Fair.

Unbelievably fucked up for the tone of this article to be “well, he’s worked for Johnny Knoxville and Eric Andre, he should expect to be physically assaulted at random times.”

I liked the Darth Maul bit.

No, but but a dearth of action combined with philosophical inquiries into the nature of evolution and consciousness is.

I don’t get how something as anodyne as this article - whose premise is that Episode I is extremely George Lucas, which I thought we all agreed on - could be construed as rage bait. I really don’t get how people can still be rage-baited with Episode I after 25 years. That’s enough time for a human to go from nothing…

Honestly both Undiscovered Country and TMP are fun too. Of the first six Star Trek movies the only one I really don’t enjoy is Final Frontier and even that has some fun moments and is fairly watchable.   

The AV Club

People talk a lot about how ‘Rise of Skywalker’ abandons most of what occurred in the previous movie, but what fascinates me is how it continually abandons its own story beats. Finn has something important to confess to Rey! What is it? Never mind. Poe was a spice runner and Finn is angry about that, for about ten…

I appreciate that even in defending them he states that the dialogue is clunky and the direction non-existent. 

Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek movie, but I’d rather watch The Undiscovered Country

I love reading ABOUT it, it’s such a fascinating fucking mess. Watching it still bores me to tears.

I honestly might prefer TMP and Undiscovered Country to Wrath of Khan. I get why Khan is the most beloved, it makes sense, but I think both I and VI weirdly make better use of the cast’s age and Khan is one where I kinda can’t help but think, ahhh this might have played a little better for me if they had gotten to…

Ordinarily I would agree but Hassenger has been an engaged prequel apologist for some time.  I actually do think his take, whatever you think of it, is a labor of love.  

Sorry but the reason Avatar and Avatar 2 did so well is they are big dumb spectacle movies to see on screen.  They are not connecting to “normal” people more or less.  They are fine, one and done, movies.    But the plots and characters slip out of everyone minds after watching them.  

The way you guys always throw a dollar amount around as a defense mechanism for the Avatar “influence” thing is kinda embarrassing.

The big difference for me is that Phantom Menace really dumbed tings down and leaned into the kiddie aspect, while The Motion Picture went the other direction and was much more cerebral than the show ever was.

A lot of people criticized it as boring and slow. In the height of the Star Wars craze, it’s a lot more Kubrick than Lucas.

If this is bait, it’s nigh-irresistible

I couldn’t disagree with you more, but I enjoy your passion for the subject and willingness to articulate the strengths of something you love. The prequels are terrible and that will never change, but you shouldn’t either.

As a child growing up a Star Wars geek, as an adult I wanted the prequels to be The Godfather quality cinema. They were not and I was one of the dissapointed shouters. Years later I rewatched the prequel trilogy with my self created low expectations and enjoyed them immensely.