Prequel Memes

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Published September 23, 2026

Prequel Memes are jokes, image macros, and photoshop edits pulled from the Star Wars prequel trilogy: Episodes I through III. After nearly two decades of scorn, the once-loathed films found a second life as viral meme fuel around 2016, powering the r/PrequelMemes subreddit and a Reddit meme war that even reached mainstream press coverage.

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Overview

The format covers screencaps, quotes, and photoshop edits from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. Recurring characters include Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and above all Chancellor Palpatine, whose Sith reveal and 'Order 66' order became endlessly quotable1.

Signature catchphrase templates include 'I Have the High Ground,' 'Now This Is Podracing,' 'Execute Order 66,' 'The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise,' 'Sheev Posting,' and 'I don't like sand.' The humor plays the films' awkward dialog straight, turning meandering monologues into what Vice called 'George Lucas's most important and entertaining work'1. IndieWire went further, arguing in 2017 that the memes were softening opinions about movies that had been treated as received wisdom trash for years2.

Origin & Background

Platform
YTMND / Facebook / Reddit (viral spread)
Date
2016

Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace opened May 19, 1999, pulling more than $1 billion at the global box office3 while landing at 55% on Rotten Tomatoes4. The gap between anticipation, ticket sales, and reception seeded years of online jokes about the film and its two sequels.

One of the earliest recognizable prequel memes came from YTMND user Redily, who on May 20, 2005 uploaded 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!,' a still from Revenge of the Sith paired with Darth Vader's now-famous line5. In December 2009 Red Letter Media released a 70-minute takedown of The Phantom Menace on YouTube that passed 7.7 million views, keeping prequel-bashing an online sport6.

How It Spread

Facebook was an early incubator: the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society page launched April 30, 2013, and by 2015 dozens of '-core' pages such as Kit Fisto-core and Younglings-Core were posting daily5. Reddit was where things exploded. r/PrequelMemes went live December 27, 2016, and passed 199,000 subscribers within four months.

On March 12, 2017, moderator TheDStudge posted a 'Formal Declaration of War' against the rival r/SequelMemes subreddit. The next day Vice's Motherboard covered the fight under the headline 'Reddit Is Engaged in a Highly Entertaining Star Wars Meme War'1. IndieWire followed in April, arguing the memes were softening opinions about the films2. A second war ran that June and a third in March 2018.

On April 24, 2018, PewDiePie posted a video reviewing Prequel Memes on YouTube; it pulled more than 3.2 million views and 21,400 comments in 48 hours, and the subreddit spent the following day dunking on his fans5.

How to Use This Meme

Prequel Memes typically pair a screencap or reaction shot from Episodes I through III with a caption riffing on the scene's dialog. Common templates include Palpatine's 'I am the Senate' boast, Obi-Wan's 'high ground' quip, and Anakin's 'I don't like sand' complaint, applied to unrelated politics, work, or gaming situations2.

Frequently Asked Questions