Skip Navigation
52 comments

  • 4, 5, and 6 are definitely better in a different way that resonates with younger kids and certainly George Lucas is prone to making weird decisions and writing bad dialogue. The actors though were the right people in the right place. The movies succeeded almost in spite of Lucas. However, what I’ve been struck by, now as a father, is less the sci-fi-fantasy, and more the sort of coming of age and father-son dynamic that is a bit more universal, that’s the core story.

    Luke grows up on a backwater world, never knowing his father. He dreams of going to the academy to get the hell out of there. Then one day someone tells him his father was a knight and an ace fighter pilot to boot, the guy was a fucking legend. Luke builds up this impossible image of his father who was struck down by the evilest guy in the world, this total shitbag that works for the government. All the love he would’ve had for his Dad, he pours into hating Vader, he’s taken everything he ever loved away. Then, when Luke finally has a chance to confront him face-to-face, he discovers Vader was his Dad all along. It knocks the wind out of him, and suddenly he has to come to terms with that Dad on a pillar he’s idolized his whole life with that detestable boot licker he’s grown to hate.

    “I am your father,” is the pinnacle of the OT, it’s where everything was leading to, that discovery. It’s that mixture of love & hate, how do choose to deal with that as a person? Luke chose love, and I think that’s an inspiring thing. The sci-fi-fantasy thing is just sort of there for the kids, but it’s not the crux of the story.

  • When I watched star wars for the first time, I watched them in story order, not realising episode four came out decades before episode one. I was confused about how people said the CG looked dated, that's for sure.

    Honestly, I believe episode 4-6 were revolutionary for their time, but I don't think they hold up. The Ewoks were worse than Jarjar. C3PO's dialogue was as clunky as Anakin's and slave Leia was just weird to randomly put in there out of the blue. She's hot and all, but her in a bikini didn't serve any purpose for the plot. The movies were slow and the places the plot took the characters felt more like "look at this wacky space location" than logical next steps for the characters to take.

    Episode 1 was a combination of cringe (kid Anakin) and an interesting setup for the geopolitical situation of the Republic. I honestly found the plot about the fall of the Republic and the internal struggles of the Jedi as they turned from peacekeeping force into soldiers more interesting than the plotlines about the rebels. I think the prequels are as good or in some cases better than the original series.

    I watched the sequels as they came out, and they all felt like stories that merely happened around the same universe rather than as sequels to the movies. I later read that this was intentional (they wanted three directors for three movies to have three takes on Star Wars) but I can't say that I ever bothered to watch them again to check if I still think the same way.

    There were the other Star Wars movies that were just "things that happened in the Star Wars universe" which came out a lot better than the sequels because they knew what they were.

    In my opinion, the peak of Star Wars were the Clone Wars cartoons, and specifically the episodes about the slow decay of the Republic. There were a lot it "wacky robot adventures" and "Padme proves she's a big girl that needs no man" episodes that I didn't care for, but the good ones made up for the bad ones.

    I watched Star Wars Rebels and the Bad Batch but honestly I think they tried very hard to get the Clone Wars feel but just couldn't get it done. They're entertaining shows, but not that great in comparison to good Star Wars in my opinion.

    The Mandalorian and The Mandalorian 2: Boba Fett Boogaloo both started out great but after one season I felt like the writers weren't sure where they were taking the show. Lots of crossovers and references, going as far as to bring back Clone Wars characters, but more fan service than good plots in many circumstances. The Mark Hamill cameo made no sense and was a terrible decision in my opinion.

    Obi Wan felt like they had an interesting concept that was wasted on yet another child character. All I can remember after finishing it is how Obi Wan played babysitter for a while and the character could've left a much more lasting impression.

    I still need to see Andor, I don't have a good source for that show at the moment. I've read high praise about it online and here so I'll have to download it, I suppose.

    The best Star Wars is the show that gave us Boba Fett: the Star Wars Holiday Special. I think Lukas' vision really came through when grandpa Chewy watched softcore VR porn in the living room. Nothing quite matches the aesthetic of "panicked holiday release" like the show Lukas secret wants you to forget about.

  • You're not wrong. You're not right either, mind.

    Star Wars was groundbreaking not for story, acting, or even direction but for its special effects and a grand vision that had not been common in movies before. Attempts were made to do things on that scale of vision before, but let down by technology and technique. For an example of what I mean by "technique", Star Wars was almost unique among space epics for having a gritty, grimy "lived in" look in its settings. Spacecraft had scars and flaws. Buildings looked dingy. So in the sense of pushing back the boundaries of what could be accomplished in visual storytelling, it qualifies as a qualified "good" in my book.

    The Empire Strikes Back pushed back the boundaries on the visuals even more than did Star Wars and had vastly improved writing and direction on top of the continuation of that sense of scope that made its predecessor so memorable. I think it stands up on its own merits as a film and qualifies fully as "good".

    We now enter the silly zone...

    I reject the ludicrous conspiracy theories that claim there are more than two films in the Star Wars milieu. To wit:

    • I reject the existence of a purported 3rd movie entitled Return of the Jedi in which the Empire is defeated by a bunch of primitive Teddy Bears. That people think Lucas would let his grand vision be so laughably terminated is risible. I understand he was intending to write and direct a third movie that was going to close out the story, but apparently life intervened and it was never completed.
    • I reject the thesis that Star Wars was always intended to be a 9-part story, given that there was no hints of this in the first movie and that the "Episode V" in the opening crawl of the second was clearly a typographical error: II became somehow \/ and this was interpreted as "five" by the people who transcribed the text.
    • So this naturally means I reject the existence of movies like the ridiculously-titled The Phantom Menace, the Attack of the Clones purported movie (whose title is obviously the product of fevered imaginations adding to the impressive world-building of the first movie!), and the uninspiring Revenge of the Sith title (revenge for what?!). Further, the supposed storyline that is circulated by feverish conspiracy theorists would have us believe that Lucas would open a trilogy "prequel" (as if that were even a word!) to what was then one of the most beloved of sci-fi ACTION movies ... with long, tedious talks about trade negotiations. Would continue that trilogy with long, tedious talks about governance. Yawn Yeah, go pull the other one. It plays "Jingle Bells"!
    • Need I go on to say how I feel about this ridiculous notion of another trilogy sequel? And spin-offs? The only spin-off ever made was the Star Wars Holiday Special and that one is best left buried for all eternity!
52 comments