Didn't see anything on this in the annals of the Search box so...
The oft-quoted concept of George Lucas writing the original series with the prequel series already totally in mind is certainly apocryphal.
However, let's imagine that Lucas conceived of what we know as the prequel trilogy first and an analog to "The Phantom Menace" was released in 1977. Followed by an analog to "Attack of the Clones" in 1980 and an analog to "Revenge of the Sith" in 1983.
Let me first of all say that this is ASB. Totally, completely ASB. Utterly implausible. Could only occur at one of the realities at the very end of the probability spectrum, right between the Discworld and Middle-Earth.
But what the hell, it sounds like fun. Let's go.
Your mission:
1. Describe the differences (i.e. casting, plotlines, critical and box office reception, etc.) in a switched prequel trilogy. An emphasis on alternate casting is desired.
[...]
Extra bonus points if many of the same "prequel" actors appear in the "OT" and vice versa.
So let's do this!
The Phantom Menace, 1977. Bear in mind that "Star Wars" was originally the title of ANH specifically (with the overall series intended to be called "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker"), so this movie will be called just "The Phantom Menace"... or possibly "The Adventures of Anakin Skywalker: The Phantom Menace".
To start with, Carrie Fisher is the obvious choice to play Queen Amidala. She's the female lead, the same as Leia in ANH, and their characters are similar too.
If this really is the "Adventures of Anakin Skywalker", then he'd effectively be one of our viewpoint characters. We'd have to get to him quicker than in OTL's TPM, rather than first meeting him about 45 minutes into the movie. Additionally, he'd probably be 12 years old rather than 9 just to make damn sure he can act. The actor would, of course, be an unknown. And I'd also like to point out that if he's the lead, we can expect him to return for the sequels rather than do the 10-year timeskip.
Harrison Ford would be in the movie. That's a given. Lucas wanted him to have a major role, so he'd have a major role. I forsee two possibilities, either of which would have drastic implications for the plot:
1. Ford plays Obi-Wan. This would necessitate a complete changing of young Obi-Wan's character, from a stiff-necked straightlaced sort of fellow to someone more suited to Ford, and quite probably from being Qui-Gon's apprentice to being his equal partner (as Ford would be 33 years old: too old to play an "apprentice"). Given that Ford didn't want to commit to 3 movies like the rest of ANH's leads, it's quite possible that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon would effectively switch roles: the younger and more mavericky Obi-Wan picks Anakin as someone to train as a Jedi, then dies at the end after getting his older, more straightlaced master/partner Qui-Gon to swear to train Anakin instead.
2. Ford plays the much-expanded role of Captain Panaka. With Panaka as a main character, it seems to me that there'd be too many main characters: the logical thing to do would be to eliminate the basically superfluous character of Obi-Wan and let Qui-Gon survive at the end. Remember, at this point Lucas wouldn't have even known if
The Phantom Menace would
break even, let alone be a massive success and get a sequel. This is just pragmatism.
Of the two possibilities, I prefer option 1. It sticks to the overall story of the PT better. Hell, you might as well switch Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's names too, especially considering this:
Casting of the older Jedi: a middle-aged actor, possibly around 50 or so. Alec Guinness is too old, being 62... but Toshiro Mifune (the original choice for Obi-Wan) is 56, so he's a possibility. Given that the name "Obi-Wan" was meant to sound sort-of Japanese, giving this name to the older Jedi makes sense.
Casting of the younger Jedi: assuming he's not played by Ford, and also assuming he's not eliminated in favour of Panaka, the character would be in his mid-twenties: young enough to be the apprentice here, old enough to be Anakin's mentor in the sequels. As tempting as it is to immediately say "Mark Hamill!" I have to point out that the character is a very uptight sort of person and not the "Luke" of the story (that'd be Anakin), so he'd be played by someone completely different. Oh, and let's call him Qui-Gon. Or even Quigon, with no hyphen.
Jar Jar Binks is an important one. It occurs to me that Jar Jar, if he was written right, would essentially fill the same role as C-3P0 in ANH: the bewildered outsider comic-relief who is caught up in events much greater than him, and who essentially ends up "telling the story" of the whole saga. Depending on his design (as he'd have to be a guy in a rubber suit) it's entirely possible he'd even be played by Anthony Daniels. Still, he'd almost definitely be voiced by someone else: Daniels' voice fits 3P0 very well, but wouldn't fit Jar Jar at all.
Speaking of which, this effectively renders C-3P0 pointless in the story: notice how throughout the prequel trilogy he never
does anything, and is only there because he has to be? However, if they wanted to keep the idea of Anakin building a droid, perhaps he is building an astromech droid called R2-D2 instead?
Now, let's talk villains. An obvious choice is Peter Cushing to play Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious -- that's easy. Darth Maul, on the other hand, is tricky. Assuming his design is the same or similar, he can't be played by David Prowse or Peter Mayhew: the actor would almost definitely have to be a professional stuntman trained in swordfighting. You can't get Bob Anderson to do it either: Maul still has to look intimidating, and Anderson at the time was 54 years old and bore a strong resemblance to Harry Dean Stanton. It'll have to be a new guy.
So, what else can I say about the story, aside from the changes mentioned above? Well, for starters, if it does feature the Podrace at all it'd be drastically cut down: they simply wouldn't have the cash for those kinds of effects, even with models and bluescreen. Ditto the underwater-monsters sequence. Also, having Anakin as the hero and Jar-Jar as a viewpoint character would result in the whole beginning of the movie being restructured: perhaps it would eliminate the whole opening sequence on the Droid Control Ship and begin with the invasion of Naboo, followed by Jar Jar's first encounter with Obi-Wan and (possibly) Quigon, and would first show Anakin inside of twenty minutes. If the story can't be sped up that much, then maybe they could cut over to Tatooine for some introductory scenes with Anakin before the other main characters land. Money issues will probably also mean the movie's climax would be scaled down dramatically: combine the Gungan battle and the Duel of the Fates with the assault on the palace (the Jedi can fight Maul through the palace, rather than some weird unexplained place with no guardrails). And speaking of the climax -- if Anakin is the hero he'd need to be taken seriously, which means that he flies in the mission against the Droid Control Ship
on purpose and destroys it
on purpose, Luke-style.
Wow, that was fun. I know it's nowhere near finished but it's half past midnight now. To be continued, definitely.
