 Most would agree that the original Star Wars trilogy is the best of the Skywalker saga. Today I ask the hard question though, which comes in second place, the sequels or the prequels on this episode of Movie Feuds. This is where the fun begins. Both of these new trilogies introduce a slew of new characters while bringing back a few of the originals. The primary focus of the early 2000s trilogy is Anakin Skywalker, played by Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen. That's right, two different actors played the part of Anakin, actually three if you count James Earl Jones. But why is that you ask? Well because the first film focuses entirely on a very young Anakin. I'm not sure why Lucas thought this was a good idea, as most of the first installment is pretty much useless to the overall trilogy. And I know diehard fans aren't gonna like hearing that. But outside of the cool, antagonist Darth Maul, I'm just not invested in this youngling and his misadventures. Then there's Padme Amidala, played by Natalie Portman. I don't think a character in this franchise has had such a worse progression over time, except for maybe Luke Skywalker and The Last Jedi. Starting out as the strong, confident Queen of Naboo and ending as a really weak wife to Anakin who dies during childbirth. Yes Anakin did break her heart, but she was carrying twins. You would think some of that love could be maybe redirected towards them, but whatever. She's dead. Then there's the cartoon character Jar Jar Binks, who absolutely sucks hard. Ahmed gave it his best, but the direction by George Lucas was just completely off base here. He missed the mark. Thankfully by the third film, he has virtually no screen time. Hayden Christensen and Jake Lloyd have had more than their fair share of hate over the years by supposed fans. I mean, what kind of a person actually like calls up actors or writes them hateful things? I mean, Jesus, get a life, people. This is pathetic. And the worst part is it's not even their fault in the slightest. The terrible dialogue and awkward scene direction is what really did these people in. That said, Hayden still has some great moments throughout the series, and you can see how he would have been a great choice with a better script. And if you look hard enough kids, there are plenty of things to like in the prequels, mainly from the cast, which includes but isn't limited to Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul, and fan favorite Obi-Wan played by Elon McGregor. You can tell he's having a blast in this role as the cock sure Jedi master. I also really dug in McDermid as Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious. His rise to power over the three films is easily my favorite aspect. Then we have C3PO, R2-D2 once more tagging along and Chewbacca eventually shows up later on. Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu are also notable smaller roles in the saga. The sequel trilogy brings back all of our fan favorites and uses most of them in the crappiest way possible. Luke, Han, Leia, Yoda, Chewie, R2-D2, C3PO, Lando, General Ackbar, and probably 30 or so others pop up here and there. It's always great to see the classics again, but what a shame that they're never really together on screen or played the same way we remember them. Not having any sort of roadmap certainly didn't help things at all. Granted, the new trilogy wasn't supposed to be about them as their time in the suns were clearly a thing of the past. Instead, the new films focus on a new set of merchandise, I mean characters. The primary focus being on Rey, the orphaned girl with a mysterious past. Finn, the rogue stormtrooper, and Poe, a smug resistance pilot. Opposing them is the rebuilt empire simply known as the First Order, which is led by a new Sith leader named Snoke. He along with his apprentice, Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, are out to ruin your childhood all over again. Speaking of childhood, by the time the third movie fires up, good old Palpatine's back out of nowhere. I'm kind of foggy on this since the script moves at lightspeed, but I believe he's just the body of Palpatine that actually died and instead is now all the Sith's combined into one. So Palpy died back, you know, on the second Death Star, and then he was kind of resurrected. His corpse was, I believe, by the the Sith. I don't know, it's it's it's all very complicated. It all moves fast and it's complicated because it's dumb. As much as I like the main cast of characters, and I truly do, there has been an introduction of some really crappy ones as well. Captain Phasma, this year's Bova Fett model, lives only to die in unremarkable ways. I forgot to mention Django Fett and Kid Fett are also in the prequel, so Lucas knows how to fan service too. Rose Tico's around to get the Jar Jar treatment in episode three, only showing up for like a minute and a half after having a very prominent role in The Last Jedi. Maz Kanata started out promising in The Force Awakens, only to become a Battlefront II cutscene in the sequel. The cast in both trilogies is a mixed bag of missed opportunities and wasted potential, for the most part, and we'll dive more into that in round two. Coming your way now. It's really Taster's choice here, kids. You want too much story or not enough. Remember when Star Wars was a silly space adventure full of fun one-liners and easy to follow narrative, a band of characters the audience could rally behind, and a couple of clever twists to keep you on your toes? George Lucas doesn't. The prequels are best described as a sappy space soap opera with lofty intentions. I don't fault Lucas for trying something completely different. The opposite of making a really good set of films is making a really crappy set of films, which is what I think he did. Gone is the great pacing that blends humor, drama, action, and a bit of improv. In its