1. The Star Wars Prequels: What Went Wrong?
Call me crazy if you must, but I’m going to say it and be honest: I am a die-hard Star Wars fan. I love the
series so much that I have seen all six movies and own all of them (unfortunately, Revenge of the Sith-my
favorite of the six-part saga- is the only Star Wars film I have on DVD. But then again, the 2000 VHS
versions of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back , and Return of the Jedi are better than the 2004 DVDs
of those movies, as the VHS versions did not make any unneeded changes). I have both Lego Star Wars
and its sequel, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, on my Gameboy Advance, and I even still play
both games frequently. I just love everything about the Star Wars saga- everything from space battles to
lightsaber duels. Cool stuff? Absolutely, and that’s why I wish I had a lightsaber, preferably green
because green means I have great skill in force abilities. Excellent. That makes me a wise Jedi.
But on to the point. You probably noticed that my favorite Star Wars film is Revenge of the Sith. Ironic? I
should think so because if this review criticizes either of the two trilogies, it’s the prequel trilogy. Okay, I
know this sounds like another hateful assessment of the prequels and it sounds like I am too friendly to
the original trilogy. But I’m not. I personally like the original trilogy better, but I am not a big basher of the
prequels. Look, the first Star Wars film I saw in theaters was The Phantom Menace. I was just seven
when it premiered in May 1999, so I have almost no memory of seeing the theatrical version. This review
is based off what mistakes I have picked up on after having watched the VHS versions numerous times.
One can say that George Lucas had more original ideas with Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi. Whatever
happened to Lucas between Jedi’s release in 1983 and Phantom’s release in 1999 partly has to do with
the advent of CGI. People change, ideas change. But- I now leave you with my criticism of the prequels.
Excessive CGI and characters who serve little, if any, purpose to the story
I’m probably not the first to point this one out, but George Lucas overdid CGI during production of the
prequels (at least for the Gungans in Episode I). Now don’t get me wrong, the birth of CGI to the film
industry was a helpful development. It helped Lucas reach his original vision for the Star Wars trilogy and
made it that much easier to create new ships and characters. That’s the problem- Lucas heavily relied on
CGI to create some of the worst Star Wars characters known to mankind. From Jar Jar’s first appearance
in The Phantom Menace to General Grievous’ only appearance in Revenge of the Sith (thank God that
was his only appearance!), the crew of the prequels were dependent on CGI to create sell out characters
so Lucasfilm could make millions of dollars off Episode I. Talk about senseless thinking on their part. The
Gungans were perhaps the most offensive species ever created. No wonder Jar Jar is the least popular
character in the franchise. But there are many more!
Late introduction of Darth Sidious’ apprentice in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones
How about that scene on the Trade Federation battleship (just after Queen Amidala’s ship escapes the
blockade) where Darth Maul is introduced? Many in the audience on that Wednesday in May 1999 could
have been wondering, “About time we see him!” It’s almost halfway through Episode I, and only then do
we meet Darth Maul? His role in the film seems very trivial. He was assigned to kidnap Queen Amidala
and hunt down Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. That’s it. The real ultimate villain was Darth Sidious because he,
not Nute Gunray, was the real leader of the Trade Federation, and he was the true mastermind behind
the invasion of Naboo. He was on both sides, and it just gets better in Episode II. Something in the plot
that makes sense to the audience!
Attack of the Clones starts with an assassination attempt against Senator Amidala’s life. She suspects
that Count Dooku is responsible, but Mace Windu insists that Dooku would never try to murder anyone,

2. as he once was a Jedi. So his name is mentioned. But wait - we don’t see him until more than halfway
through the film. By that point, Obi-Wan tried to find haven in Geonosis after he pursued Jango Fett. We
finally find out who Dooku was: A former Jedi, once Qui-Gon’s master and now the leader of the
Confederacy of Independent Systems, who left the Jedi Order ten years earlier. Now we have met him
and are aware of his role. What’s the problem? Like Darth Maul before him, Dooku has very little screen
time, so his role is insignificant. He was in charge of the CIS, held Obi -Wan prisoner, ordered Anakin,
Padmé, and Obi-Wan to be executed, took the Death Star plans with him, injured Obi-Wan and Anakin,
and reported that the CIS and the Republic were at war. That all looks like Dooku was an effective
apprentice, but come on- his appearance was still minimal at best. Much like Maul, he had almost no
purpose to these movies. He was only a convenient placeholder for Episode II. How sad.
