General Star Wars

[snake77]

A new Star Wars movie is being released this week. How about some discussion on the franchise.

• When did you see your first Star Wars movie?
• Memories of the franchise.
• Have you read any of the expanded universe novels, or follow the various cartoon series?
• Favourite movie?
• Thoughts on the current series

There have been leaks for the Rise of Skywalker. To stop spoiling people that intend to see the movie without reading anything before hand lets keep this spoiler free for the first week or two or at least use the spoiler functions.

 

[snake77]

My earliest memories are when I was young watching a double feature of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back in Whakatane with my father. My memories of that day were waiting to line up for the thearte and it was a long time for somone around 5-8.

Then went to see Return of the Jedi with a father and friend when it came out. Still have the collector cards at home.
Also remember when movies came out you used to get flavoured ice blocks for them.

 

[snake77]

Favourite movie is A New Hope I love the journey of the farm boy heading out on his adventure out in the galaxy.

Empire Strikes Back I love the start with the big battle moved to the start of the movie with the Rebels needing to escape. Return of the Jedi has good memories from my childhood.

For the prequels I was lucky to get a ticket to the midnight premiere at the last minute as someone couldn't go. The event was a good experience despite the movie not being well received. Revenge of the Sith when it turns to war is the favourite of the prequels.

The Force Awakens had a lot of open threads for them to carry on with. That all seemed to be thrown away with the following move.

Rogue One is good to revisit the original trilogy era.

 

[Miket12]

Remember as a kid they showed part of the making of A New Hope on the old spot on programme and was amazed at the models of the starships. Mum thought my brother and I were to young to see it so we told her we wanted to go to a Disney cartoon that was showing at the same time. She never did find out that we went to A new hope instead although it was funny trying to answer her questions about the film we were supposed to see.

 

[snake77]

I have seen some documentaries of them using models or puppets instead of CGI. Those feartures do have a special charm to them.

 

[Rizzah]

I don't remember when I first watched the original trilogy - I am an 80s baby and we had VHS copies from as early as I can remember (my Auntie sourced them from Singapore I believe - Thanks RNZAF).
I was obsessed with the originals and RotJ in particular from a young age - I watched RotJ so much I could recite most of the dialogue when watching - much to the displeasure of my older siblings.
Empire is my favourite, although my enjoyment of it came much later - I did enjoy parts of Revenge of the Sith (The second half - and the end fight with Obi-Wan) and I thought Rogue One was well done (Vader scene at the end was epic).

The prequels were a disappointment. I thought/hoped they would go a darker/older audience route. But that doesn't help sell merchandise to kids I suppose. Anakin was shit throughout the series - how could this whiny jerk become the evil badass that is Vader.
Not sold on the current trio of films either. Will still go and watch the new one

A few quality vids found on Youtube.

Reimagined Vader vs Obi-Wan lightsaber battle


Vader scene from Rogue One


A trailer cut by Topher Grace (That 70s Show)


Empire of Dreams - Original Trilogy Documentary

 

[Kestrel84]

I don't remember when I first watched the original trilogy - I am an 80s baby and we had VHS copies from as early as I can remember (my Auntie sourced them from Singapore I believe - Thanks RNZAF).
I was obsessed with the originals and RotJ in particular from a young age - I watched RotJ so much I could recite most of the dialogue when watching - much to the displeasure of my older siblings.
Empire is my favourite, although my enjoyment of it came much later - I did enjoy parts of Revenge of the Sith (The second half - and the end fight with Obi-Wan) and I thought Rogue One was well done (Vader scene at the end was epic).

The prequels were a disappointment. I thought/hoped they would go a darker/older audience route. But that doesn't help sell merchandise to kids I suppose. Anakin was shit throughout the series - how could this whiny jerk become the evil badass that is Vader.
Not sold on the current trio of films either. Will still go and watch the new one

A few quality vids found on Youtube.

Reimagined Vader vs Obi-Wan lightsaber battle


Vader scene from Rogue One


A trailer cut by Topher Grace (That 70s Show)


Empire of Dreams - Original Trilogy Documentary

What you said!

