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Fireside Chats, Episode 37: Defending the Star Wars Prequels (Patreon)

Published:
2018-05-15 16:00:01
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2026-06
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Content

Alex Schmitz likes the Star Wars Prequels. In fact, he kinda loves 'em. As a one-time film student who now works in the movie industry, Schmitz is especially well-equipped to defend what he views as underrated and underappreciated gems in the ever-growing Star Wars universe. So I invited him onto Fireside Chats to do just that. And believe it or not, he makes a pretty convincing case...

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Comments

Daniel Rivas

Has he seen the Plinkett reviews?

Owen

Alex is my hero. While I don't think they're fantastic films or anything, I think they get way more shit than they deserve. Mainly because the script sucks. Just terrible. The actors that they had (aside from Christiansen) were fantastic and you can see that they're doing the best with what they got, but they didn't get much. The setting though is amazing. Galactic politics! So interesting! Lightsaber battles speak for themselves. - Great movies? No... Trash though? No. They're decent, and like Alex mentioned, they add a lot to the universe. Good stuff man.

Owen
>>12338389

Also... Mace Windu needs more love... My absolute favorite Jedi. Absolute bad ass.

Marc Boggio

I respected his point of view so much more until he said The Last Jedi is the best of the Disney films 😂 I’d be willing to go back to LA, be on another fireside chat with Alex and debate why TLJ is the worst film in the franchise.

Marc Boggio

Overall very good episode though - the arguments were balanced and reasonable.

LastStandMedia
>>12338058

We definitely talked about 'em, but I don't know if it was on the show or before we started recording.

Brian Dewire

If there was ever a show that would cause me to revoke my pledge (which I definitely won't), this would be it. :)

LastStandMedia
>>12343130

Hahaha. I don't necessarily endorse the guests I have on! True story: A CLS fan reached out to me to tell me that his brother has turned into an actual Neo-Nazi, and I tried to get him on the show so I could grill him, but it (obviously) didn't happen. In other words, expect the eclectic shit to continue, even if it's offensive to one's sensibilities. =D

Lucas Gremista

The only creator in the world that can make me listen to (about 3 now?) entire podcasts about a subject i couldnt care less about, Star Wars. One day you'll make me rewatch all the movies =)

Stephane Leduc

I would be really interested to know why Colin loved Rogue One that much because I personnally absolutely hated Rogue One. Much of that movie made absolutely no sense to me. Also, why do people think so high of Bobba Fett? The guy doesn't do anything really in all the original trilogy. He gets credit for capturing Han Solo when in fact it was Darth Vader and the empire that captured him with the aid of Lando and they then handed him over to Bobba Fett to be taken back to Jabba. I personnally never thought much of Bobba Fett for the sole reason that he doesn't do much. I think he has a cool design and that may be the reason why so many people are fond of this character.

Craig Carter

I really like that you get fans on the show, and pretty consistently at that. While big names are cool, don’t get me wrong, I think an “average joes” perspective is just as valid if not moreso than anyone else’s. I really appreciate that about you Colin. You’re far more involved with your audience than most, and it shows. Great episode btw lol.

Joosh

What an awesome episode. I appreciated how Alex made call backs to the clone wars series from time to time. It really does flesh out some of the awful character development of the prequels and I don't think enough people watched it. It starts out extremely childish, but after a season or two it gets rather dark and plays with some deep mature themes. Keep up the awesome work colin!

LastStandMedia
>>12343984

There's a KnockBack Star Wars-related episode coming up in the next few weeks (that your fellow CLS fans voted for, so blame them). After that, I'll give you a bit of a reprieve... until Dagan and I do a Fireside Chat on Solo. =D

LastStandMedia
>>12344331

Thank you! I think the "average joe" has far more interesting things to say far more often than the famous people that are often on others shows. They're welcome on my show, of course, and I'm sure I'll have more "famous" people on in the future... ...but if it's up to me (and it is!), Fireside Chats will be primarily about interviewing interesting, everyday people doing extraordinary or fascinating things. You're gonna see much more of this through the spring and summer.

