never seen the movies...

[Siegfried]

SW is Lucas' story so when his movies differ from some other authors novel, it's pretty easy to say the author is wrong, or not canon.

SPOILERS BELOW!

Indeed it is Georges story. But Splinter of the Mind's Eye is special in that it was written as a possible movie sequel after Alan Dean Foster wrote the A New Hope movie novel. It was the only other Star Wars story at the time and thus (unlike the EU of today) it was 100% approved by George. He gave very little input into the story line aside from making alterations to keep the possible budget down. If he had a full story planned he would not have done this, instead he would have been more strict with what went on... especially in regard to the growing Luke-Leia romance. (The Zahn books are not a major part of my reasoning, they are just mentioned to highlight that he had a similar idea to me.)

Also remember that the novels are just conversion of the script with embellishment. Thus major points will be unchanged. Also things like the "I haven't gone by the name Obi-wan, though, since before you were born" line and Obi-Wan + Owen being brothers are on screen. Ultimately though there is zero proof that George had a plan, and loads of pointers that he didn't.

[Big Cam]

Very good points. I think in the end you may have more knowledge of this than me. I guess I believe what I believe. I think the Luke/Leia romance is totally believable, I mean they didn't know they were siblings and it was the 70's. Nothing more happened after the small incident. I don't know, I guess even though there are alternate stories and books, I find it hard to side against Lucas' story, even if he did change his mind. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

With all that said, I say watch them in this order 4,5,6,1,2, then 3.

That's how I enjoyed them and made(errrr showed) my wife too.

[def]

As a Star Wars guy, the original trilogy are very watchable. Though Return of the Jedi was aimed at kids (ie. me at the time), it holds up pretty well. It just has child friendly stuff in it.

The new prequels are utterly aimed at kids. They make no sense if you think about them at all. If you just want special effects, they are all decent, though 3 is better than 2, which is better than 1. But they all make no sense overall, and have embarrassingly written scenes. This pic says it all (thanks Yumiyoshi for this illuminating pic!)

I've watched all the prequels multiple times. The first one in the theater. On acid. Twice! By accident! But all of them make me shake my head in disappointment after they're over. I had my wife watch them with me together two years ago, and I felt bad during Attack of the Clones. It's the most adolescent of them all, in my opinion. Revenge of the Sith is awesome for 15 minute bursts, but it has Darth Vader saying NOOOOOO as he shakes his hands at an overhead camera, so again, I was embarrassed, and I didn't wake my wife to watch it. Man, I can watch those flicks over and over again, but I don't want any 'normal' people to watch them with me. They make me feel bad about myself.

The Clone Wars stuff is far less embarrassing.

[Darth Legolas]

As a Star Wars guy, the original trilogy are very watchable. Though Return of the Jedi was aimed at kids (ie. me at the time), it holds up pretty well. It just has child friendly stuff in it.

The new prequels are utterly aimed at kids. They make no sense if you think about them at all. If you just want special effects, they are all decent, though 3 is better than 2, which is better than 1. But they all make no sense overall, and have embarrassingly written scenes. This pic says it all (thanks Yumiyoshi for this illuminating pic!)

I've watched all the prequels multiple times. The first one in the theater. On acid. Twice! By accident! But all of them make me shake my head in disappointment after they're over. I had my wife watch them with me together two years ago, and I felt bad during Attack of the Clones. It's the most adolescent of them all, in my opinion. Revenge of the Sith is awesome for 15 minute bursts, but it has Darth Vader saying NOOOOOO as he shakes his hands at an overhead camera, so again, I was embarrassed, and I didn't wake my wife to watch it. Man, I can watch those flicks over and over again, but I don't want any 'normal' people to watch them with me. They make me feel bad about myself.

The Clone Wars stuff is far less embarrassing.

I'd have to say the prequels aren't as bad as people make them out to be. In fact, if they had nothing to do with Star Wars, they could be pretty popular, but because they didn't carry the goodness of the Original trilogy they went all wrong.

