Star Wars The Phantom Menace - 25 Years Later

Welcome to part 1 of what's sure to be an adventure spanning several years, as I go through each of the mainline saga films (and possibly even the spin-offs as well; haven't decided yet) in my never ending quest to be that guy who talks about every single piece of SW media in way more depth than is probably warranted! I'm sure this will be fun.
Special thanks to The Jolly Chap for helping me out with a lot of the research I did for certain parts of this video. Some of the stuff he unearthed about the conception of and implementation of the Force and its mythology in the original trilogy helped me greatly in understanding the lore a little better, and gave me a glimpse into the wonderfully contradictory mind of George Lucas. You can find his channel right here / @thejollychap
Other noteworthy links:
Patreon: patreon.com/us...
Twitter: / sheevtalks
Instagram: / sheevtalks
Sheev Talks Discord Server: / discord

[@SheevTalks]

Wow! 25 years of The Phantom Menace now! That means this movie has a fully developed frontal lobe finally!!!

[@thejollychap]

Agonised neuroscientist noises

[@ChickenJoeSchmoe]

"Messa feel a woosa" *Faints* -Jar Jar Binks, while very drunk, 2024

[@dragomight8851]

Oh hell yeah! It can finally make good decisions.

[@tidbit1877]

Your entire argument about determinism is false, we are watching the events of Naboo because that happened to be the mission in which, after traveling to a nearby planet a Jedi Master found the chosen one. It's not deterministic, the chosen one would have been discovered by some Jedi doing some mission that lead them to the place where the chosen one was at some point around this time, it could have been a different Jedi, a different mission, whatever. This is clearly NOT deterministic. We all know that Jedi can see the future but that the future can change, we also know that Jedi can get "feelings" of unease or of belonging or get a particular feeling from an individual. Qui Gon Jinn feels his way through life with the force, it clearly gave him the impression that young Anakin was important and to let the sequence of events play out, which makes his decision to stay a few more days and trust Anakin in the pod races make a lot more sense, and to give up on any other plans like getting a pilot or finding the part in another shop because he feels, from the force, that he should follow the path he is on. This all makes perfect sense and does not require determinism at all. The rest of your arguments make a lot of sense and I've enjoyed the video so far, but you keep going back to this deterministic universe nonsense and all because you believe that finding the one was like a super duper coincidence, the only coincidence is that the mission on Naboo is historically important, and so is finding the chosen one so for those two things to be tied together is somehow unfathomable. But when you think about it what mission would Jedi ever be sent on that wouldn't be important? And sooner or later a Jedi would find themselves on the same planet as the chosen one, I don't see why this couldn't be while they are a very important mission.

[@SheevTalks]

@@tidbit1877 Unfortunately wrong. The mission to Naboo is equally, if not more important to the overall story given that it was the first stage in Palpatine’s design to overthrow the Republic. That’s arguably the A plot, whereas finding Anakin and his contributions are the B plot. And neither of them have anything to do with each other until the universe itself wills it into place

[@Remnicore]

Can’t wait until 25 years of Attack of the Clones so both the movie and myself will have a fully developed frontal lobe

[@prolastmedia6171]

Whoa Remnicore!! Make more content bud, I'm waiting!!!

[@Remnicore]

@@prolastmedia6171 working on something that will undoubtedly be controversial right now lol

[@gamerule18]

Not for long

[@mercury2157]

​@@gamerule18 ??????

[@DanialTarki]

And Revenge Of The Sith

[@Nemesis_T-Type]

Sheev Talks: The Force shouldn't have a will, that's so stupid Kreia: Goooood... Very goood.

[@OG-ColorfulAbyss.]

Well Kreia wanted to kill the Force itself. Plus, it doesn't. Not since Lucas made that Will o The Wisps crap

[@ForsakenKrios]

Nah Kreia would still find a way to criticize Sheev! Influence Gained Influence Lost Net Light Side Shift Dark Side Points Gained

[@red_cosplay]

Apathy is death.,

[@grimknight34]

Lmfao just got to this part in the video and I can only hear kreia’s voice 😂😂 like that whole point is the same conclusion she came too. Kreia and sheev talks would get along

[@benl2140]

I mean, I'm pretty sure Avellone created Kreia in part because he also disliked the idea of the force having a will.

[@thibaldus3]

Despite their faults the prequels had vision behind them. A narrative throughline. The Disney sequels have none of that.

[@angreydoggo4357]

There was a vision behind the sequels: the destruction of everything that came before it so a new, ideologically "pure" Star Wars can be puked out.

[@normalgraham]

There was a vision behind both trilogies, they just sucked

[@Thawheedi]

But at the same time even though getting a D is better than an F it’s still a D

[@thibaldus3]

@@Thawheedi I'd rate the prequels a bit higher than that

[@thibaldus3]

@@normalgraham Well, it's been proven that they made up most story elements as they went along (from directors interviews). Only focus was "make it feminist and diverse nad put 'member berries in it". That's not what I'd call vision.

[@BirdsElopeWithTheSun09]

Fun fact: The guy who says "I think I deserve a public apology from George Lucas" is Rob Walker, brother of Doug Walker, who is also known as The Nostalgia Critic.

[@gamerule18]

Huh

[@vodyanoy2]

He remembers it so YOU don't have to.

[@-taz-]

Amazing fact!

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

Ah woah, how did I not recognize him LOL I mean he was a bit younger but still lol

[@donovan4222]

lol wow I’ve seen his reviews and didn’t even notice that

[@JoeSyxpack]

I always assumed that when we are shown they have little portable re-breather things to swim underwater that it served as an explanation as to how they survived the gas. They didn't have to hold their breath and they could have been in there for quite a long time before Nute says "They must be dead by now".

[@supremefenix974]

I assumed it was just a slowing your bodily functions to hold your breath longer. People do that without the force, but having superpowers would probably make it so they could hold it even longer.

[@eugger3011]

But we don't see them wearing the re-breathers when they get out of the room.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

I think the earlier scene is just "oh here they're badass for holding their breath and the poison gas doesn't bother them" and the later scene is "woah they've got these cool gadgets for every occasion that they put on their face" and that's as far as the thought goes lol Just like "hey rapid-speed escape is cool" and then "can't catch up to Quigon and the forcefields, that's dramatic", and don't ask questions

[@vaggos2003]

@@eugger3011 In fact, we even see Obi-Wan take a deep breath once him and Quai Gon see the gas being released against them.

[@northwestpassage6234]

@@WreckageBrother-rd5zfthe force speed complaint is dumb because we aren’t presented with how it works if it takes a lot of energy or concentration it’s quite easy to explain away after a long fight with a superior opponent draining Obi-wan who is anxious and stressed after the force fields close while we see Qui Gon much more composed and meditating. If it doesn’t require a lot of concentration or focus it can be explained that we already see Obi-Wan stop suddenly while running before hitting the shield so he’d be worried that if he were going so fast when the fields close he won’t have time to stop before running into one or running past Maul and Qui Gon. We just don’t know enough about how it works, as we only see it for a second, therefore it’s pure speculation to say when and where it could or couldn’t be applied when the two scenarios are so vastly different.

[@tonystank3091]

The Sith tend to enact *their* will on the Force, not the other way around. The Jedi getting wiped out, or Anakin turning to the Dark Side, I don't think those are the will of the Force. That's the Sith imposing their *own* will. And the Force does what it can to fight back. I think it's one of those soft deterministic things where this thing is what the Force *wants* to happen, but there's enough room where some particularly devious beings can say "No, *I* want *this* to happen" and make *that* happen instead. The Force isn't infallible, which, I think, is proven by the fact that the Dark Side even exists. A corruption *in* the Force, perhaps even a sickness, which allows those who use it to undermine the will of the Force itself. I might be talking in circles here, but it makes sense to *me,* at least. And, admittedly, I don't remember them ever spelling that out in the movie.

[@donavonhoward114]

I think people tend to mistake the "will of the Force" with inhibiting "free will". It doesn't work that way. Like you said, the Sith bend the Force to their will, abusing its power, and dominating it. The Force can only fight back through the subtle influence of living beings, but it cannot control those beings.

[@XragebootsX]

A good way that I conceptualize the “Will of the Force” is that the Force is like a river, and its “will” is the flowing of that river. A Jedi simply floats upon the surface, letting the Force guide them as it wishes. Whereas a Sith diverts the river, builds a dam, or otherwise impedes the natural flow of the river. The force is removed from its “will” but can still flow in some way

[@Chillipeffer]

​​@@donavonhoward114"You mean it controls my actions?" "Partially, but it also obeys your commands."

[@BrentSohlden]

The Force is real. Faith is the Light Side and Doubt or the Tao is the Dark Side.

[@jpraise6771]

Child of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God

[@TheTrueRandomGamer]

You're gonna cover all the prequels before Long RR Martin is finished with TFA.

[@basedchimera5859]

Is that Mauler your reffering to?

[@connormoorerocks]

@@basedchimera5859 who else

[@basedchimera5859]

​​​@@connormoorerocks thought they were talking about george rr martin at first

[@hugomungus7306]

Mauler is going to be finished by the end of the decade, I swear.

[@kasaibouF29]

Had only Mauler focused more on finishing his critiques than EFAP.

[@JasonSlazak]

The critique about how Nute Gunray dealt with the Jedi is not very good for these reasons: 1. It's established that Nute Gunray has never dealt with a Jedi Knight before 2. It's also established that he is not very intelligent(not a complete idiot but not enough to know the Jedi would survive the gas room in the short amount of time). Essentially expecting the Jedi to die in the time period that would be normal for a human to die of that gas. 3. The time that it took to send the droids down to the room is not 100% known. You said "like 40seconds" however it could have been 3 -10 minutes. Only elite level athletes would be able to hold their breath for 10 minutes and that is with controlled environments and no extra movement. Again Nute Gunray failed in his plan because he underestimated how long the Jedi could last in the room and had no reason to think he should leave them in there for hours. That is only something the audience would expect because they know about how Jedi operate.

[@dancingvalkyrie]

"They must be dead by now, destroy whats left of them" No amount of overthinking is going to make this writing any better

[@thibaldus3]

@@dancingvalkyrie Nute Gunray is shown to be impulsive, weak minded and manipulable. There is no overthinking, just understanding the story.

[@dancingvalkyrie]

@@thibaldus3 Yes and nothing about Gunray's choices here are understandable. Quigon refers to the trade federation as cowards but Gunray still feels the need to open the door and let the jedi out when he could easily leave the door closed. The movie never refers to Gunray as an idiot, its just the writing that is idiotic

[@harrambou9468]

Exactly

[@thibaldus3]

@@dancingvalkyrie Nope. Additionally to all the reasons posted above, as a "coward", Nute Gunray wanted to check if the Jedi were dead (to aleviate his fear). Fear and impulsivity doesn't push you to make the most strategical decisions.

[@tristanlee8495]

It's mentioned in a book called How Star Wars conquered the universe during a conversation between Lucas and Rob Coleman that R2 is the narrator of the saga recounting the story to a keeper of the journal of the Whills several centuries after the events of the films. Lucas basically took the idea that he used on A New Hope of the story being told from the two least important characters perspective, (which he got from watching Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress) and expanded it so that it was the framing device of the entire saga. This is why you get the insanity of Anakin taking R2 to Mustafar or C-3PO getting his memories erased but not R2. My only counterpoint to your points about the force having a will is without that concept we'd never have KOTOR 2 which is my favourite piece of Star Wars media.

[@thesenate1844]

If the sequels followed this theme, Episode 9 would have ended with a scene about one hundred years after the rest of the film, having outlived all other characters, C3PO and R2D2 travel together on a ship to find the place of the mysterious Whills. R2D2 recounts the entire story of the Skywalker family and C3PO translates it for them, so it can be remembered for the rest of time. Honestly it would have been fantastic way to end the saga if done right.

[@gr-8166]

@@thesenate1844especially with the treatment of 7-9. Apparently the idea for those films was the deconstruction of our heroes in the saga, we would have been introduced to the Whills of the force. It would’ve tied the sagas’ fatalist and destiny oriented trilogies presented in series. It would actually address the very ideas of control and free will that would make these films even more of a satisfying saga. Side note: I equally love all six films, and no it’s not nostalgia, all of them works in their own way. 😊I just wish they didn’t mistreat George’s treatment and betray the deal… it’s honestly insulting Bob Iger and Kathleen would do that to the owner of the saga, and somehow allow Rian to do whatever he wanted. Not blaming Rian for TLJ, all these problems started with Bad Robot and JJ…

[@shadowslayer205]

So one could theoretically explain the sequel trilogy's chaotic storytelling as coming from rumors and secondhand accounts because R2 was not physically present for the majority of it.

[@jpraise6771]

Listen to my speech, that your wisdom may be multiplied. Children of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God

[@slippyslappysam523]

“Kid I’ve flown from side of this galaxy to the other, I’ve seen a lot strange stuff. But I’ve never seen anything to make me believe there was one all powerful force controlling everyone. There’s no mystical energy field controlling my destiny.” The ground work was already established as early as A New Hope that the force had a will and supposedly by common ear “controlled everything” or “has a destiny”

[@gorth1314]

So a skeptic strawmanning a religious belief is establishing ground work? That's a stretch.

