Star Wars: 10 Things The Prequels Got RIGHT

We’ve reached the ‘Star Wars’ tipping point: ‘Star Wars: Episode I’ is now older than ‘Return of the Jedi’ was when ‘The Phantom Menace’ was released in 1999.

While the critical reception for ‘Episodes I-III’ wasn’t quite as rapturous as it was for  ‘Episodes IV-VI’, the prequel trilogy (for all its faults, of which there are many) actually succeeded in many ways.

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Now, 10 years on from the release of ‘Revenge of the Sith’ we take a look back to see if history has been kind to George Lucas’ prequel trilogy (PT).

Pod Racing

Most remember ‘The Phantom Menace’ for all its tedious trade dispute negotiations, cringe-worthy exchanges between the Anakin and Padme (“Are you an angel?”), and Jar Jar f***ing Binks, but it’s hard to deny the visceral thrills provided by film’s pod racing scenes.

The gut-rumbling THRUM THRUM THRUM of Sebulba’s pod racer as it screams round the dusty Tattoine landscape still gives us goosebumps.

The music

If it weren’t for the PT, we’d never have had John Williams’ ‘Duel of the Fates’, which is still an astonishing piece of movie music. Music streaming service Spotify recently revealed the song, that plays during Qui Gonn and Obi Wan’s battle with Darth Maul, to be the most streamed piece of ‘Star Wars’ music ever.

You’ll be glad to know that Williams - who also scored the original trilogy - is returning for ‘Star Wars 7’, but we doubt he’ll ever top ‘Duel of the Fates’.

The Posters

Another aspect of ‘Star Wars’ that George Lucas wisely decided to keep the same for the prequel trilogy was retaining the services of acclaimed poster artist Drew Struzan.

His distinctive aribrushed style, also used by Lucas for the ‘Indiana Jones’ films, was deployed in an era where hand-drawn poster art was on the way out. This gave them a timeless quality that helped tie the prequels to the original trilogy, in a subliminal, and stylistic way.

Ship design

With the prequel trilogy set years before ‘A New Hope’, George Lucas was presented with a problem. How do you design the past of an already very futuristic world? The solution was to take inspiration from Earth’s past which lead to some beautifully designed crafts like Padme Amidala’s sleek royal starship and the droid army’s landing ship.

The Sith

The word Sith was never uttered in the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy but was introduced in the novelization of the first film which introduced Darth Vader as “The Dark Lord of the Sith”.

The prequels helped flesh out the concept which had been explored in the Expanded Universe novels, by positioning the Sith as the evil Yin to the Jedi’s do-gooding Yang, and introducing the “rule of two” which states there is “One Master and One Apprentice”. Speaking of which…

Darth Maul

The tattooed Sith apprentice was hands down the coolest thing to emerge from the whole Prequel Trilogy. He brought an athleticism to the fight scenes that was sorely missing in the lightsaber battles of original trilogy, thanks to an incredibly acrobatic performance from British stuntman Ray Park.

George Lucas says he envisioned Maul as “a figure from your worst nightmare” and the dual-ended lightsaber-wielding whirling dervish was certainly that. Why, oh why, he was killed off after just one episode is something we’ll never understand. Yes, we know he returned in the Clone Wars, but it still smarts.

The Jedi Order

Before the Prequels, the only Jedis to appear onscreen were Obi Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Luke, but Episodes I-III had an embarrassment of riches when it came to the good guys of the Force.

As well as hundreds of new badass Jedis, the PT showed us Jedi Councils, Jedi Temples, Jedi Libraries, and Jedi Health Spas. OK, we made the last one up, but you get the idea.

Obi Wan

Talking of badass Jedis… Initial concerns from Star Wars fans that Ewan McGregor was the wrong man to play the young Jedi Knight soon looked foolish with the release of ‘Phantom Menace’. His performance, which wisely avoided being a straight up Alec Guinness impression, helped to transform our perception of “the crazy old wizard” and he was recently voted the best Star Wars character ever in an online fan poll.

The Rise of Palpatine

It’s easy to bemoan the prequels’ preoccupation with politics, but we’d argue that the petty squabbling of the Galactic Senate was crucial in setting up the rise of Ian McDiarmid’s Machiavellian villain Palpatine.

His admittedly hammy performance reached peak scenery chewing with Mace Windu’s arrest scene in ‘Revenge of the Sith’, but his delivery of the Darth Plagueis parable is genuinely chilling when contrasted with his character’s chummy bonhomie in ‘Phantom Menace’ .

Anakin’s demise

There are many things to dislike about how the prequels handled the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader, but one thing they didn’t fumble was the devastating mutilation dealt to the conflicted anti-hero by his former friend Obi Wan Kenobi in ‘Revenge of the Sith’.

As Anakin leaps over Obi Wan while they battle on Mustafar’s lava river, his former master amputates both his legs with a simple swipe of his saber. Anakin screams, “I hate you” in agony as he desperately attempts to claw his way to safety before he’s engulfed in flames, while Obi Wan walks away.

No wonder he’s so full of rage when we meet him in ‘A New Hope’.

Watch a new trailer for the latest ‘Star Wars’ instalment coming this December below.

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Image credits: 20th Century Fox