10 Reasons Prequels Ruin Movie Franchises

7. Real World Technology Advances Betray Your Film

It is impossible to discuss this point without again criticizing the Star Wars prequels due to how LITTLE they paid attention to this. Things that were utterly impossible to show on film are one thing. Showing a non-human creature more realistically or showing Jedi knights fighting with more detail and finesse would've probably been acceptable. But by creating a world that seemed technologicially light years ahead of a trilogy of films set 30 years in their future, Lucas betrayed his own world in ways that really should've occurred to him. If you make a droid fly who's never flown before (R2D2!), your audience will wonder why he never flew again - especially when he consistently would be helped by doing so in the earlier, yet later films. The Original Trilogy also had a gritty, REAL feel to its Rebel faction - The Empire looked like they could afford cleaning services, but even their Stormtroopers looked like they'd spent a week in the desert when they'd, you know, spent a week in the desert. The CGI used to generate clone troops generates them all right. And they all look the same. All clean. All uniform. Even on a dirty swamp planet. I'm not saying solely practical sets and costumes should've been used. But some more realism, especially set EARLIER in the timeline, would've helped. Guilty Parties: Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars. It can't be stated enough that with all the resources to succeed Lucasfilm created something that immediately has to compete with itself and fail on even an aesthetic level. It's ironic too, because the rise of Steampunk as a cultural phenomena means that a more cluttered, nuts & bolts oriented Star Wars prequel probably would've been ahead of its time. I'm certainly not saying that it should've been outright primitive in comparison, but a bit less shiny and a bit more fuss, especially at the Tantooine level, would've made lot more sense in its timeline's context. Exception: X-Men: 1st Class utterly suceeds in this regard by making the film a period piece (thus keeping technology in check anyway for anachronistic reasons) and using the same effects for its Mutant cast that its preceding films later in its timeline use. The level of detail extends to Azazel, who in canon is Nightcrawler's father, teleporting with the EXACT same effect. Sure, years on they could've done something more impressive. And yes, the casual viewer wouldn't have noticed or cared. But with a film that they fully intended to be an earlier rendering of the world shown in X-men 1-3, this level of attention helps. (It'll be interesting to see them continue to succeed - or fail - with the upcoming X-Men: Days of the Future Past - They have to maintain the period feel AND have their young Professor Xs and Magnetos interract. That said, I actually expect more success in this regard than Star Trek managed.