Rank The Saga

[YoNoSe]

Probably because it was mostly shot on location using organic film instead of all digital video.

I'm serious.

That's a really valid point. While I think the total CG backgrounds in ROTS look really cool, in AOTC a lot of shots look like the weather man standing in front of the map. I keep waiting for MAce Windu to give me the 5 day.

 

[Darthrazz]

I keep waiting for MAce Windu to give me the 5 day.

I know what you mean, especially the scene where he steps off the transport.

 

[LOTRFan]

ESB
ANH
ROTJ


way down the list, like I might actually prefer watching Howard the Duck down ....

TPM - expect for the Maul scenes :maul
ROTS
AOTC

 

[bcm77]

ANH
ESB
ROTJ

The prequels

 

[Seth Gecko]

EP5
EP4
EP6
EP3
EP1
EP2

 

[The Josh]

Man, all this hate for the TPM. I really like it. Jar jar is a tad annoying but I love seeing the interaction between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Seeing how Anakin was this little kid that just wanted to do so much good only to know he will fall. Then you toss in Maul and man it's very enjoyable.

Edit: I still don't get all the hate for the PT. As a SW fan it just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[LOTRFan]

Man, all this hate for the TPM. I really like it.

It was just doomed from the start Josh, after all those years of speculation and waiting, it collapsed under it's own weight.


It didn't help that the movie itself was one lame bit after another.



Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. :emperor

 

[abake]

I think the PT in general is woefully underestimated.
The stories are rich and complex, the action is great, the characters are well defined.
Comparatively speaking, the OT is a rather plain story, and don't even get me started on some of the action sequences. ROTJ for one is a complete mess in that regard.
The baddies in the PT are real, compare them to the blundering imperial troops who always get their butts kicked!
I think too many of the OT fans are clouded by the veil of nostalgia to really appreciate the PT for what it is.

So some of the dialogue is corny, but so it is on the OT.
So some of the acting is dodgy, but so it is on the OT.
So there are silly jokes thrown in, but so it is on the OT.

Take Anakin's farewel to Obi Wan before he falls to the Dark Side and tell me it is not one of the most poignant scenes in the whole saga: "I have failed you..."
And now tell me that Luke's realization that Leia is his sister is a better acted/written scene. Or his shriek when Vader tells him the truth. Is that better acting than Anakin's love confession to Padmé?
How about Leia's delivery of "your foul stench"? Is that much better than "you're going down a road I can't follow?" Both are badly written, and one delivery is not better than the other.

I'm not saying the PT is better than the OT, I'm just saying you have to see these movies with new eyes. The OT has the naive charm of the 70's/early 80's. The PT cannot and should not try to have that.

You can't ask someone to make the same kind of movies thirty years later. It's like asking U2 to write the Joshua Tree again! They can't. They have changed as persons and as artists, and the world has changed as well.
Coppola couldn't recapture the feel of the Godfather I & II when he did part III.
Lucas is a different person, his influences may have changed, the world is different. The PT had to be different from the OT.
And I for one believe that Lucas pulled off an amazing feat when he did the PT.

And yes, I'm old enough to have seen Star Wars (not A New Hope) in the cinemas.
Anyway, that is my humble opinion.

 

[Seretur]

Thanks for that post, abake.

It'll probably take a whole new generation to appreciate the PT the way most of the Gen-Xers apparently can't, but they are worthy of appreciation.

 

[pixletwin]

Bravo Abake. Well written and exactly how I feel. I saw ANH in the theaters. I was a star wars freak for as long as I can remember... But I think alot of fellow fans also view the OT through the rosey spectacles of childhood and what can ever measure up to that?

Nada. :chew

 

[pickard]

Great post, Abake!


ESB
ROTS
ANH
ROTJ
AOTC
TPM

 

[Captain Faramir]

Abake, I marvel at how nicely you worded that post, and I am totally in accord with it. Amen. Here's how I rank them:

TESB
ANH
ROTS
ROTJ
AOTC = TPM (I love them both too much!)