[@mercury2157]

​@@gorth1314I mean, if the point of the Force as part of the narrative is partially to prove Han completely wrong, then yeah, the seeds for the Force having some sway over destiny are planted

[@joelancon7231]

@@gorth1314 Ok but this diologue though: Luke: So it controls my actions Obi-Wan: *partially*, but it also obeys your commands Ie the force can will things by *partially controling your actions*

[@gr-8166]

@@joelancon7231the Midichlorians was the answer to that. It’s a symbiotic relationship so the partiality is actually fitting. It benefits the person while the very nature of the force on a living being is, unbeknownst to the user, controlling them for the sake of the Whills.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

The line was "controlling everything" not "everyone"; however yeah that's ironic, the PT seems to have run with Han's interpretation there of the energy field "controlling destinies". ESB introduced prescience and ROTJ upped that to "destiny" but still not set-in-stone prophetic destiny "determined by the will of the cosmos" - it's just something Obiwan and Palpatine kind of mentioned, not quite clear what they meant. Maybe something similar to that, or just something based on (not quite reliable) future visions or their views of what's gonna happen. Maybe that was already in line with Han's view, who knows? They don't explicitly say "the Force determines your destiny, Luke" (although of course what else could?), and then PT does go there.

[@Tyrarl]

I never understood the "MEEEH! Politics!" crowd. It's a few small scenes but it establishes stakes and the world. Without those scenes, you have the Sequel Trilogy...

[@Avarn388]

@Tyral It’s a dumb overreaction and clearly one that didn’t take nuance. The politics themselves weren’t the problem. It’s just the character writing wasn’t there. And that was where Lucas was lacking. Had the characters been good and the issues themselves were explored, the prequels could have been special. KOTOR did the political element well with Revan and the Jedi Order staying out of Mandolorian wars and what cost that had.

[@Mr_Snek037]

Im actually interested in the politics of star wars and how terrible it is lol

[@MrShakespearefan]

And the sequel trilogy was fine without them. You wrote that last sentence as if it’s supposed to imply something that’s a matter of fact.

[@Tyrarl]

@@MrShakespearefan the Sequel Trilogy is a mess of canon-defying writing, character assassination, and contrivances. It isnt "fine" by any stretch of the imagination.

[@MrShakespearefan]

@@Tyrarl People said the same thing about the prequels- the midichlorians were seen as ruining the force. There are plenty of contrivances in the prequels. Making Vader a child was seen as ruining the character. Yoda using a lightsaber was seen as character assassination. Personally I think TLJ is the best after the originals.

[@Horrormaster13]

*The Star Wars Original Trilogy:* When you have a vision, but barely the resources and leeway to bring it to life. *The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy:* When you have a vision, but too much leeway and resources to do what you want. *The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy:* When you have no vision, no plan, but unlimited resources, and decide to play mad libs with it.

[@captaincrazycreative]

This is such a perfect summary

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

Plan was just to do the 4-6 plot beats with some twists/variations.

[@dean_l33]

@@WreckageBrother-rd5zf If that was the plan it would not have gotten so much hate BUT the fact that they choose to switch up directors mid way AND then proceed to choose the two worse possible person to do execute the plan

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@dean_l33 Ruin Johnson created problems, yes.

[@donovan4222]

@@WreckageBrother-rd5zfRian Johnson made the best sequel movie…I’d argue Abrams trying to retcon everything in the 3rd movie was what ruined it

[@MasterPeibol]

If you really pay attention, you can see that even back in The Return of The Jedi, many of the problems that have plagued Star Wars, were already there

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

RLM already said that.

[@northwestpassage6234]

@@WreckageBrother-rd5zfRLM does a pretty bad job reviewing the prequels tbh. It’s entertaining but not a very coherent media analysis, it’s plagued by issues of projecting what he wants from the movie versus what’s in it and while offering an alternative scene or story line may show how the prequels could have been written better it’s not a critique of what the prequels are.

[@CielBlanche]

Obiwan and Quigon going down separately doesn't double the chances of them being caught, it reduces the chances of them both being caught at the same time -- which is the priority when their mission is to reach the Queen at any cost. It's not a ghost mission, the trade federation already knows they're there. All that matters is that at least one of them makes it. They did the smartest possible thing for their mission!

[@dragonninja3655]

Exactly. I can't believe people complained about that, I always thought it was the obvious thing to do. Even if they had been dropped off super far apart, they are both competent Jedi and they know they are trying to get to the capitol. If they hadn't been dropped off close together, they would have just met up again at the capitol. Qui-gon trusts obi wan, in his mind obi wan is already ready to be a knight.

[@jpraise6771]

Listen to my speech, that your wisdom may be multiplied. Children of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God

[@Feesh322]

It took me a long time to realize that Palpatine *wasn't* clairvoyant like he was claiming to be in Return of the Jedi, liar that he is. After I realized this, a lot of his actions in the Prequels make more sense, especially with the Sith's 'power for power's sake' philosophy. He's got a lot of balls in the air at once, but plays the long game well and is really good at seizing opportunities when they come his way.

[@XragebootsX]

The fact that Palpatine is so good at adapting as to appear clairvoyant is spectacular. Though I wish we could’ve seen Palpatine actually acknowledge when his plans go awry

[@Donnerbalken28]

That's what makes him so dangerous to the Republic and the Jedi. He's the first Sith ever who realized that the Republic could be turned against itself and he exploited that to the fullest. He doesn't need to be clairvoyant, he has a thousand contingencies in place for every event and often sets events up in a way that either outcome ends up being beneficial to him. Episode 1 shows this beautifully with the Queen's escape. Although Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan could have potentially posed a vital threat to his scheme to overthrow Valorum, he ends up utilizing Amidala's political inexperience to make it come to fruition anyway. The bigger thorn in his foot probably was that Maul failed at killing the Queen and revealing the continued existence of the Sith to the Jedi Order by allowing Qui-Gon to live and tell the tale, but he also solved that by setting Maul against two opponents who had beaten him once before. Once again, Palpatine wins either way. Either Maul dies and the Jedi are lured into a false of security, or Maul wins and the retaking of Naboo fails, further destabilizing the Republic leadership. And it's very much carried over from the OT. Palpatine's plan to lure the Rebels into a trap posed ostensibly next to no risk to him; he made the Death Star a target the Rebels could not possibly ignore and he always had a backup plan for everything, except Vader and Luke joining forces to fight him, something he could not have forseen.

[@ItzDr3FTL]

Appreciate sheev reminding me i turn 25 this year 😂

[@ggt47]

I already have. I wasles than month old when it came.

[@cool64378]

99 was a crazy year for movies.

[@ggt47]

@@cool64378 Simpler times. The peak of society.

[@EdK-Music]

​​@@ggt47facts. All Star came out in '99

[@jamesrwc4738]

99 gang

[@DEFYN]

The shields with backup blast doors on the ship's hangar are clearly character development for the ship builders. They learned from their mistake after a 9 year old accidentally blew up their flag ship 😊

[@AJadedLizard]

Also, the Lucrehulks are freighters retrofitted to be warships, while the Invisible Hand is a warship first and foremost.

[@MeNamesPoshOpossum]

I didn’t expect to see you here

[@DEFYN]

I am everywhere

[@423yami]

I think people underestimate how much hindsight helps in understanding the plot of this movie. The intentions behind palpatine and the trade federation’s actions are unclear. The movie would have benefitted from Darth Maul and Sidious having a scene where they clarify their intentions with what’s happening on Naboo.

[@-taz-]

25 years later, and we're still trying to make sense of the the prequels. There is no plot because that's defined as character change (the protagonist, namely) and I don't even think one character ever changes. There is a story, but it's with totally static characters. So I think the framework people use to analyze Star Wars is what's wrong.

[@donovan4222]

Yeah I agree, people don’t realize that before the clone wars, pretty much none of plot of prequel movies made sense to anyone. I’ve seen the phantom menace like 59 times and still couldn’t fully tell you the story. Somehow, the movie is full of exposition dumps but also fails to convey its plot coherently.

[@-taz-]

@@donovan4222 Even the original movies had no plot, technically. No character ever changed. Even Vader only became aware that Emperor was using him, because he told Like with Vader present. Star Wars, like Indiana Jones, too, was just a sequence of action scenes to emulate the serials that used to be run on Saturday mornings for kids. That's why Star Wars worked, and wy they had no idea what to do for Empire or Jedi. They weren't sure it would even matter because Star Wars had to succeed first.

[@donovan4222]

@@-taz- What? Not sure how you came to that conclusion, Luke, Han, Leia and obviously Vader go through pretty major character arcs and changes in the original trilogy. It’s not some super intricate plot or character study but I definitely would not reduce it down to serials for kids with no plot.

[@-taz-]

@@donovan4222 I'm not reducing it. That's what it is, and it works. Every character ended where they began, which is fine. In fact, I think that's real life. It's the idea of a plot that is artificial.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

“I hate the Force, I hate that it seems to have a will, that it would control us to achieve some measure of balance when countless lives are lost"

[@apollyon8983]

Influence Gained: Kreia Influence Lost: Kreia

[@magnenoalex2]

Apathy is Death

[@AAhmou]

​@@apollyon8983 Dark Side points gained Light Side points gained

[@lukescrew1981]

The point that Sheev fails to see

[@vaggos2003]

​@@lukescrew1981What exact point are you speaking if?

[@SeaOfPixels]

I disagree that "the will of the force" being the reason for Qui-Gon meeting Anakin means that the entire universe is deterministic. It's entirely possible (and far more likely) that this instance was only what Qui-Gon said: their meeting was from the will of the force. It doesn't mean that EVERYTHING is because of the will of the force, but that their meeting was an exception and that the force "had" to intervene and allow this to happen. This video is really great but I wish you considered this more so that you wouldn't fall into the trap of having so many of your points after around 50% through the video rely on this assumption.

[@Upsedriss]

i also feel like he took it a bit too far into that direction. the chosen one thing can be a bit wacky dependimg on how literal you take it, but that aside and speaking more broadly, my perception has always been that the force has a "will" in a sense, and sometimes things will happen to try to nudge the galaxy back to its natural balance. Anakin being born for example. But not everything being set in stone. stuff can go wrong, and dark siders especially can mess stuff up by trying to impose their own will over natural balance. His is certainly one of the interpretations you can go with, but i found it a bit disappointing no other perspectives were mentioned and that it was pretty much exclusively taken that literally.

[@coloonat]

Yeah I also thought that he went way too much into that. The force having a will doesn't really mean it's sentient on the same level as a human and decides literally everything that happens ever.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@Upsedriss " But not everything being set in stone. stuff can go wrong, and dark siders especially can mess stuff up by trying to impose their own will over natural balance. " Acc. to the notion that this "prophecy" could've been misread and instead meant doom, then the "dark side" can apparently steer events just as much.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

I think it's pointless to attempt any thorough analysis of this, considering that that whole plotline revolves around the premise of "they run into the kid jesus and the only dealer with the parts after just having decided to check out 'one of the dealers' and then suddenly that becomes the only option they have in the whole vast city" and that's too absurd to make any further statements about odds or how this universe works (naturally as well as supernaturally) whatever? It mainly just runs on Narrativium, and sometimes that's attributed to the acknowledged magic force in this universe, simple as that lol

[@Extremeredfox]

I think he overdosed on the whole "Will of the force", it's no where near as bad as he confirms it to be and his application of it had several flaws and misunderstandings, that he assumed were universal truths, and basically his criticisms were more a strawman than anything, due to the undefined nature, scope, etc, that is the "Will of the force".

[@Skoopyghost]

Star Wars is so old that it stopped growing taller.

[@chasehedges6775]

ACCURATE

[@acenewholland564]

From one of the most hated to one of the most loved movies without changing anything. How have we come there?

[@Lordofbetrayal-ge5tj]

It seems that with time people lost their ability to think and started to worship garbage in its purest form

[@arkhamftw6186]

The people who saw it in theaters when they were babies grew up, and are now 20-something’s who find no fault with the prequels due to nostalgia blindness.

[@dancingvalkyrie]

People still hate this movie tho. Sheev himself still says these movies are all bad lol

[@mountaingamer7109]

Because it's still not as bad as the shit we're getting now

[@hugomungus7306]

When you have childhood wonder minced together with jagoffs comparing this movie to r***, you tend to give it more of a pass as time goes on. It has a lot of issues, but it is fundamentally a setup for the political theatre of the Republic, and the intro to Anakin as a character. However botched that character intro is. It had a story to tell.

[@curtisleblanc5897]

I'm pretty sure Nute Gunray is SUPPOSED to be an idiot. Not a strategist. He's so greedy that he uses an army of weak and cheaply constructed droids. Palpatine is suposed to be the genius.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

No not "he's so greedy he uses the most mobile and dangerous robots ever shown in this universe", but he's a smug idiot in way over his head.

[@Roxifer1]

To mix both your points, Gunray is a Greedy Smug Idiot with no foresight to his actions.

[@curtisleblanc5897]

@@WreckageBrother-rd5zf I was pretty sure the main reason he uses Battle Droids (or those specific ones) is because they are the cheapest possible army. (it would explain how they were beaten so easily. get what you fucking pay for.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@curtisleblanc5897 beaten by whom

[@curtisleblanc5897]

@@WreckageBrother-rd5zf the gungans.

[@daredewley9231]

When you said you weren't alive yet when TPM was in theaters, I felt my joints ache.

[@theDinosorcerer]

I think Qui Gon's actions reflect his understanding of the will of the force rather than him just going with the flow. In his mind, he is the Force's instrument and he needs to make decisions and use his power and influence to keep Anakin near him and ensure he becomes a Jedi. He doesn't have some precognition or anything as he genuinely seems surprised when he dies at the hand of Maul. I think his notion of the Force is a lot like Calvinist/Presbyterian notions of predestination or providence, where there is a preordained set of events or that events happen for a reason, but it isn't in man's power to see the whole picture, so all a righteous person can do is behave piously and act in a way they believe is pleasing to God, or The Force in this case.

[@SWANSWAN-nc7ds]

It is just Qui Gon own interpretation of the force it is not the actual definition of the force I don't get why people legit take it like the only fact about the force. I feel like the force should have multiple interpretations for every characters in Star wars if people narrow Force into something like good and bad it is just boring.

