Re-Watching The Phantom Menace
Dec. 16th, 2017 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zesty_pintoMichelle has never seen the prequels to Star Wars and barely remembers the original trilogy, so started taking to watching it again.
We watched Episode 1 a few days ago and I have to admit, now that it's later? I keep finding flaws. I could hammer on the old things: yes, Jar Jar is annoying; yes, Anakin is too much like a kid, etcetera etcetera.
I know hating on Episode 1 is something everyone has done too, and I'm sure there are tons of more erudite screenwriters out there who could write even longer books on this, but I honesty just wanted to get this off my chest and to see how I would have approached this from a script doctor approach if someone handed me this 200 page script and asked me what to do with it.
After having taken filmwriting workshops though, I can see this script is full of too many holes that I know will never get used and Chekov guns that will remain unfired. It's more frustrating because there's so much loaded potential here.
Rewatching it, I think the most annoying thing that sticks out to me though is how little it conforms to a traditional plot. Traditionally, films are formulaic yes, but the tradition sticks even among arthouse films: you follow those traditions because they work for getting your audience to really immerse and trust the actors. Episode 1 is more akin to on-the-fly DMing without a properly trained storyteller and a bunch of players who don't really know what they're doing. This can be all right for the people participating, but for people watching, it feels awkward as hell.
In the traditional sense, if we follow the first ten minutes of a script that really establishes what to expect, then we should anticipate that the story should be about a Trade Federation that will attack the jedi and stop them at all costs. This doesn't really happen though. The Trade Federation is seen as doddering fools with a handful of toys that are somewhat effective, but otherwise can only take down a relatively pacifist nation.
To be fair, this is the classic Lucas/Spielberg style. The original Star Wars didn't follow an established idea of what to expect any more than Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. Here's the thing though: Temple of Doom is considered by many critics to be the weakest of the Indiana Jones saga short of Crystal Skull. You can work with a serial, but a serial requires endless action, and sometimes we want it to keep using the same skills that the characters have been using throughout the story.
Because of that, we have all these underutilized concepts that could be awesome if fully realized if it was not part of an already fanatically held canon. Some examples:
-Midichlorians. No one touched them after Qui-Gon, but think of how it could have been used in future stories. Imperial soldiers with midichlorian readers hunting out jedi in hiding. What if someone has a rare condition where the microbes are dying in their blood stream so is suffering the degenerative effects of losing them? What if we get a sith lord whose sole purpose is to exsanguinate the midichlorians from a jedi and gain temporary power through them like a vampire?
Imagine if you will if Count Dooku (who is played by Christopher Lee so would be double appropo) was so aware of Anakin's power and jealous of it that he siphoned Anakin's life force one body part at a time, starting with his hand. Can you imagine the impact that would have had in Episode 2 and how we'd all feel sympathetic for him fighting back and perhaps planting a deeper seed into him falling prey to the Dark Side?
-The pod race. I know pod races are a Tatooine thing, but wouldn't it have been neat if Anakin made more mention of his pod racing days back when he was a kid? Episode 2 began with Anakin racing like a madman and Obi Wan seems to conveniently forget this is the same kid who won a pod race on a backwater planet so I would think he would understand more about his padawan doing things like this.
Likewise, when Anakin returns, people could call him that pod race kid that made it big. Instead, he's like this forgotten thing. I'd love it if some of the people he raced were still there, trying to make it big and perhaps see him and then almost look at him with jealousy for getting out of here. It would likewise keep consistency with the original trilogy as it seemed some of the best pilots to join the Republic wanted to leave that planet ASAP.
-The Trade Federation. I honestly felt like they were underutilized in several ways. Yes, they have a giant battalion, they have an endless amount of droid ground troops that can get knocked over with a puff of wind. But that could have made for some epic battles.
Think about it this way: endless disposable troops were the makings for some of the most memorable battles in history. Think of Thermopylae. Think of Vicksburg. Hell, think of Stalingrad!
