There have been all kind of parodies of the TFA teaser trailer, including the deluxe lens flare edition, the Lucas-esque special edition that I didn’t find all of that amusing, the OT-style one, and now Anonymous tipped me off to the prequel version:
Tags: PT references, Saga
starwarsprequelappreciationsociety.wordpress.com 
December 4, 2014 at 8:25 pm |
That was AMAZING! It fit the trailer perfectly!
December 5, 2014 at 12:10 am |
I really liked this entry but that was a foregone conclusion. However – noting the marks that were hit to match the official “tfa” trailer, I find it much more rich and even thrilling although I’ve seen these scenes a jillion times. It’s a reminder of how great George tells a story…HIS story.
December 5, 2014 at 6:21 am |
What this version of the trailer illustrates very clearly is how important the music is in creating a sense of urgency and drama in a scene. Watch the official trailer with the sound turned off. There isn’t much tension in the series of shots. It gets significantly amped up when the music is playing. It’s been comical reading comments on other forums about how great the “acting” looks in the trailer when there really isn’t any acting — it’s just a series of 3 second shots. But it’s the music that is infusing those moments with tension. Christopher Nolan does this all the time. Even in scenes where no one is really doing anything — especially in “Inception” — the music has this staccato rhythm and sense that “something really important is going on.” Frankly, its a bit of a cheat, but its also effective. I always joke with friends that adding a Christopher Nolan soundtrack to clipping my toenails or mowing the lawn would make those events SO much more interesting and dramatic!
December 5, 2014 at 8:32 am |
Check out this insane amount of behind the scenes still photos from Phantom Menace:
http://imgur.com/a/QYfpA
December 5, 2014 at 1:13 pm |
Masses of proof that there was a vast amount of ‘real’ sets, props, and miniatures utilized during the production of the prequels.
I really don’t see anything different between what’s in these images and what we’ve seen so far of Abrams’ shoot.
Thanks for the link. 🙂
December 5, 2014 at 1:28 pm |
Also proves that there was a healthy amount of promotion of the models and sets, as many of these come from Vanity Fair. Even now, I’m floored by how much of the onscreen elements were on-set pieces– I assumed a lot of the bigger stuff were miniatures added in through effects, at least. God, I love this movie and miss the days when there were nothing but good feelings towards it…
December 6, 2014 at 8:01 am |
Thanks for the link. It’ll be handy to have whenever some yahoo makes a “finally they’re using practical effects and sets again” nonsense. Perhaps someone could shove these photos in front of Gary “I was fired by George Lucas but no I’m not still bitter about it” Kurtz.
December 5, 2014 at 10:15 am |
This reminded me of the “mashup” that set Star Wars scenes to the soundtrack of the full trailer for Abrams’s Star Trek, which I have to admit I liked more than the actual trailer (although if you go back to the post here that featured that video, it unfortunately appears to have been pulled from YouTube…) The comment that “the music makes everything more exciting” does also remind me the last scene in this new “mashup” seemed that much more striking than in the full context of Revenge of the Sith.
December 5, 2014 at 10:23 am |
Good to see a more positive trailer mashup.
The “George Lucas Special Edition” version of the Ep. 7 trailer was impressive for its editing, and for the fact that the editor was able to get it out so soon after the real trailer hit. I have no doubt that it piggybacked on the real thing, accumulating millions of views from people searching for the official trailer.
That said, it’s also a one-sided and substanceless attempt at satire. However necessary the Special Edition changes were, Lucas at least had his reasons to make them. They also weren’t anywhere near as idiotic and overbearing as what we saw in the fanboy edit (for example, the rocks completely blocking out the rolling ball droid). “Humor” is often done with exaggeration, but it’s often also used as a cover for strawman attacks.
And it’s always the same few Special Edition changes, concentrated in ANH, that get brought up all the time. None of these people bring up the FX errors that were corrected, and they don’t even mention the changes (good or bad) made in TESB or ROTJ.
Like I said, it’s one-sided. It’s like everyone is drawing the same few talking points from the same playbook. Lucas and his Special Editions “suck” because Greedo shot first and the dinosaur in Mos Eisley, and ignore everything else.