[@jpraise6771]

Listen to my speech, that your wisdom may be multiplied. Children of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God

[@roadent217]

@@SWANSWAN-nc7ds "It is just Qui Gon own interpretation of the force it is not the actual definition of the force I don't get why people legit take it like the only fact about the force." Because Qui-Gon, by being a Jedi Master that is even able to steamroll through the Jedi Council, and by acting in a mentor role, acts as an authority on the subject. The rest of the narrative does not call him out as an unorthodox radical whose teachings would be disagreed with or viewed with suspicion. Therefore, when Qui-Gon explains something, the audience does not have reason to distrust him. He most likely speaks the truth. Otherwise, you may as well say that what the Force is is different than what Ben explained in A New Hope, or Yoda explained in The Empire Strikes Back. If you distrust _all_ sources of authority within a literary work, then you literally cannot learn about the fictional setting and follow the plot. And if you _should_ distrust a certain authority figure, but the story fails to provide reasonable cause for doubt, then that's a failing of the writer.

[@alexanderchristopher6237]

Well, speaking about possibly finding a place to stash Anakin instead of bringing him to battle in Naboo, they could have left him with Sheev. He’s the Senator for Naboo, so he has servants and an apartment in Coruscant. Padme could order him to keep the boy who had helped her get to Coruscant. Sure, it’s a bad idea to leave the Chosen One with the actual Sith Lord that was manipulating the entire conflict, but they don’t know that.

[@MasterJunior93]

Agreed. Despite the Jedi being unaware of Palpatine's true identity as a Sith Lord, endangering a child by bringing him INTO A FIREFIGHT is equally stupid and irresponsible. The only way I would forgive this is if there was an extended scene showing Anakin sneaking off to follow Qui-Gon to the palace, they have a small argument about this mission being too dangerous, but it becomes too late to turn back at that point, giving Qui-Gon no choice but to be extra protective of both Padme AND Anakin.

[@dragonmasterlance123]

Could have worked as set up for his grooming as well.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@MasterJunior93 Maybe sure, but I think people are just generally forgetting that this is a particular kind of movie, and what is generally "a warzone"TM may be treated as "adventure zone" instead. So just follow the reprimanding instructions the wise master gave you and you're cool

[@jpraise6771]

Listen to my speech, that your wisdom may be multiplied. Children of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God

[@MajorTomFisher]

Giving the Plinketts and Cosmonauts the benefit of the doubt, I think the use of "taxation" by the Republic to drive the story may have been a weak choice to start the whole conflict. We don't know what to think about this taxation because we're not given details on it, and we don't know why they're taking this out on Naboo of all planets. Is Naboo a major industrial/commercial exporter? Is Naboo a popular tourist site or at least a place where the rich and elite live? Or is this decision entirely because Palpatine wanted the Trade Federation to blockade his planet to get the Chancellorship on pity? How could Palpatine get a huge faction like the Trade Federation to agree to blockade his planet? What if instead, the Trade Federation wanted to open up a whole bunch of sweatshops using slaves bought from the Hutts and the Naboo objected? Maybe the Naboo signed a contract stating they would allow the Trade Federation to make the sweatshops but did not state that slaves may be used in them. Perhaps Palpatine was directly involved in the original signing of this contract. The blockade would be put in place to try and force the Naboo to comply with the contract. The rest of the movie could then continue mostly as normal, although for bonus points you could have the Jedi and Padme's escape on a ship to grab more slaves from Tatooine, leading them to Anakin. This way, the story beats remind us of the central conflict driving the film and you remove _some_ of the coincidence factor in finding Anakin.

[@wisdommanari6701]

Uh have you seen what corporations in the real world do when they get even slightly taxed?

[@MajorTomFisher]

@@wisdommanari6701 That is not my point. My point is that the average person sees the word "taxation" and rolls their eyes. Mosquito bites can be extremely deadly if they carry malaria, but the average Westerner considers mosquitoes to be a nuisance or an annoyance. I think you can understand why if you made an action movie today where a main character is killed by a Malaria-riddled mosquito, you'd get people saying his death was lame. Much in the same way, taxation doesn't carry the same emotional weight for the average person as slavery does seeing as that issue has a lot more relevance to Western audiences. Depicting the Trade Federation as greedy slavers makes it instantly clear they're the evil faction of the movie and, as I've said, it gives us a much better path to meeting Anakin.

[@anonymous-hz2un]

​@@MajorTomFisher don't bother. The guy's a doofus. The normal people among us got what you're talking about the first time around.

[@ikaemos]

@@MajorTomFisher I agree, it doesn't speak to Sheev's critical faculties that he refuses to gauge a movie on its own merits (as it was originally released, and as almost everyone experienced it), rather than relying on the vast amount of Lucasarts backtracking, editorializing, novelizing, expanding, and community theorizing that settled on something that somewhat resembles a coherent plot... after a quarter-century. Barely any of the things which make TPM's plot work are present in TPM itself, and most of those that make you go, "Oooh, so that explains that, now it makes sense," were from later media that aimed to retroactively cram in context where there initially wasn't any.

[@mcbeaty3971]

@@ikaemosThe movie makes sense on its own or are you mentally defective or something and that’s why you didn’t understand it?

[@somethingwithultra7231]

I'm ngl still feel physical pain every time I hear the "George Lucas y'knowd our childhood" song. With people then claiming that documentary is even remotely nuanced and/or balanced in terms of bashing George.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

I wonder what those smucks think about Star Wars now a days.

[@nagger8216]

They're not wrong though, George was always a creative hack and a business man before anything else. The people that dickride George nowadays and treat every half-assed thought he makes as gospel is way more pathetic than any of the prequel backlash.

[@rileysgaming6860]

​@@nagger8216he created this universe the fact you say that proves you have zero intelligence

[@harrambou9468]

@@nagger8216 Business man before anything else?? Oh you do NOT know George Lucas as well as you believe Edit: Sure I agree some people worship him too much but this is still untrue and kinda insulting…even if unintentionally

[@supremefenix974]

@@nagger8216He was not even remotely that bad. The dude had vision and creativity, but was far from perfect. If he was a hacky businessman, all of the movies would have been as bad as the sequels.

[@melferburque]

darth jar-jar is real

[@ianpg9891]

1:18:57 I think it’s important to acknowledge that when that majority of actors in this trilogy are wooden, the fault typically relies more on the director than the actors

[@Room-yu8yc]

look up how acting worked before 50´method acting and what lucas said over and over about why it´s present in sw

[@ianpg9891]

@@Room-yu8yc do you know what method acting is?

[@KingKayro87]

Episode I: Nute Gunray Commits Tax Evasion

[@BigBadMadDog.]

The prequels are plagued with shocking writing and bizarre creative choices. However, the core story is incredible, the characters are iconic, and the worldbuilding paved the way for all of the best Star Wars content outside of the original trilogy. It's possible to appreciate these things whilst still acknowledging it's flaws.

[@donovan4222]

The biggest problem is they are just poorly made movies. Bad acting /dialogue, bad cinematography, effects, etc. but the foundation of a good idea for a story, decent characters and world building is all there

[@Arphemius]

You also have to acknowledge that nearly all of the criticism people have for them, the "shocking writing and bizarre creative choices", are wrong. They are not even close to as flawed as the hate hype back in the day made them seem. They are good movies, possibly even great movies.

[@davemac9563]

Let’s be honest, the setting and battlefront games are the only reason people like the prequels. The writing and dialogue coping is too ridiculous to take seriously

[@Arphemius]

@@davemac9563 No, the hate hype was ridiculous. Now people are "coping" - or rather, they are not coping by the actual definition of that word - because they realize the RLM level arguments they have for the prequels being "bad" are idiotic.

[@davemac9563]

@@Arphemius I don’t even like RLM but it’s so obvious these movies aren’t well made. I like the idea behind them, but when people start calling them “misunderstood” or “masterpieces”, they’re coping. No question.

[@Featheon]

At least this critique wasn’t incredibly condescending from the very first moment or anything like that.

[@billyheaning]

There's no way a video of any length can ever change my opinion that the Phantom Menace was, without a doubt, the biggest let-down of my generation. I'm 44 years old. Most of you can't remember it or weren't born for it. Let me tell you: the excitement before the movie was indescribable. During the movie: silence. And it was PACKED. After the movie: no one talked. They just mumured. Absolutely all of that energy had dissipated. It was like leaving a funeral. The people waiting in line for the next showing... You could see them looking at us, hoping to see our reactions. It was... it wasn't a very good night. And no amount of nostalgic rose-colored glasses will prove it otherwise. At least you got some balls on ya, comin' out swinging at RLM. I'll give you that much.

[@truesonsofmandalore]

I mean if you actually watch the video he explains why he thinks the movie is bad, but he uses genuine arguments instead of bad faith arbitration like Plinkett. He's not trying to change your opinion, he's just having an actual discussion. And beyond that, yeah, all of us prequel fans had the exact same experience when we left theaters after Last Jedi. History is cyclical my man.

[@zzodysseuszz]

Your let down proves you are stupid. The original trilogy was not any better than the phantom Menace, you’re just blinded by nostalgia.

[@the_competent_gamer9454]

There are a lot of valid arguments as to why TPM is a bad movie, mainly dialogue, acting/directing, and some of the lore changes. But alot of fan hate for this film stems from the hype/absence of mainline movies between ROTJ and TPM, so really in this case fan expectations really did set them up for failure

[@ikaemos]

@@truesonsofmandalore No, he uses 25 years of supplemental material, much of which was _specifically_ written afterwards to address TPM's failings at plotting, dialogue and conveying themes, information and characterization, and pretends that people in the early oughties had access to all of it, had absorbed it all, and just decided to ignore it when watching the movie. Which is not what happened. It's like a 2-hour version of, "Just read the novelization, bro.🙄"

[@magnenoalex2]

RLM is a joke

[@RepublicOfBridger]

I will say this, the Force having a Will of its own led to what I would consider the greatest plot Star Wars has ever pursued and that would be Knights of the Old Republic 2: the Sith Lords.

[@yumallah]

Kinda crazy it's been more years since TPM came out now than it was since ROJ in 1999.

[@kaidenrisser5905]

If you haven’t, you should play KOTOR 2. The main narrative deals heavily with the negative implications for the force being alive and having a will of its own that actually does a deconstruction of Star Wars in a far better manner than anything else we’ve seen.

[@lukescrew1981]

It's very obvious he never touched that game

[@EPPicstuff]

I feel like a lot of your criticisms on the chosen one land on differences in philosophical beliefs about free will and such, and aren't really writing flaws.

[@calick7208]

It’s an easier-to-swallow pill if it were established that the Force doesn’t have control over everything. It cannot prevent the existence of the Sith or the birth of Palpatine, but it can control the development of some things to an extent, like the birth of Anakin. Unfortunately the movies don’t delve much into that philosophical aspect. But yeah, fate and free will can both exist in fantasy. The Lord of the Rings is another example, in which some things happen by fate and others are left to chance.

[@jeremyscungio16]

​@calick7208 I like the idea that anakin was going to bring balance to the force, but it was up to him and he fell to the darkside. Ultimately his free will still brought balance to the force

[@RancorSnp]

@@calick7208 I wrote it in another comment already, but yeah the force DOESN'T control everything. People can go against the will of the force - it happens in this very move, the force was steering the events to make Anakin a Padawan of Qui Gon. IT wasn't what the sith wanted though and that fate was broken by the concious action of the sith to go against the will of the force

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@RancorSnp "- it happens in this very move, the force was steering the events to make Anakin a Padawan of Qui Gon." Or what if it was steering him to die and pass that baton on Obiwan. "broken by the concious action of the sith to go against the will of the force" Darth Maul certainly didn't have such conscious intentions, he seemed to just be ok with the idea of running over some kid with his car cause he was irrelevant. Some kinda "the Sith are also after this space jesus" plot never really materialized in the movie, although it got close.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@calick7208 Or the "balance of the Force" was "misread" and it in fact meant Sith win, ooooorrrr, any number of other interpretations lol

[@XragebootsX]

One thing that people tend to ignore about the “Chosen One” prophecy is that even in the movies people think that Anakin is a likely candidate but not a guarantee. For all the characters know, they put their trust in the wrong person. Remember Obi-Wan’s speech as Anakin burns, he says what Anakin was supposed to do as the Chosen One. He believed that Anakin WAS the Chosen One, but in that moment he is confronted that he could’ve been wrong. After that point he goes into hiding until another “Chosen One” could appear. WE know that Anakin will eventually defeat the Emperor, but no one in universe knows for certain

[@vaggos2003]

They seem however to be pretty certain of it and end up being proven right.

[@onemoreminute0543]

Yes, this criticism is a case of the audience assuming the characters know as much as themselves.

[@vaggos2003]

@@onemoreminute0543 The problem tho is that the movies never make it explicit if the Jedi simply assumed another "Chosen One" would appear or if they were simply planning for something else and have completely given up on the prophecy.

[@onemoreminute0543]

@@vaggos2003 I would say that the movies implicitly tell us that they've given up on the prophecy, when you watch the OT through the lens of the PT. The famous "That boy is our last hope - No, there is another" exchange tells me this because if they did still believe in the prophecy of the Chosen ONE, then there wouldn't be another backup option in case Luke fails. Across the entire original 6-film saga, arguably only Qui-Gon was fully convicted in the idea of the Chosen One and that Anakin would fulfill it. Obi-Wan and Yoda didn't believe as strongly in the prophecy as him and would have naturally given up on it after Anakin fell to evil.