In my opinion the Clone Wars is a huge embarrassment, to George Lucas. With a bigger budget, real actors, and good effects the movie could have been epic. I guess the saddest thing about the Clone Wars really is the commericals. They truly do make me cry. They simply aren't Star Wars. "If you see a worm in Space don't put it up your nose."

And I know people love Cad Bane and the bounty hunters, but I really, really hate them.

Not Boba Fett of course, just the Clone Wars ones.

Edited February 3, 2010 by Darth Legolas

[Big Cam]

I'd have to say the prequels aren't as bad as people make them out to be. In fact, if they had nothing to do with Star Wars, they could be pretty popular, but because they didn't carry the goodness of the Original trilogy they went all wrong.

In my opinion the Clone Wars is a huge embarrassment, to George Lucas. With a bigger budget, real actors, and good effects the movie could have been epic. I guess the saddest thing about the Clone Wars really is the commericals. They truly do make me cry. They simply aren't Star Wars. "If you see a worm in Space don't put it up your nose."

And I know people love Cad Bane and the bounty hunters, but I really, really hate them.

Not Boba Fett of course, just the Clone Wars ones.

I agree, they are way to geared towards kids, it's literally just a kiddy cartoon now. Really sad.

[Tereglith]

For a first time viewing, production order of 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3. Don't even watch any clone wars stuff in between. Just get to the big-screen goodness (or badness, as the case may be with Ep. 1. It's got its epic parts, though.)

Later on, you can jazz it up a bit - watch the 2D clone wars between 2 and 3 (even though they conflict with the EU canon laid down in the books ), or watch them in chronological order. Also, because of the way the movies are planned out, you can watch it 1,6,2,5,4,3, and watch for the parallelism between these pairs of movies (not recommended until the fourth or fifth viewing). You could also go for the marathon watch, where you sit for fourteen hours and watch all six in order while eating snacks from the Star Wars Cookbook (Yoda Soda - it's delicious [not recommended until you have achieved hardcore nerd status])

As for the EU books, you have to decide which ones you're going to read. There's well over a hundred now, I think. I suggest reading the in-betweequels (those which come between episodes), as they tend to give the most coherent story and fill in gaps, especially any that you can find between Episodes 3 and 4. If you want to read after Episode 6, be warned - the authors torture the poor characters well into their eighties. You may just want to stop at the Ewok song in your mind and leave it at that.

In my personal opinion, SW:CW the movie is bad. Really, really bad. As bad as Jake Lloyd multiplied by Jar-Jar to the power of George Lucas's scripts. That bad. And the TV show is worse. Ahsoka is annoying as hell, Rotta is disgusting, the voice acting is horrible, the animation is done on the cheap, and there's no plot to speak of, not to mention that it conflicts with TWO sets of canon. The only reason that it exists is so that George Lucas can get even more money. I wouldn't waste my time on it if I were you.

[JimBee]

i'm actually kinda surprised that you guys think i should watch the better ones first, as opposed to 'gettin them outta the way'. i wonder if Episodes 1-3 are really as bad as everyone says.

I wouldn't call it "getting them out of the way", because even though the OT is better on a whole 'nother scale, the PT is still good.

Sith Walrus?

Of course. Who else would I be referring to?

And just for the record, as everyone else seems to be doing it, here's my order of favorite SW movies(best to worst)

Phantom Menace (Nostalgic reasons, mostly, but Liam Neeson is just so kick-megablocks that I couldn't not put this as first).

A New Hope

The Empire Strikes Back

Revenge of the Sith

Return of the Jedi

Attack of the Clones

Clone Wars

[Siegfried]

I think the Luke/Leia romance is totally believable, I mean they didn't know they were siblings and it was the 70's. Nothing more happened after the small incident.

Two small incidents, and Empire was in the 80s...

Very good points. I think in the end you may have more knowledge of this than me. I guess I believe what I believe.

