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With the consensus of the suckiness of the prequels, whats the general opinion on why they did so well in the box office? I mean looking on wikipedia the overall cash intake of the prequel movies looked pretty damned impressive. Not as impressive as the original trilogy but still it made a lot of loving cash. I never saw any of those movies in the theater, but why didn't people just walk out or ask for their money back considering how craptastic the films were?
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Dec 26, 2010 21:10
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Cognitive dissonance. You don't want to believe you waited over 20 years for something that poo poo.
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Dec 26, 2010 21:58
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What about people new to the trilogy, or movie critics? I dunno I really don't keep up with reviews and stuff especially when these movies came out. I'm just trying to paint a picture of public opinion at the time, as opposed to opinion in hindsight. I know the Simpsons did an episode making fun of the phantom menace, but thats about it.
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Dec 26, 2010 22:03
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Metal Massacre posted:With the consensus of the suckiness of the prequels, whats the general opinion on why they did so well in the box office? I mean looking on wikipedia the overall cash intake of the prequel movies looked pretty damned impressive. Not as impressive as the original trilogy but still it made a lot of loving cash. I never saw any of those movies in the theater, but why didn't people just walk out or ask for their money back considering how craptastic the films were? Certainly did well at the box office on the hope that the next one is better waiting for a 'New Hope' you could say.
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Dec 26, 2010 22:11
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Mamma Mia made $600M in the box office. Box office numbers are not an indicator of quality.
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Dec 26, 2010 22:43
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Andorian Blues posted:Mamma Mia made $600M in the box office. Box office numbers are not an indicator of quality. Oh i know that, I think the movies are garbage just as much as the next person. I'm just curious what the public opinion was of the movies at the time. Curious if Lucas got the picture that he was screwing up in every way possible.
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Dec 26, 2010 23:48
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Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, TPM has a 62% score (40 by top critics) AOTC has 66% (40 by top critics), and ROTS has 80% (67 by top critics). The way I remember it, a lot of critics deluded themselves into thinking these were okay movies, just like a lot of fans (I guess it's not unreasonable to assume many of the critics were also fans). These critics typically praised Lucas' vision, the visual effects, and some just used the "it's a kids' movie" defence. Judging by the scores, this delusion grew stronger over time...
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Dec 27, 2010 00:06
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draize_train posted:Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, TPM has a 62% score (40 by top critics) AOTC has 66% (40 by top critics), and ROTS has 80% (67 by top critics). The way I remember it, a lot of critics deluded themselves into thinking these were okay movies, just like a lot of fans (I guess it's not unreasonable to assume many of the critics were also fans). These critics typically praised Lucas' vision, the visual effects, and some just used the "it's a kids' movie" defence. Judging by the scores, this delusion grew stronger over time... From the moment TPM started, I knew something was terribly wrong.
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Dec 27, 2010 00:58
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draize_train posted:Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, TPM has a 62% score (40 by top critics) AOTC has 66% (40 by top critics), and ROTS has 80% (67 by top critics). The way I remember it, a lot of critics deluded themselves into thinking these were okay movies, just like a lot of fans (I guess it's not unreasonable to assume many of the critics were also fans). These critics typically praised Lucas' vision, the visual effects, and some just used the "it's a kids' movie" defence. Judging by the scores, this delusion grew stronger over time... Yeah, the prequels were regarded anywhere near as badly when they each premiered as they are now. I remember there being a lot of positive buzz around TPM when it first came out. The term "not as good as ANH or ESB but better than ROTJ" was thrown out a lot.
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Dec 27, 2010 04:17
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I've been listening to Vortex while driving around. Well poo poo lets bring the Fallanassi back too, we're certainly doing a good job going through every horrible plot point from the mediocre earlier books. When are we going to dig up something truly horrible like Waru? Lets make Abeloth into Trioculus's sister and bring Ken back while we're at it. Also gently caress the Fallanassi, we don't need some awful elf-template hippie assholes right now making the story any worse.
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Dec 27, 2010 04:59
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WhyteRyce posted:Yeah, the prequels were regarded anywhere near as badly when they each premiered as they are now. I remember there being a lot of positive buzz around TPM when it first came out. The term "not as good as ANH or ESB but better than ROTJ" was thrown out a lot. A lot of people forgave it, too, because of the fact it was the first movie and there was hope and belief that the later 2 films would justify TPM. I do really feel that the Phantom Menace is a film that sort of feels empty and meaningless. Nothing introduced or that happens in the film has any real importance to the other films as a whole. Let me ask, what happens in TPM that is SO important that an entire film needed to be made for that story. We could have started the series off with AotC and nothing would have really been lost in the overall narrative of the films. I know the argument is, "Yeah, but without TPM, we'd never have Anakin's backstory, or how he and Padme met, or who QuiGon was, or etc. etc. etc..." But to counter this point, most of this missing stuff could have been explained in passing or implied between characters in the film. However, on the upside, TPM was sort of instrumental in being a huge spectacle of a film, giving us visuals we'd not really seen in that sort of scope before. It sort of defined how big an effects movie could be visually for the next ten years. The continuing interest in the prequels seem to have less to do with the merits of those films to stand the test of time on their own, but the ability of them to be able to spin off a continuing stream of new materials (clone wars, video games, toys, etc.) to keep the franchise in the public eye.