[@vaggos2003]

@@onemoreminute0543 Interesting perspective and there does seem some to be some ground for it.

[@teslo8020]

Quick comment about the will of the force thing: I always viewed it as the force being an entity, not an all powerful god. It gifted Anakin the abilities of the chosen one, and WANTS him to succeed, but it does not control fate. Think of it as an organism, a collective of midi-chlorians. The force wants harmony and life, and balance, then with come along and threaten that balance. The force is a powerful entity, but does not control. So a prophecy for a chosen one refers to someone to help the will of the force.

[@RancorSnp]

Yeah, the will of the force is one thing - what people do with it is the other. The will of the force was for Anakin - the chosen one - to be trained by Quigon Jin, what the Sith wanted was for Qui Gon Jin to die and Anakin to side with the sith. And well, the force sure didn't get what it wanted

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

Well it's true that it seems to be kind of sentient but also unpersonal or something; however if Palpatine planted Anakin with magic, that would mean he was working in line with the "prophecy", being its agent or fufilling it etc., so the whole "force is good and sith upset the divine plan with their whims" reading isn't really that solid.

[@Arphemius]

It's more like, well, a force. A force that desires balance in the same way that two fluids separated by a semi-permeable membrane "desire" osmosis or air "desires" to even out pressure.

[@horushyperion76]

Hold up I know the movies never state this opinion however the argument could be made that Anakin was meant to destroy the Jedi who grew complacent and dogmatic during the high republic era. And if that true the force want Anakin to get all those Jedis killed and thus have the Galactic Empire to reign for awhile. This wasn't stated by the movie and I am unsure if George agrees with it but the fact it could be suggest malicious intent from the Force or the Dark side.

[@RancorSnp]

@@horushyperion76 Well, while the movie doesn't state it itself, there IS something in that theory. Most notably in Episode 3 when Mace Windu, Obi Wan and Yoda carpool together. Mace expresses his dissatisfaction with Anakin Obi Wan defends his friend by asking "isn't he the chosen one? The one that will destroy the sith?" Mace, less than convinced replies "According to the 'prophecy'" And then Yoda says "A prophecy that misunderstood may have been" - they don't know what the prophecy actually means. They only know it will bring balance to the force, and they assume it means destruction of the sith - but Yoda is starting to doubt if that's what it actually means. Also conversation from episode 2 where is asking Yoda if they should inform the senate that Jedi are losing their ability to read the force may be relevant. Qui Gon Jin was the only remaining Jedi that follows the will of the force, that is why he was the person that found Anakin. The Force called him there and ensured his only way out is by taking Anakin with him. The only true master that could help the chosen one. But alas, the duel of fates does happen, and because Darth Vader existed before episode 1 - that fate could never happen. So Anakin brought the balance to the force according to Palatine's teachings instead. Which not the original plan, but jedi were already refusing to follow the force and growing weaker as a result so oh well, for a time the balance shifted from corrupt Jedi to sith, but Jedi needed a reset anyway and the only person that could have prevented it was killed by the sith

[@sorrenblitz805]

R2 began as Padme's droid, Padme gave R2 to Anakin as a gift.

[@SheevTalks]

@@sorrenblitz805 Yes, and?

[@CommanderWolf888]

Bro Plinket complaining about TPM being way too boring is exceptionally ironic given that every clip of his video I've seen has made me want to fall asleep for a week.

[@harrambou9468]

His other complaint with the PT is that some camera shots and scenarios displayed thereof are the same and I’m like “that’s such a nothing burger”

[@normalgraham]

Yeah fuck him for noticing that all the shots are locked down and lifeless and everyone looks bored, what a nothinburger

[@Silver77cyn]

That's because you have no sense of humor.

[@supremefenix974]

Dude's voice is valium.

[@blank-vj1mc]

@@supremefenix974Would you be happier if there was Subway Surfers gameplay underneath the review?

[@lsixty30]

I loved this movie as a kid, and I love it now. Qui-Gon is my favorite Jedi ever.

[@lsixty30]

I understand why you say Qui must be passive if he really totally submits to the force, but remember this is not an impersonal experience, much like the intuition one would have of what their wife wants, the level of love Qui has for the force informs his confidence in his "risk" taking. Paradoxes SEEM to abound when we get into these, as you rightly point out, complex mechanics for story telling.

[@lsixty30]

I totally agree with you on the metaclorians (i refuse to look up spelling for that). The criticism I hear is like saying that having a physical body at all lessens the idea of spirituality... No.

[@lsixty30]

Yes, like it or not, I do agree the force having a will is a much bigger retcon than madechlorinated armenians.

[@lsixty30]

Stop asking why THE CHOSEN ONE was an impossibly good pilot ! HE IS BABY VADER LET HIM HAVE THIS!

[@eggman3387]

Always enjoy a dunk on cosmonaut

[@skeletorthepublicnuisance6707]

Why don’t people like cosmonaut? I don’t agree with everything he says but I think he has ok takes

[@sullivandmitry1416]

@@skeletorthepublicnuisance6707because the “reviewer” community is incredibly cruel to one another. Cosmonaut is fine, and I like him, and EFAP is great, and I like them, but they shit on one another. They all kind of shit on one another and it’s mostly just internet hate.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

​​@@skeletorthepublicnuisance6707like many bad video easists, he makes shallow videos where he says stuff just vague enough the audience can imagine there own arguments in his video. if you throughly analysis what cosmo is actually saying it often completely lacks substance.

[@nagger8216]

​​@@diegodankquixote-wry3242Bro, you just said the Phantom Menace could've been the greatest movie ever if they had just included more deleted scenes in another comment, I'm not taking anything you say seriously lol.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

​@@nagger8216 zoomers need tone indications to understand Sarcasm these days. Tsk tsk

[@jodanger37]

As someone who did grow up with the sequels, no these movies will not get love later. Only some adults love these movies. Some kids like the movies, but no one loves them. All the people my age like the prequels the most, maybe the ot (I’m an ot guy). Just look at the toy sales. No one bought them. Kids don’t like the movies becuz they’re basically soulless

[@thibaldus3]

This. Despite their faults the prequels had vision behind them. A narrative throughline. The Disney sequels have none of that.

[@greenmcbean6429]

True I don’t know why people think the sequels will get love later. They will not. The reason why the prequels were loved later is because they actually do have redeeming qualities, and, regardless of some of the writing flaws, they built a very interesting era of the Star Wars world that is different to the OT. In contrast, the sequels hardly built the world at all, they are factually worse in quality to the prequels and the OT, and they world they “set up” is pretty much just a worse, more soulless version of the OT world. You are right, the sequels will not be lived later, and I believe that those who say they will be are making an unwise prediction.

[@samzilla567]

The Sequel Trilogy is the only trilogy I can think of where every film directly retcons and tries to course correct what the previous film did. There's no direction or vision involved in the series. It's almost as bad as Halo 4-6's retcons. Almost.

[@-taz-]

Lucas tried to make more Star Wars movies. Disney tried to make more propaganda. (Not just Star Wars, but across the board.)

[@jodanger37]

@@-taz- that and money

[@MiraBoo]

I once heard the prequels described as “bad films, but good stories,” and I’m inclined to agree with that sentiment (as a broad generalization). I always really liked/enjoyed the prequels growing up, despite their many flaws. Once I was an adult, I could admit “yeah, these movies aren’t very good” but I still liked them for what they were. And I think the story at its core is solid and compelling, be it imperfectly executed. Edit to add: Wow, your review of Episode 1 aligns quite closely with my own take, especially when it comes midi-chlorians (which are more or less just mitochondria). Also, brilliant use of Alastor!

[@tylerloving7132]

I remember waking out of the theater thinking, did that suck? I need to see it again. Yup, it sucks bad.

[@nathanhopkins7976]

38:36 While I'm going to try to avoid falling into two traps of criticism (1. Relying on external material, 2. Writing for the writers), I wanted to make a counterpoint to this section because I think it's interesting and embodies some of the reason I find these movies cool. Firstly, based off my understanding from EU materials, going through the planet's core is indeed literal! Naboo is supposed to have a dormant core interspersed with a honeycomb of caves that connects the oceans of the planet through the center. While Star Wars has never been anywhere near to hard science fiction in terms of its writing, I would consider this at least fantastically plausible. Many planets in our own solar system, including our moon and Mars, have entirely dormant, "dead" cores which have cooled from their molten temperature during the formation or our solar system. So, to me, it seems like there's the same level of adherence to physics as laser swords, which is to say, enough for a fantasy film with little focus on super-strict realism. I don't think accepting that at face value opens any major plot holes. I also just like this world-building detail, as it gives Naboo some extra character in the lore, and I think worldbuilding is the great redeeming feature of the prequels and the main aspect of their writing worth defending. While it seems kind of implausible for ocean travel to allow them to reach Theed in the time they do, it's worth noting that on our own planet commercial air travel can take you to the other side of the world in about 15 hours on a non-stop flight, taking a more circuitous route over the surface of the planet. Assuming a perfectly circular flight path over the surface, and knowing that pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, we know that the distance travelled through the center of the Naboo from the opposite is just over 3 times shorter, which means the sub could be going at an average speed 3 times slower than a commercial airliner and reach Theed in the same length of time. Now, in our world submersibles move a full 10x+ slower than aircraft, going based off speed records, which means the gungan sub would have to move at a speed roughly 3x higher than our own undersea speed records to match that 15 hour trip. That's probably not physically possible for us, but again, it's not so mind-boggling that I'm unwilling to suspend disbelief for a space fantasy film. The distance savings will be somewhat less if they aren't on the other side of the planet, but absent another form of transport it still seems plausible that making a straight line through the inside of the planet could be their fastest option. As for the invasion, it's not clear that the ships arriving near Otah Gunga are carrying the same troops used for the occupation of Theed. But, if neither Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon know where the ships were going, it seems plausible that the Trade Federation could be landing troops on many different locations on the planet. After all, we know they are blockading the whole of Naboo, and presumably there are many settlements besides Theed where the Federation wants to establish a military presence. We also know, from later conversation between Gunray and Amidala, that the Federation is establishing concentration camps on the planet for dissidents and political leadership. Presumably, they would have done so in places outside the Capital and other population centers so they can separate people and control their movements and activities, the same way such camps have been set up in our world historically. Likewise, while the chronology hasn't been established, and I'll be making a generous assumption for the writers... Those transport ships look pretty, well, big! Maybe it didn't make sense logistically for them to land their army directly in the city, particularly given that said army would probably be at its most vulnerable when in their transports, much as amphibious landing troops are in wars on Earth. That's probably giving the writers a bit too much slack, but it just reminds me of the Gallipoli campaign in WWI, where the British tried and failed to capture Istanbul via an amphibious invasion of the Dardanelles. Anyway, I appreciate a lot of the criticisms of the prequels, but I think it's telling that Mauler and others have suggested in the past that, rather than simply being retconned out of existence, the prequels could be deserving of a remake which sorts out some of their writing and execution issues. While they are really flawed films, as a fan of the Star Wars universe I have always felt they added more than they took away, in spite of their shortcomings, because they have enough of a foundation in concept and worldbuilding to be worth redeeming. They are "bad," I guess, but creatively so in a way that is interesting and which required taking some risks. I can't say the same about most of what Disney has produced, where I've really never found much worth expanding on, with the possible exception of a character like Finn's (ex-mook turned good) being worthy of significant expansion and not being sidelined. The Prequels are George Lucas having a flawed vision of what he wanted to do with this universe, absent the gentle hand of Marcia Lucas to help him humanize the world and reign him in. The sequels are the result of a company completely unwilling to take risks pumping out a cardboard product based off of boardroom meetings and focus groups. And if there's a major negative legacy for RLM's prequel criticism, it's that they articulated what became a hegemonic point of view on these films, which undeniably impacted the creation of the sequel films through the consensus they generated. Hate politics because it's boring? Here's a film with basically no world-building which has been reset to the status quo of Episode IV. Hate "overly-elaborate" lightsaber fights? How about shitty, almost ad-libbed fight choreography with major mistakes. Don't like dialogue that is trying to be "too serious" or "edgy"? How about a film in which a character who's supposed to be a turncoat soldier to a fanatically authoritarian government is just a happy-go-lucky guy with no trust issues, with Marvel-style "quirky lighthearted" dialogue. I think it's telling that RLM, like a lot of people, were generally positive on TFA, when I viewed it even at the time as the beginning of the end which had shattered any possible foundation for interesting writing in the series. It appealed to a lot of their criticism by "getting back to basics," but that criticism of the prequels is so harsh and unqualified that making a film in line with those expectations was essentially a film that takes as few risks as possible. And frankly, I find that far more "boring" than the the at times cringe, at time stupid, but at time fascinating and the even spectacular moments one gets with the very flawed prequels.