place is the equivalent of Webster's dictionary presents the movie. There are so many slow-moving portions that take place at the Senate in meeting halls, in sterile rooms, or in front of high-res desktop backgrounds. Slow, methodical scenes are fine if there's interesting dialogue, but once more, nobody's gonna argue that the script is just miserable for these. Not helping matters is the fact the first movie is dedicated to the planet Naboo and its inhabitants, the Gungans. Seeing Anakin at such a young age doesn't help move the story along at all, and you get no real connection. Because by the time the sequel rolls in, we have a teenage version and he doesn't look, sound, or act anything like the previous. If you had a connection with Lloyd's character, that is gone when Attack of the Clones kicks in. If tax treaties and space block kids weren't your cup of tea, don't worry, Attack of the Clones has that again, and more. This is wildly accepted as one of the worst Star Wars films. I think that's fair, I'd put Last Jedi up there too. A lot of that is dedicated to the terrible love story between Anakin and Padme, star-crossed lovers who have about as much chemistry together as the Vikings do with the Super Bowl trophy. I can say that because I'm from Minnesota, and bitter. We do get to see Yoda fight for the first time, and I have to say, it's weird. I don't know what Lucas could have done to make it less silly, but it is what it is. An old palpy must have studied from the same school as Yoda, because he's there jumping around doing flips like an idiot too. I've seen a lot of Star Wars rankings that put Revenge of the Sith very high up. Why? I mean, I kinda get it, but it's still a huge mess. The first half is far more compelling for me as we've finally seen Palpatine turn Anakin to the dark side, but it goes from zero to 100 really freaking fast. The kid goes from you're under arrest, Sidious, to I just slaughtered all the little Jedi younglings and now I'm good to kill you, Master Obi-Wan. I mean, come on! Had all three movies focused on the slow corruption of Anakin, I might have liked these a lot more. Then again, the overall tone and feel that these films elicit would have to completely change as well. Then there's Obi-Wan leaving his Padawan friend to burn alive. This is one of the most messed up things I've ever seen. Having his young apprentice sitting there burning alive in one of the most horrific, painful ways you could go. I don't care what universe you're from, but that's gotta hurt. Now, if you're willing to grit your teeth through the cringy dialogue, bizarre choices at the end scenes, then you at least have some really cool lightsaber battles, space fights, and Palpatine killing supposed Jedi Masters with such ease, you will question how they even got to such rankings. Seriously, he takes out a few of these Jedi Masters by just jumping and stabbing them and it's not like he's moving that fast. Speaking of total disasters, let's talk about the sequels now for a bit. If you're looking for some gripping themes in your Star Wars films, look no further than Disney's take on the subject. In fact, each film has completely different themes that contradict the previous film's themes, such as reliving the glory days of the past, foraging your own destiny, burning everything to the ground, and finally foraging your own destiny again, but remembering those that came before you, but also forgetting those that came before you, but also remembering those that came before you. It's complicated once more because it's dumb. Unlike with Lucas and his laser sighted vision of mostly hot trash, there is no vision here at all. J.J. Abrams co-wrote and directed The Force Awakens, a new Hope 2.0 that looked, felt, sounded, and had a ton of classic Star Wars charm. Fans like myself are mostly excited for the potential this new property had. Daisy Ridley had all the fixings to make a great Jedi, arguably too many. Considering she could do high level force moves without an ounce of guidance. And this is where a lot of fans got divided early on. They couldn't get on board this new type of Jedi. It's a fair argument to be made if you believe that the Force is something you should be taught and not just in tune with. I never put much stock into it as it appeared to be pretty loose in the original trilogy. You know, the one I actually cared about? Luke trained for like two days on the Falcon before he shot the center core of the Death Star. Anakin was literally created by The Force. He's a Force baby. And speaking of Force babies, we have another little baby Yoda thing in the Mandalorian that can do pretty much everything Rey Ken as well. And that thing can barely walk yet he's doing all sorts of wild stuff. But there is a section of fans that really go deep into this and I'm not going to discredit their passion. I just don't get it. Let's move on. Finn was a great character starting out because we never got the viewpoint of a washed out Stormtrooper before. I was looking forward to getting some insight into this character. We never did. Poe went from a very important, trusted by all in the resistance character to being kept in the dark due to his boneheaded decisions and combat. The strongest aspect for me is Kylo Ren's storyline. Much like Vader, he too goes out with a tiny sliver of redemption after doing a massive amount of damage. The Force Awakens sets up a very similar premise to the originals. The Empire is back. The resistance is once again on its knees. There is another giant death laser that can now target multiple planets at once. The whole thing plays out exactly the same as the New Hope. While planting a whole bunch of mystery boxes for fans to talk about later, who is Supreme Leader Snoke and how did he rise to power? Who are Rey's parents and what makes her so in tune with the Force? Why is Luke hiding? Why is Luke's lightsaber calling