Soon the prequels will be over. I've been thinking back on how the internet has affected this trilogy from its inception. When did you join in this adventure and what got you interested in this online star wars world?

Remember checking out Red5's site WAY back in late 1996, early 1997. That was one of the early sites, along with T-bone's site and JediNet.com that posted pics and spoilers on the Special Editions and Episode I. I think back fondly on that first spoiler pic that I saw, which was a production shot of the desert duel between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul. from that moment on, I was hooked.

Things sure have changed. Now when a spoiler is leaked, it has to be done carefully, so as not to incur the wrath of the Lucasfilm attorneys. TheForce.net and JediNet are now mere shadows of their former selves as a result of spoiler policy changes.

Now the release of spoiler information comes in the way of shady marketing in the way of the dreaded hyperspace. Pay to play as they say. It's a good thing I guess that the prequels will be over soon, because if they continued we'd probably be up to our necks in pay service requirements for anything and everything star wars. Thank god we still have MF.com!

So what memories do you guys have from the early days, back when Lucasfilm hadn't even begun its fight against online spoiler leaks? Anything specific that got your creative juices flowing? Just get a little nostalgic. Why not? The Prequels are almost over now and soon all this will just be a memory.

I've always enjoyed watching makeup artists too.

I've been thinking more about how this trilogy has affected the internet.

I first got into this Star Wars/Internet thing back in 97 when the SEs came out. I'm wondering how much I'll bother coming back to these types of forums after this year...

I'm sure online discussions and debates about SW will continue for years to come, though...

From what I´ve read, Lucasfilm accepts picture leaks and such, even if they don´t expect it. So there isn´t that much restriction, or MF.com would have been gone a long time ago.

Anyway, I remember searching for 'Star Wars' back in 1998, when I first got an Internet connection. I distinctly remember reading about Watto and thinking he would be just another scruffy-looking human in dirty clothes, didn´t get that he would be a CG character. (When I saw the first teaser and Watto´s close-up, I thought he was just another CG animal, like the ones they put in the SEs).

I also remember TFN being one of the big spoiler-sites, with concept-art and all kinds of cool stuff to look at and read about. THAT sure changed in recent years! -__-

Ahh, SW was another thing back then, I didn´t know a thing about it, only that they were some cool movies that I saw in cinema and got for Christmas (The SE trilogy). My only idea for the PT was something involving X-Wings and Y-Wings and attacking a base (not the Death Star). That was it.

Basically the Internet was a fun place to read about SW and I can remember some old encyclopedia-sites (now gone) that I had alot of fun with. All the different aliens and background-stuff I never thought about, speeders with their own profiles and races and characters etc. Aww, that was fun stuff.

Then I saw TPM and loved it, and gradually started reading more and more debates and stuff. I´m not sure when I began to realize the vitrol and hatred directed towards the SE's and TPM, but some of the first stuff was the Han/Greedo-thing, which I now consider so irrelevant I *roll eyes* everytime someone brings it up. Eventually, I became morbidely interested in the pro/anti-debates, and I believe SW-debates (among other things) helped turn me into the cynic I am today. Not the films themselves, mind, the debates about the films.

Yeah, and remember those early rumors of Jar Jar? Quite the hype now in hindsight.

There were many quotes, mainly from advertising freaks like RM that stated Jar Jar would speak in a way that no one had ever heard before, that his speech would be revolutionary. Heehee... Sure.

I wouldn't have the balls to admit it in just any forum, but TPM is what did it for me. Up to then, the SW movies were nothing more than mindless popcorn movies that I never really cared about. I saw them frequently as a kiddo and in my teens, but I dismissed them. TPM changed all that. I was HOOKED! That didn't really coincide with my awareness of the Internet though because I'd actively participated on BBS's and the like since 1993.

