Episode 3

[WindupAtheist]

Presumably some Jedi besides Yoda and Obi survived the purge, and needed to be hunted down by Vader.  *shrug*

But yeah, I wanted to see him go into that temple and just fucking wade through assholes.  Take them on in threes and fours and just whirl through them.  Bah.

[Triforcer]

Presumably some Jedi besides Yoda and Obi survived the purge, and needed to be hunted down by Vader.  *shrug*

A few did, and that's covered mostly in the comics of the period.  A couple actually survived the purge and were still alive by the time Episode IV rolled around- Halagad Ventor comes to mind, there was a semi-tree like Jedi that had been hibernating also, maybe one or two more.

[Llava]

Yeah, a few had to survive.  Otherwise recalibrating the signal to assure that they'd all stay away from the temple would've been fairly pointless.  And Yoda probably would've known that it was pointless.

[Litigator]

And it's a shame, because if somebody had said "George, maybe we should lay a strong foundation for the stuff in Episode 3 by dedicating screen time to developing these characters and this romance in Episode 2, instead of an hour of extraneous shit about the origin of the bounty hunter who has four lines in the original trilogy," this whole failed three-film enterprise might have been salvaged. 

As I said earlier, I'm going through the prequels atm, and now I'm almost done with AotC. The Obi-Wan detective story shit is the only thing that's really working about this film. It's hardly extraneous. Sure, Lucas is catering to fans of an old side character that wasn't intended to be "popular"....But it all works --- This is Attack of the "Clones", after all. Tracing the bounty hunter is the key to open that part of the story up.

From the very moment Obi-Wan jumps out of Padme's apartment to catch the bounty hunter, until the two story arcs tie together at the first clone battle, it's pretty terrific (minus the Padme/Anakin scenes). Lots of great action, and McGregor gets plenty of screen time. Not a bad thing. Casting Temura Morrison was a great choice as well.

He wouldn't necessarily need to throw it all out --- but concentrating on a better way to pull off the romantic story part, that I'll agree with.

The Anakin/Padme stuff really is pretty fucking horrible. It's funny how Lucas does a fairly servicable job in a broad range of things, like sword combat/fight scenes, vehicular action/chase scenes, massive space battles, "cutesy shit" ala R2-D2, slapstick, political intrigue, detective stories, etc., etc......But he's just a completel jackass when it comes to romance. I mean, "fireplace lighting"? Can you get any more soap opera-ish than that? It's truly painful. Perhaps the only good scene is when they were out in the field talking about the Senate (when Anakin jokes about "dictatorships").

The romance sucks, but it really is the most important thing in the whole trilogy.  Lucas either should have done whatever was necessary to make it work, or he should not have made that central to Anakin's fall.  And turning away from the Jedi philosophy didn't exactly have much dramatic heft either, since the Jedi philosophy is a bunch of fortune cookie shit.

Even if you liked the clone army thing, it was pointless.  It wasn't part of the main story arc, and the emperor could have taken control of the Republic's armies in like five minutes and they could have excised the whole plot of Episode 2, and actually done something to set the stage for the stuff in episode 3.

General Grievous made for some cool set pieces too,  but he also took a lot of time away from the central story arc that tied the three films together, and that collapsed under the weight of the extraneous stuff.

[Tebonas]

Executive Order 66, that was all the reason needed to have the clone army. The Republic armies couldn't be trusted to take out all Jedi at the same moment, Loyalities to the Republic are fine and dandy, killswitches embedded into the genetic makeup are better. I kind of think the Jedi would have put up more of a fight if they weren't all attacked simultanously by whoever of their trusted clone troops was closest to them. Trust they earned during a fake war, because their loyality wasn't faked. Just erased when it was inconvenient to the grand plan. The Jedi had no forewarning, forewarning they would have had with regular troops who knew of their betrayal orders beforehand. The clone troops didn't.

I was REALLY pissed off about the quick killing of the Jedi until I realized this. Plus, I'm really really really sure executive order 66 was buggy and screwed with the targetting abilites of the clones. Which explains Stormtroopers.

[Jayce]

I saw it a second time.  It was better the second time, partially because I could pay attention to the nuances, and partially because I wasn't struggling to stay awake (we saw the 12:45am show last time).

