>>[Star Wars: Episode I
>>>
>
>>>Episode III is the second best of the bunch after The Empire Strikes
>>>Back.
>>
>>How can that be, when episode II is better than III? Castigated
>>though I may be, I will even state that Attack of the Clones improves
>>upon the plot structure of The Empire Strikes Back while repeating it.
>
>Again, I'm handicapped by having neither a working VCR nor Episode II
>on DVD. I really can't think of how the two plots parallel each other.
Remember Han and Luke have a short adventure at the beginning of ESB,
then go to separate plot threads for most of the movie.
Obi-Wan and Anakin have a short adventure at the beginning of AotC,
chasing the alleged assassin of the Queen (no, she'd been promoted to
Senator by then), then they separate, Obi alone, and Ani with the
Princess... er, Senator. In this movie, Kenobi has the asteroid
chase, the visit to a planet (two!) secretly helping the enemy, the
capture, and the torture. Skywalker has the time alone for mushy
stuff, but still also has an encounter with the Dark Side of the
Force. He's then drawn to rescue his friend, and ends up having to
have his own bacon pulled from the fire. As Lucas now has the full
resources of a galaxy rather than just a rag-tag band of rebels, the
rescue is a much bigger deal. By the last scene of each movie
-Skywalker and the girl staring out a window- we have a sense of
completion in AotC, she's been brought back where she belongs. There's
more story: the Clone Army of the Republic on the march, but not the
feeling that the movie isn't over we get in ESB, with Luke saying,
"Lando, Chewie, we'll meet you at the r---"
(Each prequel movie parallels the construction of it's corresponding
original movie.
(As the two droids meet Luke, who takes them to Old Ben, then to Han
and Chewie, who don't quite take them to Alderaan, but to a place
where they rescue Leia, then on to hook up with the rebels for a big
kaboom and medal ceremony, our two Jedi meet Jar-Jar, who takes them
to the Queen, then to her pilot (and R2 and Padme) who don't quite get
to Coruscant, but they do pick up this kid before talking to the
Senate, breaking the blockade, and declaring peace.
(Revenge starts off assuming backstory, since no one needed rescuing
from the previous movie. Once that's out of the way, our heroes
separate again, to tackle different aspects of the problem... and I'm
not remembering much of it right now...)
--
-Jack