Anna Paquin (The Piano), Sean Astin (Goonies, Rudie), Elijah Wood (Radio Flyer [before he was Frodo]). My point is that good talent - regardless of age - is timeless. You can always find it, it just matters where you look. Lucas is at fault, because with that much money, there is no way in hell that he couldn't have picked a competent Anakin if he chose to look hard enough.

 

As for the Force, I disagree. I think when you try to break down the Force into something as crude, and well...insipid, as "midichlorians," it loses its magic. In the first trilogy, couldn't have been more simple: a sentient energy field created by and absorbed through all living things. In the prequels...a belabored, uninspired comic book gag. I think that a good example is a good joke or anecdote: when a joke is good, everything is concise, and that which doesn't need to be said, isn't. Turning a simple Tao-esque spirituality full of poignancy into a hoky "science" is like going through the joke, trying to explain how everything lines up, logically explaining why it is funny. You may or may not make people understand, but the joke will have lost all of its life - its humor - in the process.

 

Make sense?

[Gen.Vader]

yea, but it would be weird to see elijah wood turn to the dark side. thnxs for the names btw

[Naja]

No prob.

 

Does anyone know of any good developments in EU literature, these days? I hear that Timothy Zahn is writing a new series. Man, anything he touches turns to gold.

[Foshjedi2004]

umm... Some of the Legacy books have potential. Aaron Allston is back and so is Anderson I think.

[Vader89]

I liked EP3 thought it was awesome, Ep2 was ok and EP1 sucked none of them are as good as the original trilogy. This TV show sounds like crap and frankly i feel it will kill the movies. So long as we get games like EaW the video game front will survive, but what other starwars games could they make after EaW? Never read any of the EU books, so no opinion on that. Hopefully star wars wont go th way of star trek (no offense to any "Trekkies" out there) but star wars was a good interesting science fiction genre, my dad even liked them even though hes more into sports and not at all interesting in anything else. My 2 cents

[Gen.Vader]

there will ALWAYS be content from Star wars, there are like a million events that could be gamed after, how bout the great hyperspace war? or the mandalorian crisis? those could be cool RTses too bad they alreaady were in KOTOR...

[Mcas1937]

I like the EU and even though the acting in the prequels was horrible I can tolerate them, just for the massive battles. Plus the EU, at least in the books is well done and the games have tons of matireal to work with. I wish some one would make a game based in the same period as the X-Wing Book series though.

[Naja]

Quick question guys, I've been looking everywhere, and am wondering if there is a general site that keeps track of the most recent developments and releases in EU literature. I tried Lucas Arts, but the bastards want me to sign up and pay $35.

[Foshjedi2004]

http://www.theforce.net/books

 

Thats where I usualy go. Also has an archive thing about the Legacy set of books.

[TSKNF]

hmm, acording to the polls nobody has a life.

Me thinks we have a troll. Somebody get the tranqualiser.

[Gen.Vader]

ill get the tazer, if more force is required, Fire up the hands palpy!

[Naja]

Thanks for the url. Anyone here ever been to domuspublica.net? It's a very meticulous site, painstakingly done. The guy's more or less done a complete analysis of the Galactic Empire, and is a very decent author, too. Y'all should check it out.

 

No extra charge, he also made a very good Wikipedia submission, under "Roman Emperor."

[Foshjedi2004]

Rather have something about the rebellion!!!

 

Luke Skywalker: Was he a General or a Commander???

[Gen.Vader]

both? and a jedi

[MiKl]

hmm, acording to the polls nobody has a life.

Me thinks we have a troll. Somebody get the tranqualiser.

 

Hey why did you say that all I did was say that nobody picked that choice. Sorry if that sounded a bit trollish.

[TSKNF]

hmm, acording to the polls nobody has a life.

Me thinks we have a troll. Somebody get the tranqualiser.

 

Hey why did you say that all I did was say that nobody picked that choice. Sorry if that sounded a bit trollish.

Hmm..actually to be frank **** is quite a troll himself. Thing is he has moderator powers.

 

Fosh : I'm sorry Indum but I will not allow people to call moderators TROLLS!!!

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

i cant vote on there theres not the option of yes i think the prequels sucked arse and the EU is just suckin arse as well because of TROY DENNING's new Book! the only haven we have left is the Games that lucasarts cant be bothered to develop anymore!

 

Sorry lost control just makes me mad that they cant be bothered anymore and that the Swarm war books have ruined a fu*k plot that has taken several years to put together