Great find and read. Scott hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season. Eat well, drink better,love family and be merry.~Rob

Merry Christmas.

As we all know, though, Scott, he DID collaborate with Darabont on INDY 4... and look where THAT got us. He tossed the draft out and went with that flaccid script from Koepp. Yuck.

I'm curious... how did/does your son feel about the prequels? Someone mentioned it's a "generational" thing, that we old codgers are quick to denigrate Eps. 1, 2, and 3 because of some misplaced, sentimental allegiance to the original trilogy.

(I would contend that its only my allegiance to decent storytelling that made me turn my nose up at Th Phantom Menace, etc.)

Keeping things in perspective - as godawful as the prequels are - Lucas did give us Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and (possibly best of all) American Graffiti. That's more than enough for one lifetime...

Can't argue with that Paul... good point.

Yeah, that post was exciting over on MM's. I think that script is also the perfect reason to not write until your outline reads like poetry.

I think most people go into the prequels expecting them to outdo Luke Skywalker's story. That would have been nearly impossible strictly because of the perfection of the Hero's Journey. But also because no one else could have that story.
Anakin was destined for the dark side, the Jedi all get killed; even Amidala dies at the end.
Whether Lucas meant it or not, I think the idea was to show the bleakness that appears in Ep4.

If you follow Sisious' actions it's clear that he is the central figure (not protag) of the prequels while we see how Darth Vader fell so far.

Yes, I admit that his dialog SUCKED but I can admire the vision. A major problem with the "action" was that the Jedi were not SEAL team or even Sheriffs so they couldn't perform as such. They had to do a lot of talking (using wisdom) while Sidious undermined everything with his "not so narrow view" of the Force.

But truthfully, I don't think anyone went to hear quotable dialog but see the fantasy of other worlds. I mean, even though adults hate him, JarJar is the most famous character behind R2D2. Kids loved Ep1.

I mean I could actually show where Ep4 was overdone cliche, slightly immature and the dialog was just as cheesy.

I appreciate the prequels more for the leaps in CGI. The near-seamless integration of real and fake changed the game - War of the Worlds would not have been possible.

I do agree though that Lucas should have put more stock in at least a dialog rewrite.

The scenes between Anakin and Amidala could have revolutionized the love story.