[@icequeen52]

I think that's a really good way of putting it. I grew up with the prequels, I'm in love with them, it's my favourite trilogy. I'm happy to admit they had flaws, but I don't really care. I feel like a lot of the prequel hatred is people being nostalgic for the original trilogy, and not being able to be accepting of something new and different in the series. The flaws are there, but for anybody with an open mind and an understanding that these movies will be different from the ones that came before, I think there's something to enjoy for a lot of people. The sequel trilogy was very much made with an anti prequel sentiment, and you're right in that it just made for a boring trilogy that didn't make a lot of sense, because it tried to emulate the original trilogy without ever earning it

[@nathanhopkins7976]

@@icequeen52 I agree with you completely. I think it's telling that Lucasfilm created one of the earliest cinematic universes that captivated people's imaginations for several generations, and which served as a reality in which many people could craft stories, a facet which started as early as Irvin Kershner directing Empire. The fact that I grew up with Star Wars as a cultural icon for me more than 30 years after the OT, with games like KotOR I+II (and the associated comics) having genuinely standout writing is a testament of the versatility of that universe. So to me, its a shame to see its potential foreclosed on, which necessarily includes the potential to tell bad stories! You have to be willing to try something that might not work. And Disney in particular has always rubbed me the wrong way since annihilating the expanded universe with a press release, a place rich with stories that, if they were feeling lazy, they could have simply adapted! Actually, I don't know if you've heard of this already, but I've been captivated by this animated fan adaptation of the Thrawn trilogy in progress by a KZbinr named Darth Angelus. It's very budget, and sometimes unintentionally funny for that reason, but it's also charming and, to me, showcases how strong good writing can be even when it has very little else to back it up. Even though I think some of the voices are kinda rough, and the animation is definitely a couple decades behind, it's still, in my mind, a much stronger work of art than the sequel trilogy. You might want to check it out, if you don't already know it! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXScl4yLebZpea8si=psDgbhAN6GtFiMPz

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

"The sequels are the result of a company completely unwilling to take risks pumping out a cardboard product based off of boardroom meetings and focus groups." Funny how the 1 big blunder that gives tribal "sequel haters" their platform and legitimacy, TLJ, was in fact the one that "took risks" acc. to the whims of its hired auteur writer-director (with some theorizing it also included KK's self-inserts). Although the other 2 may also have just been mainly JJ's work and how he wanted to do them. "I can't say the same about most of what Disney has produced, where I've really never found much worth expanding on, with the possible exception of a character like Finn's (ex-mook turned good) being worthy of significant expansion and not being sidelined." People keep repeating these talking points, "sequels not worth expanding on" blah blah blah, just cause they've heard others type it, but there's really nothing different about it than 4-6 which did lead to huge expansions for some reason - why though? Wanna see more of the lived-in outskirts like Tatooine, well ST has comparably good locations with Jakku and the TROS ones to some extent. Wanna see background politics explained, well same here. So yeah I dunno "rather than simply being retconned out of existence, the prequels could be deserving of a remake which sorts out some of their writing and execution issues. While they are really flawed films, as a fan of the Star Wars universe I have always felt they added more than they took away, in spite of their shortcomings, because they have enough of a foundation in concept and worldbuilding to be worth redeeming. They are "bad," I guess, but creatively so in a way that is interesting and which required taking some risks." If you want to see an authentic version of the OT backstory filmed, you HAVE to retcon these movies out of existence and start from scratch. At the same time if you wanna see some kind of "better made" version of the PT's plot about the Satanic conspiracy in Space America and its prophecies with the sword-fu monks and greedy fishmen invading fairytale planets with magic plasma, you can have that remade as well - possibly even without a connection to Starwars this time. And of course some AI in the future could tweak some lines or replace the rom-plot in AotC or idk lol "And if there's a major negative legacy for RLM's prequel criticism, it's that they articulated what became a hegemonic point of view on these films, which undeniably impacted the creation of the sequel films through the consensus they generated." TFA was the most "anti-prequel" one of the three, and guess whether it's enjoyed the most uncontroversial positive acclaim lol "Hate politics because it's boring? Here's a film with basically no world-building which has been reset to the status quo of Episode IV." Except it's a more complicated situation with the New Republic - FO - Resistance that gets under-explained just like the Trade Federation and Separatist situations, whoops - ended up committing the same issue. "Hate "overly-elaborate" lightsaber fights? How about shitty, almost ad-libbed fight choreography with major mistakes." Mistakes I've seen pointed out in PT fights as well (like "aiming for the sword not the body" type stuff?) and that you need to slow down and zoom in or expertise experience to notice lol All in all they were much closer in tone and aesthetics to OT than the sword-fu of 1-3 (with the exception of Mace vs. Palpatine), however it's possible they went a bit too far in the "janky disorganized" direction, not sure. "Don't like dialogue that is trying to be "too serious" or "edgy"? How about a film in which a character who's supposed to be a turncoat soldier to a fanatically authoritarian government is just a happy-go-lucky guy with no trust issues, with Marvel-style "quirky lighthearted" dialogue." *1)* Awww people just can't stop the "selectively only remember serioues/jokey side of previous trilogy and then selectively complain about the jokey/serious side of the new one" dementia, can they? Mark Hamill, RLM repeatedly. All of them are a combination of serious and levity, start from that lucid premise and then maybe you'll have some kinda workable analysis or critique. *1a)* "Marvel" didn't start "quirky lighthearted quips banter" - there was a lot of it in the originals, at most you can say that Marvel has a certain particular style of doing that (derived from RDJ's adlibbing and Whedon, probably) which then the new trilogy was influenced by; but saying they introduced "banter quip levity" to the previously serious Starwars is just demented insanity. *2)* Finn seems to have absorbed the personality from Poe, the first person he runs into post-defection; then the way the Rey situation comes about etc. He keeps having serious moments though and the circlejerky critics keep ignoring that all the time. "I think it's telling that RLM, like a lot of people, were generally positive on TFA, when I viewed it even at the time as the beginning of the end which had shattered any possible foundation for interesting writing in the series." And how glad you were that TLJ came and provided the blunder by going against TFA, now you've got the platform to complain about the "whole trilogy" lolol "It appealed to a lot of their criticism by "getting back to basics," but that criticism of the prequels is so harsh and unqualified that making a film in line with those expectations was essentially a film that takes as few risks as possible." I mean it could've kept the style while dispensing with the more derivative plot beats or Starkiller or same-design ships etc. And RLM's criticisms themselves were dissonant and contradictory on that anyway - memberberrie bad here, "too different" bad there, hard to just simplistically "address these criticisms" lol

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@icequeen52 "The sequel trilogy was very much made with an anti prequel sentiment, " Well TLJ the "worst one" wasn't. But PT fans didn't get the memo and decided that bashing it would propel them into popularity - which it kinda did, but in a stupid way that's easy to take down lol

[@icequeen52]

@@WreckageBrother-rd5zf Let me rephrase: JJ Abrams is anti prequel and made TFA with anti prequel sentiment, Ryan Johnson came in with TLJ and completely wrecked established canon, so they brought back JJ to try to save the trilogy, but he couldn't think of anything for ROS besides bringing back Palpatine with the only prior setup for this plot point being in Fortnite, and the only explanation being "somehow Palpatine returned".

[@hian]

On the note of protagonists: I've always found this critique of TPM baffling even if we were to accept it on face value that the movie doesn't have one primary protagonist. There's no writing in the sky anywhere that says a story must have one, singular, clear protagonist. Ensemble cast stories are a thing. Stories aren't vehicles for the personal perspective of a single character. Stories are about themes/thesis, where the event and character serve as mechanisms by which those are conveyed. Sometimes this is best done by following a single character and their headspace, other times it isn't. In the case of TPM, Qui Gon, Obi Wan, Amidala and Anakin are all central to the story, and need room to make sense of the cause and effect relationships the prequels are meant to explore for the status quo of the OT to be thoroughly laid out. I'm sure there are a multitude of different, and arguably better, ways Lucas could have achieved this, but nevertheless, given his stated goal of having Anakin's fall to the dark side by a result of his untimely separation with his mother and subsequent inability to function within the suppressive monastic life of the Jedi order, he needed to show the events we're shown on Tatooin. However, I'd argue that having the movie centered around child Anakin as a protagonist, and thereby removing the events we're shown from the Jedi's and Amidala's POV, would give the script/movie very little to work with otherwise. Would anyone really want to watch a movie that was just about child Anakin being jeeted off to Jedi academy as a child and having a miserable time there/a timeskip straight to the clone-wars? The structure of TPM makes fairly good sense and kinda has to be the way it is, once you realize the movie essentially has to, 1.) Set up child Anakin's reasons for being taken by the Jedi, but not functioning within their order, 2.) Palpatine's initial schemes for attaining power while 3.) Also functioning as an action-adventure film with a self-contained plot. The particular nature of the movie and its narrative goals are better served by an ensemble cast, and I think that's made abundantly clear in terms of how the movie changes POVs. And, to be clear, even though the OT has a very obvious protagonist in Luke Skywalker, it's not like the OT didn't frequently change POVs either, and yet this introduces no confusion as to whom the central character is due to screen-time differences. In ANH, the movie begins on the droids and Luke isn't introduced until later. In TESB, the movie routinely cuts between Luke, and Han/Leia. Same for RoTJ. In TPM, most of the movie follows Qui Gon/Obi Wan, though this is somewhat obscured given scenes they share with Anakin/Amidala. In any case, simply going, "you can't tell who "the" protagonist is" is not a critique of any kind. Final Fantasy VI, is considered by many to be one of the best FFs(if not the best FF), and one of the best jrpgs ever made, and a critique you don't hear about that game's story is, "who's the protagonist?" despite the fact that game doesn't have one obvious dominant protagonist either. Is it Terra? Is it Locke? Is it Celes? They're all valid picks because it's an ensemble cast and you can't remove any of them without unraveling the entire story. I'd say the same for TPM.

[@onemoreminute0543]

Very well said!

[@thecringeexterminationservice]

The prequels gave me republic commando and kotor so regardless of quality I will always appreciate them.

[@CyrodiilCome]

Attack of the clones is my favorite movie, watched it a million times as a child. That was my autistic time to watch the same movie multiple times as a kid

[@AJadedLizard]

It's got a good soundtrack, Christopher Fucking Lee as an iconic villain, Jango Fett, a cool space battle midway through, lots of new vehicles, a much more realistic ground battle than anything in the OT, oh, and did I mention Christopher Fucking Lee.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@AJadedLizard The "Attack of the Clones" half of it is cool, the Blunders on the Meadow half is something else entirely. I was obsessively rewatching it and exploring the DVD for a few years after release, trying to convince myself the whole movie was good and solid i.e. as good as the good half, then gave up lol - by the time of RotS I was disillusioned with this series and just took on a hit-and-miss perspective.

[@themetalchica]

Wait, what? I was born in 76, saw Empire and all SW films beyond it in the theater. Who are these idiots who dont remember Qui-Gon? He was one of the most anticipated subjects of Obi-Wan Kenobi! "Will we finally see Force Qui-Gon?" But these people don't recall prequel characters. None of this is mathing for me. Just... "I NEVER shoulda had four!"

[@themetalchica]

He was the rebellious Jedi! The Living Force! He wasn't above using the Force to alter situations in his/their favor, ie, the dice w Watto. He thought only of Anakin and saving the galaxy with the chosen one up until his dying breath! Imma bout to Wayne Brady a bitch.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

hm k

[@vaggos2003]

47:24 I believe that growth in media literacy can be seen when you start realising that Th3Birdman ain't half as media literate as he would have you believe for years.

[@Zeppelinschaffner22]

Watching those cheers when the title crawl starts and knowing where we went with SW from that point to now makes me sigh sooooo deeply

[@lukew6725]

Ngl, I'd totally watch a critique of the entire Plinket prequel reviews.

[@ChillyCharizard006]

Lol The fact that Sheev dismissed Theory, Heels, Gary n co. as simply hating women or projects "just because they have women in them", shows just how much he doesn't actually listen to any if their arguments. Ironic.

[@nobodyspecial1553]

That's what I call political brain-rot. Everyone is unfortunately susceptible to it since you must actually go out of your way to listen to others to avoid falling prey to such a malignancy.

[@qq-wy7zs]

A better way to link the droids' storylines is if in Ep3, Bail Organa took the dorids for himself, so R2 and C3PO became Leia's droids because they were Padme's droids. Giving them to Antilles makes it more of a stretch unless Antilles is Bail's only trusted captain.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

Meh Antilles seems like a big guy with a significant name. In either case R2 should've kinda indirectly "belonged to Obiwan" and then joined up with the more clueless 3PO much later, that's the real backstory. The one in the movies doesn't jive, and the "wipe the memory" doesn't work other than as a sadistic gag and funny moment. Them just being given to Antilles instead of Bail keeping them isn't one of the problems here, it's everything else lol

[@tyrannosuperior5248]

One thing I like about the deleted Greedo scene is lesson Qui-Gon taught Anakin. The lesson that "it doesn't matter what other people think, as long as you know the truth" is a great one for kids.

[@jamesmccarthy552]

The fact that Disney is not only making the same mistakes George did, but worse, boggles my mind

[@TripleA90000]

I think the force is what you thought it could be; soft deterministic. It's an entity that, being an energy field that surrounds everything, can influence the Universe in ways too subtle for us to comphrehend. But it can't control people. Hence why things like the Sith exist. It can set events up so that a person ends up in certain places at certain times, but what they choose to do is entirely up to them.

[@Jeartozer]

1:39 really sucks that we will never have this reaction to a Star Wars movie like this ever again... and that saddens me...

[@FosterDuncan1]

Looking back it’s sad that only Star Wars content I think is actually good is og trilogy,andor, some clone wars, and the last hour of rogue one…

[@jacknicholson2071]

I still don't think Plinkett is as bad as you're saying. There's plenty of legitimate points mixed in with the weird non arguments. I've rewatched them and the efap episode on ROTS. Multiple stretches of time where they just agree with him tearing into it.

