The Star Wars Sextology (generally)

[KoNeko]

Now that all six films are out, what do you think of them? Personally, I liked it when they kept it as Eps 4, 5 and 6 alone. I just didn't get Eps 1 and 2, but hopefully 3 will be better. (Episode II really annoyed me! At least they got rid of a lot of Jar Jar scenes... I can't stand him )

I have so many questions about this. Why do your eyes go yellow and you turn ugly when you go to the dark side? How come Samuel L Jackson got a purple lightsaber? Did they all get phased out so the light side could only have green and blue ones later (being in Eps 4, 5, 6)? Why don't we see more Ewoks? And why, oh why in all of his infinite wisdom can Yoda not speak English properly?!

Anyway, what do you think of the sextology as a whole? Which one is your favourite film? Should they have kept it as a trilogy?

[moira]

lol, Yoda speaking the way he does never really bothered me at all, but for some reason in episode III, his backwards way of talking didn't sound very natural. I don't know if that makes any sense, but uh. . . yeah. K, I totally lost my train of thought there. I tried to find a way to describe what I was trying to say, and it just wasn't working out in my head.

I'm with you Ko, I don't like Jar Jar at all. And um . . . I'll stop there until I know people wouldn't care if I mention spoilers from the third movie or not.

Episodes I and II are in my mind a waste of time, the cartoon episodes that contain what goes on between ep II and III are awesome, but I think I'd have to say my favourite star wars movie is the last one, the Empire Strikes Back. You get to see Luke really use the force in that one. It's cool.

[KoNeko]

Oooh yeah, Empire is my fave too. And Return of the Jedi follows that. But ! I didn't know we had cartoon episodes! I've never seen those!!

Anyway, now that I've seen all six, I have to say that I do like the old ones better. Episode III did a good job salvaging the crapness that was Episodes I and II, but I kind of like it as a sextology. It makes it like a really long drawn out soap opera set out space, with the ancestry and all of that.

I reckon my favourite characters are Yoda, Mace Windu (hehe) and Jar Jar. No, kidding. Scratch Jar Jar (obviously).

[moira]

Yep, and the cartoons are just awesome. They're called the Clone Wars, volume 1 and 2, but volume 2 hasn't been released on dvd yet. Cartoon Network in the U.S. is the station that was showing them. Here's a picture, and you can order it off of Best Buy and Walmart and stuff. I'm gonna go out and buy Volume 1 tomorrow. Woohoo!


lol, that's just hilarious thinking of Star Wars as a soap opera set out in outer space. I can totally see that.

Leia: I love you, Luke. . .
Luke: I love you too Leia.
Vador: I am your FATHER!
Luke: nooooo!! And. . . crap, Leia's my sister!
Leia: well never mind then. I love Han Solo instead.
Han Solo: YES!!
Luke: Okay, sounds good.
;D

My favourite characters are Yoda, Mace Windu (he kicks butt in the cartoons), and General Grievous (again, because of the cartoons and all the wicked moves he does in it).

[d]

I personaly like I and II, even though not as much as the originals. Jar Jar sucked, but they are better than they are given credit for. I think people become blinded by love for the originals. The fact is that I and II don't have most of the characters that drew us into the originals. Plus, it's hard 20 years later to go back and please everyone. We all drew our own versions of the backstory in our minds and went into I and II expecting to see that. Lucas' task to please everyone was impossible, and he was basically doomed in a sense from the start. As a student of filmmaking, I see as much to admire about I and II as the originals - and as many flaws, but I think most people look for reasons to dislike them due to the fact that they're not the movies they expected:

Clunky dialogue - all 6 are guilty not just the prequels

Equally stiff acting - all 6 are guilty with few exceptions (Harrison Ford after IV and Billy Dee Williams)

Overreliance on Special Effects - I show my age here, but I remember reviews of Return of the Jedi (poorly met by critics in 1983, even moreso than II) saying the same thing. it doesn't seem like that by today's standards, but we have to remember that Lucas was always known for pushing the effects envelopes of the times

