The Phantom Menace: It actually isn't that bad!

[marker2037]

The first draft of TPM had a much more serious tone for Jar Jar and his Gungans, which would have been welcome for the final film. There's a good youtube vid of the first draft which highlights the changes Lucas eventually made to the script, including an older Anakin (12 years), a serious Gungan with normal voices, but less Qui-Gon as Obi-Wan is older and has most of the Qui-Gon role.

 

[henzINNIT]

As easy to like as Neeson is, the film would have benefitted from making Kenobi the main character and giving him agency. It's quite apparent that the Jedi duo were more or less one character split in half, and ultimately the lion's share went to the character who dies and not the one who moved on to the sequels. Likewise, an older Anakin would have helped too in my opinion. Very little gained from him being such a young child, and recasting as a young adult for ATOC felt like restarting with the character. Might as well have started there, like with Luke.

 

[Itsawhatchamacallit]

All the things

So, I read through this, and I really think you did a great job explaining all that. I never had a beef with TPM. I remember watching it for the first time as a kid on VHS, being babysat while my parents were out on a date. As people complained about TPM throughout the years, I never saw the problem with it. Definitely the best prequel, and even better seeing this perspective.

A seething hatred of Jar Jar is completely normal. And, yeah, some things could have been done better, but I'm still not complaining or wishing for alternates.

 

[Rondesmo]

As easy to like as Neeson is, the film would have benefitted from making Kenobi the main character and giving him agency. It's quite apparent that the Jedi duo were more or less one character split in half, and ultimately the lion's share went to the character who dies and not the one who moved on to the sequels. Likewise, an older Anakin would have helped too in my opinion. Very little gained from him being such a young child, and recasting as a young adult for ATOC felt like restarting with the character. Might as well have started there, like with Luke.

They should have kept Lloyd instead of Christensen IMO…

 

[Bravomite]

They should have kept Lloyd instead of Christensen IMO…

You can see the dark side in his eyes…
View attachment 612962

Unnecessary comment about a person who went through a really rough time

 

[Rondesmo]

It’s was a joke.

Sorry if I offended someone, wasn’t the purpose. Deleted the pic.

 

[Bravomite]

It’s was a joke.

Sorry if I offended someone, wasn’t the purpose. Deleted the pic.

Thanks and appreciate it, sorry I'm a grump today. Just feel bad for this guy because he was just a kid and not prepared for the backlash against him. There have been so many jokes at his expense and with the amount and variable quality of the content that Disney is pumping out for Star Wars at the moment we have plenty of other richer areas to mine for the lols ... like a bantha

 

[Rondesmo]

No worry, I can understand it was a hard time for him.
But always liked him as Anakin kid and delivered a much better performance than Hayden ever did IMO.