# Star Wars prequels. Would the have been better if Episode I was replaced? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-would-the-have-been-better-if-episode-i-was-replaced/740531 "2015-12-15T14:54:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-would-the-have-been-better-if-episode-i-was-replaced/740531/41 "2015-12-16T22:25:22Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > Well, if I can be cynical here, I think we all know why they went with a kid for the first film. Selling the next generation of Star wars fans with a kid as the lead. That;s how Marketing minds think. And if that’s the reason why, we’re all the worse for it. Indeed, but I for one never had any trouble imagining myself as 20+ year old Luke, even as an 8-year-old. It’s baffling that anyone working on the movie forgot that kids loved the originals with not a single child to be seen onscreen other than the Ewok babies. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-would-the-have-been-better-if-episode-i-was-replaced/740531/42 "2015-12-16T22:34:36Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > T > And the end fight scene. Obi has higher ground. He’s like a meter higher than Annie on a gentle slope. > > They were just fighting while back-flipping off collapsing towers. They had a hover-skateboard fight over lava. And being one meter higher on a 22° incline is an insurmountable advantage? This one at least I have a satisfying fan-wank for (although no idea if Lucas had anything like this in mind): It’s a ridiculous thing for Obi-Wan to say. And Obi-Wan knows that it’s ridiculous. But he’s taunting Annakin, luring him into doing the stupidest possible thing (trying to jump all the way from the raft, uphill, over Obi-Wan’s head, onto even higher ground). “I have the higher ground… and no one, not even the most powerful Jedi, could POSSIBLY overcome that, since I’m higher than you…”. Get Annie to try to brute force his way through the problem rather than taking a moment to realize all he needs to do is raft down the lava a few yards and hop off, or what have you. Sure enough Annie then does the stupidest possible thing, and Obi-Wan beats him. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-would-the-have-been-better-if-episode-i-was-replaced/740531/43 "2015-12-16T22:54:17Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > Indeed, but I for one never had any trouble imagining myself as 20+ year old Luke, even as an 8-year-old. It’s baffling that anyone working on the movie forgot that kids loved the originals with not a single child to be seen onscreen other than the Ewok babies. Having worked with marketing people in the entertainment industry (Toys, Greeting Cards, Books, etc…) for over 30 years, it doesn’t matter about the proven track record of something, like the original Star Wars film. Their first thought is we must appease the kids, and kids will only be interested in something if kids are represented. You can’t get them to budge from that, even with proof. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-would-the-have-been-better-if-episode-i-was-replaced/740531/44 "2015-12-16T23:13:43Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Actually, the comments in this thread have got me wondering about that. > > Like the man said, the bit in EMPIRE where Yoda is gently reminded of Obi-Wan’s shortcomings as a student back when kinda falls short in the prequels. And, likewise, it’s not Obi-Wan who wanted to train Anakin over Yoda’s objections; it was Qui-Gon. > > So imagine Ewan McGregor, still doing a dead-on impression but _in full-on dick mode,_ doing everything Qui-Gon does: he tries to mind-control Watto, he shrugs and moves on to cheating at dice as Plan B; and he tells lies to better gamble at the races, and upon winning a slave he recklessly decides to train that kid even though Yoda wisely advises against it. > > And now imagine _that_ guy – ignoring authority, mind-controlling people as Plan A, lying and cheating and doing as he sees fit as Plan B – is the one who does a half-assed job of teaching the kid what’s what, and maybe looks the other way when his pupil seems smitten with the hot chick they’re bodyguarding. > > 'Cos he’s reckless and kinda freewheeling and does whatever seems like a good idea at the time, y’know? But he’s a three-dimensional character: lazy but manipulative, on the side of good but willing to take shortcuts: a guy who’s always had stuff work out for him, a guy who decades later will be lying his ass off to Luke before mesmerizing some stormtroopers – but who, in these prequels, is basically _in over his head_ trying to work that devil-may-care schtick with a kid in desperate need of self-control. > > So Obi-Wan, not Anakin, is the guy we watch screwing up in slow-motion during the prequels. (I mean, yeah, Anakin screws up _too,_ but Obi-Wan is center stage.) Yes, something like this would be perfect. It would even address the issues another poster brought up about pod racing. Who would let an eight-year-old compete in a sport that is regularly fatal to adults? Obi-Wan “Asshole” Kenobi, that’s who. “Yoda wants you to be calm and play it safe kid, but you have time to learn that later! We’ll free all those slaves later, too, but first you have to win this pod race. That way, I go down in the history books as the Jedi master who trained The One from the prophecy.” I don’t know, maybe that’s taking things a bit too far, but at least it would be consistent with the original movies. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-would-the-have-been-better-if-episode-i-was-replaced/740531/45 "2015-12-17T00:08:18Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > This one at least I have a satisfying fan-wank for (although no idea if Lucas had anything like this in mind): It’s a ridiculous thing for Obi-Wan to say. And Obi-Wan knows that it’s ridiculous. But he’s taunting Annakin, luring him into doing the stupidest possible thing (trying to jump all the way from the raft, uphill, over Obi-Wan’s head, onto even higher ground). “I have the higher ground… and no one, not even the most powerful Jedi, could POSSIBLY overcome that, since I’m higher than you…”. Get Annie to try to brute force his way through the problem rather than taking a moment to realize all he needs to do is raft down the lava a few yards and hop off, or what have you. > > Sure enough Annie then does the stupidest possible thing, and Obi-Wan beats him. A competent screenwriter would have achieved this by including a scene earlier in the movie where Anakin’s vanity and impulsiveness allow him to be goaded into doing something stupid that nearly gets him killed, which Obi-wan then points out and warns him about. Obi-wan then exploiting that same flaw would provide a satisfying payoff for the audience. This next point is not directed at you specifically, but I’ve seen so many fanwanks trotted out to cover so many flaws in the prequels (see the poster above excusing the “I don’t like sand” speech, which I’ve heard many times) that it’s driven me bonkers. People, **you should not have to work so hard to explain a sci-fi adventure movie**. The whole appeal of Star Wars is that you don’t need to parse it or argue its symbolic meaning — it’s an old-fashioned yarn dressed up in cool sci-fi trappings. It isn’t fucking _2001_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-would-the-have-been-better-if-episode-i-was-replaced/740531.md?page=2)