I know this technically started in the late 90s, but I consider it much more of an early-mid 2000s thing.

While the prequel films were off *ahem* questionable quality, they spawned a multimedia project of Star Wars material that is considered some of the best in the whole franchise. This includes Genndy Clone Wars, Battlefront games, Republic Commando games, Labyrinth of Evil, Obsession/Republic comics, etc.

Since Episode VII is starting up and will probably spark a "new generation" of SW media, I thought it would be nice to put this thread up.

http://i.imgur.com/Ku5xxDf.jpg

How did the Clone Wars multimedia project begin in 2002?

That's when Attack of the clones was released.

You could actually refer back to early 1997 as the official beginning of the "prequel/Clone Wars" era of Star Wars, since that was when Lucasfilm released the Special Edition of the Star Wars trilogy, complete with the types tropes that would come to define the prequel trilogy, such as inserted CGI aliens like Jabba, the smearing of a classic character (Han Solo, in this case), and extraneous computer-generated scenes like in Mos Eisely, Jabba's Palace, and Coruscant.

This scene sums up everything perfectly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jzZOgLH4KU

Even though the new storylines were not yet out, it was already obvious in 1997 that George Lucas had become much more interested in special effects and dumb technicalities than classic storytelling, so the disappointment of the prequel trilogy honestly should not have come as any huge surprise.

My introduction to Star Wars was the 1997 Special Editions so I actually prefer them, with the exception of the altered Han/Greedo scene.  I understand though that the originals were such classics and cultural icons that tampering with them is like tampering with the Mona Lisa - shouldn't be done.

As for the prequels, I don't think they could have lived up to the hype no matter how good they were.  I really believe this will also plague the upcoming trilogy.  I still wish they wouldn't have done as much pandering to kids (Jar Jar, Pod races), and chose a better actor to play Anakin.  Fix those issues and they would have been excellent movies.

You know, if this thread was suppose to be anti-Star Wars prequels, then it should be obvious that everyone here hates the godforsaken prequels. People, get over it. The goddamn prequels were 16, 13 and 10 freaking years old. Why can't you get over them? I'm not even a fan of Star Wars and I really don't care about everyone getting upset over the prequels.

I didn't create this thread to bash the prequels, I wanted to discuss the SW material from that era. @ocarinafan96 and @mqg96, are you familiar with Star Wars at all?

I didn't create this thread to bash the prequels, I wanted to discuss the SW material from that era. @ocarinafan96 and @mqg96, are you familiar with Star Wars at all?


I was never a Star Wars fan growing up. So no however sounds interesting though. The only Star Wars I recall seeing is some of the movies and the 2003 cartoon series.

I didn't create this thread to bash the prequels, I wanted to discuss the SW material from that era. @ocarinafan96 and @mqg96, are you familiar with Star Wars at all?


Is this whole thread suppose to be about reminiscing positively about the Star Wars prequel? If so, I really didn't know that.

Is this whole thread suppose to be about reminiscing positively about the Star Wars prequel? If so, I really didn't know that.

It's meant to be reminiscing on the spinoff media from that time period, not so much the movies.

It's meant to be reminiscing on the spinoff media from that time period, not so much the movies.


Oh. I don't really think there was a lot of people who actually cared about the original Clone Wars series.

I LOVED Star Wars growing up. :o :o :o  I had the action figures and video games growing up! I saw the original trilogy on vhs first and then saw Star Wars the phantom Menace on VHS in 2000!! As a kid I loved the film, despite the mixed and negative reviews. I think the first one is not bad just not that great, even a little mediocre. The second one was just BAD, not good, just not good. 8-P >:(  I hated the love story between Anikan and Padme! The special effects looked cartoony. Yuck. 8-P  I then watched the first clone wars tv series on CN in 2003. I thought that was sick!! :D  Then Episode 3 was released in 2005, and boy what a GOOD movie it was! :)  EVERYTHING made up the for the crap I got before. The action, characters, and story all kept me at the edge of my seat!! I LOVED being a STAR WARS fan during this time, I can't wait until I introduce my kids to star wars in the future!! :)

I was never a Star Wars fan growing up. So no however sounds interesting though. The only Star Wars I recall seeing is some of the movies and the 2003 cartoon series.


I grew up watching the older Star Wars from 1977-1983.

I always though the prequels were good but the original series being much better. Hopefully Star Wars Episode VII is good!

I grew up watching the older Star Wars from 1977-1983.

Yeah I watched them on VHS when I was real little!

http://i.imgur.com/Qbrdnrf.png

http://i.imgur.com/Qbrdnrf.png


Or maybe they wanted to show the later episodes first.