I still think there were too many scenes that didn't seem fleshed out, like they were just there to make a plot point and move on (I don't get the "don't go there" comment I got earlier on that).  But there were some that were elaborated well.  I really think that Lucas should have had the cojones, like Jackson, to make a 3.5 hour movie, or at least 3 hours.  That, and cutting some of the unnecessary bits, would have given him enough time to do things like (for example)

- Give more than an establishing shot to Yoda/Kenobi entering the Jedi temple after the pogrom
- Have Vader do more things in the suit, like track down remaining Jedi (they could have shown more than just Yoda sensing something was wrong and defending themselves in time).  Kenobi and Yoda could have chased him around the galaxy, to greater dramatic effect.  I do however, after reading this thread, appreciate Order 66 a bit more than I did.
- Give more time (and write better dialog) between Padme and Anakin
- Give Padme somethng more heroic to do
- I could go on

I think it would have been more impactful and beleiveable to have Padme die of complications from the force choke rather than from depression.  That, "NOOO" and the gratuitous Wookiees are pretty much just nitpicks that I have, and I could live with them if the movie was more elaborated.  But overall, I now think it was the best of the first three, even if Ep1 has points on it in a few areas.

[WayAbvPar]

- Give more time (and write better dialog) between Padme and Anakin

I realize that the relationship was central to Anakin's fall, but the movie just STOPPED whenever they cut to a 'relationship scene'. Adding more without out a huge rewrite would have made it unbearable.

[Bunk]

IMDB says that the role of Governor Tarkin was played by one Wayne Pygram.

His body maybe.

Actually, Wayne Pygram looks a little like Cushing. He's best known for playing Scorpius on Farscape.

[MaceVanHoffen]

- Give more time (and write better dialog) between Padme and Anakin

I realize that the relationship was central to Anakin's fall, but the movie just STOPPED whenever they cut to a 'relationship scene'. Adding more without out a huge rewrite would have made it unbearable.

I saw Episode III last night, and you sum up my primary objection to the whole movie.  Padme and Anakin seemed only together in scenes designed to show the MAD PWNAGE of digital backdrops.

It would have been ok if that had been my only objection.  God, that movie sucked.  I'm a little pissed that I paid to see it now.  I find it impossible to rate Episode III relative to I and II.  They are all pretty much the same suckiness.  Worst.  Trilogy.  Ever.

[Bunk]

Hmm, certainly more hate here than I expected. Saw it Wednesday night and thouroughly enjoyed it. Like many, I'd rank it above Jedi overall. It was far darker than I expected, which I'm glad for. A few quick thoughts:

 - No C3PO one-liners. Yay!
 - Loved the Palpatine/Windu fight. I liked that the Emperor used a decidedly different fighting style than the Jedi - much more offensively oriented.
 - Kit Fisto - the great tentically hero of the Clone Wars cartoon - goes down in one swing. LOL.
 - They shot my lovely blue twil'ek jedi in the back. Didn't even get to draw her saber. *sniff*
 - I really didn't think much on the Frankenvader thing when I watched it, but I'll admit it was hokey.
 - Obi-wan's line after shooting Grievous with the blaster was cheesy, but cheesy in a good way.
 - Yoda waving at the guards as he walks through the door. Whole damn theater cheered.
 - I stopped reading Shild's posts about two pages ago. Not going to let him spoil my enjoyment.

[AOFanboi]

Twue love!

I sometimes think of how The Princess Bride would have turned out had it been directed by Lucas.

I then wake up screaming, drenched in sweat.

[MrHat]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/showbiz/tm_objectid=15552841&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=light-sabre-duel-puts-two-in-hospital-name_page.html%5B/url%5D

[Margalis]

I thought the Jedi could see into the future thanks to the power of the midi-chlorians. Isn't that was Qui-Gon said in Ep 1 when he grabbed Jar-Jar's tongue. So how could they be surprised by shots in the back?

If they are going to add in stupid asides that add nothing, they might as well stick to them.

[HaemishM]

I have not seen Ep3 yet, but it occurs to me that the entire prequel trilogy, over 6 hours of film has only brought us about 10 minutes worth of non-shit filmmaking. And all 10 minutes is from the first film, the fight scene between Darth Maul and Obi-Won/Qui-Gon. The rest of it was total, useless shit. There was absolutely NO good reason for any of the story in the first movie at all, other than that fight scene.

[WayAbvPar]

Agreed. Darth Maul was tragically underused in Ep I, and everything else (Jar Jar and that shitty little bastard kid chief among them) was overused. Some more Qui Gon and Obi-Wan asskicking would have been nice too- I enjoyed seeing Anakin and Obi-Wan together in II and III.

