THE
CONTROVERSY
BY SUSIE SURMACZ
“It is a period of civil war” within the Star Wars fandom. Disagreements have risen across the planet which have sparked serious controversies among the fanbase. Among these disagreements, none is more notable than the debate over the prequel trilogy. Ask the majority of Star Wars fans, and they will tell you that The Prequels are a disgrace to the saga. However, before you go jumping on the bus with those prequel-haters, or if you already are one, I suggest you take some time to actually think about why you are hating on them anyway.
I mean, come on people. Are they really as bad as everyone says they are?
The answer to that is no. In fact, when it comes down to it, they are just as important and deserve an equal amount of recognition as the original three. It is something that I have known all my life, and I feel it is something that should be brought to the attention of Star Wars fans everywhere because I want you all to see them how I do. They play a part in the storyline as a whole, so why would you skip the beginning?
What you may not have known was that critics’ reviews of the prequels were actually highly positive. According to the average reviews from Rotten Tomatoes for all of the films’ original releases, the prequels did surprisingly very well (this does not include The Force Awakens). When the films were all released, Revenge of the Sith, (yes, a prequel), came in at the top with a stunning 80%. After that, the next closest was Star Wars with a 74%, followed by yet another prequel, Attack of the Clones at 67%. Two of the three prequel movies beat out what is considered to be the greatest Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, which had a 64% among critics. Return of the Jedi was next with a 61%, but what may be surprising is that The Phantom Menace only lost by 1%. So, among critics, the prequels did extremely well. Empire did not start gaining it's praise until nearly ten years after the release. Who’s to say that the prequels won’t receive the same praise that the others did one day down the road? If critics can praise them, obviously they're not as bad as people make them out to be. It is just people's biased opinion in favor of the originals. Determining whether or not a movie is good should not depend on the opinion of the already biased fan base alone, but the professional reviews of critics as well.