Prequel - Blog Posts

The opening of Medusa-prequel

Stars and What They Could Be

(A Genshin Star!Twins Oneshot)

Aether and Lumine were a pair of stars.

Lumine is brightness, illumination. She shines bright enough to fill the void with soothing light. Unrestrained, she burns everything that turns her way.

Aether is the space between the sky and the heavens. He is the gap between atoms, the space where time wavers, the gateway from the mortal to the immortal realm. With nothing to fill him, he is a grey void, empty of any soul and spirit.

Together, they complete each other. Aether gives Lumine a space to shine; Lumine gives Aether life and love. Without the other, they spiral into despair. Aether becomes a drained husk of a person. Lumine burns herself out until there is nothing left.

For as long as they have existed, they were together. They were born in the blurry beginning nothing-everything of the multiverse; they were built into the entropy of life itself.

Aether and Lumine are not the pair of twins that fell onto Teyvat, not entirely. The twins are a part of them, a human form to observe and learn about everything they can. Their bodies, despite being made of starlight and pure intent, and still made to imitate the most common lifeform in any world. Constrained into a biological shell, they cannot contain all of the existing power they hold. Instead, they act as a conduit that can shape and alter the worlds they visit.

The multiverse is vast and ever-changing. At any given time, there could be hundreds, millions, trillions of Lumine and Aether’s, whether they seem like it or not. They are the universe’s way of monitoring the various worlds and keeping the system running. If they find an issue, they interfere. If they find something interesting, they are free to explore as they please. As long as they are doing their job in some capacity, they are completely autonomous.

The form they take and the experiences they have impact them. While all Lumine and Aether units are inherently identical at the time of their creation, nothing remains the same throughout interaction. They create personalities, relationships, preferences, quirks, and so many other little details that make them unique to each other. Some see their counterpart as a sibling, some a friend, some a lover, and some even an enemy. Many even simply treat the other as a coworker, despite their endless amount of time with them.

But this isn’t about them. This is about our Lumine and Aether; a pair of twins who fell onto Teyvat and witnessed the greatest injustice of their time. When they attempted to leave, they were stopped, and now they are playing a complex and ever-changing game of gods and allogenes.

Well, Aether isn’t. Aether is on his cottagecore arc.

The universe is built on entropy, and in the end, that is all they are.

-------

this oneshot is a sort-of "prequel" to my ongoing fic on ao3 (specifically built off the "aether is on his cottagecore arc) ^-^ if anyone happens to be interested, my username is the same as my tumblr. have a good day!

The reverence Luke has for his first lightsaber is so funny in retrospect, as if that wasn't his father's twenty-seventh lightsaber after breaking or losing all the ones before (we won't even get into the fact it's also the Youngling Slayer 9000), and kept it safe for over three years as his most sacred object.

Meanwhile, Anakin is just:

padme body horror is supreme bc when you think about it, her very existence requires constant agony. in real life that red invasion gown took several weeks to build. and the costumes were so uncomfortable that kiera knightly, who was sabe for like 2 seconds, cried every night while filming. the main way natalie portman describes her prequels costumes is “painful” . and sure “beautiful” usually follows but dude. imagine being 14 and in constant pain bc your job requires you be pretty as possible while defending your planet from fucking invasion. i can’t imagine how estranged i’d feel from my own body and sense of self in that moment. you can take that (already extreme) rigor over the body to all kinds of violent ends. possession. some sort of creature. self-mutilation. fic writes itself tbh!

