Elrik
2011-06-28, 08:48 PM
If anyone wants to talk about what grinds their gears in the Star Wars universe, then that’s cool too, but I’m going to bring up a few issues that specifically stand out to me.
The Palpatine debate: A lot of people like to make the argument that Palpatine wasn’t at all intelligent, or if they’re feeling benevolent, will say that Palpatine’s entire rise to power wasn’t very magnificent or difficult. One of the major factors people use with this argument is that the Jedi (and the senate, for that matter) were so genre blind it wasn’t hard for Palpatine to be no more of an intellectual threat than Long Feng, and then easily slide in and take advantage of the ineptitude of the denizens of the galaxy. Namely, Palpatine took advantage of some rather stupid monks, an emotionally immature chosen one, and by wearing a hood to fool his rather spineless allies to get what he wanted. Additionally, people who think Palpatine had some legitimate tricks up his sleeve say that he was using the dark side to cloud the Jedi’s minds, prompting them to act the way they did (as far as I know, that’s speculation) and that the EU (novels, comics, etc.) showed more of his cunning than the movies, which cracks open another debate over whether or not the EU should be considered with the movies.
I will fully admit that Palpatine made some pretty dumb decisions in the original three movies, and Anakin is pretty easy to fool, and some of his plans also weren’t helped by other sources of confusion from the movies, like the plot holes in Attack of the Clones or Phantom Menace (others can point said plotholes out if they want to, as I think my post is getting too long). I am curious as to what others think.
Prequels vs. Original: the three major points here are that either
a.) Star Wars has always been a terrible and people are using the original trilogy as a landmark in their childhood to unfairly pick apart the prequels at every turn while holding the original in a higher standard
b.) Star Wars was actually good with episodes 4, 5, and 6, and the prequels legitimately were terrible due to the abysmal script and romance that just didn’t work.
c.) Star Wars is good because of other authors and writers that dabbled in the EU, and the movies by themselves weren’t very impressive.
George Lucas being an agent of the Ebon Dragon: A lot of people go around and say Lucas was a hack, a bad writer from the start. He’s the guy who ruined people’s childhoods (and ironically, probably simultaneously enhanced it with the original trilogy), and the guy who ruined his own creation. Midichlorians, Jar-Jar Binks, Anakin being a whiner of mass proportions, the list goes on. What’s interesting here, though, is Lucas doesn’t look like the guy who is purposely trying to antagonize his fans and be the guy he makes them out to be, and he doesn’t seem to react negatively to the critisicm (as far as I know). When it comes to the fans making stuff (like a replica of a lightsaber, or Storm Trooper outfits) he gets pretty peeved, and fans then see another thing they can use to justify their dislike of him. Granted, he’s made some pretty odd decisions, but to some it’s like this guy tore out their soul and wiped his gutters with it. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone besides Stephanie Meyer gain this much hatred over the years.
The Palpatine debate: A lot of people like to make the argument that Palpatine wasn’t at all intelligent, or if they’re feeling benevolent, will say that Palpatine’s entire rise to power wasn’t very magnificent or difficult. One of the major factors people use with this argument is that the Jedi (and the senate, for that matter) were so genre blind it wasn’t hard for Palpatine to be no more of an intellectual threat than Long Feng, and then easily slide in and take advantage of the ineptitude of the denizens of the galaxy. Namely, Palpatine took advantage of some rather stupid monks, an emotionally immature chosen one, and by wearing a hood to fool his rather spineless allies to get what he wanted. Additionally, people who think Palpatine had some legitimate tricks up his sleeve say that he was using the dark side to cloud the Jedi’s minds, prompting them to act the way they did (as far as I know, that’s speculation) and that the EU (novels, comics, etc.) showed more of his cunning than the movies, which cracks open another debate over whether or not the EU should be considered with the movies.
I will fully admit that Palpatine made some pretty dumb decisions in the original three movies, and Anakin is pretty easy to fool, and some of his plans also weren’t helped by other sources of confusion from the movies, like the plot holes in Attack of the Clones or Phantom Menace (others can point said plotholes out if they want to, as I think my post is getting too long). I am curious as to what others think.
Prequels vs. Original: the three major points here are that either
a.) Star Wars has always been a terrible and people are using the original trilogy as a landmark in their childhood to unfairly pick apart the prequels at every turn while holding the original in a higher standard
b.) Star Wars was actually good with episodes 4, 5, and 6, and the prequels legitimately were terrible due to the abysmal script and romance that just didn’t work.
c.) Star Wars is good because of other authors and writers that dabbled in the EU, and the movies by themselves weren’t very impressive.
George Lucas being an agent of the Ebon Dragon: A lot of people go around and say Lucas was a hack, a bad writer from the start. He’s the guy who ruined people’s childhoods (and ironically, probably simultaneously enhanced it with the original trilogy), and the guy who ruined his own creation. Midichlorians, Jar-Jar Binks, Anakin being a whiner of mass proportions, the list goes on. What’s interesting here, though, is Lucas doesn’t look like the guy who is purposely trying to antagonize his fans and be the guy he makes them out to be, and he doesn’t seem to react negatively to the critisicm (as far as I know). When it comes to the fans making stuff (like a replica of a lightsaber, or Storm Trooper outfits) he gets pretty peeved, and fans then see another thing they can use to justify their dislike of him. Granted, he’s made some pretty odd decisions, but to some it’s like this guy tore out their soul and wiped his gutters with it. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone besides Stephanie Meyer gain this much hatred over the years.