It would be safe to say that the Internet Elite haven't been kind to the prequels. Honestly, I'm not sure how many fair critiques they've been subject to. ESB wasn't as well-regarded upon it's release as it is now. It also didn't have so many whiney sheep complainers picking it apart online. It should be interesting to see how the prequels age and how the average online perception of them shifts, if it ever does.

basically my life story too thecolorsblend

Yeah, it was, actually. Lucas likes to engage in some weird bass-ackwards defense of his movies by saying that they've all been critically lambasted, but in fact both ANH and ESB were, with a very few exceptions, enthusiastically received. ESB was especially singled out for daring to bring a more mature attitude to the saga, which is why the far more simplistic ROTJ was considered a disappointment by many critics.

On the other hand, I do think that the critical pounding that TPM took went way overboard. Many critics skewered it for lacking a complete plot while ignoring (or perhaps even refusing to acknowledge) that its role in the saga was to set everything up -- structurally, it's more like a prologue than a first chapter. I think that ultimately, when all six episodes can be watched back to back, that TPM will benefit from a critical reassessment.

However, Jar Jar still sucks.

Which msg board would that be?

On a different note (reluctant as I am to give this POS site promotion), the most fan boy-riffic "alternate take" on the prequels that I've seen so far is http://fixingstarwars.blogspot.com.

Fan boys would've had OG's in the theaters of Lucas had released this poorly developed, poorly motivated tripe. I sometimes wonder if people think that having a blog and an opinion makes them writers. That's like me calling myself a mechanic just because I change my car's oil.

That goes straight to the heart of why, I think, fan boys lambasted the prequels. It wasn't because they had poor storytelling, but these sexless losers had spent YEARS jacking off to "what the prequels should be" that anything that fell outside of those narrowly defined list of acceptable storylines (10,000 Sith, the Fett dynasty you mentioned, Mandalorians, etc) would be considered utter shit.

As for critics generally not liking them, well, it doesn't seem to me that Lucas has even tried to make these films accessible on their own to the general public who doesn't have a Star Wars pedigree. The numbering of the films be damned, they're meant to be watched IV-VI and then I-III. Kind of like Quentin Tarantino, I guess...

I´m abit vary about the whole "see OT first, then the PT"-attitude. Sure, that makes sense for people like us who grew up with only the OT, but with future generations they will know that there´s six films (like a mini-series) and most likely know that Vader is Luke´s father (since that´s one of the big pop-culture nods, and even people who have never seen the films know that, to some degree). So I don´t think you can really use the "surprise"-angle anymore.

In fact, I´d say it will take on more of a "suspense"-angle. With viewers knowing about the familiar relations and seeing Obi-Wan killed in IV (a main character through three films already), will they be extra worried about Luke being chased by his father in the trench? Will they wonder if Leia will be left to pick up the Jedi Legacy and go to Yoda? Stuff like this will be fun to view and contrast once all six are out and people can choose. (I recall a friend of a friend refusing to see Ep. IV-VI before seeing Ep. III. Wonder if she caved in.)

Their take on it will be interesting, since they´ll see it as a linear plot, more like a documentary following two generations in the galaxy. (Which fits Lucas´documentary-like style.) You´ll see characters evolve and change along with their surroundings, instead of beginning with the end product and then go back to the beginning. It will be different. (And since I´m not that big a fan of revelations, since they only really work once, to me it will be better )

I don't really care about the revelation of Vader being Luke's son. Whatever, ya know? It's already in the lexicon as you said, so most people already know. I meant that, in terms of drama, the series works better when viewed 4-6 and 1-3. To see small things like stormtroopers, Boba Fett, Jedi ghosts, etc take on a greater significance in the PT, ya know? At least so far it works better. I guess it ultimately comes down to personal preference.

But you're right, from the point of view evolution, watching the saga sequentially should prove to be a real eye opener. And in terms of character progression too.

Yep. Time to go!

Well said.

The prequels, for all their shortcomings, are now a part of our collective history. The conventions, the magazines, the internet spoilers and rumors, the toys, the games, everything. It's easy to grow cynical and tired of something when there's plenty of it to go around. But once ROTS comes and goes, we'll most likely have a few more DVD/video releases, maybe some more EU books and whatnot, but for all tense and purposes starwars will be over.