Imagine if Naboo had hundreds of these disposable troops just dropped from the sky because the Trade Federation could (and we know they could) just punching holes into the city before they disassemble and move out. A force like that that practically razed the city just by being deployed would have made us actually fear the Trade Federation for the endless resources they had. Plus, if they used those ball droids more often, we would have felt the real impact of their power.
I think the visit to Jar Jar's hometown would have been emphasized better if they realized the Trade Federation just didn't care and was sending troops everywhere to find them. The leader of that group then could have found a scout troop of the incompetent ones and basically would have been incentivized further to give them a vessel to get out of dodge because he would know the droids were coming for them.
I know you can argue that the Trade Federation were intentionally neutered to emphasize the danger of the Sith, but the script could have reminded us who Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were fixated on instead of this sith presence that suddenly made itself known.
I can picture a few other things that could have been punched up.
-The first meeting with Darth Maul should have been in the town around Waddo's shop. The scenery would have offered an environment that Qui-Gon and Darth Maul could have interacted with while fighting in the streets. We could feel the energy of it because people would be running like hell and, simultaneously, we would have had an opportunity to see Anakin's real potential to be a hero and maverick by trying to help Qui-Gon against a force that he knows he can not defeat at that moment so maybe would throw fruit or something at the Sith to distract him just enough for Qui-Gon to get back his footing while Obi Wan, sensing the coming danger, swoops in like the cavalry to haul them into the ship. It also doesn't feel tapered on as the original fight scene had them running in the sand without even a craft of some sort running on foot to their hidden location.
-Every Trade Federation battle. Seriously, they could have reenacted Stalingrad with their tanks and endless droids. A scene of the Gungans being literally trenched with droid bodies would have emphasized the overwhelming odds they faced despite how worthless those dumb things were. Lucas could also afford it, he threw enough money into the film to make it possible and we all knew it.
-The handmaidens. I think the audience could have gotten more out of Empress Amidala if we saw her utilize her handmaidens more often throughout the discussions. We know Padme is the real "man behind the curtain" but throughout the film, it's her proxy that seems to be in charge and seems to be speaking for everyone by herself throughout the council. I think it would have been neat if she was always surrounded by her handmaidens the same way security would follow a famous person, always looking around, always speaking privately to her. Even more interesting, it would have been even more appropriate if Amidala never spoke and it was through Padme that she quietly voiced the empress' thoughts. That way, we'd know they were more than accessories and really feel the connection she has for those who serve her and vica-versa.
-The use of the force in the prequels always annoyed me. It's like no one can handle catching moving objects like falling lightsabers or columns. I'm sure there's some canonical explanation, but it drives me nuts.
-And I know people have said this before, but Anakin really should have been older, like a mid-tween from Season 1 Stranger Things. I keep cringing at Padme's willingness for Anakin's d every time I look at that kid.
-Jar Jar could have been introduced earlier so we could make more camaraderie with them. What if he was being dragged to a jail on the Trade Federation ship as a trade negotiator that was given Rosenkratz and Guildenstern-styled mission by the Gungans to reject the Trade Federation's offer, but Jar Jar being Jar Jar, he gets stuck for the ride with the jedi instead of some tagalong who follows as soon as the two jedi land on the planet. The two jedi wouldn't ditch a prisoner and, not welcome by the gungans because he's an obvious screw-up, he would be forced to come along anyway and maybe he has a moment where he acknowledges he's one, or a "save the cat" moment where he realizes Sebulba did something with the speeder but can't do anything about it because his mouth was numbed through that energy beam the pod racer has (forcefully in this version) by Sebulba when he's found. This would endear him to the audience more because you know he's trying even though he's an utter idiot so when he's stumbling around killing things, we can at least root for him somehow because we know he isn't just some goof in life.
