J
jom
Lurker
And yes, I agree the movies would have been much better with better direction and dialogue. But still, I feel at its core the storyline of the prequels was as big of a problem or more.
I can see what you are saying here. I just don't see how the story of "falling from grace" was a flawed approach. But I can see how, if not done just right it fails badly...or has a higher risk of doing so. In fact, one of the issues I've had with the prequels is there weren't any strong bad guys. Maul was supposed to be the evil guy in SW1 but he didn't do anything but fight. Palpatine was there all along but didn't show himself until the end. So what you are left with are those absurd battle droids which never created any threat (like, say, Vader in the originals). The Jedi would cut through them like butter...too easy...and not very interesting.
As to the dialogue: I don't think the "dialogue" any worse than the originals. Here I think it's just that Lucas was so driven by his "1940s style melodrama" style it made it look ridiculous at times. You just can't use the "Gone with the Wind" style drama these days especially with rookie actors like Christiansen....let alone have him being directed by Lucas.
I do like your idea of Obi-wan being the focus. That could have worked as well. Given the actor (McGregor) had a lot more experience than Hayden Christiansen this might have worked better.
I just think that overall the prequels failed due to a lack of any kind of chemistry with the characters and that I blame on Lucas.
jom