 

[Kestrel84]

I suspect I first saw the original trilogy after me and my older brother rented the vhs tapes from the video store. We were pretty "Hi-Tech" and used the old two VCR system to.. er.. permanently secure ourselves copies.

I'm another child of the 80's so probably was 5 or 6 before I saw A New Hope. Loved RotJ because of the jabba the hutt/rancor start to the movie... and I was a kid.. ewoks were just cool. Probably helped I would wake up and watch the Ewoks cartoon on TV. Watched A New Hope to death, that and the live action TMNT movie I could and probably still can quote word for word. A New Hope is under appreciated, it is the most fun and adventurous film of the lot - definitely the most rewatchable.

As I got a little older I learnt to appreciate Empire Strikes Back, and it became one of my favorite movies of all time. It is epic, dramatic, scary, romantic, creative, has great dialog, brilliant cinematography - just everything.

We had the Star Wars technical manuals and used to role play with one of us taking turns to be the DM. The whole universe was just so rich and awesome for a kid to daydream about. My brother even has a SW parody webcomic, hah.

Used to play Tie Fighter on the PC all the time and would happily play it right now actually. Sunk a lot of time in that game.

Saw the first prequel in the cinema with my brother and that was a cool experience to share. We were just young and dumb enough at the time to think it was good.

Went off the boil with the movies after that, but Revenge of the Sith had some great moments.

First half of The Force Awakens was super promising, then it all went to shit.

Despite swearing off the new trilogy, it can't dent my love for the franchise as a whole. It's played a huge part in shaping my imagination and tastes growing up.

 

[bruce]

I just about spewed when I saw this thread. Is that how bad things have become? Then I remembered I have actually been on the Star Wars ride at Disneyland, Anaheim. Quite a hoot it was too. That is it for this thread.

 

[snake77]

When I was young I hadn't seen the movies for a while so got the original trilogy off a friend. That was like the 97 editions as I don't think he had the original edits.

I pretty much went through all 3 movies in one sitting besides my mother wanting it stopped during dinner. I'm still off about that as it felt like I had achieved something.

I probably should of put a joke poll for who shot first.

 

[snake77]

Has anyone read any of the books. I've got through part of one I brought years ago but stopped just as it was setting all of the pieces in place. Biographies are more my thing but I have seen a lot about the Zahn trilogy that was the first books written taking up after Return of the Jedi. Seen a few YouTube videos going over the new bad guy Grand Admiral Thrawn and how he was a tactical genius.

I brought the first one Heir to the Empire to go over during the holidays if I get time.

 

[Ever Hopeful]

I just about spewed when I saw this thread. Is that how bad things have become? Then I remembered I have actually been on the Star Wars ride at Disneyland, Anaheim. Quite a hoot it was too. That is it for this thread.

I suppose Stars Wars is for you what Twilight or Hunger Games is for the rest of us... some teeny-bopper shit young'uns watch.

 

[Ever Hopeful]

I was born in 1980 so ROTJ released at a time that made the biggest impression, and had ewoks. The Caravan of Courage came out around the same time and I loved it at the time. I haven't seen it since I was about 8 so I bet it is pretty terrible now. As much as I loved Star Wars and watched it repeatedly, Alien/Aliens was where it was at for me!

I can't say I have ever had a favourite of the three originals, I have always just enjoyed them as a distinct part of a whole.

I hated the prequels (especially the romance, the racing and Anakin)

The first sequel was just A New Hope 2, but the second was awful. Another piss-weak baddie.

I enjoyed both Solo and Rogue 1. A bit grittier.

Gaming wise - I love KOTOR 1/2, and had fun on the MMORPG for a month.

 

[snake77]

For the video games I enjoyed the original Battlefront games for the Xbox and PS2. Then the Force Unleashed. I had a chipped Xbox and the KOTOR 2 would always freze after the first level.

The Caravan of Courage and the Ewoks cartoons were good for a kid in the 80s as it looked like that's all we would get for Star Wars content.

 

[snake77]

I get what they were trying to do with the prequels with the little boy turning into the monster that terrorises the galaxy. It was like they didn't have enough movies to tell the story.