There might be a few more things, but I'm watching Episode 2 right now as I type this. I'll write some notes for this too, but I was too preoccupied writing this to pay the fullest attention about it.
We watched Episode 1 a few days ago and I have to admit, now that it's later? I keep finding flaws. I could hammer on the old things: yes, Jar Jar is annoying; yes, Anakin is too much like a kid, etcetera etcetera.
I know hating on Episode 1 is something everyone has done too, and I'm sure there are tons of more erudite screenwriters out there who could write even longer books on this, but I honesty just wanted to get this off my chest and to see how I would have approached this from a script doctor approach if someone handed me this 200 page script and asked me what to do with it.
After having taken filmwriting workshops though, I can see this script is full of too many holes that I know will never get used and Chekov guns that will remain unfired. It's more frustrating because there's so much loaded potential here.
Rewatching it, I think the most annoying thing that sticks out to me though is how little it conforms to a traditional plot. Traditionally, films are formulaic yes, but the tradition sticks even among arthouse films: you follow those traditions because they work for getting your audience to really immerse and trust the actors. Episode 1 is more akin to on-the-fly DMing without a properly trained storyteller and a bunch of players who don't really know what they're doing. This can be all right for the people participating, but for people watching, it feels awkward as hell.
In the traditional sense, if we follow the first ten minutes of a script that really establishes what to expect, then we should anticipate that the story should be about a Trade Federation that will attack the jedi and stop them at all costs. This doesn't really happen though. The Trade Federation is seen as doddering fools with a handful of toys that are somewhat effective, but otherwise can only take down a relatively pacifist nation.
To be fair, this is the classic Lucas/Spielberg style. The original Star Wars didn't follow an established idea of what to expect any more than Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. Here's the thing though: Temple of Doom is considered by many critics to be the weakest of the Indiana Jones saga short of Crystal Skull. You can work with a serial, but a serial requires endless action, and sometimes we want it to keep using the same skills that the characters have been using throughout the story.
Because of that, we have all these underutilized concepts that could be awesome if fully realized if it was not part of an already fanatically held canon. Some examples:
-Midichlorians. No one touched them after Qui-Gon, but think of how it could have been used in future stories. Imperial soldiers with midichlorian readers hunting out jedi in hiding. What if someone has a rare condition where the microbes are dying in their blood stream so is suffering the degenerative effects of losing them? What if we get a sith lord whose sole purpose is to exsanguinate the midichlorians from a jedi and gain temporary power through them like a vampire?
Imagine if you will if Count Dooku (who is played by Christopher Lee so would be double appropo) was so aware of Anakin's power and jealous of it that he siphoned Anakin's life force one body part at a time, starting with his hand. Can you imagine the impact that would have had in Episode 2 and how we'd all feel sympathetic for him fighting back and perhaps planting a deeper seed into him falling prey to the Dark Side?
-The pod race. I know pod races are a Tatooine thing, but wouldn't it have been neat if Anakin made more mention of his pod racing days back when he was a kid? Episode 2 began with Anakin racing like a madman and Obi Wan seems to conveniently forget this is the same kid who won a pod race on a backwater planet so I would think he would understand more about his padawan doing things like this.
Likewise, when Anakin returns, people could call him that pod race kid that made it big. Instead, he's like this forgotten thing. I'd love it if some of the people he raced were still there, trying to make it big and perhaps see him and then almost look at him with jealousy for getting out of here. It would likewise keep consistency with the original trilogy as it seemed some of the best pilots to join the Republic wanted to leave that planet ASAP.
-The Trade Federation. I honestly felt like they were underutilized in several ways. Yes, they have a giant battalion, they have an endless amount of droid ground troops that can get knocked over with a puff of wind. But that could have made for some epic battles.
Think about it this way: endless disposable troops were the makings for some of the most memorable battles in history. Think of Thermopylae. Think of Vicksburg. Hell, think of Stalingrad!