Or maybe they wanted to show the later episodes first.
It was planned that way right from the start.

Just imagine if The Phantom Menace came out in May 1968, Attack of the Clones May 1971, and Revenge of the Sith May 1974 (since both Lucas trilogies came out three years apart from one another in the latter weeks of May). They'd be pretty different, that's for sure! They all probably would have taken inspiration from Lawrence of Arabia, Jar Jar Binks would have been a human actor and just as racially insensitive, and they probably would have played up Anakin Skywalker as a Christ figure more than ever. Also, the Galactic Capital would have been replaced with like the the lost city of Knossos, in the same way the Rebel base on Yavin is so obviously just the Mayan ruins of Tikal. The political dialogue would probably have taken up even more of these pictures because many of the action sequences would have been impossible thirty years earlier.

Just imagine if The Phantom Menace came out in May 1968, Attack of the Clones May 1971, and Revenge of the Sith May 1974 (since both Lucas trilogies came out three years apart from one another in the latter weeks of May). They'd be pretty different, that's for sure! They all probably would have taken inspiration from Lawrence of Arabia, Jar Jar Binks would have been a human actor and just as racially insensitive, and they probably would have played up Anakin Skywalker as a Christ figure more than ever. Also, the Galactic Capital would have been replaced with like the the lost city of Knossos, in the same way the Rebel base on Yavin is so obviously just the Mayan ruins of Tikal. The political dialogue would probably have taken up even more of these pictures because many of the action sequences would have been impossible thirty years earlier.


I was too young when Phantom Menace came out. I then read comments from people about Jar Jar, on the internet. Then now realized why he/she is hated as a character.  Cringe-worthy character. The character is not racist itself, but the writer, or director, or whoever, probably had prejudices and stereotypes, about a certain type of person, or people. Then him/her/they made the character.  :P

Kind or reminds me how naive I was back in 1999, when there was a scene, in the movie, Girl Interrupted, where the Winona Ryder character was singing a cotton picking song to a character, Whoopi Goldberg was playing. I thought the Winona Ryder character was just being silly/childish, then found out why cotton and a certain racial group, is not to be put together in the same sentence. Yikes.

I was too young when Phantom Menace came out. I then read comments from people about Jar Jar, on the internet. Then now realized why he/she is hated as a character.  Cringe-worthy character. The character is not racist itself, but the writer, or director, or whoever, probably had prejudices and stereotypes, about a certain type of person, or people. Then him/her/they made the character.  :P


Apparently, George Lucas wanted to have a character based off Goofy, which is why he's a comic relief character. I'm not sure how the character is racially insensitive, aside from people's point of view that could've tell that he was sort of racist.

Apparently, George Lucas wanted to have a character based off Goofy, which is why he's a comic relief character. I'm not sure how the character is racially insensitive, aside from people's point of view that could've tell that he was sort of racist.


Really? Based off Goofy?  :o

Apparently, George Lucas wanted to have a character based off Goofy, which is why he's a comic relief character. I'm not sure how the character is racially insensitive, aside from people's point of view that could've tell that he was sort of racist.


He's a downright caricature of Africans in general, with a Caribbean lean due to his accent and dreadlocks. Instead of being a serious asset to the team, he's just a throwaway doofus who only contributes to the story when it's by accident, like his clumsy battle against the battle droids or replacing Padmé's seat in the Galactic Senate. In all fairness, The Phantom Menace explicitly outlines how Jar Jar was considered a complete idiot even by the other Gungans (who leader does questionable things with his mouth...), but the way such a shallow and exaggerated stereotype of black Jamaicans factors into the main plot of the movies – that he succeeds only when it's by accident or because of whites helping him out – was obviously not the most sensitive move on the production crew's behalf.

It also doesn't help that Jar Jar isn't the only alien from The Phantom Menace clearly modeled after a popular real-world racial stereotype. Watto is every single insensitive misperception of Jewish people rolled into one, between his manipulative financial actions, to his long, down-pointed nose; to his slimy grin, to his thick Yiddish accent, to the facial hair all over his face, to the fact that he has literal control over two people's lives. The Trade Federation, meanwhile, are unsavory analogies for Asians, due to their slanted eyes, blatantly thick accents (again), suspicious dealings, corporate dominance, and even their private army, paralleling Western fears of military machinations by countries like North Korea, Japan, and China.


Really? Based off Goofy?  :o


Probably explains why he speaks with such a superficial ebonic dialect rather than a Southern drawl.

When I was three years old, I went to my cousin's house, and went into his room. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was on, it was the part where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were fighting Darth Maul. I stayed in his room, and watched it, and then asked him if I could borrow The Phantom Menace. He let me, and I went home and watched it, and when he got Attack of the Clones in early 2003 (I'm guessing), I borrowed and watched that.