[@leafpratt]

The Prequels suffer from first draft syndrome and the Sequels from Rewrites

[@RiposteBK]

Stellar video man, very well thought out and put together. 👏 Mad respect for taking on the Plinkett reviews too, brave man to do that lol. I'm generally an RLM Stan, but the community truly does hold those Plinkett reviews to a ridiculously, unreasonably high standard. They're well done, influential, fun and funny reviews, not definitive facts about the issues with the prequels

[@davemac9563]

The phantom menace may not be a good film, but it’s certainly a unique one. It’s better to be a movie that tries than something that doesn’t

[@Arcadia_warlic]

The Force cannot stop the Sith from existing, but it can balance itself. When Sidious's master attempted to subvert its design, it created Anakin as a counterbalance to punish them. That it needed to do this at all instead of simply preventing the subversion to begin with indicates it is not infallible. Theoretically the Sith could have beaten fate, essentially, if Luke did not reach out to his father. It is more so leading people along rather than forcing a set conclusion. The nature of the Force's morality is a subject in and out of universe, explored most clearly by Kreia in the Knights of the Old Republic II, who sought to erase the Force because of the undue influence it has on others. Interesting subject that was tackled therein. I think Qui-Gon might have accepted the race to test Anakin/help him grow, even without the deterministic outlook. I imagine he would prefer trickery to stealing, if possible. In Legends someone somewhat let Bane's order slip, though only Yoda really grasped it, hence him being able to comment on it. In canon, unclear. Indeed, in the movie it is not really a contradiction with it not being spelled out as secret at that time. Not certain if it should really be held in favour of the film, but the hyperspace lanes are often only in one direction, though it does bring up how they managed to get close from the other side. They might have entered farther away and flown in manually. It is actually suggested the pod-racing controls are vaguely similar to the N1 controls in a way that was likely meant to allude to Luke's transferred skilled from the T-16 to the X-Wing (beyond just the "now this is" statement). Might have been the reason Qui-Gon thought he would be a good asset in the invasion, as well.

[@HYDRAdude]

Well written post. It's so puzzling to me that these younger generation of Star Wars fans are so clueless on the nature of the Force, with many claiming to be Star Wars fans despite their clear animosity to the Force.

[@Arcadia_warlic]

@@HYDRAdude I think the new canon does push it too far. Some believe that Obi-Wan managed to beat Vader in Obi-Wan, despite Vader being at his "prime", and Obi-Wan being out of practice, because the Force willed it, which would sap the tension from fights if it could act as such a force multiplier. I am not of the belief this is how it could function in Legends, usually (Oneness aside, which is a different context).

[@MrMinewarp]

"It controls your actions? Partially, but it also obeys your command" then proceeds to say that the Force doesn't have a will?

[@RainBird88x]

Just think, in 20 years time the Last Jedi will be seen as an underrated film that was unfairly criticized.

[@muddlewait8844]

I think you’re right about a lot of the Plinkett criticisms, but I think his/Stoklasa’s take on main character traits has more to do with what a lot of audience members found (or didn’t find) moving or memorable about them than with what they actually do in the plot. The human performances are generally so flat and underplayed, or oddly played, that Amidala’s leadership, courage, and concern for the people around her, and Qui-Gon’s zealotry, don’t come across to a lot of people as essential or compelling or memorable character traits, regardless of how the characters were written or the events of the plot progressed. To call back to an old Lindsay Ellis review, in the first Transformers, Mikhaila Baynes comes across to most audiences primarily as sexy eye candy instead of the protagonist and hero (which is what she is if you look at the actual plot) because that’s how the movie aesthetically presents her. Qui-Gon comes across to a lot of people as a kind of boring serious guy facilitating the plot, rather than anyone relatable or emotionally or ideologically driven, because that’s largely how he’s performed and presented in this film. Maybe you think people *should* see him as a character with memorable defining traits and motives, but a lot of people don’t, and I think that’s a failure of the movie.

[@paleopal]

I agree. Even if a character is clearly defined within the parameters of the plot and dialogue, if the performance and directing do not convey this, it is still a failure of a character, because most casual viewers will not receive the intended experience. Ultimately, I believe the quality is the prequels is determined by if you’re watching them to analyze and think about critically, or just passively taking them in and being whisked away on the experience. Not to say you can’t do both, but most of the general audience will be doing the latter.

[@jeromeb6479]

To be fair qui gon is ideologically driven. He is addement in following his own views on the force instead of listening to the council. Also your argument relies a bit on appeal to popularity. Just because there are people who don’t see the traits of the character doesn’t take away the fact that’s it’s in the movie. If they just find the characters personality boring then that’s completely subjective.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

"I think you’re right about a lot of the Plinkett criticisms, but I think his/Stoklasa’s take on main character traits has more to do with what a lot of audience members found (or didn’t find) moving or memorable about them than with what they actually do in the plot." Yeah that's too charitable of a reading - here's just 2 Plinkett statements from the AotC review, not "interviews" or audience polls or anything like that: "I would think people could relate more to Obi-Wan, cause he's basically a good guy who doesn't murder people? But at the same time he's also very distant, cause he's like a weird monk without any personality. *"What?!"*" vs. "I guess it's got something to do with, like.. purging emotions, to avoid being tempted by the Dark Side, right? But Obi-Wan, you know, he smiles, he laughs... he gets annoyed; "What?!" "Well, you've lost him." he enjoys a good sarcastic quip: "Oh, this is going to be easy." Sometimes, he gets really, really pissed off: "You will be expelled from the Jedi Order!!" So.. so love leads to the Dark Side - but getting fucking pissed doesn't? "Come to your senses!" I mean the Jedis aren't supposed to be Vulcans, right? Even Vulcans took wives and had sex... So really, the only thing that made Obi-Wan different from like a normal person, was that he didn't express any interest in chicks. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd GOT my message." Lack of sex can drive men crazy you know..." They're just forgetful and scatterbrained, that's all lol - or, they forget or remember things when it suits their desired argument/narrative at the given moment. "The human performances are generally so flat and underplayed, or oddly played, that Amidala’s leadership, courage, and concern for the people around her, and Qui-Gon’s zealotry, don’t come across to a lot of people as essential or compelling or memorable character traits, regardless of how the characters were written or the events of the plot progressed." Well her big centerpiece Senate speech isn't "flat and underplayed" - and in fact a clip of that is shown in the splitscreen while Gillian says "she's just kinda normal" and the others say "monotone doesn't have a character" lol, so Mike was just absent-minded while editing this. (And SheevTalks failed to notice it as well, for that matter.) And in either case that's not an excuse to forget things like that in your analytic conclusive video essay. If you wanna do some cohesive lucid thing about what's in the movie or isn't, and then do a psychological study on what's more likely to be remembered by viewers for what reasons, you could do that, but this obviously isn't an example of that. "To call back to an old Lindsay Ellis review, in the first Transformers, Mikhaila Baynes comes across to most audiences primarily as sexy eye candy instead of the protagonist and hero (which is what she is if you look at the actual plot) because that’s how the movie aesthetically presents her. Qui-Gon comes across to a lot of people as a kind of boring serious guy facilitating the plot," Except all the instances where he's neither boring nor serious, as seen in those splitscreens? "rather than anyone relatable or emotionally or ideologically driven, because that’s largely how he’s performed and presented in this film." What do you mean by "largely"? "Maybe you think people should see him as a character with memorable defining traits and motives, but a lot of people don’t, and I think that’s a failure of the movie." You might wanna be hesitant with these rushed conclusions, given how demented human memory often is (doubly so when driven by bias).

[@-taz-]

Umm.. also your avatar looks like a blue m&m.

[@muddlewait8844]

@@-taz- oh hey, it does! You sure got me there.

[@saschaberger3212]

No one talking about the stellar soundtrack. One of the if not the best

[@wisdommanari6701]

No matter what music is always an unappreciated aspect of a movie or TV show.

[@Roxifer1]

I believe Ep1 definitely has the best soundtrack of all the star wars movies.

[@harrambou9468]

If anyone including Sheev cares at all, I’ve got counterpoints - Viceroy Gunray is said to have not dealt with Jedi - The army on Naboo is implied to be spread out in small waves across the planet bc “we have complete control of the planet now” the Viceroy says…and if anyone wonders “why did they not pull forces from around the planet at the end” it should be said that time is still a thing, and time did pass as the Jedi were underwater. Besides you could ask the same about the death star, and get the same answer - The Jedi would have made their way to the city one way or another, the Gungans just made it a bit easier - You could argue R2 wasn’t always made aware of every little thing going on, it’s believable. When Yoda talks about Vader to Luke, R2 is always kinda removed from the scene. - You could make the assumption that with the kinda kid Anakin is, he probably woulda been found sooner or later. - Besides if you wanna talk about some things just “happening for the best,” there’s no better example than the beginning of A New Hope - In terms of the force being deterministic, it’s implied that some things are meant to happen SOONER OR LATER and again, given Anakin is unusually crafty for his age, he likely would have been discovered one way or another. - You forget that despite the force being good, it can be and has been perverted. Yknow, the dark side? - Qui-Gon knew Anakin HAD podraced before - You could argue Qui-Gon didn’t have any way to steal the part under anyone’s nose, and it’s believable that he didn’t know where the parts even were 🤣 I mean it makes sense - The Jedi in PARTS were set up like the monks you imagine but it’s believable that they’d be living towards the top in a similar respect considering how tied they’d become to the Republic’s affairs - You could also argue (which the films imply at times) that the Jedi Council look at much of current events in “big picture” lenses - Yoda knowing the rule of 2 could be because of a number of things - Qui-Gon wanted to keep on eye on Anakin. - You could say Sidious may have started his sabotage of the Trade Federation upon Amidala’s return - it’s possible that even with Gunray being captured there was the possibility of his subordinates taking some emergency action - My guy, Qui-Gon is not a nothing character. 😤 BUT if I am to concede - Yeah ok Jar Jar has no place in Mos Espa. - It should’ve at least been implied that Anakin REBUILT 3PO, like, maybe rescued him. This one comic implied it but the movie should have said so - The deleted probe droid scene should have stayed…it builds the tension 👀 - I agree the meeting and interaction of Anakin and Obi-Wan is underwhelming as hell - On that midichlorians bit, I also agree. Considering the body is a conduit for the force you could say that midichlorians are just an elaboration for that I’m sure I could think of more… but “shit” is quite a strong word

[@tomh4164]

Could you add on why you think some of these? For example, on your point to do with "things happening for the best" & A New Hope, I have no idea what you're actually referring to.

[@tomh4164]

Just thought I would discuss my pov on your points. Gunray not having dealt with Jedi should mean that he would (probably) use excessive force. He's only aware of their reputation that they are incredibly skilled battlemages that have historically defeated incredibly strong foes whilst being outnumbered heavily. Trying to gas them for an indeterminate amount of time & then sending B1 droids (of all things, we know he has droidekas available) is insane. Either he severely underestimated them or he's & everyone advising him is a complete idiot. Neither is particularly made clear by the movie. My point is that Gunray not having dealt with Jedi before means that his attempt to kill 2 Jedi (who could be 2 council members for all he knows) is incredibly half hearted. That's a fair point about the droid army being spread out at Naboo. I'd also say that they had concentrated a majority of the force to fight the battle they expected Queen Amidala to be leading (the Gungan diversion), none of the higher ups seemed to expected an attack on the capital itself. However I would say that the Death Star battle is wildly different. The Death Star was thought to be basically invincible & they're about 5 seconds from wiping out the Rebel base itself. I'd say Naboo is a strategic & tactical blunder whereas the Death Star was a completely unaccounted variable that couldn't be planned for (someone with enough ability with the force to make a successful shot down the 1 weakness of the station in a post 66 world) On the Jedi being able to make it to the city without the Gungans, this is addressed by Sheev in the video (apologies I don't have a timestamp, it's around where we meet Jar Jar). The Gungans allowed for them to reach the capital far more quickly than any other route (e.g. going on a speeder is noisy, attracts attention, they would likely have to fight their way to the capital). By the time they reached the capital it may have been far too late to stop the Trade Federation forcing the Queen to sign the treaty. On your point with R2D2, you're talking about Empire Strikes Back. I would argue R2 should have chirped up the second he heard that the kid who just bought him was a Skywalker. Unless R2 also had his memory wiped & nobody ever mentioned it, it's really weird that he just doesn't ever discuss the prequels with Luke. R2 being removed from the scene in Empire though is really odd, you'd think that he'd be relatively happy to see that one of the Jedi masters managed to survive the war (knowing R2 he'd probably try mess with Yoda whilst he's doing his goofy act when he first meets Luke) I think Sheev's point on Anakin's discovery is that it happened (on all planets possible) on the highly plot relevant (in both prequel & OT) planet of Tatooine, which leads into all the bloat in Star Wars of everything happening on Tatooine (I am exaggerating but an awful lot happens on a wasteland outer rim planet). If the Force does determine events then yes Anakin certainly would have been discovered regardless, I think it's just the circumstances of his discovery. On your point with "things happening for the best", I'm not really sure what you mean, could you elaborate there please? Again for Anakin's discovery, it's more the circumstances of his discovery. Especially compared to the vast majority of Jedi who are discovered effectively at birth. There's also the problem with Force determinism that Sheev explained in the video that I mostly agree with. The Force can be perverted by using the dark side. However I think that Sheev's point was that the force's grand plan to bring it's idea of balance about required the galaxy to go through cycles of oppression & warfare until eventually Anakin is born, then bring about suffering en-masse to the galaxy through the clone wars, fall of the republic, establishment of the empire & the galactic civil war. It kind of comes off as a particularly malevolent entity, contrary to what we are supposed to believe about the Force. I could be wrong but I also think that the Dark Side is moreso bending the Force to your will rather than the light side where you work alongside the force, it's effectively forcing (haha) the Force to do what you want thus it shouldn't really be a reflection on the Force itself. Again though, I might be wrong on that point. On the point that Qui-Gon knew Anakin had experience podracing. That's part of his decision making but there are other options like hiring a pilot to take them offworld with the substantial sum of money he has available, finding someone willing to convert currencies across, simply stealing the thing. From a practical perspective stealing the hyperdrive or hiring a pilot would have been significantly quicker, they could have been offworld in a day. Instead the pod race takes a good deal more time (signing up for it, preparation for the race, racing, awards & winddown of the event, receiving the hyperdrive from Watto, then finally getting to installing it). Qui-Gon doesn't think that Anakin can die, he probably doesn't think he could lose, but he's completely distracted from what should be his main goal. I see no reason as to why Qui-Gon couldn't steal the parts. Watto doesn't seem to have any guards. Could have slipped in during the night. Despite not knowing where it was, night is long so he shouldn't have much trouble wandering around the scrapyard until he finds it. A functioning hyperdrive isn't going to be jammed under loads of random scrap metal, Watto shouldn't be willing to risk damaging it since a hyperdrive is a high value part that he would want to sell for as high a price as possible. Bring a few of the more able crew along then they could cover ground more quickly. For "The Jedi in PARTS were set up like the monks you imagine but it’s believable that they’d be living towards the top in a similar respect considering how tied they’d become to the Republic’s affairs" - I don't think this is a counterpoint. Sheev says in the video that the Jedi are very different to how we had previously imagined them. Is there a point in the video you're specifically referring to? "You could also argue (which the films imply at times) that the Jedi Council look at much of current events in “big picture” lenses" - Again I'm not quite sure what this is referring to, reckon I've probably just forgotten the part of the video where this is relevant. Simply saying "Yoda knowing the rule of 2 could be because of a number of things" doesn't really counter a point. Could you give a few examples? Besides that I'm not too familiar with the lore about Bane & such besides 'I know it exists & the basic rules of it' so elaborating would be really nice since I could learn a thing or two. Qui-Gon wanting to keep an eye on Anakin? Do you mean ensure that Anakin isn't put into a foster system or whatnot? There are significantly better options that bringing a 9 year old child to a war zone. Qui-Gon could have petitioned the council to send another master to Naboo to finish the mission in his place. Alternatively there are Jedi that Qui-Gon should trust with looking after Anakin until he returned from Naboo. Dooku was his master & he trusts him absolutely, he could ask him (I believe Dooku only left the order after the events of Naboo). There should be no issue with finding somewhere for Anakin to be that isn't an active battlefield. That could be a fair point. Sidious has effectively achieved his goals by that point. Though I personally see it that Sidious knew the Queen wouldn't be at the battle so there wouldn't be anyone of value to capture. However I would ask, why does Sidious need to sabotage the Trade Federation at this point in time? I'm assuming the emergency action you're saying would be to redirect the droids from the battle with the gungans to the capital to rescue Gunray. That's possible but from what the Naboo pilots say during the space battle, there seems to be little to no hope of taking down the control ship. It's only Anakin accidentally joining the battle & pulling off a completely unexpected move that allows them to destroy the ship. If you think that destroying the ship has very little chance of success then you'd be better off keeping those pilots on the ground. You have more people to capture Gunray with, which may lead to lower losses in the battle, which means you have a larger force to resist the potential counter attack. I don't think Sheev ever calls Qui-Gon a nothing character, he does discuss this when looking at common bad arguments for criticising the movie earlier on in the video.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