Indeed... and I probably should drop this. But I will say one more thing; George himself (most of the time) denies that the sequel trilogy was planned.

The whole story has six episodes.... If I ever went beyond that, it would be something that was made up. I really don't have any notion other than 'Gee, it would be interesting to do Luke Skywalker later on.' It wouldn't be part of the main story, but a sequel to this thing.

I get asked all the time, 'What happens after Return of the Jedi?,' and there really is no answer for that. The movies were the story of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, and when Luke saves the galaxy and redeems his father, that's where that story ends.

...but then there's this famous quote;

As the saga of the Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell - three trilogies.

I'll shut up now.

[def]

The prequels have their good points, but they are very full of plot holes. You must turn your brain off to enjoy them, like most blockbusters today. But the OT holds up fairly well, logically... At least to my way of thinking.

The Clone Wars cartoon can be pretty great. It's an episode by episode thing, and some are definitely not worth the time, so it's up to the individual to decide if they want to sift through it.

Try watching some of this brutal critique of the plot holes of The Phantom Menace. Now, it's my favorite of the prequels, but I agree pretty much 100% with what this guy is saying.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RedLetterMedia.../15/FxKtZmQgxrI

[RXBandit]

i've created a monster! haha.

btw, i'm gettin ahead of myself here, but how do i watch the Clone Wars? should i just DL them or...

[The Nightwing Reborn]

Huh that guy makes alot of good points, but does he ever esablish how much of a fan each of his example people are. I could ask my 22 year old cousin about Ep I characters in the same format and he could describe them all. My father, not so much. When it comes down to it, we all have a bias toward the classics and know more about them than the prequels and probably always will. The newer generations, though, are probably going to be biased to the big explosions and battles and new material coming. I suppose I prefer TPM because, while it wasn't the same Star Wars I knew, it still had simmilar aspects.

RX: If you don't mind watching on your computer, most of them are on the star wars website.

Edited February 4, 2010 by The Nightwing Reborn

[Xenophilius Studz]

Ah yes. The LEGO Episode III sets in 2005 interested me to a point of starting to like Star Wars, like you. I would watch the Original, in order as I did, then the prequels.

Yo can go to a site called Watch the Clone Wars to watch the clone wars TV series that has aired for two years or so. I'm not sure where you can find the original Clone Wars cartoon.

[Darth Legolas]

I agree, they are way to geared towards kids, it's literally just a kiddy cartoon now. Really sad.

Thank you. I think that the show could turn around, but there is almost no appeal to the original audience. When Star Wars was released back in '77, it was really for 10+ kids who thought it would be cool (which it was.) Then the prequels started getting more geared towards the new generation, but even younger kids than before, with silly things like Jar Jar Binx. Now 10-year-olds will probably make fun of each other for watching the Clone Wars. It simply gives no satisfaction to 7+ kids, because the advertisements are just so stupid they make you want to close your shades while watching so nobody can see you. This isn't just gunning on it because it's not the same as the Original Trilogy, it's just stupid. There's no real conflict, there's almost no plot, and I really can't take the new ships every day. I think it could be a lot more serious and a huge viewer audience can pick up on it.

That other Star Wars show idea, which I'm now convinced will never get it's gears turning, the one about Boba Fett, that had a huge appeal to me, and certainly to old OT lovers. It could have been a little cheesy, but not just stupid the way the Clone Wars is. They say it's geared toward kids, but if someone were to do a poll, kids might be too mature to watch something like that!

Ah yes. The LEGO Episode III sets in 2005 interested me to a point of starting to like Star Wars, like you. I would watch the Original, in order as I did, then the prequels.

Yo can go to a site called Watch the Clone Wars to watch the clone wars TV series that has aired for two years or so. I'm not sure where you can find the original Clone Wars cartoon.

Blockbuster/local video store/netflix.

EDIT: Oh look! I'm a duke. That's an average of 5 a day... every day. I'm not a loser!