Too cutesy in Episode I - Ewoks and Jawas: originals just as guilty

Alot of people remember the originals in a eutopian way. The first one was the only one well-reviewed critically. In fact, Episode III is by far the best reviewed of all 6. Empire, while considered the best by most (including me), was not received well by critics for its awkward narrative structure and dialgue. We all laugh at "Laugh it up, fuzzball" but if you put that line in any other movie, it's awful. We love it because we love the movie no matter what.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I think everyone needs to look at the originals with the same scrutiny as the new ones. Quality-wise, it really is pretty even. No movie is without flaws. I love the Star Wars series more than any other film saga ever. Some are better than others. Some flaws are more tolerable than others (Jar Jar - ), but I invite people to revisit I and II in a few years after all the excitement has faded and just watching all 6.

...of course, I also say this after watching IV, V and VI immediately after getting home from watching III, which is interesting because the opriginals kind of become different movies now with new realizations and differnet kinds of suspense.

[KoNeko]

One thing which I think is good about the scriptwriting (which I understand would be difficult to do but anyway) is the fact that George made an effort to make the dialogue reflect the time that the movie was made. You'll notice that at one point when Anakin turns to the dark side and he says "You are either with me, or you are my enemy". Sound familiar? There was a nice political undertone there, like lines like "Only Siths deal in extremes" and the like.

I love Yoda... but I can't figure out what kind of creature he is supposed to be... do they mention that somewhere? (The last time I saw IV, V and VI I think I was like 12 years old and Chewey scared me because he was so big... )

[d]

I forget what race Yoda's supposed to be, but in regards to his backwards speech (since it was mentioned earlier) - that was actually never intended to sound like difficulty with the language. Yoda is supposed to be speaking an old, more formal, version of the Republic's language. Due to his extreme age, he's supposed to be a product of a much older time.

I honestly don't think Lucas intended those undertones much though. The basic story of III has been known for a long time, and much of what is in the movie is actrually summarized in the first paragraph of the original Episode IV novel that Lucas wrote himself. I think it's more about how he predicts all democracies will one day fall under power-seekers. Funny though, how he could predict it like that.

EDIT:

I was just reading Roger Ebert's initial reviews of Episode I, and I think he's pinpointed the main reason I and II seem lackluster to so many people:

"If it were the first "Star Wars" movie, "The Phantom Menace" would be hailed as a visionary breakthrough. But this is the fourth movie of the famous series, and we think we know the territory; many of the early reviews have been blase, paying lip service to the visuals and wondering why the characters aren't better developed. How quickly do we grow accustomed to wonders. I am reminded of the Isaac Asimov story "Nightfall," about the planet where the stars were visible only once in a thousand years. So awesome was the sight that it drove men mad. We who can see the stars every night glance up casually at the cosmos and then quickly down again, searching for a Dairy Queen.

"Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace," to cite its full title, is an astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking. If some of the characters are less than compelling, perhaps that's inevitable: This is the first story in the chronology and has to set up characters who (we already know) will become more interesting with the passage of time. Here we first see Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda and R2-D2 and C-3PO. Anakin is only a fresh-faced kid in Episode I; in IV, V and VI, he has become Darth Vader."

[Calavera Diablos]

*puts on geek helmet*

According to the books, lightsabers are powered by special crystals. Apparently the power levels of these crystals are similar to the values of the white light spectrum: Red is the weakest, purple/violet is the strongest. Mace Windu is one of the best Jedi Knights (personally, I feel ObiWan surpasses Windu due to his ability to master Soresu to the point that he is practically invincible), therefore he gets the most powerful lightsaber and the least unimpressive death scene in episode three. And I mean, come on. He's Samuel L. Jackson.

I find it intriguing that by that logic, the power-hungry Sith end up using the weakest sabers. Since the first Star Wars movies were made, perhaps Lucas imagined sabers with good/evil alignments, then later took on the more scientific approach to lightsaber physics.

EDIT: Btw, yes, the cartoon is awesome. Gennedy Taratosky (sp?) is a mad genius.