Kevin Sullivan

I didn’t see this topic coming. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

Taylor Laduron

Oh God, I’m scared to listen to this one, but I know I have to. I’m a prequel-loving fan and I hope this guy defends them well lol. You’re pretty brutal on them, Colin.

AjackPilot

You were very receptive. Thought this was going to be a little more...hostile, I guess? I enjoyed it. Like you, in hindsight, I also believe TPM to be the best prequel. Very interesting. The trilogies are modular. You can pick and choose which ones to leave out if you so please. I’m also surprised you like Rogue One so much. I place it right behind Empire and A New Hope. It’s also a great bridge between the trilogies. You may not have realized it, but there are many prequel nods are in that movie...

Bryan Finck

Enjoyed this one a lot, as an avowed hater of the prequels it was interesting to hear the different takes. It doesn't change my mind directly but it does make me want to watch them again to see if I can view them through a different lens. Can't wait for the Extended Universe Knockback episode!

WalkinTalkinStephenHawkin

Did a last minute book report in 6th grade on the novelization of Revenge of the Sith. Did I read that book? No. But it was the easiest A+ I've ever gotten.

LastStandMedia
>>12361027

I agree. His takes made me want to rewatch things through that new lens you mentioned. I'm glad you enjoyed this episode!

Daniel Boyer

I read the novelization of Revenge of the Sith. It was fantastic, internal dialogue helps flesh the characters out. I think Lucas has good story ideas he just needed to let someone else make them.

Ian (616Entertainment)

Dude can’t wait to check this out one in the next day or so. I’ll report back then!

LastStandMedia
>>12371973

Come to LA and I'll dedicate a podcast to American Movie. Reminds me, I never even promoted our show. I'll do that now.

Peter Campbell

Really enjoyed this episode. His take is similar to mine's. There are obviously problems with the films but there are some interesting elements also. I think that's now easier to say now without controversy. They could be a lot worse. They could be the Hobbit trilogy, a prequel series with so many problems, hours of screen time passing without anything interesting happening, and no crazy auteur at the helm.

Brad Gray

Great timing for this week’s episode! I’m watching through all the movies with my girlfriend right now (her first time) and we just watched 1 and 2 this week. Strangely enough phantom menace has been her favorite so far (above the original trilogy) so it’s been interesting to see the take of somebody who didnt grow up with the originals (she grew up in Ukraine during the fall of the USSR so they kind of had other things to worry about than Star Wars at the time lol). I have always actually felt that the mythology that the prequels helped give us was much better than the things we actually got on screen. FYI It’s stated at some point (I believe in Rebels) that by the time of the original movies there is only one regiment left of stormtroopers that are clones. The clone program ended years before.

LastStandMedia
>>12385253

I knew there was something about the clones in relation to the trilogy's Stormtroopers, but wasn't sure what it was. Thank you for that.

David Kramme

Great episode guys, I remember really enjoying Phantom Menace the first time I saw it but after Clone Wars I had to dip, born in 77 so was lifelong SW fan. TBH I'm really curious what Colin thought of The Last Jedi, maybe he's talked about and I missed it, if anyone has a link maybe post it? and thank you Colin for all your content, it's truly a one of the highlights of my week.

Tyler

Rogue One was weak, IMO. It's fun enough, but it completely lacks anything in the way of character development.

Tyler

Great episode!

Michal Dudic

Much like Alex, I saw Phantom Menace when I was 7 so I don't have this deep resentment for the prequels. A lot of its imagery actually really captured my imagination at the time. Hell, I even had a Jar Jar Binks t-shirt. Sometimes you just don't know any better.

Josh Squires

Loved the episode as I have very similar feelings to Alex about the prequels. Sure there are some acting and pacing problems, but those exist to an extent in the originals as well. What they added to the Star Wars universe more than made up for those issues.

Joey Finelli

Man i hated the last Jedi....

desperateLuck

Excellent episode! I always thought the prequels are unfairly treated and agree with almost everything Alex said.

Alex Gates

Really great episode, Guys! I'm definitely somewhere in the middle with the prequels and The Last Jedi. I REALLY love what I love about them and I REALLY hate what I hate about them. Haha. Great discussion tho. It's nice to hear people discuss things with an open mind and willingness to see through other people's perspectives.