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Dec 27, 2010 08:01
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Hopefully the prequels cause people to appreciate ROTJ. So there were some obvious merchandise cash in characters. Whoopty-loving-doo, they weren't that bad, and the rest of the movie is good. Everything about the prequels is Ewoks x 100. At least they could do this:
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Dec 27, 2010 08:21
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draize_train posted:Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, TPM has a 62% score (40 by top critics) AOTC has 66% (40 by top critics), and ROTS has 80% (67 by top critics). The way I remember it, a lot of critics deluded themselves into thinking these were okay movies, just like a lot of fans (I guess it's not unreasonable to assume many of the critics were also fans). These critics typically praised Lucas' vision, the visual effects, and some just used the "it's a kids' movie" defence. Judging by the scores, this delusion grew stronger over time... ROTS was also a way better movie than TPM and AOTC (not saying much there). Honestly, My only big big beef with ROTS is how incredibly awful the dialogue is. In other Star Wars news, who watched the 3rd Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode? Personally I think they hit gold on the first one and haven't really been able to capture the same feel since. Still had some great moments though.
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Dec 27, 2010 10:13
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Duckman2008 posted:In other Star Wars news, who watched the 3rd Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode? Personally I think they hit gold on the first one and haven't really been able to capture the same feel since. Still had some great moments though. I didn't think it was very funny, to be honest. Although I liked their version of Palpatine's origin story, haha.
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Dec 27, 2010 10:49
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It always annoyies me that people loving fixate on the Ewoks in ROTJ when we have the most chaotic space battle and Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader having a proper show down on the 2nd Death Star. I mean goddamn, they shift everything possible into gear in the last forty minutes. Plus Lando is at his best.
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Dec 27, 2010 11:13
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SeanBeansShako posted:It always annoyies me that people loving fixate on the Ewoks in ROTJ when we have the most chaotic space battle and Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader having a proper show down on the 2nd Death Star. Why should we NOT fixate on the Ewoks? They're badass aliens who make traps out of logs, captured our heroes with nets and probably had a few punji pitfalls too. Hell, they probably beheaded a few of those stormtroopers' heads as part of the xylophone they made for the celebration.
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Dec 27, 2010 11:25
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Give a man a choice between 3rd rate Wookiee rewrites kicking the asses of cannon fodder and Lando kicking rear end in space and he'll pick the latter.
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Dec 27, 2010 11:27
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The space battle in ROTJ is still the best space battle in the entire series. God that battle owns.
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Dec 27, 2010 13:39
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Biplane posted:The space battle in ROTJ is still the best space battle in the entire series. God that battle owns. This. The space battle in IV is a close second but the ones in the prequel were mostly sub-par.
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Dec 27, 2010 19:50
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VaultAggie posted:This. The space battle in IV is a close second but the ones in the prequel were mostly sub-par. Especially the one in Phantom Menace, the attack on the droid control ship. The fighters head on up there, and then they kind of... mill around for a while. We never see them so much as take a shot at the ship, and we're not even sure just what it is they're trying to do. (And of course then the whole thing gets resolved through a slapstick accident.) The ones in Eps. 2 and 3 (Obi-Wan vs. the Fetts and Let's All Go Save The Chancellor) are huge improvements, if only because we know what they're trying to do, and we see them actually try to do it. They still don't hold a candle to the originals, of course.
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Dec 27, 2010 20:06
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But... but! Without the Ewoks in RotJ we wouldn't have Lieutenant Kettch or Apocalypse Endor or the dead Ewok toy joke, so truly we do live in the best of all possible Star Wars!
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Dec 28, 2010 01:46
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Biplane posted:The space battle in ROTJ is still the best space battle in the entire series. God that battle owns. ...and still has more impressive SFX than TPM or that clusterfuck at the beginning of RotS
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Dec 28, 2010 05:37
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When Luke blew up the Death Star at the end of ANH, would that have also created a great disturbance in the Force as though millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced? I was watching it with my dad on Christmas and we were wondering. I mean, Obi-Wan was dead, so would Yoda or one of the hundreds of other not-dead-yet Jedi have got a wicked Force migraine or something? The Space Channel was running all six movies on Christmas Day, and they had a fantastic commercial for it of Darth Maul trying to prepare
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Dec 28, 2010 05:57
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There was no disturbance because Alderaan was filled with space-hippies. The death star was full of evil servants of the Empire  The Episode 3 space battle was okay. I really disliked how they (read: Lucas) still tried to make it comical: the vulture droid talking to the missiles before it fired: the way Obi-wan said "No no! Nothing too fancy!" to R4; "Well can you see the shields are still up?!"; how R2 dealt with the buzz droid; gently caress, the whole buzz droid sequence. No battle can come close to the space battle of ROTJ.
