Star Wars prequels spoiling Originals?

[Alf-Life]

This is something that I thought while reading something in Stephen Poole's Trigger Happy, that of Star Wars.

Is George Lucas effectively spoiling Star Wars' diachronic story by going back and showing all the things that made the original trilogy mysterious?

Things like how Luke's father fell to the dark side, and how the Empire took control, and what C3P0 meant when he first told R2D2 "No, I'm not going that way, no more adventures."

And also, by spoiling the diachronic of Star Wars 4-6, has anyone else noticed, there's no diachronic really to Episode I (and consequently 2 and 3) just the synchronic.
In other words, the prequels don't really have any proper backstory, since they serve as the backstory for the originals.

Is this Lucas' genius? Or a narrative-based blunder that Lucas has made by trying to tell the 'whole' thing?

Will watching all 6 back to back one day seem like an epic fairytale, or will it spoil the greatness of the original 3?

[bskutle]

Whether it spoils the original trilogy or not really depends of who you think the focus of "Star Wars" is I believe. Now the original trilogy does indeed focus on Luke and his destiny of being a Jedi, but the genius of what Lucas is doing is effectively shifting the focus of the story- via the prequel trilogy- to Anakin. In the interviews with Leonard Maltin on the 1995 reissues of the original, he said that the original trilogy was really about the redemption of Anakin Skywalker via the journey of Luke (think "The Godfather Part II," where Copolla parallels the rise of Vito Corleone and the fall of Michael). If you think of the "Star Wars" saga as being about Anakin- not Luke, then the decision to NOT make Episodes VII-IX- long-rumored, but no longer plausible- makes more sense.

Any, but to go back to the question of whether it ruins the original trilogy, I certainly don't think you can look at the originals the same way after the prequel trilogy, and I suppose it's inevitable the mystery would be gone from the original. But when you think of it, has Lucas ever really made the series out to be anything other than one big space opera/homage to Saturday serials? If you consider them on that basis, I think it'll hold up just nicely when we get the full cycle.

[Cyclonus]

We all know George had the basic structure of the prequels in mind from the start. He just did Ep. 4 first in case it flopped, so it could stand on its own. Under the most ideal of circumstances, he would have started with Ep. 1, and worked his way through the remaining eight films.

In an ideal world:

Ep. I (1977)
Ep. II (1980)
Ep. III (1983)

Ep. IV (1987)
Ep. V (1990)
Ep. VI (1993)

Ep. VII (1997)
Ep. VIII (2000)
Ep. IX (2003)


See how perfectly it all comes together? However, as it was, George barely got Ep. 4 off the ground. That shows how the creative process often takes a backseat to ecomomics. Still, he had plenty of time to do 7-9 in the meantime, so I won't say that he did the absolute best he could under the circumstances.

As it was, he still could have worked things out, like so:

Ep. IV (1977)
Ep. V (1980)
Ep. VI (1983)

Ep. VII (1987)
Ep. VIII (1990)
Ep. IX (1993)

Ep. I (1999)
Ep. II (2002)
Ep. III (2005)


Damn the SE's.




http://www.contrabandent.com/cwm/s/contrib/icw/030.gif



[This message has been edited by Cyclonus (edited 05-08-2002).]

[Scrunch]

Well, just the other night I watched "A New Hope" for the first time since I've seen "Phantom Menace." (Besides Episode II coming out Sony's in the process of making Star Wars Galaxies for the PC and I'm brushing up on my SW details.)

Anyway I got the biggest kick out of some of the lines in Star Wars now including C3-POs, "No more adventures." Or how Luke tells Obi-wan, "I want to be a Jedi just like my father." Now I can actually imagine what Obi-wan must have been thinking, "Oh boy, here we go again." But this time perhaps doing some things differently.

There were also a few scenes that I thought really mirrored each other such as the scene in the Millennium Falcon where Leia puts a blanket over Luke's shoulder after Obi-wan dies. It totally reminded me of Anakin and Amidala after he left his mom on Tatooine.

I don't think it's a bad thing to know what's going to happen. I think the prequels are a little less about the plot than the character's minds and how things are dealt with.

Honestly I'm looking forward to all of them being done and being able to have a mega Star Wars weekend watching all of them 1-6 in a row.

[Scrunch]

I forgot to add though...

I know someone who commented the other day that his new girlfriend hasn't ever seen SW, ESB or RotJ.

Is it better or worse to have people watch the original three first? And is it ok to watch just the new ones?

I think that the new ones may stand on their own but personally I'm glad I'm seeing them in the order that they were actually made by Lucas.

