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What films do you like more? The new or the old?


Revan Solo

What Star Wars film do like?  

37 members have voted

  1. 1. What Star Wars film do like?

    • I like the classic trilogy!
      18
    • I like them all!
      17
    • I like the prequels!
      2


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@ Kurgan: Yub Yub! That is one thing I was gutted about when seeing the RotJ SE for the 1st time, but considering that song closes what will be one of the most epic sagas in recent memory, I suppose it would have to be changed from an Ewok party tune. Nevermind though:)

 

My order:

 

1)ESB

2)ANH

3)AotC

4)RotJ

5)TPM

 

Hopefully EpIII will shoot in straight at number 1. From what i've seen and read, I can't see any reason why it shouldn't. Finger's crossed:)

 

Although TPM is last in the list, I still really like it - it's just that the skip button on my remote gets used more than the others (with ESB having the least scenes skipped)

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It is amazing how things change over the years.

 

When Star Wars came out, there was no real home video market. So, to see it, you had to go to the theaters. Not like AotC, which you knew would be out on DVD in 6-9 months. (Still, we saw AotC 3x - 2x in theaters and 1x in IMAX ... WOW!) It also meant that they could re-release it and it would be like a new experience. (Never saw a re-release) Further - because of fewer channels pre-Cable, they could more tightly control the overall exposure of the film. Now I only see Disney doing stuff like that (OK, that's not quite true ... the SE DVD set went out of publication for a while).

 

The advent of home video gives you instant and immediate acces to all of the movies you like. That is just an amazing thing! Watch what you want, when you want - pause and continue, and so on.

 

DVD further enhances the experience - now we have a truly cinematic experience between video and sound quality.

 

But how has it changed viewing habits. When it is in theaters, you watch the whole thing, end to end. On TV, same basic thing - view it or lose it. Video, you can skip around, but it is cumbersome. With DVD we truly have non-linear viewing capabilities. While this can be nice if you just want to watch a small segment or whatever, it separates you (in my opinion) from the context of the movies. In TPM, for instance, I will occasionally just watch the saber fight scenes. Fun enough, but it isn't really experiencing the movie, and I feel it changes things ...

 

What do you think?

 

Mike

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Originally posted by sith_master2000

I don't have the Classic Trilogy DVD set (yet) but I was wondering who this Irving dude is, is he just some high pitched freak who doesn't know what he's talking about?

 

He directed ESB and was pretty much given free reign with only minor creative direction from Lucas (according to the commentaries and bonus materials anyway). Considering ESB is often given as a fan favorite among the Star Wars films, I'd say that he did a good job. ; )

 

Richard Marquand directed ROTJ. And while he died in 1987, I've heard that there was some head-butting between him and Lucas and perhaps with the rest of the cast&crew, and so that explains the carefully worded comments about him on the DVD's. Still, Jedi is my favorite SW movie of all time, despite its flaws, so he did something right!

 

Overall the OT stands strong as a complete narrative. It remains to be seen if we can say the same about the prequels, and it even more remains to be seen if one can watch all six "episodes" and have it flow and make sense!

 

As to the "movie experience" I agree with you and people like Roger Ebert who say that.

 

There is something different and something lost by not seeing a film in the theater with a group of other people, etc. Even the popcorn/candy/whatever is part of the experience. It's the same with video games, in noisy arcades with the smell of pizza and cigarrette burns next to the well-worn joysticks.

 

However, not everyone can have that experience (a movie can't stay in theaters forever, etc) and the home experience is just a "next best thing." However it does have its advantages.

 

For example the LOTR series is absolutely awful in theaters. For one, theater owners refuse to have intermissions. This makes viewing of the films which are incredibly long, very uncomfortable. Your butt gets sore on those uncomfortable seats. You have to go to the bathroom, you get a sore neck/headache, etc. At home at least you can take a break.

 

In fact, the LOTR DVD's with the Extended Editions are perfect for the home. You can watch a 1 1/2 hour episode, then take a break, and watch the next 1 1/2 episode (the second disc of one movie) the next night. Watching it like a 6 part miniseries. It works well.

 

Likewise Lucas intended his films to be a like a "Saturday Matinee" where you'd see a feature, then the next week see another, etc. Something that wasn't possible when they first came out and you had to wait YEARS for another movie.

 

There are all sorts of ways to do it, and there is something to the purist approach, but there are definately pluses to the other approaches too. So the more options the better.