Katia Managan from the Webcomic Prequel, standing in a Room. I used pencil, paper and eraser to create this picture. It was a lot of fun but the wooden floorboards were pretty exhausting to draw. And the thing in the lower left corner was supposed to be a carpet. Now it looks more like an weird eye. Also I have to admit that I copied Katia from one of the panels of the Webcomic but the background is more original. Until later everyone.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Review

    It was the most unexpected of situations.  George Lucas returned to the Star Wars universe by telling the backstory of the famed villain Darth Vader, born Anakin Skywalker, as a new trilogy.  The first film of this new series, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, had an unprecedented wave of hype surrounding it.  After its release, it was as if someone let the air out of the room.  While a significant financial success, the overall result was a tarnishing to the saga loved worldwide.  Its follow-up, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, tarnished the saga further.  What should have been a triumphant moment for American cinema became a textbook example of screwing with mythology.  Suddenly, everyone was wondering how the man who built a story that has become ingrained in many cultures could be the same man who made Episode I and Episode II.      As the inevitable conclusion to the trilogy approached, the anticipation was more muted.  Audiences wanted to see the next installment but not in the way Lucas intended - people expected the film to pale in comparison to the Original Trilogy, so now they were wondering if it was going to be the trainwreck in mediocrity its two predecessors were.     On May 19, 2005, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith was released, and while the audiences were right in expecting it to pale to the Original Trilogy, they were surprised that the film was good - in some moments, very good.     Set three years after the end of Episode II, Episode III begins with the final battle of the Clone Wars - the Battle of Coruscant.  Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the leader of the Galactic Republic, has been kidnapped by the Trade Federation, now under military leadership by General Grevious and Count Dooku.  Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker are sent to rescue Palpatine in the midst of the massive space battle.  After the rescue, Anakin is given the honor of being a part of the Jedi Council but without the title of Master.  Furthering his seeds of discontent, he has recurring nightmares that his wife, Padme Amidala, will die in childbirth, pushing him to find power over the Force that the Jedi perceivably lack.  As Kenobi, Anakin's mentor and friend, is sent after Grevious alone, Anakin begins his descent to the Dark Side of the Force, eventually becoming Darth Vader and turning on the people he once considered allies.     Episode III paralells Return of the Jedi less in its structure and more in its nature - it has dual personality of being light-hearted and fun in some moments and dark and heavy in others.  Its duality is both a strength and a weakness, but the overall result is much better than its predecessors.     The acting is more natural than in Episode I and Episode II.  There are still moments of stiff line-reading, but they are not as prevalent as before.  Ewan McGregor continues to be a highlight, fully emulating what made Sir Alec Guinness iconic as Obi-Wan Kenobi while adding enough of his own vigor to make a mark fully on the character.  Natalie Portman finally gives Padme Amidala the personality she needed all this time, and while she still could have done a bit more with her, she at least seems like she's enjoying being in a Star Wars film.  Hayden Christensen still has no chemistry with Portman - just see the apartment balcony scene toward the end of the first act, the worst scene in the film, as an example.  However, he bounces off McGregor very well, showing the tight bond master and apprentice have and how tragic the breaking of the bond is after the turn to the Dark Side.  Christensen may never be physically imposing as Vader was in the Original Trilogy, but he knows how to be deadly and threatening when it counts.     The best role in the film, though, goes to Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine, the once and future Emperor.  He is what the prequels lacked - a thoroughly engaging and imposing villain.  He hams it up once his nature is exposed, but he allows Palpatine to be felt even when he is not on screen.  Ian McDiarmid breathes life into the prequels, showing what they could have been.     Everything in the film is more inspired.  The music by John Williams is alive again, mixing themes and motifs from all of the films to emphasize the emotional journey.  The cinematography by David Tattersall is more fluid, showcasing the action in all of its glory.  The technology has finally caught up with the vision, allowing the visual effects to shine in obvious ways such as the opening battle but also in subtle ways, namely the details in the wonderfully constructed features of the computer-generated Yoda.     Of the whole prequel trilogy storyline, Anakin's downfall and rebirth as Darth Vader is the most interesting and exciting plot point due to its nature.  There's no more meandering around to get to this point in the story.  