10 Reasons You’re Wrong About The Star Wars Prequels

2. They Kept The Saga Relevant

Empire Magazine recently ran a poll to find their readers' favourite film of all time. The winner, dethroning The Godfather, was The Empire Strikes Back. Thirty-four years since it was first released and the film still remains firmly in the popular consciousness. And only the conceited would say that's not got anything to do with the prequels.

After Return Of The Jedi there were a few of attempts to cash-in on the saga - Ewoks and Droids cartoons and a couple of live-action Endor spin-off features - but tie-in stories didn't really catch on until the early-nineties with Timothy Zahn's impressive Thrawn Trilogy. Even then, it was pulp sci-fi for the fans rather than a wide reaching phenomenon. The first sign of Star Wars becoming the pop culture behemoth it once was again were the Special Editions in 1997. And those were only released to get people amped up for the impending new movies.

The existence of the prequels made the series relevant again, bringing something that had fallen into the realm of geeks into a mainstream passion. And that's ignoring the obvious brilliance born directly from the prequels; Knights Of The Old Republic, both Clone Wars cartoons and to an extent the sequel trilogy all owe their existence to Episodes I-III.