[WindupAtheist]

I thought the Jedi could see into the future thanks to the power of the midi-chlorians. Isn't that was Qui-Gon said in Ep 1 when he grabbed Jar-Jar's tongue. So how could they be surprised by shots in the back?

If they are going to add in stupid asides that add nothing, they might as well stick to them.

They can only see a few seconds into the future, at least with concrete reliability.  Just enough time to intercept a blaster shot, or what have you.  Beyond that extent, things get muddy and their precogntion becomes "prophecy" or whatever.  Some of the Jedi DO turn around and attempt to defend themselves, but ten or more guys blasting you at close-quarters is impossible to stop with a lightsaber.  As for the ones that are blasted all unsuspecting, perhaps they were simply concentrating on something else at the time.

[Shockeye]

Why can't Jedi focus the force around them to create a force-field?

Dumbasses.

[Llava]

Huh.

A guy aged 20 and a girl aged 17.  You'd think one of them would've thought "Hey, maybe filling a long glass tube with petrol and then swinging them at each other isn't a bright idea."  Two guys around 15 I could see- rampant stupidity can arise easily there.

[Viin]

Why can't Jedi focus the force around them to create a force-field?

Dumbasses.

Compared to my badass self in both KoToR and all the Jedi Knight games, I must say the Jedi from the movies are Force-retarded.

[Jayce]

If they are going to add in stupid asides that add nothing, they might as well stick to them.

I've given up pointing out continuity errors.  Some wiseass like WUA always pops up with a plausible but unlikely explanation.  Not wanting to argue against the arsenal of free time, geek motivation, and, no doubt, a lot of EU stuff I don't know about, I just quietly accept that Lucas could have could added Threepio becomng a gay Jedi Wookiee and there would be some explanation for it.

[Shockeye]

If they are going to add in stupid asides that add nothing, they might as well stick to them.

I've given up pointing out continuity errors.  Some wiseass like WUA always pops up with a plausible but unlikely explanation.  Not wanting to argue against the arsenal of free time, geek motivation, and, no doubt, a lot of EU stuff I don't know about, I just quietly accept that Lucas could have could added Threepio becomng a gay Jedi Wookiee and there would be some explanation for it.

I doubt that. Everyone, even the geeks, know that Threepio likes the poon.

[MaceVanHoffen]

I've given up pointing out continuity errors.  Some wiseass like WUA always pops up with a plausible but unlikely explanation.  Not wanting to argue against the arsenal of free time, geek motivation, and, no doubt, a lot of EU stuff I don't know about, I just quietly accept that Lucas could have could added Threepio becomng a gay Jedi Wookiee and there would be some explanation for it.

Threepio becoming anything would have been more entertaining than the rancid pile of Yoda droppings we got instead.  I'd settle for some hot R2D2-Threepio action over lameass whiny teenagers saying, "I WANT TO RULE THE GALAXY!"  Ugh, after that I was waiting for the "OMG LOLZ UR PWNED!!@"

[Shockeye]

The shitfest that was the entire prequel trilogy can be summed up with this amazingly horrid line from Episode 3, "You're breaking my heart, Anakin."

[Furiously]

Oh thanks a ton. Now I'm gonna have Elton John stuck in my head all day...

Don't go breaking my heart
I couldn't if I tried
Honey if I get restless
Baby you're not that kind

Don't go breaking my heart
You take the weight off me
Honey when you knock on my door
I gave you my key

[Threash]

 - Kit Fisto - the great tentically hero of the Clone Wars cartoon - goes down in one swing. LOL.
 - They shot my lovely blue twil'ek jedi in the back. Didn't even get to draw her saber. *sniff*
 

Those two things bugged me a bit also.  The Twil'eks name is Aayla Secura (played by this hottie) and she along with Kit Fisto and a few others had pretty extensive EU backstories spanning several books.  Then Lucas decides to add them to his movies just so he can kill them like bitches.

[Shockeye]

I was pretty amazed how shitty he portrayed all the other Jedi. Oh well, it's over and my childhood has been burned away. I will shed no more tears.

[Krakrok]

- Yoda waving at the guards as he walks through the door. Whole damn theater cheered.

Same. I don't get it.

[stray]

It's called "physical comedy".