We've had two films of build-up, most of it unnecessary.  This is when all of the action happens.  This is when all of the tragedy strikes.  This is when the audience cares.  This alone would make it a better film than Episode I and Episode II.     What makes it much better, and what is the biggest surprise, is that George Lucas fully flexes his screenwriting and directing muscles.     First is the surprising focus prevalent throughout the film.  The focus begins at the introduction with Anakin and Obi-Wan flying into the Battle of Coruscant.  Once their ships appear on-screen, the camera follows them into the battle, showing the scope of the battle without focusing on other random individuals for too long.  This focus also allows us to see how brotherly Obi-Wan and Anakin have become.  The audience has a connection.  Their banter becomes hokey, sometimes too hokey, but we are having fun with them.      In fact, about the first half of the film is mostly fun with a little foreboding menace.  About the second half is all menace.  Both halves work very well on their own, with one half not taking itself too seriously and allowing us to enjoy the ride while the other half becoming the depths of the Dark Side it needs to be and allowing us to feel for these characters.     Emphasizing the dark foreboding is Lucas borrowing the cross-cutting technique his close friend Francis Ford Coppola mastered.  Palpatine's formation of the Galactic Empire is cross-cut with Anakin's assassination of the leaders of the Trade Federation.  The birth of Luke and Leia is cross-cut with the birth of Darth Vader.  Both are done well, and both show the director Lucas was and still can be.     However, while the overall results are good to very good, its the details that hold the film back from greatness.     The lightsaber duels are well executed, but some moments devolve into pure visual splendor instead of maintaining emotional resonance.  This happens early on in the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel and is prevalent in the Palpatine/Yoda duel.  The music saves the latter duel, and the former has several intense moments that help keep it grounded overall.     The duality of the film becomes a struggle in the second act.  Everything involving Obi-Wan is fun and exciting, while everything involving Anakin is increasingly dark.  At times, the feeling is schizophrenic, throwing the audience in too many emotional directions to make sense.     The moment of Anakin's turn to the Dark Side could never reach the legend fans made it to be, but the moment becomes almost unintentionally funny due to stiff line-readings and poorly placed sound effects.  This is the most important moment in the entire saga to date, yet it doesn't resonate the way it should.  If the third act wasn't as strong as it is, this scene could have ruined the entire film.     The scene involving the birth of the Darth Vader we all know is well done until the end.  In a moment now immortalized as "FrankenVader," Lucas decided to pay homage to Frankenstein at the worst possible moment, ruining another resonating moment with something unintentionally funny, capping it off with a misguided scream from Vader.     Lucas also tries too hard to bridge the Original Trilogy and the prequels together with this film, either relying heavily on fan service without really getting into a better understanding of things or only providing half-explanations due to bridging the films being more important than making the ideas work on their own.     The maximum enjoyment factor in Episode III is found when watching with context provided from the Original Trilogy, but unlike Episode I and Episode II, there's a story worth telling within its runtime, and it tells it well.  It doesn't reach the quality of the Original Trilogy, but Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is everything audiences wanted the entire prequel trilogy to be - good sci-fi fantasy. Blu-Ray Observations With technology catching up to how Lucas wanted to present his films, the Blu-Ray for Episode III is near-reference quality.  The visuals are balanced very well, and the colors are vivid.  Because of the digital nature of the production, the sterility of the computer-generated atmospheres Lucas inadvertently created come in full force, emphasizing how far away the film is visually from the Original Trilogy.  The audio, again, is superb, this time represented by how the hum and clashes of the lightsabers are crisp, clear, and impactful.  Overall, a great presentation. Movie Rating: 7.5/10 One-half light-hearted action and one-half journey into darkness, the two halves don't gel perfectly together but result in an exciting story. Film Rating: 7/10 What should be the key moments don't resonate, but the music emphasizes the heart of the matter, and what surrounds those missed opportunities carries surprising depth and craft. Star Wars Film Rating: 7/10 This is the prequel audiences wanted the other two to be.  It's not on par with the Original Trilogy, but unlike the other two prequels, this one is worth seeing at least once. Blu-Ray Rating: 8.5/10 Finally, the technology catches up with Lucas' vision, and the Blu-Ray presents it in full splendor.  However, it also shows how flawed that vision was with how sterile some of the environments are.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Review