Obi-wan said in A New Hope about Anakin being a great friend and the best pilot in the galaxy. It would of been better to have the war start in the first one or start straight with him as a Jedi. Build him up as a hero before he eventually fell to the dark side. Instead we go a movie with a whiny teenager. One problem with the prequels and the current trilogy is too much needs to be explained in cartoons or the movie related novel explaining plot holes or issues with the movies.

 

[matiunz]

Child of the 80s so not sure when I saw the OG trilogy

New Hope, solid set up Luke was one Whitney bitch though.

Empire strikes back probably my favourite of the original trilogy loved Boba Fett

Return of the Jedi- not an Ewok fan always thought they seemed out of place and was the start of the commercialisation of the franchise as they were pretty much marketing for younger audiences and toys. Still remind people that find them ‘cute’ that they were going to eat the heroes at first...

Phantom Menace
I was the right target age for this so don’t have the hate that others do. Darth Maul was cool as shit and criminally under used. Found Jar Jar annoying but wish they went with the original plan that he was a sith hiding in plain sight- kind of a dark mirror for how Yoda was first portrayed, instead we get Dooku...
Never got the whole ‘balance to the force’ prophesy, it’s pretty clear the light is well on top this kid can only be your downfall

Attack of the clones
HATED the name, rest of the movie a bit meh, Dooku was a lacklustre villain after Darth Maul. Arena fight and more Fett was good though, didn’t mind Anakin being a whiny bitch as it was channeling Luke a bit.

Revenge of the sith
My favourite of the prequel trilogy, Anakin fall was a bit sudden but all in all thought this was the strongest of the trilogy, grievous apart from needlessly being an asthmatic was another underused villain.

Solo
Gonna put this in here as it feels like the 4th part of the prequel trilogy to me. Liked what it did and don’t get the hate it gets, probably suffered from the stink of episode viii

Rogue one
Can take or leave, liked that it explained a glaring plot hole from new hope but it’s not hugely rewatchable for me

Force Awakens
Enjoyed it despite being a rehash of new hope. Liked the new characters, Kyli ren was interesting as the conflicted dark side that is being tempted by the light angle but they seemed to do away with that. Also liked the whiny immaturity of Anakin/Luke and Leia shining through. Rey suffered from everything coming too easy (more than Luke and Anakin) eg lived in a desert in slums but is suddenly an awesome pilot?

The last Jedi
Just shit, too much commentary wasted villains in Snoke and Phasma, wasted plot line that went nowhere, ruining Luke’s legacy. Not many redeeming qualities

Haven’t really read anything or played many games outside of the KOTOR games which were amazing

 

[Lenrat]

I get what they were trying to do with the prequels with the little boy turning into the monster that terrorises the galaxy. It was like they didn't have enough movies to tell the story.

Obi-wan said in A New Hope about Anakin being a great friend and the best pilot in the galaxy. It would of been better to have the war start in the first one or start straight with him as a Jedi. Build him up as a hero before he eventually fell to the dark side. Instead we go a movie with a whiny teenager. One problem with the prequels and the current trilogy is too much needs to be explained in cartoons or the movie related novel explaining plot holes or issues with the movies.

They should’ve made Anakin a teenager to start off with.
Maul should’ve survived after killing Qui Gon. This would’ve driven Anakin down the whole revenge path. Obi & Anakin being the same age would made it harder for Obi to control him leading to more tension between them. Throw Padme into the mix & let Anakin’s ego do the rest.
Oh, and piss off the Gungans. Mesa no lika dem.

 

[Lenrat]

I only liked parts of Return Of The Jedi. Never bought Vader’s redemption arc. The dude killed off most of the known galaxy. Just cause Palpatine is turning Luke into KFC isn’t enough of a motivator to turn him good again. If that’s bringing balance to the force then they need to rethink what balance actually means
I suspect they’ll do the whole thing again with Kyle Ren in the current trilogy. Again, it just won’t be plausible.
The less said about Boba’s fate the better

 

[Lenrat]

Just can’t bring myself to see Episode 9 after The Last StinkEye

 

[snake77]

The two stand alone movies had a lot of issues behind the scenes. Solo they had to bring in Ron Howard to clean it up.

I saw this video a few months ago about Rogue One. It's interesting as most of the trailer isn't in the movie, the director also wanted to just film random shots of characters walking around that had nothing to do with the plot.