5 Things The Star Wars Prequels Did Better Than The Force Awakens

In the original trilogy, the idea that the Star Wars universe was an incredibly diverse landscape with hundreds of different species and worlds is only vaguely touched upon. Brief scenes, like in the Cantina, or at Jabba’s palace, show a wide array of aliens and creatures, but in the general thrust of the story, our main characters are almost all human beings.

The Force Awakens continues this tradition. There are scenes like those is Maz Kanata’s bar, where the scope of different life-forms is hinted at, but nearly all of the core protagonists and antagonists are human.

Compare this to any of the prequel trilogy films. Worlds like Coruscant and Naboo are shown to home many different aliens, all very distinct from one another in design, language and even culture. In The Phantom Menace alone, characters like Jar Jar Binks, Watto, Darth Maul, Nute Gunray and most of the Jedi Council are shown to be non-human, and many of these characters have significant roles.

Of course, most of these characters are also irredeemably awful in every single way, but this is because of bad dialogue, terrible acting and really baffling racial-stereotyping.

The prequel trilogy, largely because of the advanced technology and financing it had beyond the original trilogy, made the Star Wars universe feel massive for the first time. The Force Awakens, on the other hand, told a far more secluded and human story.