海角大神

As Star Wars Day is celebrated today, fans are tweeting out quotes from the films, posting lines and photos from the movies on Facebook, and generally honoring the universe seen in the phenomenally successful 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� films.

Or most of the films, anyway. A few 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� films that mostly aren't being celebrated today 鈥� especially as fans look forward to a promising new 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movie being released this December 鈥� are the movies known as the prequel trilogy, which were released between 1999 and 2005 and which told the story of how Jedi Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd and, later, Hayden Christensen) became the infamous villain, Darth Vader.聽

The movies were certainly a success at the box office. The first film, 鈥淪tar Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace,鈥� is the fifth-highest-grossing movie domestically of all time, according to the website , while the third, 鈥淩evenge of the Sith,鈥� is the 22nd-highest-grossing. (鈥淎ttack of the Clones鈥� trails at forty-third, but that鈥檚 still not too shabby.) It was with critics and with fans that the movies didn鈥檛 hit. Story and effects choices were criticized by many.

So I will begin with disclaimers. The prequel trilogy is, of course, not as good as the original 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� series. Hopefully they won鈥檛 be as good as the upcoming movie 鈥淪tar Wars: The Force Awakens鈥� by J.J. Abrams, either.聽

However, I think the first film in the prequel trilogy, 鈥淭he Phantom Menace,鈥� is the best of the group (again, not an especially good movie 鈥� just the best of the group), and I think it even has some (not all cautionary) lessons for those making 鈥淔orce.鈥�

鈥淏ut Jar Jar Binks!鈥� you鈥檙e saying. 鈥淢idi-chlorians! Darth Vader saying 'yippee!'鈥�

I know. Sit down. I鈥檒l explain.

I鈥檒l begin with Liam Neeson. Mr. Neeson, who portrays Jedi knight Qui-Gon Jinn, is reliably great in movies and, while he has some clunkers of lines like everyone else in the film, he still imbues the movie with gravitas. Similarly, Ewan McGregor would turn out later to be the saving grace of the later prequel movies 鈥� if they indeed have one 鈥� and while he鈥檚 a little stiff this early, especially as he鈥檚 not given much to do in this movie besides disagree with his teacher, his Obi-Wan is serviceable.

So this may seem counterintuitive, but another thing 鈥淧hantom鈥� did right: killing off Qui-Gon Jinn. While it makes sense in hindsight, as we've heard no mention of anybody named Qui-Gon being Anakin's teacher, it鈥檚 surprising the first time through. Take a page from 鈥淕ame of Thrones,鈥� J.J. Abrams. Make no one safe and thus deliver real surprises.聽

Another lesson those working on the new 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movie can take from 鈥淧hantom鈥�? Keep your villains mysterious. Darth Vader鈥檚 redemptive arc in the original films was all we needed to know about the villain. No moviegoer cares that, as described in 鈥淩evenge of the Sith,鈥� Anakin became evil because he had a possibly-prophetic dream and he just liked evil things and the Jedi didn鈥檛 appreciate him and five other reasons I鈥檓 probably forgetting. Stop the over-explaining. Darth Maul showed up, spoke about five words, and fought the Jedi. Why was he evil? What did he really think of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan? We don鈥檛 need to know. Some villains can be left an enigma.

Interestingly, I think 鈥淧hantom鈥� also made the most effort of any of the prequel movies to create a new 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� universe we knew nothing about. Obi-Wan, the character we knew from the original series, is a bit player in this movie. Darth Vader is a young child. C-3PO and R2-D2 come back, but they鈥檙e also off to the side. We mostly focus on newbies Qui-Gon and Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman). Yes, the plot line involving the blockade is boring as all get-out. But the story begins on a new planet, with characters we mostly haven鈥檛 met before, and that鈥檚 admirable.

Yes, 鈥淧hantom鈥� may be a good re-watch for the current 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� crew for lessons on what not to do. But while it will never be an admired entry in the 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� canon, some parts of 鈥淧hantom鈥� can also inspire those behind the new 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movie to make their film great.

(No, I聽 didn鈥檛 like it when Darth Vader said 鈥淵ippee!鈥� either.)