The Star Wars Prequels Are Better Than The Sequels
Search your feelings, you know them to be true…
I am going to tell you why the Star Wars prequels are better than the sequels People always love to hate on the prequel trilogy.
“Mandalorians,” they say.
However, even with that mess of a term the prequels are better.
The original Star Wars trilogy is some of the finest pieces of art, but Star Wars as a whole is inconsistent in quality. It’s understandable though when you have hundreds of products some of them are going to be duds. The big exceptions were supposed to be movies. In 1999 Star Wars Episode I — The Phantom Menace came out and when the film wasn’t what the original trilogy was, perfect, people were outraged. That hate would eventually force George Lucas to sell Star Wars to Disney.
People were ecstatic, myself included. I thought Disney would stop focusing on what Star Wars could be, and instead focus on what Star Wars is. A spiritual journey, not a political thriller. Unfortunately, the same problem that George encountered early in his career, was what destroyed the sequels. Corporate meddling.
Without the corporate meddling, the sequels had the potential to beat the original trilogy, yet they failed. It’s time to recognize the unequivocal truth, the prequels are better than the sequels, and the biggest reason why, is that they had a plan.
To this day if you ask me what the sequels are about I would say, no idea. On the surface level, it’s about Rey being thrown into a world she doesn’t fully understand. She then becomes one of the only people able to stop the First Order, who in the last movie turned into the Final Order when Emperor Palpatine came back to life. If that sentence seems vague and convoluted while at the same time overly simplistic, it’s because it is.
The movies don’t develop Rey as the main character. I know she is supposed to be THE main character because of all the marketing, but Finn is the character that goes through the most growth. The sequel trilogy also opens with him and his desertion. Also Kylo Ren, later Ben Solo, was a much more interesting character than Rey, and the sequels seemed to be more focused on developing him and Finn.
Another big problem with the sequels is lack of clarity, how is the Resistance so small? I understand that in Episode VI they were a small rebellion, but certainly freeing the Galaxy from a tyrannical, power-hungry maniac should have won supporters by the thousands, maybe millions. Not only that but Luke Skywalker is an icon. Imagine being the organization that gave birth to a legend. Yet the Sequels never confirm the size of the Resistance and in Episode VIII they can all fit into one room. How?
More confusing is Episode IX, where they need to send Lando to gain sympathizers throughout the galaxy. How can the liberators of the galaxy, not have the whole galaxy backing them up in the first place? I understand Disney has probably explained this in a novel, comic book, or Fortnite, but why do you need to do extra research to understand something so basic.
This is where the prequels for all their faults succeed. Believe it or not, the first movie sets up interesting plot points that pay off in the last.
For example: In Episode I, we set up
- The return of the Sith.
- Sheev Palpatine’s scheming for political power.
- The birth, and doubtful training of the Chosen One.
- The creepy romance between Anakin and Padme
- Qui-Gon Jinn’s doubts on the Jedi Counsel; remember even though he was a master he was not in the council because he followed the will of the force, not the will of man.
- And the politics of Star Wars.
If the original trilogy was a fantasy, sci-fi adventure about good wizards trying to defeat evil wizards, then the prequels are Rome in Space. Space Jesus included.
The Prequels set up various plot points and you know what happens by Episode III, they pay off. Palpatine becomes emperor, the chosen one falls because he was too old to be institutionalized by the system. Anakin and Padme’s romance flourishes and dies. The council gets demolished because of their own avarice. Democracy because desperation becomes a republic.
Maybe they weren’t the Star Wars movies that you wanted, but at least they made sense as a whole.
The prequels also have some of the best fight scenes in all of Star Wars. Aside from that final fight with Rey and Kylo where they start to bend the lightsabers with the force. Every single duel in the prequels was much more exciting than anything in the sequels. The final duel against Obi-Wan in Mustafar has to go down as one of the best movie fights of all time.
The prequels also gave us Darth Maul, General Grievous, Count Dooku, and one of Star Wars' most iconic songs “Duel of the Fates” which was used as the music for the final trailer in the Rise of Skywalker.
In simple terms what it comes down too, is the fact that while Star Wars changed drastically in the prequels, they were at the very least cohesive. And that is without a doubt, better than what Disney gave us.
What are your thoughts? Are you going to give the prequels a chance? Let me know.