Edited February 4, 2010 by Darth Legolas

[Brickus]

The prequels have their good points, but they are very full of plot holes. You must turn your brain off to enjoy them, like most blockbusters today. But the OT holds up fairly well, logically... At least to my way of thinking.

The Clone Wars cartoon can be pretty great. It's an episode by episode thing, and some are definitely not worth the time, so it's up to the individual to decide if they want to sift through it.

Try watching some of this brutal critique of the plot holes of The Phantom Menace. Now, it's my favorite of the prequels, but I agree pretty much 100% with what this guy is saying.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RedLetterMedia.../15/FxKtZmQgxrI

lol, I watched that a couple of weeks ago, so funny.

[Dunjohn]

I honestly see no problem with this. What is the difference, to the viewer, if the Death Star is a resin model or a digital graphic when the detail on each is exactly the same? Each one is going to be an image on a screen for me anyway. This is an argument that's constantly leveled against the prequel trilogy and I always fail to see how it qualifies as an argument at all.

Now, I know it can be taken too far. Lucas originally wasn't going to make a single real piece of clonertrooper armour until the graphics guys pleaded with him to, because they needed to see how light would fall on it. And Michael Bay is obviously legendary for relying on the power that digital effects can bring to movies. But would Bay's movies be any less spectacle-intensive if he was forced to use 1970s effects technology? Would the prequel trilogy be any better if Lucas had been restricted by material limits to 200 clones and a claustrophobic Geonosian soundstage?

[Siegfried]

Would the prequel trilogy be any better if Lucas had been restricted by material limits to 200 clones and a claustrophobic Geonosian soundstage?

Actually I think the movies were brought down by the effects. As you said...

The main letdown there was that Hayden Christensen couldn't act his way out of a mannequin recycling plant.

...which while I think it's kind of true, you also have actors like Natalie Portman (who normally is good) doing bad performances as well. I blame the sets... or lack of! There's a show saying of "It'll be right on the night" and generally it's true. From my own experiences being in costume and on stage really help you feel in character. But these poor guys were working with blue screens and CG-stand-ins for the most part; it's no wonder they weren't at their best. IMHO out of the main cast only Ewan McGregor handled that stuff well.

(On a side note when Ricardo Montalban was performing as Khan in Trek II he didn't do the lines at the same time as William Shatner. There's this great interview of him describing the difficulty to be such an extreme character when Kirks lines were being read out by a soft spoken woman! )

[def]

Would the prequel trilogy be any better if Lucas had been restricted by material limits to 200 clones and a claustrophobic Geonosian soundstage?

Probably. There was a lot of fundamental writing issues all throughout the prequels (ie. Obi Wan always knew Artoo? Was he faking in A New Hope?). But limitations helped out too. The prequels images are overrun with stuff, to the point that it's numbing. I think the prequels would have benefited from a more restrictive budget, rather than give King George all he wanted.

[Darth Legolas]

Actually I think the movies were brought down by the effects. As you said...

...which while I think it's kind of true, you also have actors like Natalie Portman (who normally is good) doing bad performances as well. I blame the sets... or lack of! There's a show saying of "It'll be right on the night" and generally it's true. From my own experiences being in costume and on stage really help you feel in character. But these poor guys were working with blue screens and CG-stand-ins for the most part; it's no wonder they weren't at their best. IMHO out of the main cast only Ewan McGregor handled that stuff well.

(On a side note when Ricardo Montalban was performing as Khan in Trek II he didn't do the lines at the same time as William Shatner. There's this great interview of him describing the difficulty to be such an extreme character when Kirks lines were being read out by a soft spoken woman! )

For the Original Movies they had to build every one of the sets. When the Falcon couldn't get out of the Tatooine hangar door, they had to build the Death Star around it.

