Are the Politics in the Star Wars Prequels Really That Bad?

[Karha of Honor]

Point is, Republic enforcement of their space is so lackadaisical that they had to form an Army and Navy to get things done, because they overrelied on the Jedi,and defunded the Sector Rangers. This means that the Republic just didn't consider those who lived in the non-Core sectors a priority, even if they were Republic members.

IN THEORY IF YOU JOIN THE EU YOU SHOULD BRING A CERTAIN CIVIC CULTURE WITH YOU AND COMPETENCE.

[G-Man]

I think that the reason why the politics rubbed people the wrong way is that the politics in Star Wars is largely used as a backdrop and a motivation for the conflict (as "stakes" so to speak).

Note that there are very little politics in the original trilogy. Essentially, we know that the Empire is bad because it is called the Empire, because it is ruthless in enforcing its rule, and because of a thousand little ways in which the leadership show that they are evil. We don't actually get much in the way of what their agenda is in terms of how the civilian side is run.

Really, the stakes in the first movie is the destruction of peaceful planets, and in the second and third movies the ability of the Empire to snuff out opposition and thus rule the galaxy unopposed.

The Phantom Menace is not a political thriller. The nature of the trade dispute is pretty much a MacGuffin, giving our heroes a reason to fight the villain. In Star Trek or Babylon 5, the resolution of the dispute would be largely through political strategy and tactics. Any fighting/action scenes would be secondary to intrigue and outthinking the opponent. Ultimately, Naboo not caving to the Trade Federation's demands in order to end the blockade is not high enough in terms of stakes to make us feel motivated to see our heroes win.

The nature of the dispute and the moral issues involved were irrelevant; anything could have been used and it would not have affected the plot very much. The dispute should have been something simple, with clear stakes, and clear bad guys, because the movie is really about beating back the bad guys, not about dealing with the politics. Notice that there was no actual discussion over the Trade Federation's position versus Naboo's, and over who was right and who was wrong.

Imagine if Episode 112 of Babylon 5, "By Any Means Necessary" had been a 30-minute buildup and then 12 minutes of fighting, with the main goal being strategizing how to subdue the dockworkers. I don't think that would have been as interesting a motivation if a fight scene were the centerpiece of the story. The reason that the politics were interesting is because the politics were what the story was about, and who was right, who was wrong, what the proper solution was, that was the story, the conflict.

Besides that, I think the main problem with the Phantom Menace is that it is set too early, giving us answers to questions most people really were not asking ("how did Anakin join the Jedi?" "How did Palpatine originally rise in power in the Senate?") and taking away time that could have been used to develop the more interesting plot ideas. (Basically, they could have started off with Palpatine as Chancellor and Anakin about to get promoted from Padawan to full Jedi and we would not have lost much).

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Yeah really you can skip the details of One altogether. Qui Gon never even comes back for the sequels.

[Mecha82]

Thing about Qui Gon is that he is important only those of us that know more about him and why he is important than movie told us and Obi-Wan never shows in movies that he is influenced by Qui Gon either and what was they master and apprentice relationship like. In TPM there was passing note from Obi-Wan but that's all there was and him choosing to teach Anakin to respect his master's wishes.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I know. He totally sucks.

[FaxModem1]

Point is, Republic enforcement of their space is so lackadaisical that they had to form an Army and Navy to get things done, because they overrelied on the Jedi,and defunded the Sector Rangers. This means that the Republic just didn't consider those who lived in the non-Core sectors a priority, even if they were Republic members.

IN THEORY IF YOU JOIN THE EU YOU SHOULD BRING A CERTAIN CIVIC CULTURE WITH YOU AND COMPETENCE.

Okay....what's your point?

[Karha of Honor]

Point is, Republic enforcement of their space is so lackadaisical that they had to form an Army and Navy to get things done, because they overrelied on the Jedi,and defunded the Sector Rangers. This means that the Republic just didn't consider those who lived in the non-Core sectors a priority, even if they were Republic members.

IN THEORY IF YOU JOIN THE EU YOU SHOULD BRING A CERTAIN CIVIC CULTURE WITH YOU AND COMPETENCE.

Okay....what's your point?

It might not had been malicious, maybe they just bit of more than they could chew. Maybe they did try their best.

[Nealithi]

I think the issue on the politics is that they are badly used. Trade taxes mean a corporation may blockade another planet. But why this is so important to be a sith plan is not covered. They use decoys for protecting the Queen and senators, but they generally have them travel in a group. Only Padme in a wrong ship spared her life. Okay. But no other senator is afraid? Someone used high explosives to blast a ship on a landing platform. More than Palpatine should have been upset here. The senators would all demand a full lock down anywhere near them. And sending a senator away because of said threat? Then such bombings would become standard practice to keep rivals from showing up to argue. But it was glossed over as filler to get to the next scene. Instead of integral.

[KashyBoy101]

The problem with the politics in the prequels (for me) is that it really needed to be grounded in a human element in order to be compelling, and Lucas never quite got there. You can look at Game of Thrones (when it's good) as a comparison. Yes, Thrones has the benefit of being a TV series, but above all else it's politics are almost always personal. It's why it often gets compared to a soap opera; because in a sense it kind of is. It's all about relationships between people, it's just that they happen to be people in positions of power and authority. Politics and political intrigue is at its best when it's personal.

The Prequels, to me, from the acting to the directing to the writing, feel very impersonal. When your political intrigue lacks humanity there's no intrigue, merely bureaucracy. And that's really the crux of the politics in the prequels; It's all bureaucracy. And through that lens it's... functional? But also incredibly simplistic.

[Yukaphile]

Well, DS9 got that way too, and I consider it the best Trek show.