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Dec 28, 2010 06:24
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Pope Mobile posted:The Episode 3 space battle was okay. I really disliked how they (read: Lucas) still tried to make it comical: the way Obi-wan said "No no! Nothing too fancy!" to R4; "Well can you see the shields are still up?!" What's wrong with these ones? The first one is just meant to contrast Obi-Wan with Anakin, and I really just don't see a problem with the second.
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Dec 28, 2010 06:39
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CJSwiss posted:What's wrong with these ones? The first one is just meant to contrast Obi-Wan with Anakin, and I really just don't see a problem with the second. I didn't like it either, though it wasn't the lines so much as the delivery. It (like everything else in the prequels I guess) felt totally artificial, like the characters realized they were in a movie and that this moment required a SARDONIC QUIP  . Though it's not even their fault, it's hard to be genuine when you're sitting in a green box in a green room, wearing a dumbass costume and talking to air.
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Dec 28, 2010 07:21
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I honestly didnt have a problem with ROTS, I mean, the dialogue was medicore, but it was legions better then AOTC and TPM.
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Dec 28, 2010 07:28
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I do have to admit, I actually do like the space battle in the start or ROTS, despite it being cluttered to hell and back. If Episode 1 or 2 had started out that good, it would have instantly grabbed the attention of the audience more than a tea party or a slow landing craft would have. But to get back on the dialogue problem: We can't just call them 'vultures', no they're 'vulturedroids'. They're not buzzards, they're 'buzzdroids'. Then we get the exposition that sounds like its a step away from a video game tutorial. "Hit the buzzdroid's center eye (to inflict maximum damage!)" R2D2 gains 15 EXP Points. R2D2 earns 20 Republic credits.
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Dec 28, 2010 07:35
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JediTalentAgent posted:I do have to admit, I actually do like the space battle in the start or ROTS, despite it being cluttered to hell and back. If Episode 1 or 2 had started out that good, it would have instantly grabbed the attention of the audience more than a tea party or a slow landing craft would have. R2D2 levels up! R2D2 learned "Cut"!
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Dec 28, 2010 09:01
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Chaos Hippy posted:R2D2 levels up! R2D2 learned "Cut"! R2-D2 learned "Carry Distress Message", forgot "Rocket Boost".
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Dec 28, 2010 09:02
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ROTS was the best of the prequals and was pretty dark at times if you just ignored the stupid video game-esqe dialogue and action scenes and the awful now heavily outdated political commentary.
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Dec 28, 2010 14:44
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SeanBeansShako posted:ROTS was the best of the prequals and was pretty dark at times if you just ignored the acting and special effects and the plot. Leaving...the closing credits?
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Dec 28, 2010 15:18
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Leaving...the closing credits? And opening credits, and the title of the movie, the font they used...
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Dec 28, 2010 15:42
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The first chapter of the novelization was pretty epic, actually. Does that count?
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Dec 28, 2010 15:58
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Leaving...the closing credits? I really think ROTS sucks just because of the dialogue. I'm sure the plot could be better, but its really just awful by how the characters talk about it. "I fought for democracy" or whatever the gently caress ObiWan says to Anakin. Its all just bad dialogue (you can add acting in there too). I may just be a sucker for this scene, but I actually don't mind the scene of R2 killing the buzzdroids. Beyond that there is way too much slapstick in the prequels.
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Dec 28, 2010 16:03
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JediTalentAgent posted:I do have to admit, I actually do like the space battle in the start or ROTS, despite it being cluttered to hell and back. If Episode 1 or 2 had started out that good, it would have instantly grabbed the attention of the audience more than a tea party or a slow landing craft would have. I'd agree with you if the vulture droids weren't the dumbest weapon ever. They managed to get a missile to plant objects onto the wings of the ship. It sure would be helpful if those objects would just blow up. But no, they slowly start taking the ship apart. Dammit, you've got them right where you want them! Blow up the drat wings! Visually, it was very cool. Logically, it makes no drat sense.
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Dec 28, 2010 17:18
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But they'd be useful for shipboarding actions. Come to think of it, those would be the weapon of choice for Wraith Squadron. They'd go in with Hobbie strapped onto the nosecone of an x-wing riding a buzzdroid missile. And it will be glorious.
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Dec 28, 2010 17:24
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Duckman2008 posted:I may just be a sucker for this scene, but I actually don't mind the scene of R2 killing the buzzdroids. Beyond that there is way too much slapstick in the prequels. It is a bad sign when the bad guys begin channeling thirties movie goons for anything really.
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Dec 28, 2010 17:25
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Fox of Stone posted:But they'd be useful for shipboarding actions. Come to think of it, those would be the weapon of choice for Wraith Squadron. They'd go in with Hobbie strapped onto the nosecone of an x-wing riding a buzzdroid missile. And it will be glorious. Fair enough, they might be useful for that. But attacking a one man fighter with them is just a waste of resources.
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Dec 28, 2010 17:34
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ROTS is much better than the other two. It's definitely one of my favorites to watch (I'm also a sucker of John Williams). It was just the delivery of the lines that I don't like. Whether it's bad acting and/or directing can be debated all day. It would be so much better if even the delivery of the lines was better, let alone changing the lines themselves.
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Dec 28, 2010 17:37
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