    The hype and anticipation of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace gave way soon after May 19, 1999 to frustration and disappointment.  What could have been the revitalization of a dormant series instead was a cumbersome movie mired in boring politics, forced performances, ruined mythology, and distant action - a far cry from what Star Wars is.  The main question from the fanbase now was "Is the worst over?  Does it get better from here?"     On May 16, 2002, George Lucas provided a response for the fans with the release of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones: "Yes.  No.  Maybe?"     Set ten years after the the events of Episode I, Episode II begins with an attack on Padme Amidala, now a Senator representing Naboo in the Galactic Republic Senate.  This attack results in the Jedi Council calling on Obi-Wan Kenobi, now a Jedi Knight, and his padawan Anakin Skywalker to act as her temporary bodyguards while they find out who was behind the attack.  A pursuit of the assassin eventually leads Obi-Wan to the planet Kamino, a planet that has been contracted to create a clone army for the Republic to fight the Trade Federation, now in alliance with fallen Jedi Master Count Dooku.  The pursuit also forces Padme to flee to Naboo with Anakin as her bodyguard.  Their time together brings about feelings between the two and leads Anakin to reunite with is mother on Tatooine.  Everything comes to a head on the planet Geonosis, with Padme, Anakin, and Obi-Wan captured and the new clone army and the Trade Federation clashing in the first major battle of the Clone Wars.     Like Episode I paralleling the original Star Wars, Episode II parallels The Empire Strikes Back - The heroes are split apart, two of the heroes develop feelings, one of the heroes goes on a discovery quest, the central character gets tempted by the Dark Side of the Force and loses an arm, and the ending, one with significant complications, sets up the pieces for the next film.  However, like Episode I, the results are by-the-numbers instead of inspired.     All of the actors struggle to make the material work again, but unlike the last film, there are improvements.  The highlight of the actors is Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi.  His emulation of Sir Alec Guinness is impressive, making the only earned connection of this film to the original trilogy.  Samuel L. Jackson plays Samuel L. Jackson, but he adds some fun to the film's second half that the first film lacked.  Newcomer Christopher Lee has more menace and stature as Count Dooku than Darth Maul had all of Episode I, making him at least a more thrilling villain.     However, Natalie Portman and newcomer Hayden Christensen have no chemistry together as Padme and Anakin, making every scene they have together an endurance test.  Portman can do fragile and tender, but her line reading lacks passion.  Christensen comes off whiny and helpless, never inhabiting Anakin the way the audience would have imagined.  He is outclassed by everyone else in the film.     The music by John Williams is more uninspired this time around.  It may well represent his worst work in a Star Wars film - the love theme is a partial rip-off of his work on Hook, and other than random revivals of previous pieces, there are no memorable themes or motifs like in the other films.  The cinematography by David Tattersall is just as faceless as before.  The visual effects are an improvement over Episode I, but the universe looks too clean and crisp to feel real, especially the overly sterile and artificial representation of the clone planet of Kamino.     Again, though, these aren't the main problems.  George Lucas makes the same mistakes he made in the previous film as screenwriter and director.      The introduction to the film tries to provide excitement with the assassination attempt, but all of it plays too obvious and poorly sets up the instability in the galaxy.  Worse, it yields to more of the political discourse that sunk Episode I before it got started.  Once the heroes arrive, it becomes obvious how the trajectory of the film will go.  