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Originally posted by txa1265

1. AotC

2. ESB (won't wimp out with a 'tie' for 1st ;) )

3. RotJ

4. Star Wars (despite my love of the prequels, I still cling steadfastly to the fact that I saw 'Star Wars', not 'A New Hope' a dozen times in theaters in 1977)

5. TPM

 

It is interesting that TPM has one of the best pieces of music (Duel of the Phates ;) ) and lightsaber fight scenes in the entire series, yet still falls to the bottom.

 

Mike

 

Wow, it's as if the words came right out of my mouth! You're starting to freak me out Mike. O.o

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The "Star Wars Holiday Special" was shown on TV once around Christmas 1978.

 

It was a live action feature with the original actors and many of the original props from Star Wars (with a short animated sequence in the middle which was the debut of the Boba Fett character) about Han Solo & Chewbacca going back to his home planet of Kashyykk (sp?) for the Wookiee holiday of "Life Day." Along the way a lot of other stuff happens including guest appearances and cameos by sitcom actors and music stars of the day. We get to meet Chewbacca's family and Carrie Fischer sings (badly).

 

Overall people hated it because of some of the cheap looking sets, the light-hearted tone, the bad jokes, and the bad singing/acting. Fans have kept it alive by circulating bootleg video tapes, DVD's and video files on the internet and at conventions. It's quite easy to find a copy to view if you know where to look. It's a Star Wars curiosity, really.

 

Apparently even though George Lucas had a hand in its creation (story or script I don't remember), he had no idea it would be such a flop, and later declared that if he could track down and destroy every copy of it, he would. This has lead fans to conclude that it's not part of canon, even though certain items of it (like Chewie's family and home planet) have become part of official continuity.

 

 

Look it up on IMDB.com and you'll find more info...

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Kashyyyk (3 Y's, but you were close:))

 

 

I'm one of the thousands of unfortunate people who saw that piece of bantha fodder. Like you said, the jokes were terrible! Especialy the line "You got any more of them Wookie cookies?"

 

Here's some clips:

 

"Luke Wannabe Skywalker"

Luke.jpg

 

"Chewie in light day robes"

sw4.jpg

 

"Old lady gets shakes her grove thing"

 

starwars-beaarthur.jpg

 

"The Jefferson family!"

 

981224.jpg

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That is Mark Hamill btw, but his makeup job is bad, and this is before (IIRC) his plastic surgery after the accident (that was written into ESB to explain why his face looked different in that movie). Or perhaps I heard wrong and the bad makeup is to cover for the surgery he recently had...

 

Yeah, I've seen it twice. There's a lot of website out there with pics and more info.

 

Some of the bootlegs feature original Star Wars merchandise commercials in between the Holiday Special footage, which just goes to show how Lucas intended to take advantage of the Christmas season to sell toys (after all, the merchandizing rights were the real way that Lucas was going to profit from the movie).

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Originally posted by Kurgan

That is Mark Hamill btw, but his makeup job is bad, and this is before (IIRC) his plastic surgery after the accident (that was written into ESB to explain why his face looked different in that movie). Or perhaps I heard wrong and the bad makeup is to cover for the surgery he recently had...

 

Yeah, I've seen it twice. There's a lot of website out there with pics and more info.

 

Some of the bootlegs feature original Star Wars merchandise commercials in between the Holiday Special footage, which just goes to show how Lucas intended to take advantage of the Christmas season to sell toys (after all, the merchandizing rights were the real way that Lucas was going to profit from the movie).

 

There's was also an unproduced slew of toys for the special. Fortunatly, they were all cancelled, but there was a nice article and pictures of them in Toyfare magazine last year.

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Originally posted by Revan Solo

Bandon is stronger than Malak, I find!

[continuing down the merry road called 'off topic']

Well, it is really like the Tavion vs. Desann thing - I found (as did many) Tavion more challenging, but that is more about you, than her.

 

Mike

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Originally posted by txa1265

[continuing down the merry road called 'off topic']

Well, it is really like the Tavion vs. Desann thing - I found (as did many) Tavion more challenging, but that is more about you, than her.

 

Mike

 

Thats because all you had to do was drop a pillar on Desann, very easy given the JOKE that the AI was. In JA, Tavion was insane. That god damned stick of hers. And then Katarn...ugh, don't get me started.

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