Let's face it - these three films were a complete travesty to Star Wars. One day when I'm a very successful author, I should like to write up a new screenplay for the first three episodes. However, we have to look at what worked for 4-6 that simply wasn't there for 1-3.

1. Chemistry
Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, and Liam Neeson are all pretty good actors and actresses. However, their lines were cheesy, and Anakin (both of him) sucked. Upon reviewing these three episodes, I have to conclude that Episode 1 was actually the most fun of the three.
2. An Honest to God Script
Trade Federation? Droid armies? Seriously...

Here's what I'd keep story wise:
1. Episode 1 - I'd actually keep this fairly intact (compared to the others). Have the Sith reemerge, but have them be part of the "rebel" forces, the separatists at this point in time. Take the queen hostage on Naboo (to have her officially recognize the separatists as their own nation, government, etc.), gungans never existed, and have the Jedi rescue her and crashland on Tatooine. Have pod racing suddenly become asteroid racing (reminiscent of the asteroid chase in The Empire Strikes Back). Get an Anakin that can act. Show how the separatists are clouding up the bureaucracy on Coruscant, and have the queen and the Jedi return to Naboo to kick some ass. Also, Anakin should be about 15 at this point, going through adolescence so his love for the queen seems more plausible.

2. Episode 2 - The Republic is now facing mounting pressure from the separatists. Senator Palpatine calls for the no confidence vote on the supreme chancellor, and then he arrests the high ranking separatists in the Senate. *Continued from before* Because the bad guys can't actually compete militarily with the Republic's vast size, they begin to order large numbers of clones, hence the Clone Wars. Anakin falls in love with Padmé, and at the same time, he begins to succumb to the great expectations placed upon him by the Jedi Council. With delusions of grandeur, he begins to think that he is capable, should be capable, of anything, all craftily manipulated by Palpatine (this was an idea originally introduced in the third movie, but his path to corruption should begin sooner). In the end, he is forced to choose between saving Padmé and Obi-Wan, and he chooses the former, although Obi-Wan finds a way to survive. I think Anakin begins to desire power because of his position as a slave for the first 15 years of his life (read: he was always powerless against those who owned him).

3. Episode 3 - The war is being waged in full. A (small) group of Jedi have broken off from the Order to fight for the separatists who promise to make a new, perfect government unlike the Old Republic, which is filled with bureaucratic corruption. These Jedi fight their way to several vessels and flee into space, and the Jedi that remain with the Order give chase. I think it'd be a pretty cool scene to have the Jedi closing in during the hunt and then having a humongous separatist fleet jumping out of hyperspace right before them. Padmé flees with other Republic loyalists when Anakin turns against the Republic and joins the separatists (whom Palpatine advises that he'll have a "place of great power" in the new Empire). The clones bombard the Jedi Temple, destroying it, and Palpatine is sworn in as Emperor to "mend the rift between the Republic and the Separatists," although he was secretly leading both in his ploy for power the entire time. Because Padmé left Anakin, he loses his last vestiges of good, and he becomes a true Sith. Padmé doesn't die of "heartbreak" like in the original Episode 3, and we're left with a small band of refugees that set us up for Episode 4.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Sep 23 2007, 3:08 am by Felagund.

One of the biggest problems people had with the first film is that Anakin was a completely innocent kid. It is completely implausible for such a totally innocent and good natured child to turn completely to evil. The first movie should have him losing his mother at an early age and leading a horrific life because of it. That would set up as his character as one who cannot handle loss.

I would say they would be far better off with no-name actors as opposed to awful WB actors.

The whole clone wars / droid army thing is just too awful and loaded with bullshit and needs to be completely reworked. Palpatine's rise to power needs to be handled slower and made generally more realistic.

The Jedi need to get wiped out by something far more dangerous than a squad of soldiers suddenly turning on them. The claim is that the Jedi danger sense did not work because the clone soldiers were 'just following orders'. This is a pretty lame explanation and I think everyone would much rather see the Jedi go out with a bang than a whimper.

There is a new Star Wars series called the Legacy of the Force, which is a series of nine novels set something like forty years after A New Hope. The story focuses around Han and Leia's son Jacen Solo becoming enticed by the dark side as a way to prevent the loss of his loved ones. It's basically the same fucking story as Episode 1-3 in a different time period, except this one is actually good and there is a lot of other stuff going on.

As long as I brought up the novels, let me suggest a few key books to read if you want to go through the Star Wars Expanded Universe quickly and get to the newest stuff. Pretty much anything by Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, Michael Stackpole, Aaran Allston, or Karen Traviss is good. Troy Denning is a fucking idiot though.

These three books change the Solo family and help establish the New Republic.

These books show how Luke re-establishes the Jedi Order.

These two show the final outcome of the war between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant, and some very important details for major characters.

After that you should read the New Jedi Order and then go right into the Legacy of the Force series. There are certain events that these books do not cover, which are mostly detailed in comic books or other sources but you should easily be able to tell what is going on without reading the countless intervening novels.


Oh, and these books detail Boba Fett exploding his way out of the Sarlaac and his exploits afterwards and in the past. Loads of fun if you like the character.

What was with Qui gon jinn and the creation of the clone army and such... i was totally lost there.

Ok, I finished my plot outline finally.

Star Wars never was a "deep" set if films. You watched it because the effects and the whole feel of the movie was so cool, not for a deep plot or anything.

The first movies were heavily influenced by (read: ripped off from) Dune. The last three movies were copies of the originals, just trying to take the most successful elements and capitalize on them.

Water down---> Water down---> Water down

Get over it man, you're not going to get to remake the last three movies, you're stuck with them. Go write something original.

This is original. I don't see it written anywhere else by anyone else.

george lucas...

I have to sorta agree with Wilhelm here. I became a Star Wars fanatic when the original 3 movies were re-released in 1997. I was like... obsessed. It was kinda pathetic. Maybe I'm burned out on it now, and that's why I kinda come down hard on fans nowadays. The way I see it, spending tons of your life analyzing, remaking, celebrating, etc., Star Wars is a waste of time. Lucas has no qualms with obsessive fans showing their love in a way that will earn him money, but any serious attempts to re-realize Star Wars is gonna get pounded into the ground.

And as Wilhelm said, they aren't terribly deep films. Lucas blatantly borrowed themes from many older stories and wove them together with his weird technological fetish, or whatever his issue is.

I do have a place in my heart the ORIGINAL movies. In particular, I still consider The Empire Strikes Back to be a very well made film. But seriously, what's done is done. I suppose reworking Episodes 1 - 3 in your mind might be a good exercise if you plan on being a storyteller, but I guarantee you there are things out there far more worthy of your time. Right now, I'm really into the films that were made in Italy in the years following WW2 (aka Italian neo-realism). Holy shit! Now THOSE movies will knock you on your ass.

I think we all really just want another giant space battle movie.

Everybody wants that!!!

Right, like I'd ever get the chance or had a serious dream to rewrite them. It was a fanciful post, not something I think I'd ever do. Thanks for using a bit of reasoning when saying, "rawr, ye be stuck with the movies, matey!"

Well his character is developed more in the following two movies where things like his mother dying actually does happen.

And besides, if he'd become completely evil he couldn't have been turned back to the light in RotJ, eh?