Instead of anticipating where the film will go next, the audience only anticipates when the film will end.     The love story is forced and inert, becoming unintentionally funny in its moments of awfulness.  The audience knows Anakin and Padme will fall in love because there is no other significant female character with whom Anakin is emotionally close.  The worst scene of the film, and arguably the worst scene in the film series, features the two of them fighting with their "developing" feelings for each other near a fireplace.  It's as if Lucas wanted to emphasize how they had a fiery passion for each other that they couldn't control but couldn't get the actors to do it themselves.  This scene and this plot thread is just a representation of an ongoing problem with the prequels - the characters are there to serve the plot, not the other way around.     The protracted third act on Geonosis is awkwardly structured.  It begins with a somewhat inspired survival fight within a coliseum - a way to one-up the podrace sequence from Episode I, though unsuccessfully.  It becomes a visual spectacular once the Jedi arrive and become warriors.  Once Yoda and the clones arrive, though, the fun vanishes and the boredome commences.  The majority of this portion are clones fighting robots - beings with which the audience has no emotional connection. This is the closest Lucas comes to being Michael Bay as he indulges in the visuals without once pondering what it all means.     However, the saving grace of the third act is the lightsaber duel toward the end of this sequence.  Although it is as stylized, choreographed, and overdone as the duel from Episode I - the red and blue lighting and Anakin losing his arm especially - the focus is solely on the duelists and nothing else.  We care about the duelists.  We want to see what happens next.  The reward for this anticipation - the introduction of Yoda the master fighter.  It's the most thrilling sequence of the film, full of visual splendor.  However, in the grand scheme of the series, it's a double-edged sword - it may be exciting, but instead of the simple pleasure of an old Muppet walking around with a cane waxing poetic about the Force, it takes every ounce of visual effects and acrobatics to create the excitement.     This is indicative of the prequels in general.  Instead of  taking, in the words of Han Solo, "simple tricks and nonsense," George Lucas thinks it will take the the most complex sequences to make the film thrilling.  Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones is two steps forward, two steps back for the series - it's more genuinely exciting, but more emotionally distant. Blu-Ray Observations Compared to Episode I, the Blu-Ray presentation is a significant improvement.  The visuals are sharp, but there is a softness to the image that can't be avoided.  Part of the problem is that this was the first major film shot and released completely digitally.  The technology was still in the early stages, and the Blu-Ray shows it clearly.  The contrast is a bit off as well, especially in the scenes in Kamino.  The audio is as excellent as all of the other discs, especially the reference quality of the seismic charges.  Overall, the presentation of Episode II is good but not great. Movie Rating: 5/10 Exposition dominates the proceedings, and the effects are still too sterile.  However, the surprising focus during the duel yields to the most exciting scene in the film. Film Rating: 2/10 All of the previous issues are still prevalent, and the love story is additionally terrible due to the lack of chemistry between two leads involved in that story.  Star Wars Film Rating: 4/10 It tries and fails gloriously to parallel The Empire Strikes Back, but Ewan McGregor's emulation of Sir Alec Guiness and the lightsaber duel in the third act are highlights of what otherwise is another frustrating installment in the series. Blu-Ray Rating: 7/10 Much better than Episode I but the flaws of 2002 digital film transferring are apparent.  The audio is fantastic, especially the seismic charges.