But of course, it doesn't work if one's "childhood" has been shit on 

[Evil Elvis]

Hayden wants to stop acting.  Apparently he started at some point.

I was going to just wrap it in some geekish Star Wars comment like "a million voices cried out in happiness", but I'm starting to feel very apathetic about it all.

[HaemishM]

Hayden wants to stop acting.  Apparently he started at some point.

I was going to just wrap it in some geekish Star Wars comment like "a million voices cried out in happiness", but I'm starting to feel very apathetic about it all.

Wow, he even sounds like the Stephen Glass character from Shattered Glass. Whiney pussy.

[stray]

Wow, he even sounds like the Stephen Glass character from Shattered Glass. Whiney pussy.

Surely you have some idea how frustrating the film industry is (and just "entertainment" in general, for that matter). I mean seriously --- I actually prefer sitting around posting on message boards to it.

[Arnold]

I thought the Jedi could see into the future thanks to the power of the midi-chlorians. Isn't that was Qui-Gon said in Ep 1 when he grabbed Jar-Jar's tongue. So how could they be surprised by shots in the back?

If they are going to add in stupid asides that add nothing, they might as well stick to them.

Because the Jedi were a bunch of asshats.  Kenobi and Yoda were the biggest jackasses of all and Qui Gon is laughing at them, despite not being in 2 movies.

Qui Gon was right about Anakin being the "chosen one" who will bring balance to the force.  Anakin is partially responsible for evening the odds, and making it 2 Jedi vs 2 Sith.

Yoda was a fucking coward.  He suffers a small setback, as he gets his ass kicked off of the senate and falls.  What does he do after that?  He goes into hiding!  Even that whiney bitch, Luke, didn't go running off after he got his ass kicked out of cloud city, and he lost a hand in the process!  Yoda had all limbs intact.

Then Qui Gon pulls a rabbit out of his hat and saves all their asses by figuring out how to become immortal.  I can't help but think that Luke would have been way better off if Qui Gon was appearing to him than hhe was having Kenobi mentor him.

Qui Gon was the best character in all 3 prequels and they killed him off way too quick :(

That being said, Episode III still kicked ass.  I had a big smile on my face for most of the movie.  It did drag in certain points and would have been much better if they had used about 25% of RoTS in AOTC (assuming they would yank stuff that didn't matter from AOTC).

Grievous bugged the shit out of me.  Why is a robot coughing?  That's just stupid.  Old joints and motors squealing and wheezing as he moves, yes.  Sending the sound of a cough out of a speaker to show that he's an old, ailing robot, NO!

I also disliked how Lucas tried to paint Anakin as an innocent who slips to the dark side out of love.  I'm sorry, but when you slaughter a group of children, you are a fucking evil, perverted bastard.  There is no reason to try and pass you off as anything else.

[stray]

Yoda was a fucking coward. He suffers a small setback, as he gets his ass kicked off of the senate and falls. What does he do after that? He goes into hiding! Even that whiney bitch, Luke, didn't go running off after he got his ass kicked out of cloud city, and he lost a hand in the process! Yoda had all limbs intact.

It seemed that Mace and Yoda were superior to Sidious with lightsabers, but not with the force (at least that's how it seems with the Mace fight). And when Yoda and Sidious first start duking it out, Sidious trys run out the door after zapping him. Why? It's just my guess, but probably because he knew it'd come down to a saber fight.

When Yoda lost his saber though, he knew he it'd be suicide if he stayed.

[Jayce]

 - Kit Fisto - the great tentically hero of the Clone Wars cartoon - goes down in one swing. LOL.
 - They shot my lovely blue twil'ek jedi in the back. Didn't even get to draw her saber. *sniff*
 

Those two things bugged me a bit also.  The Twil'eks name is Aayla Secura (played by this hottie) and she along with Kit Fisto and a few others had pretty extensive EU backstories spanning several books.  Then Lucas decides to add them to his movies just so he can kill them like bitches.

Is that you with her?

[Viin]

Grievous bugged the shit out of me.  Why is a robot coughing?  That's just stupid.  Old joints and motors squealing and wheezing as he moves, yes.  Sending the sound of a cough out of a speaker to show that he's an old, ailing robot, NO!

Did you miss the part where Kenobi rips some of his armor apart and it shows his insides, which are actually body parts? He had a heart, lungs, and stuff. Even his face was at least partially bio with a metal plate on top - so I assume he's some kind of cyborg.