Fixing the Star Wars Prequels

 

I’m doing a treadmill rewatch of the Star Wars movies and just finished the prequel trilogy.  I didn’t misremember, the first two are bad, but I was once again struck by how relatively good Revenge of the Sith is, despite having to deal with the issues of the first two.  Sith manages to make Anakin and Palpatine’s relationship completely believable and his turn makes complete sense in that context.  It establishes his worrying about Padme, his resentment of the Jedi Counsel, his fondness for Palpatine and further resentment of what Counsel asks him to do.  Palpatine preys on that by creating a plausible set of alternative facts about the Jedi motives that play to Anakin’s ego and offers an aspirational plan to bring peace to the galaxy.  And the backdrop of all this, is offering Anakin hope for protecting Padme. 

 

                All this was done well and yet, it could have had so much more power if the prequels had been good movies that built better to this conclusion.  The Phantom Menace is a bad movie that has the bones of a decent story.  Attack of the Clones is a disastrous movie, with a meandering plot we care little about and an awkward love story that is completely unnatural in how it plays out.  It’s to me one of the biggest failures in movie history.  Here’s how I think the Prequels should have gone:

 

The Phantom Menace (Episode 1)

 

                The Phantom Menace should have been better as some of the broad structural ideas of the movie work well.  In the context of the series, this movie is about the Jedi finding Anakin and choosing to teach him.  It’s also about Palpatine emerging as a major power player on the galactic scene and to a lesser extent creating the story of how Anakin met Luke and Leia’s mother.  These are smart, reasonable, achievable goals to open a prequel trilogy.  As a result you can see the bones of a movie that works. 

                However, the problems are enormous:

1.  Jar Jar Binks and the Gungans as a whole are horribly portrayed.  Jar Jar is basically there for comic relief, but isn’t funny in the least.  The Gungans seem moderately incompetent.  The idea of this underwater civilization being part of Naboo is fine and could have worked if they’d made any effort to make that civilization believable and their participation in the story matter. 

2.  Anakin is too young.  He should be a teenager at the very least.  It would work better for the Padme/Anakin relationship and it could produce a more complicated early relationship with the Jedi, which I’ll explain in a minute. 

3.  Anakin should have more agency in the final battle.  His involvement shouldn’t be an accident. 

 

New story:

 

                Jedi are sent to Naboo to convince the Trade Federation to make peace with Queen Amidala and the Naboo.  They stumble into an invasion.  (The initial setup is fine).  The Jedi sneak down to the planet rescue Queen Amidala from the invading army (see we’re still good).  They end up on Tatooine and need a ship part to get the Queen to Coruscant. 

                Jedi discover a 16 year old Anakin, a slave (and sure podracer that was fun enough).  Qui-Gon senses his strength in the force, his instincts/the force tell him Anakin matters.  Sure get into the prophecy…don’t run his blood for midichlorians.   Have teen Anakin friendly and interested in the Jedi, but also questioning things immediately like, “if the Jedi are so powerful and just, why are my mom and I in slavery. Isn’t that something the Jedi should have eradicated?” 

                When Qui-Gon reveals he has freed Anakin from bondage it shouldn’t just be a question about whether his mom is going or not.  Anakin should be arguing with the Jedi to take her.  He should be questioning why they can’t just free her, take her without consent of the slave owner.  He should be forceful that is what is right.  And his mom should convince him to go without her.  Also Padme should comfort him on the way to Coruscant and she should also say she doesn’t understand why the Jedi can’t save his mother, but the Jedi have their own way. 

                All of that is important because we are setting up Anakin early on to be both in awe of the Jedi and wanting to be a Jedi, but also to question why the Jedi do things the way they do.  We’re giving Anakin a reason to blame the Jedi when his mother dies in the next movie (though not fully and not turn on them yet).  We are giving Anakin and Padme an important, tender moment when he can see her on his side (it should not be romantic at this point).   And using their unwillingness to free slaves, we’re giving him a reason to think his being powerful can do more good than the Jedi down the road. 

                Going to Coruscant, most of what happens there is fine.  How Palpatine becomes Chancellor is probably the biggest thing episode one got right.  Nobody had to explain each of his maneuvers but you could see how all the conflict had been put in place to benefit him and you could see how nobody would have discovered him yet (this is a problem in episode 2 that I’ll get into).  Everything is set up for Padme to go back and save the Naboo people. 

                Padme reveals herself to the Gungans (who again in the new movie would be portrayed as competent, different kind of society, separate but a part of that world) and negotiates their assistance.  The end battle scene plays out similarly but with 1.  Less comic relief in the Gungan battle and 2. More agency from Anakin.  The Qui-Gon / Obi-Wan Darth Maul fight is kind of perfect.  Leave it the way it is. 

Prior to the fight Qui-Gon tells Anakin to get the empty fighter and stay there.  Anakin gets in but stubbornly decides he can help more by flying the damn thing.  He fires it up, takes out some battle droids in the hanger, then flies out to battle.  Anakin senses what must be done to destroy the ship and stop the droid army then executes it. 

Now we have a movie that has:

1.        Introduced us to Anakin, our tragic protagonist who we know will turn.

2.       Introduced Anakin to the Jedi, who take him under their wing.

3.       Created a basis for resentment and shown that Anakin already has reason to question how the Jedi operate. 

4.       Adjusted the age to create a more compelling relationship between Padme and Anakin. 

5.       Kept the circumstances that work regarding Palpatine and his first big steps toward becoming emperor. 

We ditched the flaws and brought forth the strengths and in doing so made The Phantom Menace a very compelling movie. 