My Menace: a Star Wars: Episode I Review

In honor of the Blu-Ray releases of the Star Wars saga, I am reviewing each film in the series from Episode I to Episode VI. 

In 1999 George Lucas threw his hat back in the ring and released a brand new Star Wars film set before the hallowed Original Trilogy. The idea was a dream come true for die-hard fans that were born too late to enjoy the Original Trilogy on the silver screen. Now, they would have that experience, one that they would talk about for years to come. Even the casual fans anticipated this moment. In the months coming up to the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, it was hard to find anyone that wasn't a fan. The fever had spread, and everyone wanted to get caught up in it.

On May 19, 1999, The Phantom Menace was released. What should have been a triumphant moment in cinema became a wash of disappointment and frustration. Some of the responses of the time were a bit too harsh, but the general consensus was that this wasn't the Star Wars film that was expected. Although a visual and aural marvel to behold, The Phantom Menace made too many cinematic missteps to be memorable, and the time between its initial release and its Blu-Ray debut has not been kind to it either.

Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi become caught in a web of political turmoil between the Trade Federation and the Galactic Republic-controlled planet of Naboo. After witnessing signs of invasion, the two Jedis, after literally running into a native called Jar Jar Binks, race to save the planet's monarch, Queen Amidala, and her aides. Upon escaping, the group make an emergency landing on the desert planet of Tatooine to make repairs. There they meet a young slave named Anakin Skywalker who has a certain peculiarity the Jedis pick up from him – an unrivaled strength in the Force. From here, the group strive to find some way to stop the Trade Federation's occupation of Naboo, first through politics by going to the center of the Republic – the planet of Coruscant – and then by insurrection on Naboo.

The Phantom Menace has everything you'd expect from a sci-fi action movie – an independent damsel in distress, battle-hardened warriors, unique creatures, a boy destined for greatness, gun fights, starship battles, and swordfighting. In fact, it tries to parallel the original Star Wars in its story and structure. However, the results are a mess.

Lucas decides right away that the film is to be child-friendly. A lot of the humor plays more to the childlike sensibilities, especially with Anakin Skywalker being a nine-year-old and with the Gungans and Jar Jar Binks devolving into racial stereotypes. However, the plot plays more like a Star Trek episode filled with politics and exposition, things that don't keep a child's attention. Add to that action sequences that try too hard to be child-friendly, and throw in a classic over-choreographed lightsaber duel that ends too graphically for a child, and what's on the screen is a hodgepodge of things that aim to please everyone but only please Lucas himself. This inconsistency in tone is the umbrella of all of the faults of the film.

The cinematography by David Tattersall is very basic, never playing with lighting and randomly using zoom-in and zoom-out to no effect. Not once does the camera capture the souls of the characters, with the closest moments being anytime Queen Amidala is in full make-up and costuming as her emotions must be conveyed with her eyes. Colors are used to establish settings but remain an afterthought of the design. The music by legendary film composer John Williams has flashes of brilliance, particularly during the lightsaber duel at the end, but ends up being basic as well.

From its release onward, the acting and performances in The Phantom Menace were legendary in their wooden nature. This is even more surprising considering the caliber of some of the actors. Liam Neeson portrayed one of screen's greatest heroes in Steven Spielberg's masterpiece Schindler's List, Natalie Portman had a shocking debut as a young girl falling for a hitman in Léon and eventually winning an Academy Award in the future for Black Swan, and Ewan MacGregor stunned worldwide audiences as a on-and-off heroin addict in the cult black comedy Trainspotting. Yet all three were diminished to standard line-reading with only Neeson rising above the din. Jake Lloyd was given the unenviable task of portraying the childhood beginnings of arguably cinema's most memorable villain, but he was too young to fully portray Darth Vader's beginnings.

However, the actors are only partly to blame. The most significant flaws of the film, and what would probably be considered the stem of the aforementioned umbrella, is the script and direction. George Lucas wrote the script himself, trying desperately to plant the seeds and begin the connections to the Original Trilogy. However, he neglects to tell a good story, filling all of the gaps with superfluous details. Too many times are actors describing what's going on before their eyes while the audience clearly sees it, something all screenwriters are taught to avoid. Worse, many humorous moments linger to emphasize that a specific moment is supposed to be humorous, another rookie mistake. The actors never elevate the material due to Lucas never making them elevate the material. What makes this more sad is that there are moments in the story worth exploring such as Qui-Gon's defiance of the Jedi Council, Obi-Wan's conflict between his expectations from the Council and his devotion to his master, and Anakin's separation from his mother planting the seeds of his eventual turn.