To tell you the truth, I'd like to see a sequel series. Make it three even. Three separate chapters for three separate trilogies. I just don't think we'll see it; at least not for a long, long time. ROTS is the end in many more ways than one. It will be the end of Anakin, the end of the Republic, the end of the Jedi, and the end of starwars fandom as we all know it. Soon the test will come to see who is a true starwars fan, and who isn't. The hangers-on and the wannabes will go back to their comic book movies and summer fanfare. Starwars fans will always have starwars. I for one plan to watch my starwars DVDs until they break.

It's been a fun ride. It's actually kind of sad to see that this will all more or less after May 19th, 2005.

I've been doing the star wars internet thing since 19987/8ish, after the SE's but before Phantom Menace.

I always lurked in places like TFN and Tbone's and such, being a 14 year old kid, i never wanted to sound like a retard, so i didn't register until 2001 lol

ahhh the memories are great though.

*sigh* the good old days....

i remember the first site i tried joining was late '98/ early '99 and it was the one run by Tbone. it was advertised on TV (CNN i think?) so that's where i first went. i didnt have my own computer back then so keeping track of websites was particularly challenging (not to mention i was smack in the middle of college then and was following another trilogy closer to Earth ).

eventually i found TFN and the EpisodeI forum (before they split up into the simple Nightly.Net forums and the EpisodeX boards). developed good friends over at NN and TFN, but then TFN fast became the SW megasite it is now and it was hard to keep in touch with other members.

transitions involve change and my email address was no exception, so when my email add went so did pretty much my only link back to these forums and my identities there. but it was fun way back when it wasnt shameful to ask and await pics/ spoiler details like hungry dogs and that sharing info between the Lucas camp/ their contacts and one fansite to the next was done freely and in good faith, certainly not like now where you're treated like a criminal and getting new info across feels like spygame.

camaraderie between fansites were genuine not like now where intersite competition and drama is getting so out of hand its beyond petty. folks werent afraid to speculate (and man can we speculate! ), nobody would lynch them for speculating and we can overanlyze the OTs down to its molecules in the hope of garnering clues on what to expect from the PTs.

there was fan art, fan music, fan trailers (hilarious one at that!) oh and of course there was the usual staple of any SW forum: "will Leo play teen Anakin" threads, the "EU vs Canon" threads, "will we see Mandalorians" thread, the "Palpatine/Sidious" threads and so much more. but for all the intensity of the discussions back then we werent bitter about each other.

back then we thought things can only get better. in many ways its true, but a lot of nasty, painful things has happened too, and fans are not totally blameless in all this either.

T rent did it occur to you that you have all these problems on message boards because of your attitude, how you treat people and how you react when someone disagrees with you no matter how polite they are?

Thank you for proving my point, T rent.

I thought I told you nubs to ? Maybe you need glasses?

My good old days were growing up obsessed with Star Wars before the internet, before DVD, hell before even VHS.

I remember my dad taking me and my brother to see the original in August of 1977 and falling in love with it.

I remember watching the Holiday special when it originally aired and thinking it was really cool, still do. (who gives a shit if Carrie Fisher can't sing and Bea Arthur was on it)

I remember my first action figure: Chewie

I remember a friends mother taking us to the movies in 1980 not knowing what we were going to see and when I discovered we were going to see the new Star Wars movie and after seeing it loving it all over again.

I remember standing in line for 2 hours outside of the theatre in 1983 on a school night waiting to see Jedi and when I was watching hoping it would never end.

I remember standing in line for 4 hours with 1000 other people for TPM tickets.

I think that the OT has attained legendary status in many people's minds and when those people saw the PT and didn't get exactly what they wanted they bashed and bashed and bashed.

I still remember one friend telling me how much TPM sucked and yet he'd seen it 9 times.

Let them bash until they contradict themselves blue, I still remember how much fun these movies are for me.

I still can´t get over the fact that when I first saw TPM (on a bootleg CD, cus it didn´t come out in Norway till August!) my friend, who had it made, had already seen it 10 times and was crazy about it, even Jar Jar! Now he hates it and AOTC. Weird.

I am not a nub. I registered in 1973.

Though with T rent's posts now deleted, it looks like I am talking to myself.