 

[wofford29]

Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
A New Hope
Revenge of the Sith
The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones

 

[The Josh]

Matt I agree. I think it was the years of expectations that is part of the problem. I also totally agree with abake. That was perfectly said. Neither is perfect but both are fun as hell.

 

[MaulFan]

Here's my rankings (1 being best)

1. Return of the Jedi / Revenge of the Sith
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Attack of the Clones
4. A New Hope
5. The Phantom Menace

Given a lot of thought, I just can't rank either ROTS or ROTJ over the other, my reasons for loving them are so different, I can't weigh them the same. ROTJ is big with me because for me, Star Wars is about being taken to a place far different from the world I see day to day, and Jabba's palace really took us away from the world we know. Up until Jedi, the majority of characters in Star Wars were human, and with budgets and all, that was the best choice. Then along comes Jedi, and we see the many denizen's of Jabba's palace, Jabba himself, the large, jolly slug, a Rancor, a beast of size that just inspires awe to see in confrontation with Luke, we got the Ewoks (like them or love them, they were alien), we got intimate with the Emperor for the first time, and at the time ROTJ came out, we didn't know he was a deformed human, and he looked alien enough. Now, add to Jedi, the final revealing of Anakin Skywalker and seeing what lay behind the mask after ESB's **** tease, the first use of Sith lighting, an emotionally charged showdown between father and son, the convergence of friends in the spirit world of the force, the first green lightsaber, an amazing (especially for it's time) space battle that took us on a thrill ride like no ship battle in Star Wars movies had before. You add all of that up and everything in between and I think we were given an amazing film. As for ROTS, the first thing that ranks this film high with me is Ewan McGreggor as Obi-Wan. In episode I & II, Ewan delivered a great Obi-Wan, but I feel that in ROTS, we finally saw who Obi-Wan is; Ewan's youthful Obi-Wan and Alec's Old Ben converged into an amazing and admirable character that personified the spirit of the Jedi. Add to that an amazingly well crafted parting of two "brothers", the breakdown of deep love, the conspiracy of a manical madman capping off with the execution of Jedi all over the galaxy, a showdown between the two most powerful members of each side of the force, some of the most amazing environments we've ever been taken to, an amazingly designed new background villain, and to me, the most emotional involving story in the entire Star Wars saga, and you get a film that pulls you in from the start and holds onto you even when it's over. The first time I saw ROTS, I cried watching Obi-Wan leave his fallen brother behind, and in the end, I found myself wanting more, the film captured me so much I wanted more of it. People can criticize the PT all they want, and I have my areas I wasn't thrilled with it, but ROTS was a redemption of that trilogy, and a highlight of the saga.

 

[pixletwin]

Given a lot of thought, I just can't rank either ROTS or ROTJ over the other, my reasons for loving them are so different, I can't weigh them the same.

I love seeing the mask go on and I love seeing the mask come off.

 

[Darth Sheba]

1) ESB
2) Star Wars
3) ROTJ
4) ROTS
5) TPM
6) AOTC

 

[JAWS]

Probably because it was mostly shot on location using organic film instead of all digital video.

I'm serious.

Never thought of that. You may be on to something.

 

[Brent72]

ESB
ANH
ROTS
ROTJ
AOTC
TPM

I don't think those rankings will ever change for me.

 

[Darth Madden]

Man, all this hate for the TPM. I really like it. Jar jar is a tad annoying but I love seeing the interaction between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Seeing how Anakin was this little kid that just wanted to do so much good only to know he will fall. Then you toss in Maul and man it's very enjoyable.

Edit: I still don't get all the hate for the PT. As a SW fan it just doesn't make sense to me.

I am a child of the OT (I was 7 when ANH came out) and I really like the PT.. with the exception of Menace. That is the worst piece of garbage I have seen.