" The Jedi in PARTS were set up like the monks you imagine but it’s believable that they’d be living towards the top in a similar respect considering how tied they’d become to the Republic’s affairs" Their prominence is the issue here I think. With a lot of your other points I'm often not exactly sure what they're in response to, or in some cases the points themselves aren't that clear either Oh well

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

@@tomh4164 "However I would say that the Death Star battle is wildly different. The Death Star was thought to be basically invincible & they're about 5 seconds from wiping out the Rebel base itself. I'd say Naboo is a strategic & tactical blunder whereas the Death Star was a completely unaccounted variable that couldn't be planned for (someone with enough ability with the force to make a successful shot down the 1 weakness of the station in a post 66 world)" Well either they had no copies or they neglected to analyze the plans and find that weakness themselves - before that sure, it was just an abstraction, but after the plans were stolen and they became concerned about this very abstraction, had they looked into it they would've found it and then found additional ways to defend the hole. Sending 9 TIEs against 30 X-Wings wasn't really particularly justified by anything in either case. "On the Jedi being able to make it to the city without the Gungans, this is addressed by Sheev in the video (apologies I don't have a timestamp, it's around where we meet Jar Jar). The Gungans allowed for them to reach the capital far more quickly than any other route (e.g. going on a speeder is noisy, attracts attention, they would likely have to fight their way to the capital). By the time they reached the capital it may have been far too late to stop the Trade Federation forcing the Queen to sign the treaty." This is all kinda blurred by the unclarity of what happened after they landed - the idea was that they'd stay hidden inside the landing craft, and then they could've arrived in Theed simultaneously with the invading army? But somehow they left the ships after landing (were they discovered or what?) and then running through the woods - Obiwan was being pursued by a few droids, but Quigon is running away from that big tank (not sideways but just forward?) that's not particularly trying to catch him or kill him or shoot at him etc., then he just lets it pass above him and the convoy moves on as if nothing happened. So then they're just standing around in the woods with no other options other than jog through the forest. AFTER that who knows what "reasonable" options they might've had - the situation is already kind of absurd, or at least completely unexplained. "On your point with R2D2, you're talking about Empire Strikes Back. I would argue R2 should have chirped up the second he heard that the kid who just bought him was a Skywalker. Unless R2 also had his memory wiped & nobody ever mentioned it, it's really weird that he just doesn't ever discuss the prequels with Luke. R2 being removed from the scene in Empire though is really odd, you'd think that he'd be relatively happy to see that one of the Jedi masters managed to survive the war (knowing R2 he'd probably try mess with Yoda whilst he's doing his goofy act when he first meets Luke)" He clearly didn't know Yoda and also had no idea about "Skywalkers", but he "belonged to Obiwan" - not sure why Sheev is saying he was just pretending to have belonged to him? Don't think that's supposed to have been what was happening there? Although it *may* have been a cover for why the message was talking about "Obiwan Kenobi" - if he said he just belongs to him and was sent to his (even though former), that makes it sound less like this Kenobi is some kinda big deal in a more general sense. I dunno? "I think Sheev's point on Anakin's discovery is that it happened (on all planets possible) on the highly plot relevant (in both prequel & OT) planet of Tatooine, which leads into all the bloat in Star Wars of everything happening on Tatooine (I am exaggerating but an awful lot happens on a wasteland outer rim planet). If the Force does determine events then yes Anakin certainly would have been discovered regardless, I think it's just the circumstances of his discovery." 1) "Tatooine" has an amusing history kind of: first unnamed throughout the entirety of IV (which in fact featured another similar sounding off-screen planet, "Dantooine" a former and now deserted rebel base that Leia names), that name is eventually mentioned at the end of ESB, but in this context: ""When we find Jabba the Hutt and that bounty hunter, we'll contact you. I'll meet you at the rendezvous point on Tatooine. Princess, we'll find Han - I promise." So they have a "rendezvous point" there - ironically saying all this while already apparently being at the "rendezvous point" they were heading to from Hoth, i.e. this space base here, but that makes sense it'll be a different rendezvous point lol. So here it's just some place that sounds similar to the former rebel base "Dantooine" and serves as a meeting point for them? It doesn't sound like that's the place they think Jabba and Han are at, unless they're talking about searching for them ON the planet? And then in VI it turns out to be the place with Jabba's HQ, where he keeps Han, and also what Luke's home planet is called. 2) Name aside, this is where Luke's dad grew up with Owen acc. to ANH dialogue - TPM just changes that whole backstory and then still puts him on Tatooine, but instead as a "slave" in a different city. However the way it just happens to be close enough to Naboo and they just casually mention that as the nearest place "not under TF control" and then bump into him serving "one of the smaller dealers" who then turns out to be the only one with the parts, that yeah. Of course that's applying in-universe logic to the plot - if it runs on Narrativium instead then there isn't necessarily a problem lol; they run into some random boy, who then starts becoming more of a character, and then the more of a character with more screentime he becomes, the more likely it is that he could be some hugely important space messiah thing or just be relevant in general. First he just wants to fly away and explore space, then he shows interest in Jedis, and from there it's not a big step to him turning out to have the gift himself, and from there it can be a huge cosmic gift as well why not. "The Force can be perverted by using the dark side. However I think that Sheev's point was that the force's grand plan to bring it's idea of balance about required the galaxy to go through cycles of oppression & warfare until eventually Anakin is born, then bring about suffering en-masse to the galaxy through the clone wars, fall of the republic, establishment of the empire & the galactic civil war. It kind of comes off as a particularly malevolent entity, contrary to what we are supposed to believe about the Force. I could be wrong but I also think that the Dark Side is moreso bending the Force to your will rather than the light side where you work alongside the force, it's effectively forcing (haha) the Force to do what you want thus it shouldn't really be a reflection on the Force itself. Again though, I might be wrong on that point." Since they're all not sure what the Prophecy was even predicting, and if it then turns out that it was in fact Anakin growing into a golem and destroying the Jedi, then maybe the dark side was guiding the events leading to his discovery, who knows? Esp. since Palpatine seems to be the one who magic-planted him to begin with? It's all murky and retconny anyway of course. "On the point that Qui-Gon knew Anakin had experience podracing. That's part of his decision making but there are other options like hiring a pilot to take them offworld with the substantial sum of money he has available, finding someone willing to convert currencies across, simply stealing the thing. From a practical perspective stealing the hyperdrive or hiring a pilot would have been significantly quicker, they could have been offworld in a day. Instead the pod race takes a good deal more time (signing up for it, preparation for the race, racing, awards & winddown of the event, receiving the hyperdrive from Watto, then finally getting to installing it). Qui-Gon doesn't think that Anakin can die, he probably doesn't think he could lose, but he's completely distracted from what should be his main goal." He's not distracted, Shmi confirms there's "no other way" and Obiwan can't think of any either - the plot/universe itself erases those other sensible options from existence, it's not just Quigon who doesn't think of them.

[@XragebootsX]

@@tomh4164on your point about the force willing the empire into existence I have dispute that, as we are told that Anakin was born from the force to bring balance, however during this time one of the strongest Sith Lords is rising to unprecedented levels of power and actively manipulating both sides of the war while corrupting Anakin. Palpatine is not only using the dark side to bend the force to his will while also using standard cunning and manipulation to affect the greater galaxy. The force wanted Anakin to stamp out the Sith. But due to many factors Anakin fell and the empire rose. The force kept trying to defeat the Sith throughout the OT, leading Luke to find his father and redeem him

[@councilmanbanks6528]

To me the main problem with this movie is the first part before leaving Nabbo feels like we cut out every scene that isn’t needed for the story, leading to the pacing feeling like we jump from point to point. Outside of that, I love this movie

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

Not quite sure what you mean?

[@councilmanbanks6528]

@@WreckageBrother-rd5zf The pacing of the story feels like it moves extremely fast at the start of the movie.

[@TiberianFiend]

I watched this movie in the theater when I was 14 or 15 and I was so bored I almost walked out.

[@TheGalacticNerd19]

Kenobi dunking on R4 never gets old 😂😂

[@ZimSan]

You don't go much into how the world of Star Wars is hard deterministic, which is kind of a problem when you build so much of your critique on it. All the prophecy says that there will be a person who brings balance to the force by destroying the sith. It's not saying that the sith will forever be gone. It doesn't say whether Sheev is the last of the sith. It doesn't even say that Anakin is the chosen one. The prophecy could have still been fullfilled even if Vader didn't kill Sheev. That chosen one could have appeared in another millenia since Sith only operate by the Rule of Two anyway. Hell, if you take any of the EU or Disney as canon the sith still exist later on in some ways. You are correct that the prophecy just kinda is too vague to mean anything and it ultimately is pointless but it seemed only there anyway to have it subverted showing that you can't rely on such a thing even if it ultimately became true at the end (if you only take George's vision into account back when he made the third film and never planned to do another movie).

[@XragebootsX]

The Jedi believed that Anakin was the Chosen One simply because it was their best option, especially when this super force sensitive kid shows up at the same time the Sith return. But also shows that the prophecy isn’t infallible as Anakin falls anyways. I always loved that the prophecy didn’t work out how the Council thought that it would.

[@jaraket]

I really enjoyed this video and even though I both love the RLM videos and have enough fun with the prequels, I loved seeing you take them all on.

[@esotericVideos]

Nah fam, it's only been 15 years and you can't convince me otherwise.

[@sorrenblitz805]

"Process" in the context I'm pretty sure they mean to use it, means booking them in as Prisoners. It's paperwork basically. Name, Age, Sex, Planet of Origin, Crime, arrest date, assigned location that kinda stuff, it also includes entrance decontamination and possible interrogation.

[@noahmoore6513]

Tbh that YMS lion king review is pretty good

[@SheevTalks]

It’s one of my favorite videos on this platform

[@burnypython8230]

There are a lot of creators I follow who I’m not a fan of the people that inspired them. Examples I can list were MauLer and Cynical Reviews who made some of my favorite videos on KZbin such as the Force Awakens critiques and the Velma review. However, I’m not that big of a fan of RLM and I Hate Everything who are their inspirations.

[@AJadedLizard]

If only YMS didn't have such a punchable voice. Holy God I can't handle him for anything more than three minutes at a stretch.

[@Adog00]

Underrated movie. I appreciate it so much as an adult

[@Deity_devil]

Underrated is crazy

[@wibble2482]

TPM is ass. I think you're suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, either that or you've carried the goal post so far back you've disappeared into the Earths core.

[@Adog00]

@@Deity_devilit is. It’s well hated

[@vgrepairs]

It's very very underrated!