Imagine if Naboo had hundreds of these disposable troops just dropped from the sky because the Trade Federation could (and we know they could) just punching holes into the city before they disassemble and move out. A force like that that practically razed the city just by being deployed would have made us actually fear the Trade Federation for the endless resources they had. Plus, if they used those ball droids more often, we would have felt the real impact of their power.
I think the visit to Jar Jar's hometown would have been emphasized better if they realized the Trade Federation just didn't care and was sending troops everywhere to find them. The leader of that group then could have found a scout troop of the incompetent ones and basically would have been incentivized further to give them a vessel to get out of dodge because he would know the droids were coming for them.
I know you can argue that the Trade Federation were intentionally neutered to emphasize the danger of the Sith, but the script could have reminded us who Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were fixated on instead of this sith presence that suddenly made itself known.
I can picture a few other things that could have been punched up.
-The first meeting with Darth Maul should have been in the town around Waddo's shop. The scenery would have offered an environment that Qui-Gon and Darth Maul could have interacted with while fighting in the streets. We could feel the energy of it because people would be running like hell and, simultaneously, we would have had an opportunity to see Anakin's real potential to be a hero and maverick by trying to help Qui-Gon against a force that he knows he can not defeat at that moment so maybe would throw fruit or something at the Sith to distract him just enough for Qui-Gon to get back his footing while Obi Wan, sensing the coming danger, swoops in like the cavalry to haul them into the ship. It also doesn't feel tapered on as the original fight scene had them running in the sand without even a craft of some sort running on foot to their hidden location.
-Every Trade Federation battle. Seriously, they could have reenacted Stalingrad with their tanks and endless droids. A scene of the Gungans being literally trenched with droid bodies would have emphasized the overwhelming odds they faced despite how worthless those dumb things were. Lucas could also afford it, he threw enough money into the film to make it possible and we all knew it.
-The handmaidens. I think the audience could have gotten more out of Empress Amidala if we saw her utilize her handmaidens more often throughout the discussions. We know Padme is the real "man behind the curtain" but throughout the film, it's her proxy that seems to be in charge and seems to be speaking for everyone by herself throughout the council. I think it would have been neat if she was always surrounded by her handmaidens the same way security would follow a famous person, always looking around, always speaking privately to her. Even more interesting, it would have been even more appropriate if Amidala never spoke and it was through Padme that she quietly voiced the empress' thoughts. That way, we'd know they were more than accessories and really feel the connection she has for those who serve her and vica-versa.
-The use of the force in the prequels always annoyed me. It's like no one can handle catching moving objects like falling lightsabers or columns. I'm sure there's some canonical explanation, but it drives me nuts.
-And I know people have said this before, but Anakin really should have been older, like a mid-tween from Season 1 Stranger Things. I keep cringing at Padme's willingness for Anakin's d every time I look at that kid.
-Jar Jar could have been introduced earlier so we could make more camaraderie with them. What if he was being dragged to a jail on the Trade Federation ship as a trade negotiator that was given Rosenkratz and Guildenstern-styled mission by the Gungans to reject the Trade Federation's offer, but Jar Jar being Jar Jar, he gets stuck for the ride with the jedi instead of some tagalong who follows as soon as the two jedi land on the planet. The two jedi wouldn't ditch a prisoner and, not welcome by the gungans because he's an obvious screw-up, he would be forced to come along anyway and maybe he has a moment where he acknowledges he's one, or a "save the cat" moment where he realizes Sebulba did something with the speeder but can't do anything about it because his mouth was numbed through that energy beam the pod racer has (forcefully in this version) by Sebulba when he's found. This would endear him to the audience more because you know he's trying even though he's an utter idiot so when he's stumbling around killing things, we can at least root for him somehow because we know he isn't just some goof in life.
There might be a few more things, but I'm watching Episode 2 right now as I type this. I'll write some notes for this too, but I was too preoccupied writing this to pay the fullest attention about it.
