Today is the 40th anniversary of the release of Star Wars

[point09micron_process]

I first knew of it as clips used in the Muppet Babies cartoon series (I was a year old when Return of the Jedi came out). I first saw the actual movies around 1994-95 on VHS, and was completely blown away. They were so much more entertaining than Star Trek TNG, my primary exposure to sci-fi before seeing Wars. I ended up seeing all of the "special editions" in theaters in '97, TPM Saturday at about 9 am of opening weekend, and all the others the earliest time available on opening night (midnight for AOTC and ROTS and the cartoon one, and 7 pm for TFA and RO)

Like all right-thinking people, I consider Empire to be the best of them. The original is a close second, then Jedi and Force Awakens tied for third/fourth. I enjoyed Revenge of the Sith, but the other two prequels I don't care for (other than the incredible lightsaber duel in TPM). I found Rogue One good for one watch, but don't care enough to see it again. Going into it, I figured everyone introduced would be dead within the runtime of the movie, so I wasn't able to particularly care about them when watching it.

I absolutely love the original trilogy and can sit down and watch them any day. The others I'm less attached to. I'm very worried though, that I'm going to get burned out on them with this "every year" schedule they're on. They used to be a big event with a long break in between. Now they're turning into the movie equivalent of Madden NFL or Call of Duty. I was very excited for TFA, since it was about 10 years since ROTS, but I didn't particularly care about seeing RO, and I'm feeling the same way about Last Jedi right now.

Anyone else care to share their thoughts/experiences with this world-changing series?

 

[Contrabardus]

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Everybody thinks Empire is the best one, and it is. Individuals can like some of the others more personally, but objectively it's superior to the other OT movies on pretty much every technical level.

It's a literal perfect storm movie where everything came together in just the right way and at just the right time. Star Wars was great, but Empire is the reason the franchise is the cultural thing it is today.

It's widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. You'd be hard pressed to find a top 100 movies of all time list that doesn't include it.

The original doesn't always make it, but usually does, and it's nearly always below Empire in the rankings.

That movie fucked with everyone's head for years. I remember having arguments with my friends about whether or not Darth Vader was lying or not in the years between it and Jedi.

I was vindicated and won several bets when Jedi finally released. I actually made about $120 all total.

 

[seitora]

I read a ton of the Star Wars EU books when I was younger. It certainly made up a lot of my literature then, though I fell out of it by the time I was 15-ish. Think I pretty much burned out after the whole NJO series

 

[coconutED]

I'll recognize Empire as the superior movie from a production quality standpoint, but Jedi is still my favorite. The original trilogy is still superior in my mind to everything that has come after so far. Phantom Menace was meh, the other two prequels were just absolutely wretched.

I only just recently got around to watching Force Awakens and my opinion is...it's alright. The new generation characters didn't really resonate with me; it felt like they were trying too hard to duplicate the chemistry of the original ensemble and it comes off as forced at times. Still, it was interesting enough to keep me engaged, and the negatives are such that if recognized and explored in the sequels they can easily become strengths with proper character development, backstory reveal, etc.

Have not seen Rouge One and never got into the expanded universe.

 

[Contrabardus]

I'll recognize Empire as the superior movie from a production quality standpoint, but Jedi is still my favorite. The original trilogy is still superior in my mind to everything that has come after so far. Phantom Menace was meh, the other two prequels were just absolutely wretched.

I only just recently got around to watching Force Awakens and my opinion is...it's alright. The new generation characters didn't really resonate with me; it felt like they were trying too hard to duplicate the chemistry of the original ensemble and it comes off as forced at times. Still, it was interesting enough to keep me engaged, and the negatives are such that if recognized and explored in the sequels they can easily become strengths with proper character development, backstory reveal, etc.

Have not seen Rouge One and never got into the expanded universe.

Rogue One is one of the better Star Wars movies. I wouldn't say it's "Empire" good like Kevin Smith said in a review, but it's easily better than any of the Prequels, and most of the people I know liked it at least more than Jedi and TFA.

If nothing else, it gives Darth Vader his balls back after the prequels. He does make a cringeworthy "Dad Joke" in one scene, but vindicates himself later in a big way.

The CGI facial stuff is most people's biggest issue with it. Pretty sure they cleaned it up a bit from the theatrical version for the Blu-ray release, but it doesn't fix the uncanny valley issue. It doesn't detract too much from the rest of the movie and is used somewhat sparingly though.

Tarkin is the biggest offender, he's got more screen time in Rogue One than he does in ANH. It still isn't much though.

Plan on watching it and then Episode IV immediately or soon after for the best experience. You'll get why after you've seen it.