Star Wars Prequels Reimagination

With roughly one month left for the release of The Force Awakens, I find myself to be in a strong Star Wars mood. Because of this, I began thinking a lot about the prequels and began analyzing them again with more mature eyes. This got me thinking about the way in which I would have handled the project in order to make them, well, actually good.

While at this point in time there is no other option left but to dream about "what could have been", it is pretty entertaining to imagine your own personal version of the events that went down before A New Hope.

Many would argue that there is no real point in wanting to explore the backstory of the original trilogy in the first place, but I think that the general idea behind this is valid, although poorly executed.

I would like to know your opinion on the matter and your personal reimagination for the first three films.

If you ask me, I would have reduced the amount of screentime that "child Anakin" appears on-screen, instead showing him through a couple of flash-backs, and begin with him already in his teenage years and undergoing jedi training. I would have also focused more on the actual Clone Wars as we only see the beginning of it at the end of Attack of the Clones and its end with Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith, so we don't really get the feeling of a world in distress in the prequels, unlike in the original trilogy where we actually follow the Rebels in their struggle against the Empire. This would also mean that Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship could have been explored with a more mature depth, and I would have even given character to some of the clones so that the impact of Order 66 in the future would have been greater on the audience.

For the second film in the prequels, I would have done what George Lucas did in the third film, and explore Anakin's fall from grace until his transformation into Darth Vader.

And finally for the third one, I would have loved to explore the period in time where jedi's are being hunted down one by one, focusing on their downfall. This is such a dark period in Star Wars history that has been left mainly unexplored in TV and cinema (Star Wars Rebels is good in my opinion but it lacks the grit that I would have gone for) and that has a lot of potential for something really interesting.

The prequels were just a demonstration reel for ILM, with one half-decent story stretched out thin for three motion pictures, because ILM had been working on novel CGI problems for a number of movies, by this time. George Lucas had also been very much impressed with the business that James Cameron's Titanic had done and was envious of it. This, unfortunately, influenced much of his decision on how to demonstrate Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace.

So, instead of arriving at turning to the Dark Side in a manner that was gradual, varied and interesting, it all hinged on the love of his life possibly dying. One whom Lucas did not want to have her own subplot, which meant more work for him, so, her involvement in these movies reduced. And, then, he finally had her drop dead after she just gave birth, because her man's turned into some kind of an A-Hole. And even though 2 newborns now depend on her, she's lost the will to live! ... What???

Oh, Mr. Lucas ... would it have killed you to collaborate with anyone but "Yes" Men and bring some real, honest objectivity to these projects? Instead of showing it to your buddies and pals for a pat on the back?

The problem with that would've been the fact that, as I've mentioned, the prequels were a demonstration reel for ILM. As they were developing new techniques, Lucas would alter the story to accommodate, right up to the last minute. The story was very much in service of the special effects. As a result, every building, every spaceship had huge windows open wide, showing an active, busy environment that always seemed much more interesting than the actual movie we were watching. Even with the pandering fan-service that Lucas tried to inject Revenge of the Sith with. There were occasional moments, where the prequel films hit the mark ... but not many of them.