The Star Wars Prequels, or, Justified Reasons For the Hate

After the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there had been a trend of people hating on the prequel Star Wars films. The prequels were controversial to begin with, but it wasn't until the advent of TFA had there been an influx of bashing on the Star Wars prequels. The big question is, do the prequels deserve all the bashing?

I'm going to be blunt here: the prequels are getting bashed rightfully so because of factors that work against it. First, the films suffer from an abuse of CGI (computer generated imagery). While CGI in film is nothing new, it is a general rule of thumb not to abuse it or else the effect diminishes. In the case of Star Wars, the CGI abuse in prequels is egregious because it shows how lazy George Lucas and his team were in the production of the prequel films. Back in the day, movies were literally built from the ground
up because special effects were not commonplace. As a matter of fact, Industrial Light and Magic was formed because Star Wars had some moments that required these effects. That said, the original trilogies were crafted by hand from model kits; custom costumes and make up. I'm also not engaging in hyperbole when I say model makers left things as is if they didn't want to modify a model in a certain way, or that they had to get toys and models off the shelf or even buy them just to make certain scenes work. For bonus points, props were even reused for certain characters as a means of saving money, and if they couldn't make certain props work they winged it anyways. Guess what, though? It worked. CGI, on the other hand, showed that George Lucas and ILM wanted to take the easier way out and make everything that couldn't be modeled or make-up'd into CGI, and in some cases it looked really bad. Not like the originals which had effects crafted by hand.

Another pet peeve of the prequels everyone dogs on is the portrayal of some of the alien races, such as the Neimoidians; the Gungans and to a degree, the Toydarians. In my case, sterotyping is one thing but caricatures is another. This goes double if that character is named Jar Jar Binks or Watto. It's just offensive and, in some cases, unfunny that these characters are negative takes on types of people. It makes people wonder what Lucasfilm was thinking with the creation of these characters and species. Though what's more offensive, at least to me, is in the case of Jar Jar Binks he's just flat out annoying and nobody really likes this character.

Something else that's talked about in the anti-prequel bandwagon is the neutering of Darth Vader, that is, giving him a form of backstory. We learned that Anakin Skywalker is basically Darth Vader before he became evil, but during his trials and training as a Jedi he becomes increasingly whiny and angsty over time. This is not something that makes people think of Darth Vader. This is a little kid getting upset because he's not getting what he wants. How do you screw up such an iconic cinema character like that? It's embarrassing to think that this angsty child was the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Speaking of neutering of characters, Padme is also a victim of this decay of character effect. For reference, she goes from leading a small team of soldiers in rescuing her home planet of Naboo to being just there and being an overly emotional woman in Revenge of the Sith. Sure she was pregnant with Luke and Leia, but she could have easily gone down with a fight rather than die 'emotionally' (though one argument states that Palpatine used the force to drain her life energy and transfer it to Anakin/Vader to make him more obedient). Rubbing salt into this wound, in footage that would eventually be removed from the final film, Padme not only tries to deal with Palpatine's power, but she more or less acts as the catalyst for the Rebel Alliance in the original Star Wars trilogy. I'm surprised critics and haters of the prequels gloss over this detail.

Now then, when these debates rage on oftentimes people gloss over critical details that would help their argument better. In my case, it's the general feel of the prequels, the message that George Lucas was trying to deliver, and the competence of the characters shaping the plots. I want to get the first out of the way since this is something that bothers me more than the CGI abuse, and the neutering and portrayal of characters as well. The thing about the original Star Wars trilogy was that it was the classic coming of age story; good and evil battling it out to control the universe and decide the fate of everything; small ragtag misfits fighting an empire; and so on and so forth. It was everything a space opera should be and then some. The prequel films, on the other hand, are more like boring political thrillers and feels more like Manchurian Candidate in space. Nobody wants to see debates or use of perplexing dialogue that requires Master's degrees just to know what they are. That's not what Star Wars is about, never has, never will be.