[@AJadedLizard]

It's a movie I appreciate more and more the more I see it. It's also one I watch with an eye toward "How would I tell this story differently." Hell, rewatching it in the run up to TFA (wanna talk about disappointment?), I realized Jar-Jar has probably one of the best scenes in the film, where he talks to Padme as if she's an equal and tells her his people will help her reclaim their homeworld. For all her traipsing all over the Galaxy, she had what she needed to save Naboo right in front of her and just refused to see it.

[@timbrown1834]

It's funny how Qui Gon walks right by Quinlan Vos in Mos Espa and doesn't ask if he can perhaps help out and give them a ride.

[@crusader2112]

I think in one of the EU stories, Quinlan Vos approached Qui Gon and said sorry he couldn’t get involved because he was on an important mission.

[@AJadedLizard]

@@crusader2112 Quin was also kind of a dickhead and a bad influence Obi-Wan, so Qui-Gon probably didn't want him around. "You blew up my ship!" "Had to be done. Besides, good Jedi aren't supposed to have attachments." "We didn't blow up *your* ship." "Well, yes, I'm not a very good Jedi."

[@ragismrotzrochen5776]

I don't think the prequels are generally appreciated more nowadays. I just believe since the prequels, Star Wars has lost most of its popular cultural relevance. The general public does not care about Star Wars anymore. So all that is left are the people who enjoy the prequels. A good friend of mine is "on the spectrum". He does not care about acting, directing, storytelling, and all that. I believe he embodies the type of viewers who appreciate the prequel trilogy.

[@JonCrs10]

There's a thesis paper suggesting that the RLM videos have been completely misunderstood because the intent was to be a parody of reviews like that. And its not even "oh its just fake" parody/satire. Because he DOES give proper film analysis that you're supposed to pick up on and go "wait but the prequels ARE doing that." Probably explains the constant arc line: "You might not have noticed, but your brain did." And the people who blindly parrot Plinkett never actually payed attention to the point that you're not supposed to identify with the shitty character of Plinkett or his "ITS SO BOOORING" criticisms, you're supposed to listen to Mike's film theory lectures woven into the ranting. I mean, I'd expect something that avant garde of a channel that melted several pounds of retro Star Wars figures in acetone and gave us the meme lines -I CLAPPED WHEN I SAW IT -IT BROKE NEW GROUND - DONT ASK QUESTIONS, JUST CONSUME PRODUCT AND GET EXCITED FOR NEXT PRODUCTS

[@anonymous-hz2un]

Yep. The RLM videos are an Internet classic for way more than just the movie reviews themselves.

[@apollyon8983]

"AT-ST AT-ST AT-ST"

[@dragonmasterlance123]

As much as I don't care too much for those videos these days, I will say I did learn a lot about film theory, storytelling, and other things from them.

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

"or his "ITS SO BOOORING" criticisms, you're supposed to listen to Mike's film theory lectures woven into the ranting." Well you tried to make a guess about which parts they meant seriously and which they didn't, and in fact ended up making a wrong guess - the "IT'S SO BORING" parts were all meant seriously, go watch the first few minutes of their Kenobi review where they repeat that while OOC. Also the "film theory lectures" are just as hacky.

[@Arphemius]

There's also a thesis length paper called "a review in fanboy stupidity" where someone shows the bs that Plinkett spews. It's over a hundred pages long and doesn't even catch all the mistakes Plinkett makes. The Plinkett reviews absolutely suck one every level.

[@dontaskmeagain4091]

I do not possess the ability to put my excitement into words, so please take into account the following attempt: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[@donovan4222]

WEESA GOIN HOME

[@eugger3011]

The prequels lightsaber fights being compared to "dancing" isn't because they're perfect. When 2 people are dancing together, they cooperate with each other so they can both perfect their movements. That's not what's supposed to happen in a fight, and yet it's what the prequel duels are filled with. There are so many instances of characters aiming for each other's lightsaber instead of their actual bodies and unnecessary spins. This makes the fight look cool and flashy, but they mostly fall apart once you analyze them.

[@donovan4222]

I don’t even think it looks very cool and flashy most of the time tbh. People really hate on the sequel fights with Rey and Kylo, but at least they look like they are actually fighting each other and not doing a baton twirling routine.

[@eugger3011]

@@donovan4222 I thought the fight at the end of The Force Awakens was decent (comparatively, at least), but not The Rise of Skywalker. That one also had characters aim for each other's lightsaber, in addition to them being extremely sluggish so they couldn't even mask it well like the prequels.

[@donovan4222]

@@eugger3011 I got the impression that the rise of Skywalker fight choreography was decent, but I always thought the best fight scene in the series was the last Jedi throne room fight. To me, it’s less about slowing down and analyzing things and more about how the fight actually feels to watch. I never thought the sequel fights felt overly choreographed the way the sequels did. My problem with the sequels has never been the action.

[@eugger3011]

@@donovan4222 For me, even without analyzing the throne room fight, I thought a lot of the movements felt slow and clunky. Most of the enjoyment I got from that fight (on my first watch at least) was seeing Rey and Kylo team up over the actual choreography. Even though I don't think they're great, I still think the prequels are overall better due to their fast pace and overall movements. They truly show how powerful the Jedi and Sith are compared to average people, while for the most part the sequels make them seem like normal people that have telekinetic powers that can jump high sometimes.

[@Arphemius]

This is plainly incorrect. The choreography is fantastic. It looks fast and it is supposed to be even faster than it looks, since we are dealing with supernatural abilities here. There are no instances of characters aiming for each other's lightsaber. Spins are there, true, but they don't ruin the fight. The choreography does not fall apart once you analyze it.

[@hibidittschmid-schmididdit2387]

Out of all Star Wars cinema the prequals are the most space opera which makes them in my objective opinion the best.

[@eugger3011]

I feel like you missed the mark when explaining how the prophecy removes stakes from the movies. I think the concept of the prophecy as a whole is stupid, but I think how they handled Anakin being The Chosen One was pretty good for the most part. You say that the prophecy should've been revealed to be false. Well, that's the impression that the viewer is left with at the end of RotS. Anakin turning evil was quite literally the opposite of what the Jedi expected to happen. Obi-Wan blatantly says it to Anakin after slicing him up. In the viewer's eyes at this point, the prophecy was wrong. It wasn't until Vader makes the right decision at the end to throw Palpatine off the balcony and come to the light again where we realize that the prophecy was true all along. So, how does that remove any stakes or tension from the Luke-Vader fights? At those points in the story, we're not supposed to believe in the prophecy.

[@onemoreminute0543]

It reminds me of the Percy Jackson books where (spoiler): In the original books you're given the impression that Percy (the hero) is the prophesied hero when in reality it turns out to be Luke (the fallen hero), who redeems himself at the end.

[@kidkuleshov]

People give you shit but your reviews and criticisms are some of the most fair & honest I’ve seen from Star Wars content on KZbin. It’s clear you approach these videos with love for Star Wars and I’ve never gotten a vibe of bad faith or grifting or exaggerating something out-of-proportion to try to make a point

[@lestatcanada]

I wonder why people are so negative on his videos

[@lestatcanada]

Like I’m not being sarcastic I actually have no clue why people would be

[@wisdommanari6701]

​@@lestatcanadathere are a LOT OF People who are Hostile to the very Concept of criticism.

[@CaptShriver]

How many believe that STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE is 1000x better than any of the sequel films????

[@barkley8285]

Man babies and 6 year olds do

[@Nemesis_T-Type]

It's slightly better, in the same way a firm turd is better than diarrhea

[@DoctorRainer]

@@barkley8285man babies are whining about prequels being too hard, lol. Lukas miscalculated thinking that Star Wars fans grew since the original trilogy. He was wrong

[@jerielc709]

it's not 1000x better lol. the sequels have better acting and scene direction (usually). i wont suck disneys dick because yeah the sequels suck in their own way too but anyone thinking the prequels are much better are just fooling themselves

[@greenmcbean6429]

Everyone who is actually serious thinks they are, but to be fair that is not a high bar at all.

[@Benjahmin1138]

55:09 We do actually see evidence that the force has a will in the OT: Obi Wan says “In my experience there’s no such thing as luck” and Han Solo says in A New Hope: “I haven’t seen anything that would make me believe that there’s some ALL POWERFUL FORCE CONTROLLING EVERYTHING”

[@offtheshelfET]

The discussion about the existence of free will within the star wars universe and the motivation of the force is an unexpected talking point. It's a bit of a weird thing to bring up as the exact same questions can be applied to our own world. Why does anything exist, what set the universe in motion, what even is the universe and why are we the only planet we've found so far to exhibit life? Is free will real or are we all following a pre-determined path based on our genetics and our surroundings? Where did consciousness originate from and does the universe have any consciousness? If so, then what is its purpose for creating more life and expanding? The true purpose of our own world cannot be explained and so I don't think it's a flaw of the writing that the nature of the Star Wars universe is kept ambiguous as well. The general idea is that there is a prevailing good that cannot exist without evil, but evil must be kept in line by said good and so individuals like Anakin are created in order to do this. Evil must be allowed at times to triumph over good, much like how good is allowed to triumph over evil, but neither lasts because that is the nature of balance. While all of this is confusing that's the point. It's one of those things that is meant to be discussed and debated by the viewers. The way I see it, the force has one goal, for life to survive. The force lives through living beings and so it is important to the force that life continues. In order for life to continue, there needs to be balance. Evil is destructive and the antithesis to life. Evil brings death and destruction. This is the reason the Sith have limited their numbers, because their very ideology prioritized self interest at the cost of the lives of others. Sith philosophy cares only for the needs of the individual and so they cannot exist in large numbers without fighting within themselves over power. This ideology leads only to extinction of a species, or put simply, death, the opposite of life. But similarly, life also cannot live without death, it is an essential part of life. Thus, evil must be allowed to exist in some form. Good prevents the spread of destruction and creates life. But good can also be destructive, as good people, when left unchecked and multiplying, will eventually be tempted to evil. Institutions created by good people, given enough time, will eventually be corrupted from within. The more the early Jedi grew, a rogue sect of them became the Sith. If Palpatine had died on Coruscant, the Jedi would've taken control of the senate and been corrupted. So, evil is an inevitability, it will eventually exist the more people produce, so it must be allowed to run its course before another good rises to defeat it, ensuring that life continues until the next evil comes to take its place. Anakin was not only created to defeat the evil Sith, but to also destroy the current Jedi order which was becoming corrupted. A being created to cripple both the powers of evil and the powers of good, bringing balance to the force so life can thrive again through the order created by Luke. In this way, the force is neither good nor bad.

[@ZetatheSixth]

Do you think it's fair to not engage with the points of the "anti woke crowd" and dismiss them by saying they're just racist and sexcist?

[@wisdommanari6701]

Uh yeah because their argument are trash.

[@vinogr00nko93]

yes it is, you can have gripes with movies all you want but once you resolve to "it's bad because woke" argument your criticism is immiediatly invalid, that word is nothing but a buzzword for when minorieties exist and that makes someone mad

[@ZetatheSixth]

@@wisdommanari6701 Thank you for illustrating my point.

[@ZetatheSixth]

@@vinogr00nko93 Thank you for illustrating my point.

[@vinogr00nko93]

@@ZetatheSixth liking your own comments won't make them any less stupid

[@brandscape356]

RE Midichlorians: While I don't disagree with a genetic component to Force sensitivity, I think putting a number on it was a stupid decision. The fact that there's such a hard ceiling to Force power is weird to me. You mention that it provides a "power level" for Jedi and Sith. That's... a bad idea, regardless, but it doesn't really matter, because it's never really used like that. The midichlorian number is used only once, and that's to make Anakin seem even more super special than he already is (for some reason). Ultimately, though, I think the biggest reason people hate midichlorians is the completely non-diagetic, stupid, stiff way they're explained in the movie. Anakin literally stops Qui-Gon in the middle of a scene and asks him what they are like it's some kind of educational film. George Lucas himself might as well have stepped in front of the camera and held up the page of the script that has the words, because it's just as obtrusive and inorganic.

[@onemoreminute0543]

I don't think it's a solid power level as much as it is a POTENTIAL power level. I mean, Anakin had an extremely high midichlorian count but still got bested by Obi-Wan. It's one thing to be born with great power, it's another to wield it effectively.

[@Extremeredfox]

@@onemoreminute0543 Great point. Also, Kenobi exceeded expectations despite his lower midichlorian count.

[@RandyTheRamRandomVideos]

Remember RLM says They are starving children in Africa.So you shouldn't judge disney star wars or care about lore

[@MARIOGUY789]

37:30 "It is not valid to say that they should have poisoned their drinks." I have a different interpretation of Plinkett's comment, that being that I don't disagree based on the sequence of events but rather on the fact that the Neimoidian's ridiculous and incompetent way of going about their plans to kill the Jedi could have been avoided entirely if they just kept the Jedi waiting and then served them tea (or whatever drink it is) again but poisoned it after the order to kill them was given by Sidious. Now, whether Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan would have found it suspicious and then decided to act based on that is another story.

[@anonymous-hz2un]

53:24 you end up repeating almost each and every point that RLM had made. 😂😂

[@MrStarman926]

he straight up said early in the video that he agreed with a lot of what they said

[@anonymous-hz2un]

@@MrStarman926 so does Cosmonaut. So what's up with the taking shots crap?

[@wisdommanari6701]

He's not taking shots Doofus he's coming to similar conclusions but for different reasons. If you paid attention to the video you would get that

[@CYrageius]

Crazy how like over two years ago now I had no idea anything about star wars other than seeing the movies when I was younger (I’m 21 and still haven’t even seen all of them all the way through) I watch every one of your videos really bc I just admire the amount of work and polish you put into your videos. I now also have an opinion about Star Wars it’s the most opinion of all time. Thank you Sheev.

[@swbftor403]

The prequels are fantastic, but they definitely could have been way better.