Derek

Very well done! It's refreshing to hear people of polar opposite opinions talk about such a beloved and polarizing topic in 2018 in a civil way, even if it's not that serious. Alex, total props man, you did an incredible job defending these, and made me want to re-watch them. I have to say though, I'm with Colin on The Last Jedi. I've never been so hyped for a movie, and let down so much....and that's saying something, because I'm a total hype-man and usually not super critical of things I'm a fanboy of ;-p

Daniel Navarro

This episode was fantastic. The funny this is I had a discussion like this last week with my older brother and told him about when I sat my wife down to see every movie the week before The Force Awakens because she had never seen any of them. During this session and experiencing these movies with someone with no baggage I realized that episode 1 and 3 are actually mostly good movies with some bad elements. Episode 2 on the other hand is a bad movie with a very few good elements. My wife actually fell asleep because that movie is so bad.

Brock Thomas Walsh

This is far and away one of my favorite episodes of fireside chats. Never thought I would say this, but it actually got me in the mood to go re-watch the prequels

Patrick A Crone

What made me dislike TPM was my mom’s reaction to it. She hated it, but not for the reasons most people did. Her biggest problem was that a Jedi Master was willing to put a 9 year-old in harms way so that he could fix a space ship. Not only that, but she thought Qui Gon was a morally ambiguous character for cheating Watto by using the force with the chance cube. Since then, I’ve never been able to watch it without those details bugging me.

Golden Holden

Very behind and just got to listen to this episode but regarding the clones becoming storm troopers in the original battlefront 2 story line I’m not positive but think it was told that only Vader’s troopers (the 501st). We’re existing clone troopers. Not all stormtroopers. Which is why the stormtroopers are different heights in the movies.

Tony Colton

What a great episode and hats off to Alex for an amazing job. I read the Star Wars ring theory about 3yrs ago and it really does in my mind explain why the prequels are so poor. I read the Novels for the books and loved them and Actually read Revenge of the Sith a couple of days before the move was released and I had tears streaming down my face when order 66 was excecuted. Here's my take on the ring theory... The reason that the prequels are bad is because Lucas was so caught up on making all these "rhyming" pieces and mirror images that the story gets a bit lost. I highly highly recommend reading the ring theory and see what you take from it and would love Alex to come back and discuss it in depth with you. Also I recommend reading the Novels of the movies and also Labyrinth of Evil that leads into Revenge of the Sith. I also felt ep8 was a let down but on second viewing there are elements I really like but get a strange sence that somehow they tried to do similar "rhyming"... Look at it as an inverse of empire... Empire opens with the AT-AT's on a snowy planet attacking the rebel base, Last jedi closes with the same scene but it's on a salt planet, the scene looks very similar until the rebel vehicles tear up the surface making it red. On second viewing I also get the feeling the the opening should be the ending... The bombing run on the Dreadnaught and Rose sister dying for the cause would have so much more emotional weight if we knew and cared about the character. Anyway there just some of my thoughts. Have a great weekend and would love to see some of these topics visited again in future episodes

LastStandMedia
>>12580272

I'll have to really look into thistheory. And I think it's safe to assume that, should KnockBack (hopefully) last for years, we'll revisit this stuff there. And, obviously, Fireside Chat will have more nerdy content like this, too, when it makes sense.

Marcus Brown

Fantastic conversation! I love it when two people can talk about films that are on opposite sides of opinion, and can have an intellectual conversation on each persons feelings, and concerns. Without shaming the other, or come to blows awesome! I personally like Ep. 3 the most out of the prequels.

Ethan Hunt

I think Qui-Gonn's death was important to the story as it's a signalling of Kenobi having to step up to the plate as Anakin's role model and mentor. Amazing podcast

Ryan Hurley

Your history of unambiguous distain for the Star Wars Prequels was always something I wished that you would reconsider with a thorough discussion. I was so pleased to see this episode, and even more so after listening. Thanks so much for this episode! MTFBWY