Also, the fixation on “Trade negotiations” after 15 years. Really? Again, Lucas is bad because he used two words, and how dare he invade our fantasy with his boring political/economic stuff. Except in the actual movie, it’s glossed over as a simple reason for the Trade Federation’s military aggression. I saw the movie for the first time as a kid and understood it just fine, because economic reasons are often linked with real wars. The American Revolution was fought over taxes. Many European colonial wars happened because of disputes ove resources and trade routes. Lots of people accuse the US of fighting wars over oil…Yet Lucas went over the line with a couple of seconds mentioning trade taxes.
Taxes are less a part of the prequels than the stock market and construction industry were in the latest Nolan Batman movie. Yet you don’t see Bat-fans harping on that (they whine about TDKR for their own list of real and perceived “problems”).
Seems to me that so many of the “problems” with Lucas are twisted and blown out of proportion. Making mountains out of molehills.
December 5, 2014 at 1:51 pm |
I think it is bacause alot of the hateboys are not nearly as smart as they think they are. Few even realize that the Trade Federation is a megacorporation like a space east indie trading company. Which is why it has an army, signs treaties, and even has a its own senator. It also says alot about the Republic for allowing megacorporations to even exist. That is besides megacorporations being a staple in scifi so you would think that even the naysayers could figure it out. All they know is trade and taxes are boring, they want simple black and white lines with no grey.
December 5, 2014 at 6:00 pm
What were they expecting with a story of the downfall of a democratic Galactic Republic? Pure good versus pure evil? With characters like Anakin, Dooku and Mace, even the Jedi-Sith conflict turned out to be a bit more complex than that.
The Trade Federation could indeed be compared to the chartered trading companies of the Age of Exploration, and its Viceroy position is definitely reminiscent of the corporate rulers of India. The Neimoidians, far more than the alleged East Asian similarities, are clearly analogous to the British and other European imperialists who conquered and oppressed the world in the name of profit.
It’s also comparable to the medieval Hanseatic League, whose member trading cities tended to be full members of the Holy Roman Empire and the drivers of wealth generation in the HRE. Similar to the Trade Federation, the Hansa opened up the “Outer Rim” of medieval Europe that had been conquered by the Teutonic Knights. See also the Northern Italian trading republics of the same era.
It’s an inspired creation. The InterGalactic Banking Clan and other cartels are similarly evocative of real-life.
Trade has been a part of Star Wars since the very beginning. Han Solo references Imperial bulk cruisers and Corellian trading vessels. He’s a drug smuggler for a crime lord, which is obviously a form of illicit interstellar trade.
It would be kind of appropriate if Han retired from Alliance military service after the victory over the Empire and became a trade baron himself, expanding his formerly illegal business into a legitimate enterprise. Cue the shock from those who dislike politics in Star Wars as Han discusses trade rights and taxation with Chancellor Leia Organa.
December 5, 2014 at 7:28 pm
Tarrlok: “It’s an inspired creation. The InterGalactic Banking Clan and other cartels are similarly evocative of real-life.”
I really wish George Lucas or someone else at Lucasfilm had done more media appearances explaining his influences and what he was trying to convey in his movies. There’s a wealth of themes and material in the Prequels, but the internet narrative is that they’re a bunch of lazy CGI cartoons made just to sell toys.
Current day media coverage for other geek genre movies includes many interviews with the creators that allow them to get their message out. It excites the fanboys and stakes out a certain respectability from the media. For example, the creators of the Dark Knight trilogy cited specific comics they were adapting, as well as their desire to touch on terrorism and the security state in the post 9/11 world. The Winter Soldier creators were open about the inspiration they drew from 1970s political thrillers, and they made sure that everyone knew they were talking about the NSA and drone strikes.
Man, politics sure ruined THOSE movies!
The SW Prequels were made in the 1990s and early 2000s, when the internet wasn’t the force that it is now. Geek media certainly wasn’t as extensive back then either. I understand why Lucas might not have engaged in a PR campaign as large as the ones that were run for more recent movies. Or maybe he did, and I and many other people just don’t remember it because it’s been so long.
It’s unfortunate how much of Lucas’s message was lost on the fanboy audience. The fanboys like to pretend that they’re the ones who know what Star Wars is all about, but much of their understanding is pure surface level. Made up rules about how the ships and technology must look “used,” or how the movies must use “practical effects” because CGI is somehow inherently bad.
That’s a bunch of memes and sound bytes in place of actual understanding. Many of the biggest complainers can’t explain what the Anakin/Obi-Wan relationship was supposed to portray, or how Anakin’s downfall had its roots in his more exuberant personality as a young child.
