10 Reasons You’re Wrong About The Star Wars Prequels

3. They Pioneered A New Aesthetic

Not to begrudge the Sequel Trilogy - which, with the obvious exception of Episode IX, is genuinely strong - there is a lot to be said about aesthetics and how those films were found wanting in bringing a new kind of Star Wars to the fore.

There are obvious reasons for this - the fact they take place after the Original Trilogy being one of them. But they feel derivative - comfortable, even. They're tapping into a version of Star Wars that everyone knows and loves.

The prequels, by contrast, pioneered a whole new kind of aesthetic to contrast with the rougher, carbon scored edges of the original films. They're sleek, extravagant, and while the iconic designs seen in Episodes IV, V and VI are foreshadowed greatly throughout, they present an image of Star Wars that was fresh and exciting, and unquestionably alien-like.

Lucas, his concept artists and his costume and set designers struck a chord balancing the familiar with the unfamiliar in the prequels - a lesson Lucasfilm is currently applying to the upcoming High Republic initiative, which takes place a few hundred years before The Phantom Menace.