Who is the main villain?
Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the Sith reappear during the events of Episode I. As Yoda said during Qui-
Gon’s funeral pyre, “Always two there are. No more, no less. A master and an apprentice.” Throughout
the prequels, Darth Sidious was the leader of the Trade Federation, but he always has an associate:
Darth Maul in TPM, Count Dooku in AOTC, and Darth Vader in ROTS and the original trilogy, where it
was always clear who the main villain is (Darth Vader in ANH and TESB and the Emperor in ROTJ).
For some reason, identifying the primary bad guy was something the prequels failed to do. As the four
most important Sith, Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, Count Dooku, and Darth Vader have pretty fair
credentials as villains. No matter which trilogy you grew up with, no one can forget Vader’s famous first
appearance in ANH. From that point, it was clear to the audience that he was the main bad guy. So who
is the main bad guy supposed to be in the prequels? I guess Darth Sidious might claim that title while it is
up for grabs because, as I mentioned earlier, he was on both sides. But what role are Maul and Dooku
supposed to play? How about General Grievous (one of the most annoying characters of the trilogy) in
ROTS?
Darth Maul has little time on screen and only three lines
I cannot, I just cannot accept this. I just mentioned that the prequels made it all but impossible to identify
a main villain. Who was Darth Maul? He was Sidious’ first apprentice and a Zabrak from the planet
Dathomir. With a double-bladed lightsaber and horns on his head that make him resemble Satan, Maul
was a unique, but deadly Sith who could be Vader’s nearest rival for the “best Sith” award. Yet in the only
Star Wars film in which he appears, he is rarely seen. I am beyond certain that he is the antagonist in
TPM. So why do we see so little of Maul and so much of Jar Jar, who fell short from being a legitimate
character? Yup, this is why there is little action in TPM. To add insult to injury, one of the coolest villains in
the saga only has three lines. Here, he doesn’t even come close to rivaling Vader, but at least his fighting
style is just as impressive and unpredictable as Vader’s.
Darth Maul’s premature death (disputed)
The killing of Darth Maul was maybe the most controversial event of TPM. Maybe it was not. Whatever
the case, give or take, his death can be seen as one of the film’s greatest moments. In some respects,
this is true: It made Obi-Wan the first Jedi in a millennium to kill a Sith Lord, it made him a Jedi Knight,
and he was given permission to train Anakin.
Those who argue against Maul’s death believe his demise adds on to the worst decisions made in the
prequels because he was so skilled as a Sith and was perhaps more evil than Dooku. This is certainly a
fair and valid argument. Hey, Maul could have done just as well as a Sith apprentice if he had made it to
Attack of the Clones. Dooku may have only been a placeholder, but if Maul had survived TPM, we would
not have seen Christopher Lee in one of the few scenes of AOTC that I like, the Yoda/Dooku lightsaber
duel. Christopher Lee is an excellent actor, and his distinct voice made his appearance in AOTC and his
brief appearance in ROTS all the better. We are talking the same actor who portrayed Saruman in The
Lord of the Rings film trilogy!

3. Boring love story in Attack of the Clones
If any element in the AOTC plot explains why this film is so boring, it’s the romance between Anakin and
Padmé. This was the worst part of the second film of the prequel trilogy, and the reason the movie was so
bad, apart from the bad dialogue. Of all the ideas George Lucas had for the prequels, this was by far the
worst. One-third of the Episode II plot covers this love story. That they even met was itself a mistake in
the first place, so why did they fall in love and marry at the end of the movie? Jedis weren’t allowed to fall
in love, much less marry. The on screen chemistry that Lucas saw between Hayden Christen and Natalie
Portman certainly wasn’t shared by the fans, myself included.
