1. Never Talk About Them, Ever
Maybe the best way to deal with Episodes I through III, however, is just to avoid discussing them. Sure, talk about the Clone Wars, the fall of the Republic, the rise of the Empire. But do not feel the need to reconcile things like midi-chlorians or the Padme-Anakin love affair with anything going on in Star Wars VII. And maybe, just to accent the point through contrast, discuss the better aspects of the earlier films in-depth. Darth Vaders attempt to turn Luke to the Dark side also indicated some tensions among the Sith Lords, which could be part of the new movies plot. The New Republics starfighters could pay homage to the Rebel Alliances X-Wings. A character could casually mention his grandfather being present at the Battle of Hoth. There is precedent for this as well. The first few Star Trek films were uneven, but generally good, and had an engrossing story line that revealed Kirks complicated love lifewith a scientist-son revealed in the second movie and killed by Klingons in the thirdand hatred of the Klingons. Star Trek V was
comical, with Kirk
et al fighting with God and a hippie Vulcan. Notice how the Star Trek crew dealt with this. Star Trek VIone of the better filmsexplicitly mentions the events in Star Trek III, with Kirks dislike for the Klingons and Klingon anger with him driving the plot. Star Trek V, in contrast, was never mentioned again. So in the case of Star Wars, instead of trying to come up with the explanation I suggest in item #5, just dont talk about the prequels at all. Fans who are ok with canon-revisionism can tell themselves they never existed. Fans who insist on reconciling all works in a series can tell themselves they did exist, but its not too crucial to try to understand why midi-chlorians were only discussed once in six films. And everyone is happy. And while were at it, lets never discuss Ewoks again. What do you think? Will these steps help us to move past the dark chapter in history that is the Star Wars prequels? Or in our most desperate hour, will our only hope fail us?