The visual effects circa 1999 are fantastic for its time but represent a period when computers had not reached the level of processing needed to make Lucas' vision a success. Many of the characters and settings are computer generated, and while the Gungans' expressions are wonderfully done, everything comes off as too clean and too artificial especially when juxtaposed with live actors. This is especially true during the final battles – space, ground, and lightsaber – of the film. The space and ground battles are largely animated and lifeless, and one location of the lightsaber duel is too sterile and obvious to be real. However, the podracing sequence on Tatooine is a technical marvel, an update to the chariot race of Ben-Hur that is thrilling when taken on its own. This sequence alone is the apex of visual and aural editing and mixing of the film, the one time when all of the elements join and become what Lucas envisioned.

But that's the problem – it's only a moment. In fact, the film is a series of moments that happen solely because Lucas wrote them to happen instead of feeling necessary. The Trade Federation is introduced as the antagonist because the film needed an antagonist. Darth Maul has a double-bladed lightsaber because Lucas feels that will fill the Vader-sized hole. All of the Galactic Senate scenes occur to establish why Senator Palpatine becomes the Emperor. Anakin wins the podrace because it's the only reason he leaves Tatooine. Nothing in the film ever feels earned. Sure, the podrace is wonderful, and the final lightsaber duel is a feast for the eyes, but there never is a reason for their existence except to fill the spaces in the runtime.

During the time that has passed between the initial release and it's Blu-Ray debut, films such as the canon of Pixar, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight, and the Harry Potter series have defined what people expect with their entertainment – great storytelling, great action, great characters, and a sense of real danger. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace partially succeeds at action but fails at everything else, and while it may not be a piece of cinematic travesty, it can be considered nothing more than a disappointment, especially compared to the Original Trilogy of Star Wars it desperately tries to match.

Blu-Ray Observations

Of all the films in the set, The Phantom Menace is the worst-looking one. This is due to the film being shot on film and then being post-processed digitally in its earlier days. None of the colors pop, and the image looks too smoothed and equaled out. It does fix the edge enhancement issues apparent in the DVD, but the overall look is too dull to make any impact. Worse, the effects look dated. The best example of this is the entire Battle of Naboo sequence. Granted, all of the shield effects still amaze, but the characters look too artificial compared to the rest of what's on the screen. The audio is as amazing as it was in the theater, but the new Blu-Ray transfer emphasizes all of the flaws and few of the strengths that The Phantom Menace had.

Movie Rating: 4/10 Moments of excitement are surrounded by scenes of pure exposition and sterile effects. It feels like you're being pushed rather than pulled into the movie, and that is not a good feeling.

Film Rating: 3/10 It's a textbook example of what not to do to reinforce a mythology, but there are a couple underdeveloped items that could have been interesting.

Star Wars Film Rating: 3/10 It almost sunk the entire series into self-parody, and beyond the introduction of Qui-Gon Jinn and the art of lightsaber dueling, it should be a forgotten chapter in the series.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4/10 The audio is fantastic.  The video, due to how it was processed, is the worst-looking one of the box set.  Even the original Star Wars looks pristine compared to it.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Five Nights at Freddy's Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Gregory (Five Nights at Freddy's), Scientists Additional Tags: Whumptober, Whumptober 2024, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - ‘Breached’, Game: Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach (2021), Blood and Injury, Inspired by Maximum Ride, Wings, Evil Scientists - Freeform, laboratory, Science Experiments, Electrocution, Aftermath of Torture, Torture, Implied/Referenced Torture, Gregory Needs a Hug (Five Nights at Freddy's), Gregory has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Five Nights at Freddy's), Prequel, Orphan Gregory (Five Nights at Freddy's), Scared Gregory (Five Nights at Freddy's), Dehumanization, Winged Gregory (Five Nights at Freddy’s), Hurt Gregory (Five Nights at Freddy’s) Series: Part 16 of Trauma Time: Whumptober 2024 Summary:

Years of experiments, tests, and abuse have taken its toll on Experiment 15. He wants out. But what drove him off the edge for the desire to escape?

*SB AU called ‘Breached’ (This is a prequel to the start of the webcomic. The webcomic is not necessary to understand this fic if you don’t wanna read it)

 Whumptober 2024 Day: 27 Prompt: Laboratory