First and foremost, got this week's episode of The Targ up! This week, I've got Episode 38: Family Day Party. As i like to do every year at this time, I share the tale of why we celebrate Family Day, and I share the latest on Vancouver 2010, and what I'm working to do to go.
So, I had a day off with nothing to do, so naturally I thought to myself, "Hey! Do you know what I haven't done yet? Watch the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy in one sitting." I spent my afternoon watching The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.
My first impression, walking away from this, was that in making the prequels, George Lucas borrowed something he did in the Indiana Jones films. And that is, they all start with a big action sequence. #1 has got Obi-Wan and Qui-Gonn escaping from the Trade Federation Ship, #2 has Obi-Wan hanging from that assasin droid through the strees of Coruscant, and #3 opens with the spectacular rescue of Chancellor Palpatine. the original trilogy...doesn't open like that.
What really strikes me though is that the prequels really don't feel like a trilogy. What I mean by that is, there's lots of set-up in the films, but very little payoff in the later films. Instead, when we hit #3, there's lots of callbacks to the previous films. "You wanted revenge, Anakin...just like with your mother and the sand people." "Hey, Anakin, I remember when you gave me this necklace." Lots of stuff like that. Lots of going backwards, but not much going forwards.
Miscellaneous thoughts and musings on the individual films:
Phantom Menace - I look back at Ep. 1 the same way I look back on Tim Burton's Batman. The movie represents more of a cultural event. Summer of '99, you couldn't do anything without encountering some manner of the hype. Watching the film brings back fond memories of the summer, making it tough to focus on the film. Jar Jar seems to get more annoying as the years go by, though.
Attack of the Clones - Really cool battles. Roar! Romantic dialogue is still kind of stilted. Prime example with what I was talking about too much set-up. All that conspiracy stuff with Jedi master Cypher Dias. I thought that it'd be leading up to some big payoff as to who Cypher Dias truly was, or the revelation that he was Darth Sideous's apprentice between 1 and 2, but Sideous offed him because he wasn't that good, but no. All that talk abou Cypher Dias, but no payoff, no big explanations, we're just left going, "Wha?"
Revenge of the Sith - OK, it was kind of expected that the films would get darker as went along, so naturally this is the darkest of the lot. Probably the best one, too.
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