10 Reasons You’re Wrong About The Star Wars Prequels

5. They Improve The Mythology

Star Wars The Last Jedi Yoda Luke Skywalker
Lucasfilm

There are many justifiable criticisms of the prequels, including the advent of midi-chlorians and Anakin Skywalker's abrupt turn to the Dark Side. Those two critiques in particular have been used to say that the prequels have managed to make the galaxy far, far away feel so much smaller than it once did; that the films are lesser for answering what should have remained unanswered.

However, for all that the prequels failed to execute on some ideas, their sheer existence alone adds complexity to Star Wars. The Original Trilogy is still phenomenal, and to say that it was black and white would be patently false. The Jedi - Obi-Wan and Yoda - are deceptive in those first three films, and darkness is forever a presence in Luke Skywalker's character.

The prequels, however, expanded upon those ideas. And indeed, their contribution to the original films goes acknowledged in The Last Jedi, where Luke tells Rey of how the Jedi's own arrogance allowed Darth Sidious to destroy the Republic and create the Empire.

Is it a little weird how Darth Vader built C-3PO? Yes. But is it worth getting rid of that for podracing, the clones, and all the other expanded media goodies that have improved the saga? Not by a long shot.

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.