Top changes that would have made "Phantom Menace" a better-received movie.

[MrFanaticGuy34]

Now, i liked Phantom Menace...a lot. But if i have to be honest....there could have been stuff that would have been changed and people would have liked it more.

 

Here is my list that would have been changed:

 

Less of Jar Jar Binks.

Better acting.

A more believable friendship/chemistry between Anakin & Padme.

Not too much childish stuff.

Better pacing.

Better writing.

No exposition.

 

Feel free to list your changes of what would have made "Phantom Menace" a better movie.

Edited December 21, 2015 by MrFanaticGuy34

[stripe]

Jar Jar is not the main problem.

 

Plot wise, there are three main things:

Anakin should be at least a teenager. Making him a kid was a huge mistake.

No midiclorians stuff conceiving Anakin.

All the awful he is the chosen one narrative.

 

Then, there are some problems with the pace of the movie, specially with all the politic scenes once the group arrives to Coruscant.

 

The PG rating also hurts the movie. We don't see Naboo's population suffering with the federation's invasion. You don't feel the urgency.

[4815162342]

Rewrite Episode 1 to be a better version of Episode 2

[Kalo]

Rewrite them so, Anakin is a young adult 17 or 18.

have Phantom Menace show the beginning of the clone wars and how it started.

rewrite most of the dialogue, get a better director, better acting. 

Don't make Jedi unable to marry or if they aren't strongly imply that it was not the way of the force, but rather a result of the jedi becoming too legalistic and blind to the ways of the force (which I kind of got a feeling it was anyways)

Make Anakin likable, and good and kind even, but he falls under the manipulation of Palatine and driven to the darkside because fear for his family, and the power of the dark side he "loses" them trying to save them. 

Anakin and Obi-Wan have very close relationship

have obi-wan be the one to discover Anakin. as much as I like Qui-Gon. he is an unnecessary character.

complete re-write anakin and Padme's love story to something humans could believe.

Make Episode II the Clone Wars. maybe even have Anakin Turn in the end of Ep II, have Padme live for a while after his turn, living with Leia, and leaving Luke on Tatooine for their protection. 

[Orestes]

As much as I hate to say it, cutting Qui Gon from the script probably needed to happen. Or at least changing/reducing his role while expanding Obi-Wan's, along with an older Anakin, probably would've worked wonders. Having Qui Gon as the main character, then dying, wastes characterization and development that could've been better spent on Kenobi and Skywalker.  Especially with his death occuring so early in his training of Anakin, it hurts the series going forward. Maybe if they'd conveyed that he trained Anakin for months instead of apparently a few days, having Jin's death play a part in his slide to the dark side would've been more convincing. Toning Jar Jar down a tad and having him stay behind in the Gungan city would've been good, as well. Also, Lucas giving the tiniest bit of a shit about the actor's performances would've been nice.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Orestes

[4815162342]

24 minutes ago, Orestes said:

As much as I hate to say it, cutting Qui Gon from the script probably needed to happen.Having Qui Gon as the main character, then dying, wastes characterization and development that could've been better spent on Kenobi and Skywalker.  

 

Pretty much. The one thing they could have done though but didn't do is have Anakin be a bit resentful that Qui Gon died and Obi-Wan lived (as it was Qui-Gon who believed in him, supported him, etc) and having that play into their strained relationship and why Anakin turns to Palpatine as a surrogate father figure.

[MasterDodsen]

The most glaringly bad thing about TPM is the existence of midichlorians. And secondly, Luke and Leia’s birth mother really wasn't needed to be that important. All she needed to be was Anakin’s wife/girlfriend. Finally, Qui-gon Jinn and Jar-Jar... why?

[xanamanax]

I would've made a story with an older Anakin in his thirties and Obi-Wan in his forties. That would fit the 20 years later in ANH. It would've been about the start of the Clone Wars with them as full Jedi Masters kicking butt and taking names. No R2-D2 or C3PO. I would've had Anakin turning at the end of Episode II and Episode III would've been about the Empire being victorious in the Clone wars and destroying the Jedi and the Republic.

[The Panda]

On 12/23/2015 at 2:28 PM, Kalo said:

Rewrite them so, Anakin is a young adult 17 or 18.

have Phantom Menace show the beginning of the clone wars and how it started.

rewrite most of the dialogue, get a better director, better acting. 

