Rank your favorite Star Wars films...

[MIB41]

I liked Hayden's portrayal of Anakin. He played it just right. People just expected too much of him. The expected what had been in their own heads for over 15 years.

Disappointment is an inherent problem you get any time you remove the mystery from an otherwise iconic villian like Darth Vader. As a rule 'less is more' when creating popular villians, simply because the viewers imagination can often fill in those gaps in a manner that is satisfactory to their own tastes. Lucas created what I felt was a thin and witless origin. As a rule, the Force was governed by those who had tremendous ability to manage their own emotions which allowed them to take that discipline to another level. This "gift", as sold in the original series, gave them many abilities including a supernatural premonition that allowed a Jedi to see into the souls of other people and determine their logical destiny based on their inner most feelings. That ideology was sold over and over again in Episodes 4-6. But in episodes 1-3 the Jedi seem to be the most clueless of the pack. Lucas doesn't even attempt to disguise the personality flaws in both Anakin and Chancellor Palpatine. Palpatine is scandelous and troubling from scene one and is always the opportunistic one in every uprise and terroristic event which eliminates his political opponents. Who needs the Force to see this? Yet the Jedi council spends most of the trilogy looking about at one another, in a clueless fog, like they can't see the obvious. And why would they bring someone as troubled as Anakin into their inner circle when he acts as unstable as he does? I think McDonalds would have issues hiring a kid like this, let alone a disciplined authority like the Jedi Council. It just doesn't read logical, even for a sci-fi flick. What it comes down to is just bad plotting on the part of Lucas. He doesn't seem to have the ability to write in character nuances that the viewer can pick up, but may be hidden to the surrounding characters in the story.

[david_b]

Sorry.. Being over 40 here, only the first three count. Like folks before me have said here, it's most likely the cardboard acting, the JarJar-type shtick, and all the CGI, which takes a lot of the SOUL away from a movie for me (I could barely stand the Transformers movie once, only because it was an in-flight movie..).

Well, the first two (Hope and Empire) really..

I did try and sit through Ep. 3 since I was bored one night in Kuwait. Eh, it was alright, but no where near the first two.

david_b

[mego73]

Empire is #1. As much as the first one is loved by me and revolutionary, I'll never forget how I walked into Empire thinking "It will be great but we all know Luke will defeat Darth and it will be one big happy ending (yawn)."

And by the end of the movie, Han is frozen and taken by a bounty hunter, Luke loses a hand and almost dies fighting Darth Vader and... oh yeah, Darth Vader says he's Luke's father!!

In other words, Empire took the already developing blaze' expectations I had about movies and threw me totally off balance while loving every minute of it.

Star Wars is #2 I can't add anything more to what has been said about Star Wars.

Jedi is #3 Many thought Jedi was weaker and that's true but weaker in relation to the first two films which still makes this one a fantastic movie. And I'll never forget the cheer from the audience when Vader finally decided to save Luke from the Emperor. Unlike Empire, I was pretty much expecting that Vader would be redeemed but still loved how it played out.

#4 Phantom Menace: Many thought this movie was the worst of the prequels but for me it came closest to the spirit of the original's with it's light approach and it's visions of new worlds. Jar Jar is a liability though

#5 Revenge of The Sith: You gotta love seeing the creation of Darth Vader that you've heard about for so many years

#6 Attack Of The Clones: The most blah of the SW movies for me.

[Mikey]

One of the things that always bugged me about the prequels was the fact they FELT like they didn't come BEFORE the Classic movie series.

It's the same problem Enterprise had.

If you are going to make a prequel, you have to remember your Classic show is THE FUTURE.

If Lucas really wanted to do the prequels right, he would have tossed all his new designers out on their behinds ...
Used NO CGI.
and filmed the prequels with standard 70's era's movie camera's and film.

You say, IT WOULD COST TOO MUCH ....

C'mon .. it's George Lucas.
He could afford ANYTHING... and it's Star Wars.
Who wouldn't back him up ?

[Gorn Captain]

1. Star Wars (no added title, just Star Wars!)
2. Empire
3. Jedi
4. Sith
5. Phantom
6. Clones

To be honest, the difference for me between OT (original trilogy) and PT (prequel trilogy) is not so black and white as a lot of fans see it. There's a lot in PT that I love. I liked Menace. I liked Jake Lloyd. Some judged all this too hard. I liked the first half of Clones. They lost me when R2 started flying, 3PO's head could be switched like a light bulb, etc. I hated what they did to the concept of the droids. When you establish something as a rule in your own galaxy, you can't change it just to add some extra spice.
I liked Hayden's portrayal of Anakin. He played it just right. People just expected too much of him. The expected what had been in their own heads for over 15 years.