The message part of the prequel Star Wars films is also something people neglect to look over. The general message of the prequel films is that democracy is important and worth defending, but story does little to agree with the message. Characters complain that the Republic is slow and inefficient at making decisions, and Palpatine's plans go accordingly because the Republic allows for it (and on top of that Palpatine was democratically elected, so there's no defense like corruption and such). It doesn't help that George Lucas tried to hop on the post-9/11 band wagon and craft Revenge of the Sith as such, never mind that the rise of the Galactic Empire is akin to that of Caesar Augustus and Nazi Germany, and while Lucas has stated that Palpatine was based off of a U.S. President, it was Richard Nixon and not George Bush. Palpatine says in ROTS "I AM the Senate", similar to Nixon saying "I am the President, therefore I am not breaking the law." which actually makes more sense.

The last issue that even the most staunch of prequel haters forget is how the plot of the prequel films are driven by the fact that characters make headachingly and embarrasingly stupid decisions. In short, they're idiot plots. For instance, going back to Revenge of the Sith the events of that film conspire because characters make stupid decisions, bonus points going towards the Jedi council. In two insances do the Jedi craft their own downfall in this film alone; once, where Mace Windu says to Anakin 'You've gained my trust' regarding learning that Senator Palpatine is a Sith Lord, and twice where upon trying to capture Palpatine they didn't have a backup plan. For the former, that's a slap in the face as Mace more or less said to Anakin 'I never trusted you until now' considering it was a thirteen year gap between Anakin being a Padawan and a Jedi. The latter is when the Jedi didn't bother to activate Order 65, which is one out of whopping 150 orders given to Clone Troopers. For those not in the know, Order 65 is to arrest the chancellor or, if he cannot be contained, kill him. The Jedi didn't bother to activate this order beforehand? I mean yes, the clones would
have been super murdered because Palpatine has a lightsaber and can shoot lightning from his hands, but at least it would have proved the Jedi had an IQ higher than cockroaches. The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones have moments where characters both heroic and villainous make unbelievably poor decisions, but the ones in ROTS are the most painful to witness. Sure the original trilogy and, to a degree The Force Awakens, has characters making bad decisions at times, but at least they were tolerable and didn't make you rage in disgust at how stupid the characters were.

In conclusion, the bashing of the prequel films is more than justified when the information above is taken into account. On paper, all of this sounds like going with the flow of a crowd but, with the correct information and research, the criticisms take shape and justify themselves. It's an example of how the director tries to craft things in his image and take over the role of every critical part of making a film and failing at it. While successful financially, the quality of the films don't reflect this, and the prequel films just serve as an example of quantity over quality.

The Joy of Sliding for Cash: SlideJoy App for Smartphones

As stated in my earlier blog post (http://projectrenesis.blogspot.com/2015/10/mpoints-another-way-to-earn-gift-card.html), smartphones have apps or special features within apps that allow you to farm for
gift card money just by doing what you do in the apps themselves. What if, however, you could earn points
for gift card money just by unlocking your phone?

Slidejoy provides the answer to that question with a big, fat yes. Slidejoy turns your lock screen into a mobile billboard on the go. You can look at adverts for apps as well as any current events news articles just by unlocking your phone. The unlocking and viewing of adverts and news articles nets you points which can be used to redeem gift cards, notably amazon.com gift cards, and PayPal money.

While this is a very handy app to use for farming for gift cards, it is not to be meant as a primary means of earning gift cards. The points earned are in the double digits, but they are earned very slowly each day. I'm lucky if I earn 20 points at the very least. Granted, there are surveys that can be taken and apps to be installed, but you need 100 points just to do all of that.

Despite the small earnings, Slidejoy is an excellent addition to any smartphone owner's gift card farming tools. When you're not using your phone any or if you've exhausted other gift card farming apps, this will help in getting more gift cards for your saving and buying needs. I recommend this app greatly.

A new year, and a new set of blog posts and goals

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't posted in a while. Been taking time off with Christmas and the New Year. I hope everyone got what they wanted and had a great start to the new year.

So anyways, I hope to get some more blog posts done in the future regarding my novel and other interesting topics. Speaking of which, my novel is almost completed; just a last chapter and an Epilogue is all that I need to write up. Then I can figure out publishing and other such strategies.

I also have a special treat to share with my bloggers when I make the time to share it. Long story short, I got a special present in the mail a few days ago, and I'd like to share it with everyone.

Also, sooner or later I'll find a means of earning an income outside of gift card farming. I've invested in a small service, but at the moment I am breaking even. I hope to invest more and earn a sizable income while I'm at college and helping my family in real time.

Well, that's my plans for the new year in a nutshell. I hope this new year is a positive and great one for everyone, and not just me.