Memes are used for all kinds of humor. However, more often than not they involve somebody taking a jab. People love memes related to their favorite movies and series. Few series are as popular as Star Wars.
That also means that Star Wars memes are some of the most savage out there. Especially when it comes to the two bitterly opposed, but intrinsically linked trilogies of Star Wars. The original trilogy and the prequel trilogy.
These two trilogies have demarcated fans of the franchise for decades, both by age group and by preference. Fans favor either one of the other-- definitely not both and definitely not equally.
There are so many disparities in looks, continuity and quality that it’s easy for fans to mock both trilogies with memes. The mockery doesn’t stop at the movies themselves either. Plenty of the memes focus directly on the fans themselves, of either or both trilogies.
In this list we’re looking at some of the harshest, funniest, most creative japes Star Wars fans have to offer about their franchise and themselves. Lock your s-foils into spam position. These memes will make a fine addition to your collection.
Here are the 15 Savage Star Wars Originals Vs Prequels Memes That Only True Fans Will Understand!
15. INCONSISTENT FANS
Star Wars fans are some of the most passionate, and numerous, fans out there. Since the original Star Wars premiered in 1977, fans have had decades to adore and enshrine the original trilogy.
The younger fans who had the chance to see the original trilogy in theaters had great expectations for the prequel trilogy. Some would say impossible expectations.
One of the common surface complaints about the prequels is that they were too dissimilar to the originals. It has been such a consistent a vehement criticism; you could argue that very criticism is one of the reasons The Force Awakens turned out the way it did.
Even the fans of Force Awakens concede that it’s a narrative retread of A New Hope. So which is it, fans? Where’s that happy balance between too different and too similar?
14. GEORGE LUCAS, THE CHOSEN ONE
Few series creators have been so thoroughly raked over the coals as George Lucas. He wrote and directed the original Star Wars and that’s about the only thing every Star Wars fan will give him credit for.
However, Lucas’s involvement and inspiration has let plenty of others expand on the franchise that so many fans love.
Lucas had always been eager to tell the story of the prequels. Fans undoubtedly hoped that it would be just as enthralling and fun as the original trilogy. However, they were not.
One slight bright spot is that there was a perfect moment in the film to reflect abject despair and disappointment.
In this meme, Obi-wan is decrying Lucas for having wasted so much potential and failing to deliver on fans’ expectations. Not to mention all the gratuitous CGI and alterations he made in the special editions to the original trilogy.
13. CHILD FAVORITISM
It would have been one thing if Luke and Leia got to grow up with their parents and have typical sibling or family quirks like being mommy’s favorite or being the bookish vs the athletic one.
However, Luke and Leia were the only hope of undoing Anakin’s damage. They had to grow up apart and unaware of their true father.
It doesn’t really make sense why Leia and Luke had be put in such drastically different situations. Leia got adopted by one of the most cultured and noble families in the galaxy that was still invested in a Galactic Republic.
She did in fact grow into a prominent young leader of the Rebel Alliance. However, Luke had to be sent to live with his step family in nowhere-vile Tattooine? What was the point of that?
12. “YOU MUST NEVER GO THERE SIMBA.”
Some Star Wars fans still detest the prequels so much that they have become a taboo. They are not to be watched or spoken of or to be acknowledge in any way as part of the Star Wars Cannon. The kind of attitude can be expressed in all sorts of memes.
In Disney’s The Lion King, Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones who also coincidentally voices Darth Vader), talks to Simba about their domain.
If everything the light touches is their kingdom, then for certain Star Wars purists, that kingdom would be the original-original trilogy. What about that shadowy place over there, beyond our borders?
That is the prequel trilogy, and the original trilogy special editions. Jar Jar Binks is even scarier than the elephant graveyard.
11. STAR WARS FANS JUST CAN’T GET ALONG
In Pirtaes of the Caribbean: At World’s End, there’s a moment when the main characters escape from Davy Jones’ locker and all draw pistols on each other.
