Which is better Star Wars Episode I,II, or III

[Unit 33]

Woops. I broke the quote system. My responses are in Blue.

Very good point!  However, at the same time, I would argue that there never was " 'meaningful' " because war inherently dehumanises combatants, as portrayed in Eric Maria Reymarque's All Quiet on The Western Front (off-topic, I know).

Similarly, the differences between wars that occur in the real world and the wars that are depicted in the Star Wars films are that in real life, soldiers are adapted to war whereas in Star Wars, both the armies of the C.I.S. battle droids and of the clones were erected for the sole purpose of waging war.  I submit that these forces are not very "likeable," but I don't think that matters within the scope of the Star Wars films (see below).

I suppose, but then how is the audience meant to know who that bad guys are? Sure in many war films this is a central theme. That there is no such thing as an "enemy," in the end they're just people (see Bridge over the River Kwai... Tora! Tora! Tora! and countless others)
But I don't think it was appropriately executed in the Prequels.

I'd like to take this opportunity to shore up a flaw in my argument regarding a potential inability for the audience can relate to the armies in Star Wars: (this is a remark meant to be applied to total wars, as well as wars for which there is active conscription--I'm an American, so we don't have a draft [just compulsory registration] but if a war were to occur in the real world on the massive scale that occurs in the Star Wars films, it seems silly to argue that the draft would not be reinstated) Governments don't care whether it's you or it's me that's shooting the rifle; all the Governments care about is that it's the opposition who is meeting the bullet.  Cynical? 

Not cynical, it's mostly true.

I propose that the plot of the Star Wars films pertains to the classic struggle between two opposing forces colloquially termed "good" and "evil": between light and dark.

Yeah, but neither side are clearly good or evil. This is a thing What makes the CIS so bad? (Yes off screen there's all sorts of cartoons and novels etc that explain this but motives should be properly explored in the film) They never do anything particularly evil.
Even the opening crawl of Episode Three states:

"There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere."

A battle fought by two behemoths who will go on until they destroy the other.  But there is a caveat: neither force is capable of destroying the other--they are both too powerful.  And so the process of instilling Dynamic Equilibrium (i.e., balance) begins, a process brought on under the watchful eye of the Jedi, a group devoted to the preservation of ideals such as law, justice, and order.  Good and evil are rarely quantifiable terms; instead, they seem to be that which, to borrow from the departed Justice Potter Stewart, one will be able to categorize when they see it.
[quote/]

Yes.
However, we find out that the war is a giant manipulation on behalf of Darth Sidious, who commands both armies
Why would a man capable of creating an army and manipulating another army into his control have these two armies fight each other instead of using both armies against foes who would have already been outmatched by one of those armies? I just don't get it.

Deception is a part of politics and war  (Sun Tzu said that), but when you consider the economic cost and damage apparently inflicted by Sidious having his two loyal armies fight eachother... argh.

Why the charade anyway? Why even hide from the Jedi?
The Jedi were hardly a threat to him because they were so dumb not to see the obvious in front of their face for 10+ years.

But anyway this is why I hate the Clone Wars saga because nothing anyone does on either side makes a lick of a difference since Palpatine is controlling both sides. He controls the Separatists directly through Dooku and through "Darth Sidious". He controls the clones directly who turn on a dime to kill the Jedi and even the Jedi he manipulates for years. There are no consequences and with that no reason to care.

TL;DR: I'm not really sure.  All I know is that, between starting and writing this wall of text, the day changed.

That's life for you.

[SleepKiller]

@Units thoughts on the double game.

Think about it, the Jedi while although most of them are not as powerful as a Sith Lord. They are still well trained and disciplined warriors. And if he did face the entire council in combat he would lose. You also can't forget he is maintaining an appearance to the Senate in good stance. He had to wait for the Jedi to make the move on him to attack else he would surely find himself in a disposition.

These are not old Republic times, he doesn't have legions of Sith behind him to attack the temple with. If he went at it he would quickly be overwhelmed by numbers and lose. Yes he could execute order 66, but how would be explain it to the Senate? That is ultimately the game of the prequels control of the Senate a game he plays both sides at. He appeared to know the CIS stood no chance of actually winning the war, so he used that to put himself into power in the Senate. His powers he got form the war enabled him to ultimately form the Empire.

Ultimately he wins the game, and purges all bit a dozen Jedi from the galaxy. The survivors die in the end anyway,  he is the only Sith Lord that I know of who truly destroys the Jedi Order. The Order does rise again but under new symbols and teachings.

[Unit 33]

@Units thoughts on the double game.

Think about it, the Jedi while although most of them are not as powerful as a Sith Lord. They are still well trained and disciplined warriors. And if he did face the entire council in combat he would lose. You also can't forget he is maintaining an appearance to the Senate in good stance. He had to wait for the Jedi to make the move on him to attack else he would surely find himself in a disposition.

These are not old Republic times, he doesn't have legions of Sith behind him to attack the temple with. If he went at it he would quickly be overwhelmed by numbers and lose. Yes he could execute order 66, but how would be explain it to the Senate? That is ultimately the game of the prequels control of the Senate a game he plays both sides at. He appeared to know the CIS stood no chance of actually winning the war, so he used that to put himself into power in the Senate. His powers he got form the war enabled him to ultimately form the Empire.

Ultimately he wins the game, and purges all bit a dozen Jedi from the galaxy. The survivors die in the end anyway,  he is the only Sith Lord that I know of who truly destroys the Jedi Order. The Order does rise again but under new symbols and teachings.

