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Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) vs Episode I: The Phantom Menace

A long time ago,
in a galaxy far far away...
The opening sequence happened in space. However what was obviously significantly missing was a galaxy far, far away mentioned in the title screen. We did not really get an immersion to an entire different galaxy. Just a couple of capital cities. We did not get that the Empire was a consisted of a horribly militant group. We did however get the feeling that the Naboo was a small group of townspeople, thanks to the human element of the actors and actresses.
Something familiar in the film could have stated the prequel trilogy a la intercepting a droid transmission, introducing new robots a la WALL-E? Jedi Knights could be used to protect the droids from the Empire. The discussion the Jedi have with the reveal that the Empire has achieved a Star Destroyer perhaps that can severely cripple the flying inept Jedi? R2-D2 was important because he had the Death Star plans. C-3PO was important, because he translated R2-D2. From that you got a mindset of how the engineers and more importantly, how the people in the world of Star Wars thought.
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What did Jar Jar do most of the movie? Trip a lot. Ruin an offensive. Interrogations.
Obi-Wan's Obi-Wan
In Episode IV, Obi-Wan became a hermit after suffering a great loss in Episode III, or before or possibly even Episode 3.5. Finding Luke Skywalker in Episode IV again, he found a purpose in life introducing Luke to the ways of the Force, like introducing the man-ape to the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Liam Neeson does what he can with his limited performance, but lacks character development, taking away his chances at an Academy Award for his role as Qui Gon Jinn. He chances are gone as he gets stabbed in the stomach by Darth Maul.
The creation of Darth Vader
What was Darth Vader's origin? There actually was an interesting idea done with Anakin. Sure, he was a little kid, but he was a young person in Tatooine. What I would have done similarly would have been keeping Anakin in the Luke Skywalker role, (probably keeping him at the same age as Luke in A New Hope or Episode IV or Star Wars, or whatever you would like to call it). I probably would not have had Darth actually put himself on Tatooine, (too literal of a parallel I say,) but rather another planet, then voyaging to a city or even a different planet.
What George Lucas does well with Obi-Wan is put him in Luke Skywalker's shoes, keeping him in the norm accepting what the Jedi counsel say about not letting Anakin be a Jedi, till Obi Wan dies, and then changes his mind. (Side note: I sort of wish Mark Hamill did a better job showing his emotions on screen. Maybe MacGregor did a better job)
What if Anakin did not destroy something at the end of Episode I? Maybe that is why he wanted to join the Dark Side, because it (or he percieved it as) more powerful, having to do what he had to do to survive.
The Emperor
What was interesting about the Emperor? Where are the clues that imply he is the Emperor outside of the Expanded Universe? Make the prequels a bit more about him. He enjoys regality and culture as noted in Episode III. A little more of that in this episode would have been good.
 
In 1977, George Lucas was a rebel. He helped invent the Neo-Hollywood blockbuster, a change fiercely debated by critics on whether it aided or hurt the industry. He was a cinema revolutionary. He experimented with scripts too difficult for audiences to understand. He went into debt, thinking about 
Star Wars did well by itself as a stand alone movie.
In 1999, George Lucas just seems to be another insignificant Hollywood producer, a product of Hollywood, who thinks he knows what he is doing with blockbuster movies, but really does not. He is not innovating 3D technology like James Cameron did. He is not innovating stories like Christopher Nolan, Marc Webb and a handful of directors listed in Red Letter Media's Episode 1 review. Episode 1 is either insignificant or significant in a bad way. 
While Red Tails received a mixed to negative reaction, at least it put Lucas' mind a bit forward. He took risks that you can debate whether they worked or not.
The 1983-1999 gap...
Maybe made a movie just to not worry about legal movie issue rights- patents, copyrights, or whichever. CBS/FOX vs Lucasfilms.. In DVD footage, Luca mentioned creating Phantom Menace because James Cameron created Titanic.

, NY Movies Examiner

Richard Huang is a Video Editor and Writer with ten years experience and some proficiency in directing. He took Film Lit and Video in school. Please send any media related requests (suggestions for editorials, interview questions) to rfhuang1028@gmail.com.

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