The “chosen one” is a whiny and selfish brat
It’s very simple to notice that Anakin was a failure in these movies. He failed as a character and he failed
in bringing balance to the force. Instead of a mature and tough character who will stop at nothing that we
know Darth Vader as, Anakin is a childish and arrogant hypocrite as a Jedi. Qui -Gon discovers him and
sees how strong the force is in him. Anakin wins a podrace and his freedom from slavery. He decides to
leave his mother and C-3PO, and accompanies Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon to Coruscant. He is tested by the
Jedi Council, who determine that the force is indeed strong in him, but advise against his training. He
accompanies the Jedi back to Naboo. He joins the Battle of Naboo and ends up destroying the Trade
Federation battleship. He becomes Obi-Wan’s apprentice.
Still, Episode I already shows how reckless Anakin really is. In Episode II, we met a nineteen-year-old
padawan Anakin. From the exact moment in the movie when he is assigned to protect Padmé on Naboo,
a reckless Anakin is all we see. Yup, a reckless Anakin and not a caring Anakin. He wiped out the entire
Tusken Raider camp, including the men, women, and children in revenge for his mother’s death. He
confessed it to Padmé, and here his hypocrisy is exposed: “It’s all Obi -Wan’s fault! He’s jealous! He’s
holding me back!” Really? You’re going to blame your master for your careless and selfish deeds? What
a jerk! To make things worse, Padmé, instead of scolding him, was sympathetic to him! I’m sorry, but I
cannot understand that, much less how she even fell for this loser.
His recklessness did not stop there. In Episode III, Anakin had become a Jedi Knight. His rank changed,
but his attitude didn’t. That scene he made when the Council refused him the rank of Master was just
inexcusable and a total embarrassment. This is what made Anakin so unloved. He was the same whiner
and victim player he was in the previous film. Why couldn’t he just be happy that the Council made him a
member? Many thoughtless actions followed: He cut off Mace Windu’s hand and left him to die, he killed
the younglings, he eliminated the Separatist Leaders, and he nearly choked Padmé to death. At that
point, I just could not stand him anymore. His career as a Jedi officially reached its all-time low point. He
had become an evil person. The Anakin in the prequels contradicted the Vader of the older movies.
Jango Fett during the Geonosis Arena scene
We were introduced to Jango Fett in the Kamino scene of AOTC. The clone troopers were copies of him.
So we know who Jango Fett was. In fact, we briefly saw him earlier as the bounty hunter who killed Zam
Wesell. He was a true bounty hunter. Whatever he did later during the Geonosis Arena scene helped to
ruin the movie’s reputation. It didn’t make much sense to try to steal Mace’s lightsaber when Jango could
have just shot at Mace with his guns from a distance. And his jetpack serves as another strong
advantage. Maybe Lucas just wanted to kill Jango off? So far, the only character who had been killed off
was Darth Maul.
A big chunk of the work is Lucas’ and almost no ideas from anyone else
If anybody is to be at least partly blamed for the failures the prequel trilogy, it’s Lucas himself. He had as
much creativity on the prequel trilogy as he did on the original trilogy, yet he failed to deliver a worthwhile
story in the prequels. Part of the problem was lazy writ ing and no outside ideas. Every Star Wars fan
knows this: If you want the audience to understand the story, the producers need to have a say in the

4. story before the script is ready to become a movie. Isn’t that the point of a film crew? As pointed out
earlier, the most hated Star Wars characters were only invented to make money off these films. Lucas
had some of the best ideas for the best space franchise in history, but it didn’t do him too much good that
TPM was the first Star Wars movie he directed since ANH. As long as time machines do not exist and will
not for a very long time, the shortcomings of the prequel trilogy cannot be undone, so it’s up to J. J.
Abrams to learn from them and vow not to repeat them in the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII (yup,
Lucas will not be the director for this one). It would be best for the sake of the fans of Star Wars and the
franchise to be spared the mistakes of the prequels. We want to be convinced that Episode VII will be
decent and not a repeat of TPM, AOTC, and ROTS.
If I had to score the six movies, this is how I would rate them on a scale of one to ten:
The Phantom Menace: 8.5/10 (B)
Attack of the Clones: 6.3/10 (D)
Revenge of the Sith: 8.7/10 (B+)
A New Hope: 9.3/10 (A-)
The Empire Strikes Back : 9.5/10 (A)
Return of the Jedi: 9.9/10 (A+)
This is my favorite to least favorite order:
Revenge of the Sith
Return of the Jedi
The Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Most common favorite to least favorite order:
The Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
Attack of the Clones
The Phantom Menace