The internet fanboys know so little about the Prequels, even though they’re absolutely sure that these movies are hollow and without any merit.
December 5, 2014 at 9:07 pm
@Jim
Lucas doesn’t seem to blow his own trumpet that much, unfortunately.
In general, I don’t recall Lucasfilm ever really playing up the significance of the plot of the PT itself as distinct from its significance to what happens decades later in the OT. This invited comparisons to the OT that did a disservice to what was actually in the PT. That might be my faulty memory at play, but as much as I like the OT and the connections between the trilogies, I think there needs to be greater collective understanding by SW fans of the story in the PT.
It’s no fault of the movies themselves, just how they were promoted.
I know that a few writers of an explicitly political focus identified some of the political subtext of the films. AOTC and ROTS in particular were read as a critique of militarism, what with the rise of the Empire depicted in them. However, a lot seemed to be missed out of these analyses, specifically what comes before with the cartels and the emergence of the Confederacy.
I’ve actually had discussions with family and friends about contemporary British/European politics in relation to the PT. Entire books could be written on the symbolism and serious ethical/political/philosophical issues surrounding the GAR and CIS alone. The same could apply to various character arcs, from Anakin and Obi-Wan to Mace and the Jedi Order. There’s rich material there, and Lucas could still give some interviews about them.
December 6, 2014 at 8:03 pm
The only one who’s ever really talked about this stuff in detail is Dave Filoni, because he and his writers had to really think about it while doing Clone Wars. But that has largely been to other fans and those who pay attention are largely those who “get it” anyway.
December 6, 2014 at 8:04 am
I love that the Trade Federation is basically the East India Trading Company. Whenever haters talk about how lame it is that TPM is about “taxes” and just respond, “So was Robin Hood.”
December 6, 2014 at 1:52 pm
The reason the Dark Knight trilogy and “The Winter Soldier” were better received is because they got higher scores from critics and there’s this zombish mindset that if critics don’t like it enough, it should be hated to the end of time. I think that even if Lucas and co. had explained it all for us, there’d still be complaints. There’s no peace for the wicked.
December 6, 2014 at 2:30 pm
Some people follow the critics like sheep (because online fandom is fixated on having validation for its opinions and interests), but that’s not all of it though. Just look at the Rotten Tomatoes score for another recent comic book movie, Thor: The Dark World. It has a 65% freshness score, which is actually LESS than the 67% that Attack of the Clones got!
Just to be clear here, 65% is not that bad at all and I enjoyed the movie a lot myself. But it’s interesting how intensely people reacted toward the SW Prequels compared to the reactions for other geek movies.
Thor: TDW has its own share of questionable writing and directorial choices. It had Natalie Portman in another blockbuster role where she is perceived as having less material to work with than her acting talents warranted. The villains were forgettable and paper thin. The climactic battle, in which the very universe was supposed to be at stake, had almost no tension because it turned into a series of gags.
Yet Thor is (rather rightfully, IMO) treated as decent popcorn movie. Marvel fans can be rabid too, and a lot of them regard TDW as a lesser entry in the series. But there isn’t any exaggerated, vitriolic hatred for the movie. The film is only about a year old, and already, you don’t see people still harping on it or bringing it up out of the blue. You don’t see arrogant and condescending fans making hateful video rants and mean spirited “parodies” of it. No one is saying that their childhood was ruined because their favorite comic character received a less than perfect movie.
That’s because Thor: TDW was allowed to be a mere movie, not the flawless masterpieces and major life events that many people demanded the SW Prequels be. The vocal SW fandom is sorely lacking in perspective, self-awareness, and emotional control, even compared to other groups of hardcore geeks.
You’re absolutely right when you say “There’s no peace for the wicked.” I have a feeling that many SW fans will go to their graves still complaining about how Lucas ruined their lives so many years or decades ago.
December 7, 2014 at 12:31 am
@ Jim Raynor
Thor: TDW doesn’t get much hate because every single Marvel movie released gets viewed as a masterpiece and if you ever went on Tumblr, you’ll find Marvel fans using every opportunity to rip DC to shreds. It’s gotten so bad that the DC fans are lashing back: http://theladyfromplanetx.tumblr.com/post/101563838554/superhypocrisy-i-dont-like-bullies-i-dont
December 7, 2014 at 7:53 pm
@ Jim Raynor, @ M. Marshall
The way I see it, these “fan-boy”s, coming from their toxic geek culture, are quite simply, bullies.
