ocrush
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Posts: 11 
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Post by ocrush on Mar 2, 2015 12:11:08 GMT -5
Our second of four Star Wars episodes is here and on this show, we’re tackling the topic of the prequels: I: The Phantom Menace, II: Attack of the Clones, and III: Revenge of the Sith. Joining us to discuss the films is Star Wars geek extraordinaire, Amy Ratcliffe (Nerdist, StarWars.com, IGN).
It’s not the popular opinion but instead of bashing the films, we open up the forum to discuss the good parts of the prequels and what makes them worthy counterparts to the originals. It’s a tough subject to talk about, but we do it and have a lot of fun with it.
Of course, that’s in the second half of the show. In the FIRST half, Mara and Stephanie go over their recommendations: The Master by Kresley Cole, DM Support Group, What We Do In The Shadows, and Spider-Gwen #1.
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ocrush
Fearless Defender
Posts: 11
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Post by ocrush on Mar 2, 2015 13:10:09 GMT -5
Another great episode guys! Really appreciate the positive approach to the subject matter.
First off, quote of the episode goes to Mara; "I am going to unscrew the broom off this broom handle and I'm going to beat you up like I'm Darth Maul". Love love love Mara when her violent side comes out, it's great!
As far as "The Chosen One" prophecy goes, I always just thought it was just one part of a larger prophecy that The Force was going to be thrown out of balance and "The Chosen One" would bring it back. I actually kind of like it and don't necessarily think it's a hole in the plot if you look at it as commentary on "self-fulfilling prophecy". Qui-Gon believed in this prophecy and in effect made it come true. Any thoughts? I should note, I haven't seen The Clone Wars so I could be way off mark.
So, Mara and Amy got me to thinking about how sad it must have been for the young audience to discover that the fandom didn't share their love for these movies. I mean did that happen, was there a moment of disillusionment when your young hearts were broken? Sorry if this question is too negative. I know we are trying to stay positive.
Its sad but I agree that Darth Maul was the best part of the prequel movies, he made the dark side seem so much more powerful, he was fighting them two on one and he still beat Qui-Gon. That whole scene is one of my favorites in all six movies, I can't count the times Ive watched up to that scene and then just pressed stop.
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Post by loganson on Mar 2, 2015 19:42:54 GMT -5
Another entertaining discussion! Although I'm not the biggest fan of the prequels, I appreciate that you guys focused on plot points rather than negative aspects of the films.
As for the question of when does Anakin begin his slide to the dark side, I think it happens when he kills the Sandpeople in such anger. You even hear Qui Gon's disembodied voice scream at him to stop.
I kind of get where Amy is coming from, when she says that Anakin was disappointed in Mace for deciding to kill Palpatine. However, he really had more personal motives for wanting the Sith lord alive; he needed him to thwart the impending death of Padme. Through the second and third films Anakin acts selfishly, never thinking of the greater consequences of his actions. The fact is that he had already violated the Jedi code when he beheaded the defenseless Count Dooku.....
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mark
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Post by mark on Mar 5, 2015 18:44:31 GMT -5
I loved the show  I think I must have seen Phantom Menace when I was about 7, at a guess, although I'd seen A New Hope before then and probably the rest of the original trilogy. Given that I was so young then most of the stuff people don't like went right over my head, and Jar-Jar was actually one of my favourite characters because he was all slapstick comedy and light relief and stuff, although I've come to see why people are not particularly fond of him. I found the theory that Palpatine effectively created Anakin with the midichlorians and such really interesting, it had never crossed my mind before. I don't think I buy it because I'm not sure I can rely on someone to play that good a long game, but it would kind of explain how he was born without a Dad and it makes his story of the Sith guy who could control life more meaningful. Maybe the Apprentice who kills the master is him? I think the whole prophecy is definitely one of those things that makes sense(ish) when writing, to point something out to the viewer, but makes way less sense actually within the universe itself. Listening to the show I started to think that you could see the Jedi's interpretation of it as part of their collective corruption/downfall - that they so easily equate 'bringing balance' to 'exterminating the Sith'. In my opinion part of Anakin's tragedy is that he's clearly one of the best Jedi Knights but he's manipulated and turns evil. Maybe it's also just that we spend three movies rooting for him as a good guy, despite knowing who he'll become, and we can SEE him being manipulated and we want to cry out at him to stop and move away from Palpatine and when his fall comes it comes HARD. Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are good but not great for me, but the final part of Revenge of the Sith from when Anakin kills the younglings onwards is TOO MUCH EMOTION. I think his force-choke of Padme is a really key moment not just because it's a blatant call-out to Vader but because she's the one he's been doing this all for, she is essentially why he turned bad and now he's so far gone that he turns against her. For me, the lines when Anakin says (doubt I've memorised these well enough for these to be exact) "You're either with me or against me" and Obi-Wan replies "Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is chilling. They're both warning each other, it's the very very very last chance to stop this... and they don't. My favourite of the villains would be Darth Maul though that's a bit shallow, I think Dooku is the better character and has more strings to his bow - Maul is just a good fighter and has a cool lightsaber, Dooku's words are as much a weapon as his saber. General Grievous just seems like he was designed in a committee to sell toys imo. Anyway, this was really long. I'm only an infrequent listener of the Missfits but I really wanted to talk about this show and the prequels. Keep up the good work |
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Post by jasondfedorchuk on Mar 21, 2015 22:57:38 GMT -5
Ah, hell. I'd written the beginning of a larger reply the Monday that this podcast "aired", and then I had to run off to pick my daughter up from daycare from a puke-mergency, and when I shut down my browser, I lost the whole reply. Let's see if I can remember some of the points...
1) Great job having Amy on the podcast; she's one of my favourite Twitter-folk; please have her back again at some point.
2) I loved that you tried to focus on the positives of the prequels; I, myself, have a weird love/hate relationship with them, where I really liked watching them, but could pick them apart for hours on end.
3) My interpretation of the whole Midichlorian thing (and I feel like I must not have been paying attention or something, because I seem to be the only one I know here) is that they're not what *gives* you the Force, but rather are a good indicator that you have a great connection to/potential with the Force. A symptom, and not the cause. My original post went on a bit, but that's really what I was trying to say. Maybe my brain was just trying to win a "no prize" or something.
4) One of the most frustrating parts of the whole Star Wars film set is their introduction of very cool looking bad guys who don't really last through one film. "He's the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy!" "Well, a blind guy just set off his jet pack, and now he's being digested by a belly-button dentata". I mean, REALLY. And for all the hype about Grievious, he was pretty much a horrible disappointment - UNLESS you wind up watching the hand-drawn Tartakovsky "Clone Wars" cartoons, which show him in full badass mode and then offer a great explanation for why he's a slow-moving, wheezy loser by the time he appears on film. Honestly, those cartoons are so amazing, I was actually disappointed that they went with computer animation for the series.
Oh, and the whole Anakin/Palpatine dynamic? Yeah, those movies gave me the wiggins in a big way.
Hard to believe that Obi Wan could've saved the whole galaxy a lot of grief if he'd just finished Anakin instead of being kind of a cruel dick about it. *L*
Of course, Mace Windu could've saved the galaxy even more grief with a well-timed flick of his wrist *before* telling the apprentice who's in charge. I really hated how he went out.
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I think I must have seen Phantom Menace when I was about 7, at a guess, although I'd seen A New Hope before then and probably the rest of the original trilogy. Given that I was so young then most of the stuff people don't like went right over my head, and Jar-Jar was actually one of my favourite characters because he was all slapstick comedy and light relief and stuff, although I've come to see why people are not particularly fond of him.