It’s a tense, imminently exploitable moment. Five characters all stuck in a dire disagreement. There is a moment where the absurdity of the situation might let the characters defuse with humor, but only a moment.
Sometimes it really does feel like this scenes fits Star Wars fans perfectly. Originals fans, prequels fans and Sequels fans all have gripes with each other, and Clone Wars and Rebels fans don’t always get a fair shake.
Each group seems too attached to the part of Star Wars they love the most and dismissive of the other parts. Many fandoms have this problem to some degree or another but it seems Star Wars fans just can’t get along.
10. “NOW THAT’S A NAME I’VE NOT HEARD SINCE…”
Obi-wan’s lies of omission in the original trilogy understandably upset Luke. And that was even before audiences got to see what actually happened in the prequel trilogy.
The chronology of Obi-wan assuming a fake identity (with the same inexplicable last name) was always fuzzy. In the above moment from the original trilogy, Obi-wan tells Luke that he stopped going by that name since before Luke was born.
However, this meme gets right to the more traumatic events. So sure, the last time Luke's dad called him Obi-wan, we fought a duel to the death on Mustafar. He didn’t give him a killing blow but he did sever his last three arms and legs and sort of watched him get engulfed in flames.
That might have shocked Luke even more than the real moment where Darth Vader tells Luke he is his father.
9. ANAKIN CALLED THIS ONE
In the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, Obi-wan and Anakin duel Count Dooku again to rescue Chancellor Palpatine.
Obi-wan is knocked out of the fight before Anakin subdues and executes Dooku. When Palpatine makes to flee without picking up Obi-wan, Anakin goes to recover his master. “His fate will be the same as ours,” he says.
Obviously Anakin meant that he would never escape to safety and leave Obi-wan behind. But one memester noticed how Anakin’s words rang true in another sense. In A New Hope Obi-wan meets his end on board the Death Star.
Then, in Return of the Jedi, Palpatine is betrayed by Vader and tossed down into the reactor core of the Death Star II. And finally the returned Anakin Skywalker dies in his son’s arms on board the Death Star II. All three ended up dying on board a Death Star.
8. YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE THAT LIGHTSABER HAS BEEN
Here’s another example of the many kinds of unintentional hilarity that come up with Obi-wan. He tells Luke one thing in A New Hope and then we see much more in the prequels.
Obi-wan took Anakin’s lightsaber with him after the duel on Mustafar, and kept it with him until he could pass it on to Luke.
Obi-wan says that Luke’s father wanted him to have this Lightsaber, but we definitely never see that in the prequels. He also doesn’t bother telling Luke what his father actually did with that Lightsaber.
Let’s not forget that Anakin used that lightsaber to execute Count Dooku, and murder the Jedi younglings and assassinate the last dignitaries of the Separatists. This Lightsaber doesn’t quite fit the description of an elegant weapon from a more civilized age.
7. PREQUEL HATERS
Don’t mention the prequels to certain Star Wars fans. Ever. Just don’t. You’re going to have a bad time. Unless you like listening to rants about how the prequels aren’t really a part of Star Wars.
Never mind how George Lucas wrote and directed the whole prequel trilogy, unlike the original Star Wars trilogy. And don’t get the haters started on Jar Jar, or little Ani-- or whiney Anakin.
Oh, you heard Yoda talking about Midichlorians? They’re just some new-age mumbo jumbo that Lucas thought he had to add to explain the Force better.
Can you start to imagine the veins popping out? At this point, hating on the prequels is more a rage-aholic obsession for some fans, as opposed to a topic they would rather avoid.
6. BAD WRITING
In Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas had written the dialogue between Han and Leia before he was about to be frozen in carbonite. “I love you. I love you too.”
Director Irving Kershner was not satisfied with the line, no matter how Harrison Ford delivered it. Eventually he told Ford, “don’t think about it, let’s go, action!” “I love you!” “I know.” Cut. Print. Legend.
