The original Star Wars trilogy is good. The prequels are better.
Wild, I know.
Lots of people would have my head on a stick for saying that. But it’s my truth. Accept it or not. I’m not changing.
Most of it has to do with nostalgia. When I was a kid, my cousin had the prequels on DVD and we would watch them over and over on road trips.
I believe the prequels were my introduction to Star Wars. I believe I am one of the few people who has watched Star Wars in the correct canonical order.
1 2 3 comes before 4 5 6, thank you very much.
I loved the prequels and found the original trilogy to be lame.
The originals were ok. But they weren’t fun. To my little kid brain, the prequels were more fun. My favorite was Attack of the Clones, but I loved all three of them.
Phantom Menace for the podracing, the showdown with Darth Maul, and Jar Jar being promoted to General of his tribe and being an absolute powerhouse at the battle of Naboo.
Attack of the Clones for everything: The giant Jedi and clone battle; Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu; the death of Jango and the birth of Boba; Yoda vs Dooku; and Jar Jar being promoted to Senator Representative of his tribe where he literally starts the Galactic Empire, the Clone Wars, and an intergalactic genocide.
Revenge of the Sith for the Wookies, General Grievous, Order 66, and Darth Vader. Unfortunately, Jar Jar wasn’t really in this one.
I’m not going to lie, I also enjoy the original trilogy.
Specifically, for Han and Chewbacca.
Luke is boring.
But recently I’ve discovered that the original Star Wars trilogy wasn’t all that original.
I discovered George Lucas is a thief.
A few months ago, I read a book: Dune by Frank Herbert.
About halfway through, I said, “This is just Star Wars.” Come to find out the opposite. Star Wars is just Dune.
Written in 1965, 12 years before the first Star Wars film, Dune is a story about a boy named Paul who is deemed the “chosen one” and meant to overthrow a galactic empire with a mystical power given to him because of his heritage.
George Lucas stole Paul and called him Luke.
Dune takes place on a sand planet called Arrakis. George stole Arrakis and called it Tatooine.
Spoilers! Paul eventually finds out he is the grandson of a big bad evil guy.
Literally the most iconic moment in Star Wars, the “Luke, I am your father” moment, was plagiarized from Dune.
George wasn’t even that subtle.
In Dune, there’s a character named Princess Alia, who is Paul’s sister.
George stole this and removed one syllable, calling her Princess Leia.
That’s not the end of it.
Han Solo is Duncan Idaho.
The Force is the Voice.
The Empire is the Imperium.
Even the Jedi was a stolen concept.
George’s rough draft for Star Wars referred to the Jedi as the “Jedi Bindu.” He later changed this to the “Jedi Rebels.” I wonder why he did this.
In Dune, there’s an order of super powered humans called the Bene Gesserit. One of their training programs is called “Prana-Bindu.”
Jedi Bindu?
Prana-Bindu?
Coincidence?
The only difference between these two orders is that the Bene Gesserit is exclusively female. The Jedi order might have some females, but it does look an awful lot like a boy’s club.
Oh, but the Bene Gesserit don’t have lightsabers. That’s another difference.
Lightsabers might be the only original idea in the original Star Wars movies. But even then, Paul was extensively trained in sword fighting as a kid.
So there’s that.
When Star Wars came out, Frank Herbert was angry. He said, “I’m going to try very hard not to sue.”
What a good guy. I would’ve sued.
So, I guess you could say I’m right in saying the original Star Wars movies are kinda lame. Because they were a complete rip off. In fact, you could argue the prequels were more original than the originals. They had their own unique ideas.
Jar Jar is definitely original
People hated the prequels with a passion. They hated these unique ideas. They were too different from the originals.
People loved the originals and wondered why George couldn’t replicate that. It’s because it wasn’t his to replicate in the first place.
These people didn’t love Star Wars. They loved Dune. What they didn’t realize was that they were getting a bootlegged copy.
I’m happy to say there’s a Dune movie coming out this year.
I will be unhappy to hear people say, “This is just Star Wars,” when it comes out.
I might want to put their head on a stick.
Moral of story:
The prequels are better and George is a dirty thief.
Oh, and don’t even get me started on the sequels.