Almost the entire Prequel Trilogy was digital, there was no real feel to it. If you look at the death of Mace Windu before it's affects, it's just Samuel Jackson jumping off a metal platform 2 feet on to a mattress in front of a purple wall.

[RXBandit]

well, i'm gonna be snowed in tonight. got myself the Pirate Tank (7753... which i've been super excited to get and finally came from S@H today) and a copy of A New Hope. i'll be puttin it on as soon as the Knicks are finished losing.

my friend told me i should be prepared for my mind to be blown. somehow i think that's a bit much haha.

[Luke McAwesome]

my friend told me i should be prepared for my mind to be blown. somehow i think that's a bit much haha.

I doubt it; you can't beat the classics. And when it comes to the works of George Lucas, you know it's gotta be a thrill ride. Of course, excluding some of the stuff in the prequel trilogy.

I must admit, that when me, my dad, and my uncle went to go see ROTS in theaters back in 2005... it was amazing. As soon as the beginning story starter rolled and the big STAR WARS sign exploded on to the screen, the entire theater broke into applause. And I remember being so excited when the beginning space battle started... I knew, This is it! This is the beginning of the end! And I couldn't help grinning at the sheer awesomeness of the special effects.

Sure, there is a line where you shouldn't cross as far as special effects go, and James Cameron's Avatar is a fine example, regardless of being the number 1 movie of all time, but I still don't think you can really overdo it when it's a story set in such a world where everything is future oriented; even if it is set a long time ago.

My point is, I'm sure you will enjoy watching the Star Wars movies, RXBandit. It'll be worth your while, and I doubt you'll get bored. I will warn you that there are some scenes, such as in Attack of the Clones, where it has absolutely no reason to be in there except to make the film longer, and my point is the romance scenes for Anakin and what's-her-face, pointles skissing, dramatic pick-up lines, blah blah blah...

[RXBandit]

well, i watched A New Hope last night and the verdict is... i absolutely loved it! there were a lotta things that were very 70's science and effects about it, but i couldn't care less, the story is just that wonderful. was it cheesy at times? unbelievably, but all i have to say is that i can't wait to watch V.

[prateek]

well, i watched A New Hope last night and the verdict is... i absolutely loved it! there were a lotta things that were very 70's science and effects about it, but i couldn't care less, the story is just that wonderful. was it cheesy at times? unbelievably, but all i have to say is that i can't wait to watch V.

Congratulations! You'll love Episode V, IMO, it's the best OT movie

[Clone OPatra]

well, i watched A New Hope last night and the verdict is... i absolutely loved it! there were a lotta things that were very 70's science and effects about it, but i couldn't care less, the story is just that wonderful. was it cheesy at times? unbelievably, but all i have to say is that i can't wait to watch V.

Just curious, what version did you watch? The remastered with more shots and effects version? The original theatrical version (which is available on DVD)? The non-original and non-remastered version that was out for the decades before it was remastered a few years ago?

[RileyC]

well, i watched A New Hope last night and the verdict is... i absolutely loved it! there were a lotta things that were very 70's science and effects about it, but i couldn't care less, the story is just that wonderful. was it cheesy at times? unbelievably, but all i have to say is that i can't wait to watch V.

haha glad you liked it. Yea the special effects are kinda cheesy compared to now but I think its what it gives a new hope its charm.

[def]

Congratulations! I wonder if you watched the original originals or the mid-90's re-releases. I don't mind the new ones overall, though a couple scenes don't do anything for me (ie. Jabba in A New Hope).

It reminds me of watching the Indiana Jones trilogy (yeah, I said trilogy ) with my wife, who managed never to see any Star Wars or Indiana Jones. She watched it as if it were real, saying things like "be careful!" "watch out!"... Not that you did that, but she watched it with fresh eyes, and since I've seen all the Indy and Star Wars films sooooo many times, there is zero suspense for me.

Well, enjoy Empire. It's awesome. I could write an essay on why it was amazing. It's one of the most irregular blockbusters ever made, and very solid film making over all.