I ended up growing up with prequel and Clone Wars era stuff. I became a huge fan of Star Wars, and watched them every night. I remember watching Revenge of the Sith in 2005, I was so excited, and I loved it. I played my first T rated game, Star Wars Battlefront, that year as well (Battlefront 2 later that year which ended up becoming my favorite game as a kid).

I remember watching the 2003 Clone Wars mini series on tv back then, playing games like Jedi Kinight: Jedi Outcast (and Academy),  the LEGO Star Wars video games, the 2002 Star Wars: The Clone Wars game, Star Wars was and is my favorite fictional franchise. I grew up reading Star Wars novels as well, Star Wars was one of the biggest things of my childhood.

Wanted to mention I first saw the original trilogy in 2005, and loved those as well, I love all the movies equally, but this was a prequel/Clone Wars thread. In 2008, we went to go see the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, and I didn't like it, so avoided the tv show mainly until halfway through season 3 around 2011. I saw the Mortis arc, and got hooked on this show, bought the previous seasons to catch myself up, and watched it until it's cancellation in 2013/14 (they put a season on Netflix in 2014).

I was super excited if not a bit nervous for the new trilogy they announced in 2012 (they didn't announce any titles though), and saw the premiere last year. It was awesome, and we (my family and I) had a blast, everyone there seemed like they were actual fans which was pretty cool. I'm now still a huge fan of Star Wars, and it has persisted staying throughout my life, I probably care about it too much though. ;D

I guess one thing unique to the prequels to me is that it gets me more nostalgic than any other movies I watched growing up, I love the originals just as much though, it's just I grew up in a time where the games, tv shows, and novels all focused on the prequels. This year is actually probably the first year I haven't seen all of the movies more than 10 times so far since I first started watching them in 2002. I'm still getting and playing new Star Wars games, reading new novels, watching new movies and shows though. I'm still obsessive.

It's probably one of the only things I won't grow out of, sorry for making that so long, just want to say the prequels and The Clone Wars (and Star Wars in general) were awesome. :D

If I could change the title of the thread to 1999-2006, I would. Heck, maybe even 1998-2006 (98 is when the first comics set in the prequel era were published).

2006 was still a pretty Star Warsy year, we were still getting lots of comics, video games, books, etc. and Revenge of the Sith was still making waves on the Internet. By 2007, things had cooled down.

He's a downright caricature of Africans in general, with a Caribbean lean due to his accent and dreadlocks. Instead of being a serious asset to the team, he's just a throwaway doofus who only contributes to the story when it's by accident, like his clumsy battle against the battle droids or replacing Padmé's seat in the Galactic Senate. In all fairness, The Phantom Menace explicitly outlines how Jar Jar was considered a complete idiot even by the other Gungans (who leader does questionable things with his mouth...), but the way such a shallow and exaggerated stereotype of black Jamaicans factors into the main plot of the movies – that he succeeds only when it's by accident or because of whites helping him out – was obviously not the most sensitive move on the production crew's behalf.

It also doesn't help that Jar Jar isn't the only alien from The Phantom Menace clearly modeled after a popular real-world racial stereotype. Watto is every single insensitive misperception of Jewish people rolled into one, between his manipulative financial actions, to his long, down-pointed nose; to his slimy grin, to his thick Yiddish accent, to the facial hair all over his face, to the fact that he has literal control over two people's lives. The Trade Federation, meanwhile, are unsavory analogies for Asians, due to their slanted eyes, blatantly thick accents (again), suspicious dealings, corporate dominance, and even their private army, paralleling Western fears of military machinations by countries like North Korea, Japan, and China.


http://gif-finder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Colin-Farrell-WTF.gif

Well okay. Thanks for the information, I guess.


If I could change the title of the thread to 1999-2006, I would. Heck, maybe even 1998-2006 (98 is when the first comics set in the prequel era were published).

2006 was still a pretty Star Warsy year, we were still getting lots of comics, video games, books, etc. and Revenge of the Sith was still making waves on the Internet. By 2007, things had cooled down.


I don't think a lot of casual Star Wars fans ever heard of the comics in 1998, so it would rather be 1999-2006.

He's a downright caricature of Africans in general, with a Caribbean lean due to his accent and dreadlocks. Instead of being a serious asset to the team, he's just a throwaway doofus who only contributes to the story when it's by accident, like his clumsy battle against the battle droids or replacing Padmé's seat in the Galactic Senate. In all fairness, The Phantom Menace explicitly outlines how Jar Jar was considered a complete idiot even by the other Gungans (who leader does questionable things with his mouth...), but the way such a shallow and exaggerated stereotype of black Jamaicans factors into the main plot of the movies – that he succeeds only when it's by accident or because of whites helping him out – was obviously not the most sensitive move on the production crew's behalf.