I suppose the rise of power is sort of a mirroring of the rise of Fascism in Italy and in Germany in the 1920s-30s.
.Corrupt unstable politics...
."threat" from an outside source (Socialism... the CIS?)
.Scapegoating (Socialists... Religious groups... Jedi?)
.War catylisises Support (positive/negative)
.A Single "savour" leader who can take decisions rather than have the weak government(s) squabble amongst them selves.
.Some kind of martyrdom (Reichstag fire.... Supposed attack by the Jedi)
.Senate loses power and gets kicked out

That reminds me. It bothered me most that Coruscant seemed totally unaffected by the War.
(In the films the planet looks absolutely fine despite the giant space battle and years of war).


ANYWAY
Palpatine wouldn't have to face the whole Council if he went for an old fashioned coup d'etat and just seized power by using the two colossal armies.

OR
He could used the war as an excuse for the militarisation, and then by surprise both sides strike Coruscant and eliminate the Jedi under his orders?
It seems wasteful to just turn off the Droids when he's done with them. He could claim that the Clone armies had seized the control ships.
So when Order 66 happens, the Droids and Clones simultaneously attack the Jedi.

[Kit Fisto]

Wow! You all have made excellent points while I was asleep! Unit's very last quote though sums up the prequels pretty well though and I'm sure thats what George was writing his stuff off of. About Coruscant seemingly unaffected by war, it was attacked in the begining  of ep. 3! Just because they don't show it destroyed it was! Have you seen the old cartoon clone wars? One of the last episodes they show a giant battle in coruscant.

non canon: And in the backstory of Rends coruscant city/streets it says BOTH eras fight there!!

[BlackScorpion]

"I suppose, but then how is the audience meant to know who that bad guys are? Sure in many war films this is a central theme. That there is no such thing as an "enemy," in the end they're just people (see Bridge over the River Kwai... Tora! Tora! Tora! and countless others)
But I don't think it was appropriately executed in the Prequels."

I believe we're lead to "sympathize" (as much as I know you wouldn't like the use of this word ) with the clones because they were developed out of necessity in response to the army of the C.I.S.

I suppose the rise of power is sort of a mirroring of the rise of Fascism in Italy and in Germany in the 1920s-30s.
.Corrupt unstable politics...
."threat" from an outside source (Socialism... the CIS?)
.Scapegoating (Socialists... Religious groups... Jedi?)
.War catylisises Support (positive/negative)
.A Single "savour" leader who can take decisions rather than have the weak government(s) squabble amongst them selves.
.Some kind of martyrdom (Reichstag fire.... Supposed attack by the Jedi)
.Senate loses power and gets kicked out

That reminds me. It bothered me most that Coruscant seemed totally unaffected by the War.
(In the films the planet looks absolutely fine despite the giant space battle and years of war).


ANYWAY
Palpatine wouldn't have to face the whole Council if he went for an old fashioned coup d'etat and just seized power by using the two colossal armies.

OR
He could used the war as an excuse for the militarisation, and then by surprise both sides strike Coruscant and eliminate the Jedi under his orders?
It seems wasteful to just turn off the Droids when he's done with them. He could claim that the Clone armies had seized the control ships.
So when Order 66 happens, the Droids and Clones simultaneously attack the Jedi.

There was an /r/AskReddit thread on best fan theories 13 days ago which offered a relevant idea (I realized I can't post the link because I re-read the poster's comment that I linked to and it has a bad word):
The main idea in one of the paragraphs: "In short, the Republic was completely and utterly unprepared for a real invasion, from a force that wasn't being controlled by a puppetmaster who was preventing either side from gaining an advantage until the moment was right. The kinds of fleets that were commonplace in the Empire would have been impossible for the Republic to even agree to create, let alone have the wherewithal to actually build. What Palpatine did was take a failing system and tear it out by the roots, replacing it with a brutally efficient, military-industrial focused society - one that could adequately prepare for an invasion of the scale of the Yuuzhan Vong were already beginning."


The comment's TL;DR: "TL;DR: The Emperor destroyed the Republic and built Death Stars to fight off an extragalactic invasion."

But yeah, I think you hit a bullseye that the Star Wars films are an allegory to WWII (well, I think some films would be more relatable to the Cold War, but that's another discussion).

[Darth Verik]

Unit, do you still have that essay, as you continue to call fasinating facts, i would like to read that essay of yours in which i think there are a lot more of these kind of facts.

[Unit 33]

Unit, do you still have that essay, as you continue to call fasinating facts, i would like to read that essay of yours in which i think there are a lot more of these kind of facts.

It was hand written, and never returned by my teacher since they wanted to use it as an example for future students (Sorry about the slight gloat).

I do have an essay comparing The War of the Worlds with 20,000 Leagues under the sea though....

[Joseph]

The plot of the prequel series is incoherent. I enjoy them mainly for their visual effects

[Unit 33]

Sums it up.

[tirpider]

One of those pics is not like the other.


It's like Grand Theft Industry.

[Helios]

Well although the first three original films are AMAZING! if i had to choose between episodes 1,2,and 3 i would
most likely go with Episode 3 because it shows the viewer:

1.It shows how Darth Vader came to be.

2.Explains how Luke and Leia Skywalker came to be.

3.How the Empire had begun.

4. As well as the Swag Phase 2 501st

[{Alpha}Sgt.Gamma]

II, because the stormtroopers were awesome in it.

[{212}Leader.Arrow]

I: I love Qui Gon and Darth Maul....even though they both die.

[Dbiz]

Its kinda funny how a simple poll can spark such in depth philosophical conversations.

Ahh...the power of Star Wars.  George really did do a good thing I think we can all agree.

As far as my favorite episode, it goes to Revenge of the Sith  after all it is the climax of the whole series.   

[Joseph]

Nah...George botched up everything he could. It was the other producers/directors/etc who kept him sane for the original trilogy.