out to Rey? The middle act of the trilogy is incredibly important to not only flesh out the previous entry's characters, but also build up to the ending. Ryan Johnson may have outdone Attack of the Clones in this department. I have never seen a sequel so intent on damaging the previous entry, let alone having any interest in setting up a proper final act. All the previous JJ Abrams set up questions were tossed to the wayside, right alongside Luke's lightsaber. Instead of focusing on that new trio, Ryan pulls them in entirely different directions. Finn's Stormtrooper past has absolutely no relevance anymore. His fantastic chemistry with both Rey and Poe are also wasted. The last Jedi continuously goes out of its way to troll the audience. You want Luke to train Rey? No. You want answers to her past? No. You want a big cliffhanger leading to the final film? Hell no. This is a standalone movie now at the tail end of a nine movie saga. That was clearly not the plan JJ had in his head. Would have been nice if he wrote down some notes or at least made sure they were followed. So we get an almost full rewrite of the events of the last film. We do learn why Leia can marry Poppins around space. We find out Rey is in fact the relative of an incredibly powerful force user. Finn is brought back into the fold with the main cast again and he's not a bumbling idiot. The final act is a complete and utter mess and should have really been two movies. The first half of McGuffin Hunting was clearly meant to be the last Jedi 2.0 setting the stage for the big endgame conflict which features a bunch of old and new Star Wars characters in a large scale battle. There are new abilities, new revelations and plenty of action. It truly felt to me like a fun Star Wars movie again but one that came with an awful lot of bad baggage. It should have been so much more but due to some major missteps from Disney it ultimately ends bittersweet. I'm trying to give equal amounts of props and criticisms where I see fit but here I just don't see any way around how the prequels could win in the production aspect. Let's start with a good side of Lucasfilms. The prequels took some very big chances when it came to utilizing the best tech in the industry. Large portions of the set were green screen to be later added in via digital artists. Humans would be acting alongside fully CG creatures with plenty of physical interactions. The scale of this dwarfs anything that came before. The space battles, the saber fights, the ships and set designs were on an entirely different level from anything ever seen. Then there's the score. A mix of classic themes alongside some of the best John Williams scores to date. Duel of the Fates is still one of my personal favorites and this is unfortunately where my praises come to an end. There is no question that George Lucas is a legend and a visionary when it comes to world building and advancement in tech. I just wish his vision lined up more with the originals. The CGI doesn't hold up in a lot of areas. Yoda in particular looks really rough. The environments look shiny and new but have almost no life to them. Even when we see the worlds bustling with characters they feel so artificial. I'm rarely pulled into this universe. It just feels like I'm watching video game cutscenes over and over. The tone is wildly off the charts as well. Lucas wants to have his blue milk and drink it too as he attempts to blend childish elements with very dark moments. The Disney produced Star Wars films easily trounced these. We have a set of visually stunning movies that for the most part blend practical and CG work incredibly well. Characters interact with things in the scenes much more believably. There is a part in Revenge of the Sith where Palpatine is finally revealed to Anakin. It looks like the scene was shot in 20 different days. The lighting and makeup are so disconnected from shot to shot. I've never noticed these issues with the new trilogy. Sure we get the occasional missing dagger moment in the red room but for the most part these are just better on the eyes and they definitely blend more with the original series. As much as I hate The Last Jedi I can even admit that it is one of the prettiest looking Star Wars movies to date. Then again it also has that budget Harry Potter Kanto Bright sequence which telling enough reminded me of the prequels when I watched it. Music wise there are some great new themes created such as Jedi Steps and March of the Resistance. I think what really makes me appreciate the sequels on the production side more is just how immersive they are. It really all boils down to this simply when I watch the prequels it looks like a couple of actors jumping around on a green screen searching for the high ground. From my point of view both of these movies are a missed opportunity. The prequels are a complete mess that fail to capture even an ounce of the charm and spirit of the classics. The sequels should have been a slam dunk. You have power unlimited power from Disney. They can throw as much money and resources as one needs to make it a hit. Yet they didn't think to put together an outline for one of the biggest film properties in cinematic history. Blastered in my head I would still pick the sequels pretty easily as a matter of fact but I put a poll on the YouTube community as I always do and here's what people had to say. It wasn't a blow out by any means but the loser here is the sequel trilogy garnering only 42% of the votes making the prequel trilogy the winner at 58. So this is how Liberty dies with thunderous applause. If you like this show and want to take part in future videos subscribe to my channel Adam Does Movies and don't miss a single episode and remember this is more than just reviews this is movie feuds. Now if you excuse me I have to stop thinking about Star Wars for a few days it's in my very soul. Tormenting me.