[BarryShaft]

I myself have never really seen a real point to making a sequel trilogy (7-9). I mean if Lucas finishes the prequels all well and good then I think that should be all thats needed to tell that one epic story.

[Ender]

General rule: See NEW HOPE, EMPIRE, and JEDI first, then see MENACE, CLONES, and WHATEVER THE HELL THE THIRD ONE IS CALLED. That's the proper sequence, logistically if not chronologically. If you do it that way, I really don't see how or why anything would be "spoiled".

[Scrunch]

I thought the idea of 7-9 was invented by the media? For years everyone thought there would be a before and an after to the original trilogy. But as time went on it became aparant that the story is about Anakin/Darth Vader - not Luke and Leia. So the story really does end with Return of the Jedi.

If they ever make movies out of the books that depict what happened after Jedi I don't think I would see those as part of the main story.

[Reed Richards]

I would like to know how they can tell these three without totally spoiling the other 3. If someone were to watch all six in sequence without having scene them before will they go "duh" when Darth tells Luke he's his father in Empire Strikes Back? Think about the music when Darth told him. It was a major plot revelation at that point. Now we'll already know. When Yoda says "know there is another" will we already know who it is. Watching it the way we have is almost "Star Wars Memento". Maybe when they are re-released in the end he will do it 4,5,6,1,2,3 again.

[Ender]

The solution is simple Reed. Watch them in the sequence they were made, not in the sequence they take place.

[MoNsTeR]

honestly... i never realized how complexed STAR WARS actually was.

my only question is... why haven't they thought about making a saturday morning cartoon of STAR WARS. i know they had a ROBOT and EWOK one... but what about the jedi warriors or knights or whatever? that'd be cool.

oh yea... i have another question... what the hell is VII, VIII, and IX about?

whoa... wouldn't it be cool if ANAKIN's father (who they didn't say in the movie) was like one of the FETTs or something?

are those books worth reading? because they sound really interesting, and i've alrady bought a TON of STAR WARS paraphenalia and like, 6 light sabers.

cheers!
->jeFF<-

[LordKaruku]

I think the original trilogy is being spoiled by the prequels, but for a different reason.

I used to have a fantasy that my kids, or grandkids, or something, would discover this big mysterious box of DVDs or whatever labeled "Star Wars" and discover the whole 6-movie saga for him/herself, with no knowledge of what order they were made in, etc., just a great epic story.

However, in 25 years when digital effects are commonplace and not drool-inducing, my future relation is going to get bored of the plot about 10 or 15 minutes into The Phantom Menace and shut off the TV.

[APzombie]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by LordKaruku:
However, in 25 years when digital effects are commonplace and not drool-inducing, my future relation is going to get bored of the plot about 10 or 15 minutes into The Phantom Menace and shut off the TV.</font>

Its been nearly 25 years since Star Wars A New Hope came out and it holds up just as much if not more.

[Vega]

It will, of course, spoil some of the great surprises... "I am your father"... "There is another"... for those who go into the original three without knowing those things already. So I guess they will spoil the originals. But maybe not... if the children aren't named in Ep. III, then in theory we don't know it's Luke and Leia... and the "revelation" moment should still be good even if we already know, since it is so horrifying to Luke... maybe it'll even be good, in a different way, for kids to wait for Vader to say it with a sense of doom... all very deep I expect. At any rate, only time and seeing all six in order will tell.

[apologies for rambling nature. sleep deprivation will do that.]

[Common Sense Man]

I also agree that if you have never seen any of the films, HEY!

They you should start with Star Wars, then Empire, then Jedi.

Then go back to EPI-III

Otherwise too many of the good moments will lose there punch.

But if you have seen the originals already watch them in order, it may give you some new insights into the characters.

Out.......................

[ColinM]

I think you have to have seen the original trilogy before you see the prequel trilogy, otherwise a lot of the things won't make sense at all. You wouldn't really know what the hell a Jedi is. And do they even use the word lightsaber in The Phantom Menace once?

[Common Sense Man]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by ColinM:
And do they even use the word lightsaber in The Phantom Menace once?</font>

That is a very good question!

I think Anakin said he recognized Neeson as a Jedi because of his Laser Sword not Lightsaber.

I wonder if that was an oversight by Lucas as he simply figured the term Lightsaber has become part of our language.

We shall have to see if they say anything in EPII.

Good catch, I will have to watch it again to see what they say.

Out........................



[This message has been edited by Common Sense Man (edited 05-12-2002).]

[Mike Sampson]

Too many STAR WARS topics open. Closing this one down and referring all to the official AOTC topic...

MS