Don't make Jedi unable to marry or if they aren't strongly imply that it was not the way of the force, but rather a result of the jedi becoming too legalistic and blind to the ways of the force (which I kind of got a feeling it was anyways)

Make Anakin likable, and good and kind even, but he falls under the manipulation of Palatine and driven to the darkside because fear for his family, and the power of the dark side he "loses" them trying to save them. 

Anakin and Obi-Wan have very close relationship

have obi-wan be the one to discover Anakin. as much as I like Qui-Gon. he is an unnecessary character.

complete re-write anakin and Padme's love story to something humans could believe.

Make Episode II the Clone Wars. maybe even have Anakin Turn in the end of Ep II, have Padme live for a while after his turn, living with Leia, and leaving Luke on Tatooine for their protection. 

 

I agree with this, but I'd still have him turn in three.  You should have liked Anakin, or at least seen why Obi Wan did, and make it a tad bit morally conflicting for his turn to the Dark Side.  They needed to make the flaws in the legalistic Jedi order more apparent and less boring.

 

He would need to turn in a similar way, because Vader can't know that they had twins, but also Padme needed to live with Leia for a brief amount of time, because Leia remembers glimpses of her (which she wouldn't based on Episode 3's account)

[Phil in the Blank]

I agree with the general sentiment of the first movie needing to focus on Anakin in his late teens.

 

My general idea would be something like this.

 

At the start of the movie in a series of flashbacks we establish that Anakin was "A Virgin Birth' (I like the idea of a Sith manipulating the force to bring a powerful force user into the world for his future use), and that he is a nice kid who is very protective of his mother (Basically the Phantom Menace in 5 mins), then in the present time we see his Mum murdered by some group. Perhaps she owed money to a Hutt and couldn't pay so they murdered her, so he flipped out and kills a lot of them in return before stealing a starship and blasts into space to escape where he bumps into a ship with Obi-Wan Kenobi who is under attack by several ships.

 

Turns out Obi-Wan Kenobi has been sent on a secret mission to determine unusual activity reported on Kamino that is worrysome to the Jedi (i.e the Clones Plot). Palpetine/Sidious isn't ready for this particular pawn of his to be revealed tries to assassinate Obi Wan. Anakin stumbles across him in space and not being an asshole defends Obi Wan and succeeds in defeating the enemies but not before his Ship is crippled. So not having much of a choice Obi-Wan and his pilot (the not at all special), Padme who Anakin immediately takes a liking too, get Anakin to join the mission and use his ship to investigate Kamino.  Meanwhile Obi-Wan is like Holy Fucking Shit Fucks I've never felt such power coming from a person before, he has a lot of anger in him but I am confident I can overcome that and turn him into a Jedi. 

 

By the end of the movie they have discovered the clone army, Sideous is forced into launching the Seperatist attack earlier than anticipated but feels that Anakin being introduced to his presence is worthy compensation and hatches a plan to turn him to the Dark Side and Yoda reluctantly agrees to let Obi-Wan train Anakin despite thinking it's incredibly risky given the Anger that is contained in him.

 

I think this gives a good base to build upon in the next two movies.

 

[Claire of Themyscira]

I would have liked some Obi Wan and Padme...

 

I like the ideas of beginning with them much older as in Attack Of The Clones.

 

I do like the relationship of Anakin and his mother being one of the things that keeps him centered, etc., and in her death, I guess Padme fills that void until you know when...

 

I also liked the politics aspect and wish it could have been done better, to be honest.

 

I wish Padme had a bigger role whereas her main purpose wasn't simply being Anakin's love interest.

[MrFanaticGuy34]

Been a long while since I made this topic.

 

Anyways......another change I would have wished it happened instead is: They probably could/should have made Padme a bit younger, you know....closer to Anakin's age. Or probably Anakin a bit older, but not too old....just kinda closer to Padme's age.

 

That would have made their relationship, at least more believable.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

On 12/29/2015 at 9:37 PM, MasterDodsen said:

The most glaringly bad thing about TPM is the existence of midichlorians. And secondly, Luke and Leia’s birth mother really wasn't needed to be that important. All she needed to be was Anakin’s wife/girlfriend. Finally, Qui-gon Jinn and Jar-Jar... why?