 

Attack of the Clones (Episode 2)

 

                Unlike The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones is just an utter disaster from beginning to end, with little redeeming about it. 

1. Its love story feels forced and contrived. 

2. The general plot doesn’t do enough to advance Anakin’s turn / relationship with Palpatine

3.  The story makes the Jedi look completely incompetent because they still are failing to recognize or even really suspect that Palpatine could be a threat. 

4.  Dooku feels extraneous, like a villain added to buy time for the Palpatine confrontation in the final movie. 

5.  The need to shoehorn in Janga/Boba Fett felt like fan service to the fullest extent. 

 

About the only important development in Attack of the Clones is the creation of the clone army and putting it in control of the senate / Palpatine.  Anyways, I have a thin outline of a movie I think addresses these issues and properly builds toward Revenge of the Sith.

 

New Story:

 

The scroll discusses the ongoing war and toll it is taking on the Republic’s resources.  Many in the senate are looking to end the war and are introducing a truce with the trade federation for the Senate’s consideration (that has favorable terms for the trade federation).  Chancellor Palpatine has suggested the purchase of a Clone army to lessen the toll on republic soldiers and not give into the demands of the trade federation, but the Jedi Council has grown concerned about Palpatine’s power and what this purchase might mean…

This centers the story around Palpatine vs. the Jedi counsel, while introducing the idea of the Clone Army from the jump.  I’d start out with a scene between Anakin and Palpatine where Palpatine is discussing the dangers of giving into the Trade Federation demands.  Maybe some points that this will expand slavery in the fringes of the galaxy.  Anakin discussing how master Obi-Wan is worried about more bloodshed and Palpatine stressing Jedi have their purpose, but are often too indecisive to bring true peace to the galaxy.  Palpatine asks for Anakin’s help bringing Padme on board with rejecting the truce, stressing she could be the key, and pointing out that Padme and Anakin have been friends since Naboo and she trusts him.  Anakin makes no promises, says he must discuss it with Obi-Won.

I envision a scene where Obi-Won and Anakin are discussing this and there is an attack on Obi-Won’s life which we later find out was Palpatine trying to get rid of the only Jedi Anakin fully and absolutely trusts.  Anakin saves him, as he has done many times and they banter about how he always saves him. Obi-Won speaks to the counsel about what Anakin told him, the counsel pushes Obi-Won to have Anakin spy on Palpatine but Obi-Won knows Anakin and for this movie convinces them they cannot ask that of him.  Jedi Counsel sends Obi-Won to investigate the Clone Army believing Palpatine could be hiding something.  Anakin wants to go, but Obi-Won tells him to be patient, await his return.  He asks if Anakin will be seeing Padme.  Anakin says yes, Obi-Won tells Anakin he senses issues that could arise from that and to be careful, says the counsel does not want him to take sides between Palpatine and the representatives wanting a Truce. 

Padme and Anakin’s relationship in this movie isn’t built on them hiding away on Naboo but on their interactions regarding the Truce and real political discussions that spark Padme’s curiosity.  She confides in him about her concerns for the republic and the consolidation of power under Palpatine.  He makes arguments on Palpatine’s behalf, stressing he knows he shouldn’t disagree with the counsel that wants him to take no side.  His arguments sound reason, Padme appreciates his openness with her.  He eventually confides in her about his dreams about his mother.  She convinces him to go to Tatooine to find her.    

We get a scene with Count Dooku and the Emperor where Palpatine reveals the Jedi are getting too close and too suspicious of him.  He tells Count Dooku it is time to reveal himself and draw their attention.  He also reveals he believes Anakin is the key to their destroying the jedi.  He tells Dooku his attempt to take out Obi-Won failed, but that Obi-Won is going to investigate the Clone Army and Dooku should reveal himself there and kill him. 

These changes specifically make the Jedi seem more competent in that they suspect Palpatine earlier, but also show Palpatine’s cunning in using Dooku as their false enemy to distract from himself.  I think this is better use of Dooku.  It creates an early confrontation between Obi-Won and Dooku.  In the meantime Anakin arrives on Tatooine and there is a similar scene from AofC where he discovery her death and kills everyone.  He comes back and again confides in Padme.  She comforts him. 

We get a confrontation between Obi-Won and Dooku, but Dooku escapes…  Obi-Won tracks him back to a huge droid army and notifies the counsel that he believes he has found the Sith behind everything.  He says they need to send the biggest army they have and some Jedi for assistance in taking out the Droid army and apprehending Dooku.  When Anakin finds out he notifies Palpatine who uses it to convince the Senate to authorize the Droid army’s approval.  There’s a huge battle, Anakin and others confront Dooku who again escapes, but it is a victory for the Clone Army. 

This story makes more narrative sense, it solves many problems of episode 2, it makes the Jedi look more competent, it creates a more natural opportunity for Padme and Anakin’s love to blossom (and the changes from Episode one don’t make that seem so creepy).  It shows Palpatine’s focus on Anakin in more depth and develops Anakin’s relationship with Palpatine.  It also shows the conflict between Anakin and the counsel, but the connection and trust between Obi-Won and Anakin. 

 

Episode I and II were huge lost opportunities.  Episode III holds up remarkably well despite those missed opportunities, but these changes would strengthen that movie even more as we’d better believe Padme/Anakin’s bond.  We’d understand how Palpatine continued to deceive the Jedi as he gained power.  We’d also see more of Palpatine’s attempts to corrupt Anakin from early on.  Obviously this is a skeleton story.  There are plenty of other scenes that could be added that fit within these parameters but I think this would have told a better story that fit better into the story of the Emperor’s rise and Anakin’s corruption.