I hated that Lucas changed his "far far away" concept, and slipped in too many Earth concepts. Amidala comes from Amygdala (part of the brain), Muftak (an alien) comes from Mutfak (north african word). It takes away the magic.
I remember reading a Trek book, and they named a planet Tandenborstel. Great idea, but it's Dutch for...toothbrush.
I think Lucas just got tired. I can understand that. But the thing is: better stop before you get tired. I believe he didn't really want to make the PT.

I disliked overuse of CGI. I don't want to watch a glorified cartoon.
Why make a character in full CGI, when you're just going to make him mostly humanoid in shape (Jar Jar)? A lot of the actors hated it, too. Read the articles.

To me, SW and Empire were almost perfect. Jedi was perfect except for the Ewoks. The SW audience likes subtle humour, not Hello Kitty.
Jar Jar's lack of success was all the proof for this.

To close: do you know what, IMO, made the first films so good? Lack of budget. They had to be made for relatively little money, and this way, people HAD to be creative. Often, this is a good thing.
Once more money was available, creativity went down (also see Mad Max III, Indy IV,...)
Big money makes lazy filmmaking.
Producers start thinking: fans will love the franchise, no matter what they serve it with.
Wrong!
Mad Max fans wanted raw action.
In Thunderdome, they got cute kids.
Exit Mad Max forever....

I like the Prequels.
I love the Originals.
I adore the Holiday Special.....

[YoungOnce]

I was twelve-years old when Star Wars came out in '77

I walked in with my dad and brother and had no idea what this movie was about. No hype... no expectations. I was blown away.

Everything after that came with huge expectations. Empire and Return were great. Back then there was nothing like it... nowadays we have seen it all.

It's hard for us to see movies in the same way that we did when we were kids. That has to enter into the thought process.

[Hector]

People, please stop calling Star Wars "A New Hope"

That's the first link in a chain of events that ends with the crap we have today

Agreed.

[toys2cool]

YouTube - The Hayden Christensen School of Acting

lol!

[vulcan2074]

Here are My three favorite Star Wars films. Thats Right only three. The other three are just too bad to be on my Favorites.

1. Empire Strikes Back Original
2. Star Wars Original
3. Return of the Jedi Original

I never liked the Special editions. Those were so lame. Why add anything to them. They were perfect the way they were.


Sammy

[Mikey]

If I wrote the prequels, I would have had Annikin as an almost carbon copy of Luke -- in appearence, the way he acted and presented himself.

It would have been an insite to the fans as a WHAT IF Luke turned bad.

I also would not have a progession of him slowly slipping to the darkside.
To me, that's boring and expected ...

I would much rather have Annikin as the HERO of all three movies and at the very end of the last do a switcheroo for no apparent reason.
Perhaps i've been watching wrestling too much, but when a babyface turns into a heal really fast the fans love it.

Also,
I agree with Annakin being way too young for Pandabear.
The first movie was kind of creepie in that way.

But then again, Lucas also had Leia plant a wet sloppy one right on her brothers kisser.

I think Lucas might be a little STRANGE in private and it comes out in his writing.

[MIB41]

I have to agree with Jason regarding Hayden's portrayal of Anakin. Surely the majority of blame should rest on Lucas' shoulders. The "hate" for the character comes from the bad lines. You just don't buy it. He whines like my kids in a toy isle when they were 8 years old. The emotion or inflection in the line just comes off juvenile (and that came by Lucas' direction). Plus I think the overall origin just diluted the image of Vader. I can't reconcile Anakin in Clones with Vader in Empire. The two are just polar opposites in every way.

[Megospidey]

1. Star Wars
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Return of the Jedi
5. Attack of the Clones
6. The Phantom Menace

Close to mine Anthony...

1. Empire Strikes Back (we met Yoda...the BEST of all the characters)
2. Star Wars
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Return of the Jedi
5. Attack of the Clones
6. The Phantom Menace

[Mikey]

People, please stop calling Star Wars "A New Hope"

That's the first link in a chain of events that ends with the crap we have today

[DocDrako]

1. Empire
2. New Hope
3. Jedi
4. Holiday Special (I'm not even kidding. I LOVE cheese.) +
5. Phantom Menace (I have some good memories tied to Menace) +
6. Clones, Sith (tie)

I love the original trilogy but the prequels only get my "like" if that makes sense. I had pictured the history of Vader so differently based on dialogue from the originals that the prequels really let me down overall. Plus it seems that Obi-Wan was a complete liar to Luke. Point of view my entire ***.

I really don't want to get into this discussion because it would literally take me about an hour and a half of non-stop typing to express my thoughts on the subject.

I will always love Star Wars. I will always give Lucas the benefit of the doubt and check out his new Star Wars projects. But Star Wars will never be #1 with me again. Sure the original films changed my life, but it's not enough anymore.

[fallensaviour]

Okay if I could have it my way the last 20 minutes of 3 tacked on to the begining of star wars

then empire and then the first 20 minutes of return

the rest all crap!!!