Pretty solid, although I tend to think that even accounting for age bias (young viewer of IV-VI, adult viewer of prequels) Christensen's Anakin was at least a full order of magnitude more of a whiny little bitch than Hamill's Luke...

Even the self-promotion at the end wasn't bad because at least they (Screen Junkies) are shilling their own content/videos instead of some random highest bidder...

The Doctor's Meditation (Doctor Who Series 9 Prequel) has been added as a related post - related requested by Lilithia on that post.

That was cool. Now to check out the rest of them.

I hope they do a prequel series after Game of Thrones ends

Considering the dick-waiving that the whole Star Trek vs Star Wars thing always devolves into, I actually enjoyed the light-heartedness of this skit.

That said, the purpose of the stories told by each is meant to be completely different. That Star Wars goes for the simpler, classic hero's journey doesn't make it a lesser work, it just has a more singular focus, and the original trilogy did it well. But when you have a strong foundation like that, you really can't expand on it without losing a lot of the charm of the basic story. That's part of why the sequels were so disappointing. They couldn't retell the hero's journey without being a rehash, and by focusing on the hero's downfall, they had to up the complexity of the plot. But how complex can you make a plot before it just drags the movie down? (The exception was Clone Wars, which was able to circumvent this because it had more space to tell the story.)

This is why I am fairly certain that the new Star Wars movies will be lacking. They can either go the simple route and end up with a rehash, or the complex route, and end up with a similar mess to the prequels. There's a fine line they need to ride in order to make a good set of movies, but there are a lot of things working against them, from the expectations of the Star Wars fans, to the concessions writers have to make to appeal to the mass audience of modern movies. (To say nothing of Abrams, whose insultingly abysmal treatment of Star Trek gives me little confidence.)

Now on the Star Trek end, the stories are meant to be more complex, with commentaries on philosophy, modern politics, and the human condition (as well as showing the unique technological possibilities that the future held). Most of the stories were designed for introspection, and that's a major part of what made the show popular.

But if you lose that introspection and focus on action and special effects, the stories become empty. This is why many of the later movies, which again had to focus on mass appeal, were so lacking. (Movies like Wrath of Khan, Undiscovered Country, Generations, and First Contact avoided this because they were able to draw on the richness of the show to round out the themes they were trying to express, but even still, they weren't quite up to par to the shows when it came to the fundamental concepts of Star Trek.) The same goes for much of Voyager and Enterprise, which often ended up going more for appeal than intellect. (Perhaps the writers ran out of things to say, perhaps the audience just got dumber, who knows.)

So in the end, which one is nerdier? Star Trek, hands down, and as ChaosEngine said, it's a good thing.

Which one is better? That depends on what kind of story you're looking for.

But in the end, there's no denying . . .


Riker is a freaking boss.

I think Abrams was a pretty good choice. He represents the opposite of the fundamental thing I didn't like about the prequels, namely that Lucas took himself and the films too seriously (on top of being a crappy director in general). Abrams makes good action/adventure popcorn flicks, which is where the series needs to go, at least for the first film.

I was a massive SW fan. I was one of the last people to admit that the prequels were terrible. I kept lying to myself that they were good.

Also, I am on record as hating JJ Abhrams... especially the 2 new Star Treks. So I wasn't happy at all when he got this gig.

So I kinda want to hate this. I've been disappointed before, and I want to get my scorn in early.

But I just can't.

THAT TRAILER IS GODDAMN AWESOME.

And when Han and Chewie appeared, I nearly shed a tear. I really hope the movie is *quality.

Your video, star wars prequel-nostalgia critic gets owned by Mr plinkett, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Couldn't agree more on the lightsaber fights.

I think it was Lucas himself who asked that the lightsaber should be moved as if it had real weight even though it was made of, well, light. I think the fact the actors appear to have to exert themselves to throw and parry blows makes the whole thing seem more intense despite the slower pace of the fight. Vader crumbles under the shear force of the enraged Luke's blows - does anybody ever get overpowered in this manner in the prequels? I understand this logic that Jedi at the height of the Republic would be more skilled with a blade, but it results in two characters flailing around striking the air in front of their opponent with blows that appear to have no force behind them at all.

one of the few on the sift that i think may enjoy this as much as i did:
http://videosift.com/video/star-wars-prequel-nostalgia-critic-gets-owned-by-Mr-plinkett

Never been a huge fan of star wars to begin with, but after George Lucas anally raped the series with those bleedingly awful "prequels", I have hated star wars ever since. So, I remain skeptical about whether this one will be any better.

I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out what possible use they could be in combat. So my initial response is WTF!?
Other than that the whole thing gave me a nerd boner, but then, so did the prequel trailers

Meh.

Looks like they're trying too hard. Part of the appeal of the originals over the prequel trilogy was their simplicity.

I like how the big spaceship bursts into flames... in outer space.

So, Half-Life 3 is a prequel ?