Skip to main content

See how alike the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequels were in this cool video

Star Wars Poetry
The Star Wars prequels take a lot of flak from fans, but a new video that compares the original trilogy to episodes I through III could offer one of the most compelling cases yet for giving the much-maligned prequels a little more love.

Titled “Star Wars Poetry,” the video created by Pablo Fernández Eyre and posted on Vimeo begins with a clip of George Lucas telling his creative team, “You see the echo of where it all is gonna go. It’s like poetry, they rhyme.” The video then runs through a long list of scenes from both the original films and the prequel, with the footage from the early movies stacked on top of the prequel clips in order to illustrate the visual symmetry of countless moments from both chapters of the saga.

The two-minute video is surprisingly thorough in its collection of similar shots from the six films, and while some scenes are the sort of standard stuff you see repeated in many sci-fi films (i.e., spaceships flying through debris), there are quite a few scenes that appear to be very intentional retreads of past sequences. From the way they’re framed to the positioning of background objects and set design, it becomes clear pretty quickly that — for better or worse — Lucas didn’t shy away from drawing inspiration from the original films while creating the prequels.

Some of the more memorable shots repeated in both films include scenes of C-3PO’s head, Anakin and Luke Skywalker each losing a hand, and the pair’s reactions after seeing their respective mentors killed.

With the next chapter of the franchise under J.J. Abrams’ direction, it will be interesting to see whether any of these shots are mimicked in Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens. More than anything else, the video offers a nice reminder that as much as fans like to draw a line between the original trilogy and the prequels, the two sets of stories hold more in common than just a set of characters.

Editors' Recommendations

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
The 10 best lightsaber duels in Star Wars, ranked
Luke Skywalker lunges towards Darth Vader during their lightsaber fight on Cloud City.

Star Wars has contributed countless indelible moments and images to our popular culture, but if there’s one artifact that is most intrinsic to the Galaxy Far, Far Away, it’s the fantastical weapon of the Jedi Knights, the lightsaber. From the very first time audiences saw Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader cross glowing, humming swords aboard the Death Star in 1977, we’ve been absolutely obsessed, and storytellers across multiple media and nearly half a century have been only too happy to indulge our craving for increasingly elaborate lightsaber duels.
Lightsaber fights come in all shapes and sizes, from emotional one-on-one bouts in live-action to wild animated free-for-alls, and selecting our 10 favorites from the franchise to date was no easy task. There are a lot of metrics by which to judge — the excitement of the action itself, how it’s shot, the story behind it, the use of environment, even the music to which it’s set — but the cream of the crop are those duels that either dominate one category or harmoniously balance each one. Will your favorites make the list? You’ll find we’re full of surprises …

10. The Ronin vs. the Bandit Leader (The Duel - Visions, season 1, episode 1)

Read more
Like Ahsoka? Watch these 7 Star Wars Rebels episodes
Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano aboard her shuttle in "Ahsoka."

The next chapter of the Star Wars: Rebels saga has come with the premiere of the Disney+ series, Ahsoka. Set years after the disappearance of Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn, the show follows Ahsoka Tano when she seeks them both out as she tries to prevent another war with the remnants of the Galactic Empire.

Since this is a sequel series, some audiences may have some catching up to do. But if they like Ahsoka so far, they should check out these seven episodes of Star Wars: Rebels.
The Siege of Lothal (Parts 1 and 2)

Read more
The 10 best Star Wars action scenes, ranked
Luke Skywalker faces Darth Vade in The Empire Strikes Back.

If there's one thing that Star Wars does better than any other space opera, it's action. Since the debut of the original Star Wars film in 1977, the franchise has continuously upped its action game and put other franchises to shame. This week, the legacy continues with Ahsoka, a new Star Wars spinoff series heading to Disney+. If the trailers are any indication, fans are in for more lightsaber action and intrigue.

When considering the greatest action scenes in Star Wars, we decided that everything in the movies, the live-action series, and the animated series was fair game. However, the franchise's epic space battles have been left out of this list because we wanted to focus on the more visceral action scenes between two or more characters. After all, that is where the greatest drama can be found, as you'll soon see in our roundup of the 10 best Star Wars action scenes.
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith

Read more