It also doesn't help that Jar Jar isn't the only alien from The Phantom Menace clearly modeled after a popular real-world racial stereotype. Watto is every single insensitive misperception of Jewish people rolled into one, between his manipulative financial actions, to his long, down-pointed nose; to his slimy grin, to his thick Yiddish accent, to the facial hair all over his face, to the fact that he has literal control over two people's lives. The Trade Federation, meanwhile, are unsavory analogies for Asians, due to their slanted eyes, blatantly thick accents (again), suspicious dealings, corporate dominance, and even their private army, paralleling Western fears of military machinations by countries like North Korea, Japan, and China.

Probably explains why he speaks with such a superficial ebonic dialect rather than a Southern drawl.


I just looked it up and read a few articles, and I don't think those articles have much credibility, honestly. I believe the Jar Jar being inspired by Goofy for comic relief though. I also can see the Trade Federation being stereotypes of Asians, and I can see the Watto thing too, but Jar Jar being a racist stereotype of Southern African Americans seems really stupid to me. Not everything like that is true. Gungans might be a primitive, tribal people, but I don't think that points towards a racist stereotype, same goes for Jar Jar. Are they any people who worked on The Phantom Menace who have implied or flat out said he is based on stuff like that? If not, I don't believe it. Jar Jar is just supposed to be a character for kids, his movements, for example, are based on Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, not a clumsy racially offensive stereotype.

I just looked it up and read a few articles, and I don't think those articles have much credibility, honestly. I believe the Jar Jar being inspired by Goofy for comic relief though. I also can see the Trade Federation being stereotypes of Asians, and I can see the Watto thing too, but Jar Jar being a racist stereotype of Southern African Americans seems really stupid to me. Not everything like that is true. Gungans might be a primitive, tribal people, but I don't think that points towards a racist stereotype, same goes for Jar Jar. Are they any people who worked on The Phantom Menace who have implied or flat out said he is based on stuff like that? If not, I don't believe it. Jar Jar is just supposed to be a character for kids, his movements, for example, are based on Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, not a clumsy racially offensive stereotype.


In any way, I should agree with this. I do believe that Jar Jar Binks isn't like a Jim Crow character for Star Wars. I mean, he doesn't talk like an obvious racial stereotype. He was just there for the kiddies to laugh at, while their parents who grew up with the original trilogy in the late 70s and early 80s could enjoy the mature stuff of it.

I just looked it up and read a few articles, and I don't think those articles have much credibility, honestly. I believe the Jar Jar being inspired by Goofy for comic relief though. I also can see the Trade Federation being stereotypes of Asians, and I can see the Watto thing too, but Jar Jar being a racist stereotype of Southern African Americans seems really stupid to me. Not everything like that is true. Gungans might be a primitive, tribal people, but I don't think that points towards a racist stereotype, same goes for Jar Jar. Are they any people who worked on The Phantom Menace who have implied or flat out said he is based on stuff like that? If not, I don't believe it. Jar Jar is just supposed to be a character for kids, his movements, for example, are based on Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, not a clumsy racially offensive stereotype.


Well, his overly child-pandering nature was part of the reason so many people despised him. Yeah, the original trilogy had its own comic relief in R2D2 and C3PO, but they were a lot more downplayed and served to benefit the plots of their movies far more than Jar Jar ever did. Also, if Jar Jar was seriously inspired by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, then both actors must seriously be rolling in their graves.


In any way, I should agree with this. I do believe that Jar Jar Binks isn't like a Jim Crow character for Star Wars. I mean, he doesn't talk like an obvious racial stereotype. He was just there for the kiddies to laugh at, while their parents who grew up with the original trilogy in the late 70s and early 80s could enjoy the mature stuff of it.


He's more of an Afro-Caribbean stereotype than a Southern African American one, although some insensitivities overlap between both groups. Also, like I said before, Jar Jar was constantly distracting from the plot in The Phantom Menace for no reason, to the point you wonder why Obi-Wan still keeps him by his side.

He's more of an Afro-Caribbean stereotype than a Southern African American one, although some insensitivities overlap between both groups. Also, like I said before, Jar Jar was constantly distracting from the plot in The Phantom Menace for no reason, to the point you wonder why Obi-Wan still keeps him by his side.


I didn't really care for Jar Jar in the Phantom Menace, since the movie was just as boring as it was. Even without Jar Jar, The Phantom Menace would still be lame as everyone proclaims it as.