5 Things “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Should Learn from the Prequels

by
Micah J. Fleck

[dropcap size=small]M[/dropcap]onday was a huge event for every Star Wars fan in the modern world. As had been rumored the entire week prior, Monday Night Football on ESPN was the host of the premier for the final (and indeed, first full-fledged) trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (thank goodness they finally stopped with the episode numbering in the official titles). It was, by all accounts, breathtakingly great to watch. If you haven’t seen it already, first, climb out from under that rock you’ve been inhabiting, dust yourself off, and then enjoy the eye candy below:

For all intents and purposes, this is setting out to be a great film – already we can see the ideal mix of familiar visuals and ultra-modern filmmaking flourish – something to breath new life into what had become a tired old visage of something greater that was long gone. Now, we have an actual fan of the original Star Wars story at the helm, and all signs point to up. But what if we had to place the aforementioned criteria for greatness on a list of “do”s and “do not”s? What would be our barometer? I submit the following: base the guideposts for this new first in a forthcoming trilogy on the last Star Wars film to hold that same honor: The Phantom Menace in 1999.

Here’s a twist, though – I see nothing but list after list containing all the things Episode I did wrong (and therefore, The Force Awakens should avoid), so why don’t we build a different list – one containing all the things that film did right and worth emulating? What I mean to say is, let us turn from the Dark Side… And awaken the Light. Because whether some want to admit it or not, there were actually a lot of really good aspects to The Phantom Menace.

Don’t believe me? Read on…