I think Lucas could have used her better. Anakin could have slowly went to the dark side with her being a slave and the Jedi and senate sitting back doing nothing to end slavery. Have Palatine try to end slavery as the chancellor but it is voted down in the Senate. This could start Anakin belief that there should be a person to rule over everyone. 

[GirafficPark]

I dont get the hate for the midiclorians at all.

 

Anakin should have been older, less silliness and better dialogue. It was really the terrible dialogue that killed the prequels though, and the total lack of chemistry between Padme and Anakin. It looked like Portman had nothing but contempt for Christensen. Hardly a great love story that had Galactic consequences.

[Amadeus]

I think a love triangle drama in which Obi and Anakin are cock blocking eachother would have been awesome, ending with Obi cock choking Anakin and cock pushing him out of from a cliff. 
 

[75Live]

I can deal with Anakin being a kid but I agree that at some point during the movie, even if it's just a few scenes near the end to establish him as a likeable character as a teen so it means more as the movies go on. 

 

It seems to some people that he was basically an annoying somewhat selfish child, then basically was the same as a teen, so it didn't have the effect when he turned that I think Lucas wanted.

[Lordmandeep]

I think Anakin should have been older.

 

AOTC should have focused on the Clone Wars.

 

ROTS had a good story but just bad delivery.

[George Parr]

On 1.12.2016 at 7:38 PM, MrFanaticGuy34 said:

Been a long while since I made this topic.

 

Anyways......another change I would have wished it happened instead is: They probably could/should have made Padme a bit younger, you know....closer to Anakin's age. Or probably Anakin a bit older, but not too old....just kinda closer to Padme's age.

 

That would have made their relationship, at least more believable.

 

They aren't that far apart in terms of age actually. Four years is a lot when you are young, but when it comes to adults it isn't really a whole lot. At the time of Episode II, Anakin was 20 and Padme 24. Not the most common situation, but hardly that unusual.

 

For the way the story was set up, Anakin needed to be a child. It would have needed quite the drastic changes to the story to make it work with an older Anakin. I don't really see how anyone could suggest that Anakin was selfish as a child. He was very much the opposite, kind and helpful. That was the whole point, to show how he was still 'pure' and a good kid at that point. Makes for a bigger contrast to what happens later on.

 

 

I don't see any contempt from Natalie Portman towards Christensen either. I obviously have no idea whether they still are in contact right now, but following Episodes II and III they definately spend time outside the movie world with each other, e.g. Hayden Christensen visiting her at her theater plays she was doing around that time. They didn't exactly have the best on-screen chemistry ever, but I don't think it was particularly bad either.

I agree with the point about the midichlorians though. Most people who complain about them tend to have no idea what they actually are. They are not the force, never have been, never will. I really don't see any problems with them. There was bound to be some sort of genetic effect that links people to the force, else Luke and Leia wouldn't have been so special. The original movies established that the force-connection is (or at least can be) hereditary. The force itself hasn't changed one bit, but now we know why some people can achieve great things, some seem to be gifted to some extend, and why the majority of people can't just pick up the force and go with it.

 

[lilmac]

On 12/21/2015 at 6:33 PM, 4815162342 said:

Rewrite Episode 1 to be a better version of Episode 2

^ This

 

No need to start off the Anakin story as a young child. In fact his advanced age could be one of the driving forces behind his immaturity and ensuing downfall.

Edited December 14, 2016 by lilmac

[Amadeus]

George Lucas wanted to tell a story of a young innocent child growin up to be one of the most feared monster in the galaxy. 

 

If Anakin already was in the puberty when the saga kicks off that story would not be. 

 

Part I: Anakin leaving his mother to have the father he never had (Qui Gon) --> Anakin misses his mother but finds a new mother within Padmé --> Padmé disappears, so does Qui Gon leaving him standing with his jealous big Brother from which Anakin had stolen the love from Qui Gon (Cain and Able anyone? "You were my brother")
Part II: Anakin being a tortured teenager who has not have a mother or a father for over 10 years --> Coping with it by beginning a love affair with Padmé and having a friendship with his mentor Palpatine --> "I Hate Sandpeople!"
Part III: Borderline Anakin is afraid of losing the only one he loves and is loved by. Can not focus, feeling sad angry and is having nightmares about losing his closest. 

That is the story. And Anakin being 9 10 years old is what makes this story line work.