The issue of bullying has become a major issue in the last few years–kids in school get called out for it but why aren’t these man-children shown the same contempt for their behavior? I say it’s gone way too far when I read that Lucas was in fact deeply affected by it and feels utterly despised and hated. And also reading that “fans” have gone as far as attacking his kids on twitter!? I just wanted to cry, I felt so much second hand shame. When is enough, enough?
If anyone every doubted the effects of bullying and how damaging it is, the fanboys of Star Wars or even the geek culture in general is a perfect example what happens when such entitled behavior and such hate goes unchecked. And the fact that it’s a bunch of adults and not kids in school means you cannot simply stop it the same way. I believe there’s just to many people involved. I feel so helpless sometimes.
Tis true that other fandoms have their problems and I definitely believe the stuff about DC and Marvel. However I keep hearing the ones about the Prequels no matter where I go, or what I’m reading on the web. But I have to say, in real life this problem doesn’t seem as bad. 😛
December 8, 2014 at 12:53 am
Heidi, you are so spot on. The hypocritical media is also to blame for the Lucas bullying. They preach against bullying, yet they pick erring celebrities apart like they’re supposed to be saints. They need to be called out for this.
December 8, 2014 at 4:51 pm
I think alot of geeks and fandoms seem to pick some person to vilify. Like with MST3K, alot of their fans hate the producer, Jim Mallon. Even though he helped bring the show to life, alot of fans blame him foe Joel leaving the show. Despite Joel saying many times he simply wanted to leave and do new things.
December 8, 2014 at 10:15 pm |
@JimRaynor I’m glad you mentioned the politics of the PT. That’s one of the reasons why I got into Star Wars tbh (the first time I ever saw a SW movie was at the ripe old age of 20). I adored the politics of the PT – how gilded institutions are transformed from within into what they are actually fighting against. The ambiguity and corruptions of institutions like the Republic and the Jedi and that corruption being reflected in the flaws and ambiguous gray shades of the characters – I mean, I loved that stuff. And though not mentioned explicitly, but certainly theorized and explicated by fans, there is the cost of militarized violence on the Republic as well as through Anakin. There are real life analogues to imperialism, capitalism, and militarized violence and I ate that stuff up tbqh.
I’m glad you mentioned the Winter Soldier because there was a political movie directly attacking drone warfare and the corruption from within. And, politics only strengthened that movie – I read the Winter Soldier arc years ago and it was not a pointed critique nor as political. I thought the politics in the PT strengthened the story and its real world analogues only made the rise of the Empire more believable.
December 9, 2014 at 4:17 pm
Nicely stated, lisse, I agree with your points on aspects of the PT that appealed to me.
December 5, 2014 at 1:54 pm |
I said it in the other thread, this fan trailer using Lucas’ clips is better than the offical trailer with JJ’s footage. As the hack, Hellogreedo points out with the TFA trailer, you can tell it is not a Lucas film. He is right about that, but not in the way he wants it to be.
December 5, 2014 at 10:20 pm |
Wow, I’m just blown away by these thoughtful, beautiful and intelligent analyzed views on the Prequels. I need to come here more often to hear opinions and viewpoints instead of wasting my time on cheap media sites, whom never cease with the pot shots at the Prequels. *barf*
I knew the politics in the prequels were always an important piece on the board. I’ve skimmed over the top of what Lucas was trying to convey but I’ve never been able to delve into the meaning and significance of those themes. Thank you, slicer87, Tarrlok and Raynor!
December 6, 2014 at 8:05 pm |
Welcome to the island of sanity!
December 7, 2014 at 12:34 am |
Yes, welcome. We could always use another star warrior on board.
December 7, 2014 at 9:07 am |
Heidi, there are way more PT fans than the haters want people to believe. Point people here and welcome!
December 6, 2014 at 3:14 am |
Hi, I’ve checked the american Star Wars page on Facebook and it’s really full of trolls and haters. I didn’t realize before that it was that worse. For example, on the Padmé VS Leia publication in our official French page, there are various and respectful opinions, very few sarcastic remarks, and it even seems Padmé gets more love.
I’ve got a few ideas on why it is so different, I’ll try to write about it later !
December 6, 2014 at 8:05 pm |
I quit that Facebook page a couple of years ago because I couldn’t take the trolls anymore.
December 8, 2014 at 9:33 pm |
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