Now look at Attack of the Clones, where George Lucas’s writing was stuck to. It’s so melodramatic and flowery. It must have looked beautiful on paper but it doesn’t carry well as spoken dialogue.
Especially not with Hayden Christiansen coming off as desperate and creepy while Natalie Portman barely looks comfortable. Credit to Dorkly for juxtaposing these two themes in the originals and prequels so perfectly.
5. HOW LIBERTY DIES
With all the hate the prequels get, it can be hard for Star Wars fans who actually enjoy them. It can almost feel like prequels fans have to form a resistance, a rebel alliance, against the prevailing consensus of dislike.
Some fans get by on ironically enjoying the prequels for all the meme potential. But fans who genuinely enjoy them don’t get much of a break.
So you can imagine what a crushing disappointment it would be if you and a group actually get into watching the prequels, but then switch to the originals.
Everybody just goes along with it. Just as bad as witnessing the Republic being transformed into the tyrannical Empire? Maybe not but it also makes you feel like your opinion counts for nothing.
4. THE BEST SKYWALKER OF ALL TIME
At the end of Return of the Jedi the Anakin Skywalker under the Darth Vader helmet was played by Sebastian Shaw.
That was fans’ live action image of Anakin Skywalker for decades. Until George Lucas released another version of the special edition that included Hayden Christiansen as Anakin’s Force ghost on Endor.
Fortunately, Kanye West has the perfect moment for Star Wars fans who felt like their original Anakin was snubbed.
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye got up on stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video. He took the mic from her, assuring that he was happy for Taylor, and would let her finish, but that Beyonce had one of the best music videos of all time.
Take that, Hayden Christiansen.
3. IN CHARGE OF PLANNING
George Lucas obviously had his reasons for deciding to tell the later part of his epic space opera first.
Fans were first introduced to the universe and the characters of Star Wars with Luke, Leia and Han and with Anakin Skywalker already transformed into the fearsome Darth Vader. Starting the story there made for a fantastic arc of revelations and redemption. But the first half of the story was still left to tell.
Perhaps things could have worked out better for the prequels if George Lucas could have made those movies first. However, we’ll never know.
Maybe Yoda convinced Lucas personally to make Episodes 4, 5 and 6 first. In keeping with Yoda’s way of speaking, it would be. Or maybe Yoda didn’t want audiences to see how badly he screwed up in the prequels first.
2. THE FLOOR IS LAVA
Truly, the ways the prequels can poke fun at Obi-wan in the original trilogy are never ending. There are so many different ways Obi-wan could have just wrecked Luke’s world with truths from a certain point of view.
So, Darth Vader betrayed and murdered Anakin Skywalker? Okay, but who was the one who actually maimed Anakin and let him burn nearly to death on Mustafar?
The Floor is Lava joke even fits right in with the dialogue in the scene on Musafar. Not only was the floor literally lava on most of that planet, but Obi-wan even warned Anakin that he had the high ground.
Almost like they were in a game where you have to pretend certain things and acknowledge certain rules. Obi-wan was such a show off.
1. PREQUEL MEMES VS SEQUEL MEMES
Here’s a truly mind boggling meme. Each of the Star Wars trilogies have their own subreddits dedicated to memes. Whether it’s Palpatine saying “Dewit!” or Ben Swolo’s abs all day long, these message boards have you covered.
Unfortunately, the two subreddits are not equal in size. When it comes down to it, the Star Wars prequels have generated much more memes than the sequels.
One redditer took this image from The Force Awakens to illustrate. If /r/sequelmemes is the original Death Star, then /r/prequelmemes is Starkiller Base. Firstly, it’s ironic because it’s using an image from the sequels to show how the sequels are inferior, in this regard.
However, it’s also ironic because the comparison uses an object from the originals to describe the sequels, and an object from the sequels to describe the prequels.
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Are there any other memes you’ve seen pitting the Star Wars original trilogy against the prequel trilogy? Let us see them in the comments!