Let’s get this out in the open right now: the original Star Wars trilogy as a whole is head and shoulders better than the prequels. The goal here is to point out that while the original trilogy is sacred material to most sci-fi fans, there are aspects of the Star Wars universe that were better written, executed, and displayed to the audience in George Lucas’s prequel trilogy.
Lucas took a lot of heat and negative backlash for his commercially successful yet generally weaker trilogy. That criticism was well warranted. However I am here to say that he did get facets of the new trilogy right. He even did some things better this time around.
Yeah, I said it!
Here are 5 ways in which the prequel trilogy is better than the original trilogy.
5. Lightsabers
This one is a no brainer. Even the most stringent haters of the prequels can’t argue the fact that the lightsaber duels and battles are far and away better in the new trilogy. The advancements made in technology are obviously the main reason why the lightsabers improved. But that is not the whole story.
There was more to these new duels and battles than just how well the lightsabers looked and flowed on screen. It was the nature and makeup of the fights themselves that took a huge leap forward, specifically the choreography of the fights. In the original trilogy the lightsaber duels were very slow paced and resembled more of a fencing contest than a battle to the death with “laser swords”.
In the prequels we finally got to see all that Lucas had envisioned the lightsabers to be. They were the top of the class when it came to weaponry, as it was the golden age of the Jedi. There was nothing the lightsabers couldn’t do. And unlike in the original trilogy, the Jedi weren’t shy about using them in any situation. Locked out of a room and R2D2 is not around to open the door? Simple, just cut through it with your lightsaber! Being shot at by a blaster or two? No worries, just deflect the shots back at them with your lightsaber! Not in reach of the battle droids? Problem solved, just throw your lightsaber at them!
We saw a double-sided lightsaber wielded by Darth Maul which allowed him to fight two Jedi simultaneously. We saw General Grievous and his half droid-self fight using four lightsabers since he had four arms!
No matter how much you disliked the prequels, at the very least, you sat up in your seat and enjoyed all of the glory the lightsaber battles and duels now possessed.
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16 Comments
Jango Fett was better than the original? Are you serious? The original was better than the new one in everyway imaginable. He was twice as cocky as the new one; he stood up to Darth Vader for god’s sake.
If you judge them by the movies alone, yes I feel its clear Jango is better and more important than Boba. You can’t take the expanded universe into account for this discussion. Boba plays a simple background role while Jango is a central villain of a movie and has his hands in the creation of the clone army.
Not sure how valid any of these are but hats off to you for bigging up the prequel trilogy, a trait not enough people do!
Will echo Marcus’ point about you having the guts to defend the prequels. God knows I can’t.
Two points though:
1. Why does knowing how things end possibly make it better? We don’t need the backstory of how Darth Vader became Darth Vader to understand the character: we get all the development and revelations we need in the originals. If anything it serves to make Vader a less appealing character, turning him from a cold mechanical villain who eventually does the right thing into a prissy brat who ruined his body through arrogance and went to the dark side because of a bad dream.
2. No way are the lightsaber battles better than the originals. The choregraphy is terrible, all sorts of pointless twirls and flourishes which you wouldn’t go in close-contact swordfighting. You certainly wouldn’t do pirouettes leaving them to stab you in the back. That and Lucas has no understanding of the laws of physics.
But like I said, good job overall with the article. Will look out for your work in the future.
I knew I was taking a risk by defending the prequels in any possible way. But thanks Dan! I appreciate the fact that even though you disagree with some of my points you at least still enjoyed the article. There will be plenty more on the way!
So true!
You sir are a very brave man for writing this article haha
Are you kidding me with the articles on website now?
I quite like the prequel trilogy…Apart from Phantom of course. I think the Prequel trilogy is to the original what Return of the Jedi was to the first two. Sure they are not the better films, but if I wanted to sit down and relax to just enjoy a film I would put one of those or Jedi on.
They are unintellectual, unadultered space fun and I think that makes them endure. Obviously if you sat down and watched all of them you can appreciate how lax they are compared to the others but on their own they are brilliantly made 21st century sci-fi films; I think Sith is a great film tbh.
Ok. This article proves to me that writers on whatculture are paid per page view. Write controversial article since outrage brings traffic = make advertisers happy = profit. Whatculture stopped being a film site a long time ago. Now it’s top5 and top10 toilet reading stuff for your ipad.
stop with the trolling and canonically, rate the star wars christmas special.
Actually after getting the Blu Ray box set I’ve come to enjoy the prequels more. Ewan McGregor was just phenomenal as Obi Wan and Ian McDermid was perfect in the role. Even Christiansen in Ep III definitely held his own and seemed more comfortable in really a hard character to portray. Someone mentioned Lucas doesn’t know the law of physics… The law of physics doesn’t apply with The Force. It applies here on earth and who knows if it’s really a law anyways. Sorry but the light saber battles, (after watching the prequels) of the trilogy were lame. I grew up with the trilogy and still love it to this day but I think people keep reading the same bashing over and over again on the Internet about the prequels they tend to believe it. Funny how when Sith came out it was given such rave reviews broke box office records and then the haters on the Internet come out of the wood work to bash that one too. Whatever I enjoyed all 6 movies. Obviously others do as well but it’s easy to complain about something and add then actually state positives about it as this guy is. A few years ago I might have disagreed but I kind of agree with him now. Actually not kind of, I do. One more thing…. Carrie Fisher was great but Natalie Portman is so much hotter! Ha ha. ;-)
Of course Ian McDiarmid was perfect in the role, he played the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. It’s hard not to be perfect for the role when you’re the one who made it famous in the first place.
This was a great article. I love the prequels. Not any more or less than the original trilogy, but I love them. I also love Jar Jar. Yeah, I said it, and I mean it. And I’m even a full-fledged adult–was when they came out, too. Anyway, I particularly enjoyed what you said about the lightsaber battles. They were infinitely better than the originals (except Luke-Vader in ROTJ–Nothing will beat that for emotion and meaning). Granted, as the poster said above, the flourishes and acrobatics aren’t realistic. But who cares? These are Force-users fighting for their lives, not Olympic fencers. Besides, that’s what makes the fights so beautiful and totally hot. Obi-Wan twirling his saber has to be one of the hottest things ever. And while I agree about what you said about the Force, you only mentioned the physical. There were a lot more mental aspects in the prequels than the originals. We got Luke and Yoda checking out the future and Luke calling to Leia in ESB, but that was about it. (Oh, and “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”) In TPM, there’s Ani’s Force test, Qui gathering strength from the Force in the break in their battle. In AOTC, there’s Ani’s dreams, Yoda seeing the Sand People get attacked, “You don’t want to sell me death sticks.” In ROTS, we’ve got more dreams, etc. It’s nice to see the Force used to it’s full potential in the prequels.
“original trilogy is sacred material to most sci-fi fans”
Why? Star Wars is Fantasy NOT Sci-Fi.
Poor fools. Poor poor fools.