The new movies

[Naryaló S dú]

How can anyone ever compare the new 3 movies to the old ones? Also how can anyone ever LIKE the 'phantom menace'. 'Anakins' acting in that movie made me want to barf.

[manephelien]

Well, it was certainly overhyped when it came out, and I remember going to the theater and coming out saying to my friends: "I don't know what that was, but it certainly wasn't Star Wars!" I guess I was expecting something more like Revenge of the Sith, which is actually a pretty good movie IMO, when Anakin grew out of the worst of the whining. Clones was okay, but the only bit I really like about Phantom Menace is the final battle, and the Pod Race a bit. However, I think people give Jake Lloyd a bit too much grief. The problem wasn't Lloyd's acting, it was Lucas' directing. GL should stick to directing experienced actors who know what they're doing, not kids.

[ScottSF]

This is how I can compare the 3 new movies to the 3 old ones: The new ones weren’t that bad and how could people expect so much from a Star Wars movie. The old ones, nomatter how sentimental you feel, weren’t that good. They were all FUN on some level.

This is how I can like Phantom Menace. I watched it. I was entertained. I was glad to be back in the SW world again; Not very difficult. Pod Race was Awesome. Battle for Naboo was awesome. Darth Maul vs. the Jedi was the best choreographed fight of all the movies. Plus compared to the other two the story didn’t feel so thrown together.

I think all 6 movies had some clunky performances but yes the new ones were worse. I also agree that the actors are not so much to blame. If GL had a real writer look over his dialogue some of the horrendous bits on clones could have been avoided: “We live in a real world, Anakin. Come back to it.” Many of those love scenes didn’t really need much dialogue at all. Also It seems Lucas is not so good at working with actors and getting the best performance out of them. Harrison Ford said as much. One of the reasons some of the performances improved on ESB was because Lucas didn’t direct it. I do miss looking forward to more movies but I would much rather the effort be spent on something new.

[C Of K]

Most people who see the new movies won't completely understand what was going on in them. There were very deep plot lines involved in them, but Lucas played a lot of them down, I suppose, in favor of hyping the love story, and the actual action scenes.

Palpatine's rise to power was complicated, even in Episode 1. When you consider why the Trade Federation was really blockading Naboo, Palpatine's story becomes very deep.

The Supreme Chancellor Valorum sent the jedi as ambassadors for him, not ambassadors on behalf of the Republic. During the senate meeting, the jedi could not testify that the Trade Federation was actually doing anything wrong without incriminating themselves, and Chancellor Valorum, who was mired in accusations of corruption to begin with.

Thus Valorum was dethroned, and Palpatine has his path to power. This, of course is only one aspect of the story that was relatively complicated, and hidden from most movie-goers.

Episode 2 was riddled with even more of this kind of thing, but most people will discount the prequels as shallow brick-a-brack. The thing about it is, they not only brought in just as many new Star Wars fans as the old ones did, but they made the original trilogy 3 times as deep.

My point is, the more you understand exactly what was going on in these movies, the more you can enjoy them. Of course, the downside to that might be that you will have to do some research into the characters, and perhaps comics and other novels to understand much of this stuff. To fans, this should be no problem, for the casual movie-goer, I guess Lucas figured -- oh well...

[Dexter]

The original trilogy was better for me as well. However I do like the new trilogy. I'm not sure I would've started Anakin as a young boy though. It causes the biggest time lapse between any of the six movies, creating a bit of a disconnect between PM and AotC (at least for me). Maybe that's why Revenge is my favorite installment of the new series (though it still ranks fourth out of the six movies). Personally, I think George waited too long to do the new series. He's grown much older and his tastes seem to have changed. I don't think he's capable of telling the kind of stories he told in the original series. Like C of K says, the new series is a more nuanced story. Shades of grey, nothing is simple. The original trilogy was a sharply drawn fight between good and evil. Black and white. Very simple.

As for liking Phantom Menace? I rank it dead last in the entire saga.

[tangaloomababe]

Yes I have to agree the original three were the best. I remember the first movie when it first came out, it was amazing, I sat in a packed cinema and like most others there was completely overwhelmed by what I saw. The other two just added to the story.
When the new three were first introduced, I went along with great expectations and was sadly disappointed. I didn't enjoy them, with the exception of the final one, which was ok.
Maybe it depends on which stage of your life you saw the first movies. I would agree the gap between the originals and the follow up was to great.

[C Of K]

It is difficult to walk into this type of situation with expectations. Of course, I had them when TPM came out. I definitely did not expect Anakin to be a kid. I expected the Clone Wars to begin sometime in the beginning of episode 2. I expected Darth Vader, fully armored and killing jedi in the beginning of Episode 3.

I thought Lucas was ruining Star Wars.

It couldn't possibly go down the way he was showing it. And true, there were a lot of missed opportunities in the new trilogy. Though few things were ignored, many things were blown over and abbreviated, such as the jedi purge/order 66, and the clone wars in general. You never really knew who was winning the battle on Kashyyyk when you're watching RotS. (I guess it didn't really matter, but details are nice sometimes.)

Eventually I was able to appreciate a lot of the character development, and nuances of the story. Though I still think my way might have been better.

I have to admit, the way they pulled off Palpatine, hung so much of the blame for catastrophes on Mace Windu, and Jar Jar Binks, and orchestrated the war was just short of brilliant.

[Dexter]

I agree, C of K. There is much to like in the new series. Taken on it's own terms, it's a great tragic story.

The disappointment only hits me when I think of it as a Star Wars story. It's just such a change, you know? Star Wars was a heroic, fast-paced celebration of good (in the first series). Everything was big, larger than even Texas. Then came the new series with fights over taxes, proper protocols, and the legality of blockaids. Suddenly Star Wars was not heroic, though it was still fast-paced and the only thing big was the special effects. It was just such a different animal.

Character development was not a strength of the first series, but it certainly was in the second series and not just Anakin. We get to know our heroes and villains better, but is that what Star Wars needed? I was all excited when I first heard that the series would be about Anakin's fall. I watched the midnight viewings of all three films. And George did a good job of showing that fall, IMO.

It cost us the Clone Wars. It cost us Darth Vader hunting Jedi (and no, Anaking slaughtering children doesn't count). It cost us the larger than life staight-up conflict between good and evil that so enthralled me so many years ago when I watched the original series.

So I'm conflicted when I view my DVDs of the new trilogy. Hopefully, one day, I'll grow like you did C of K, and let all of that go. And just enjoy.

[Huttman]

In my opinion, each movie that has come out in the order of release has gotten better in several ways:
The story and its complexity, the effects, set design, the sound, the music and as for character development, some were better and others were as good as the original, there were just so many more in the new trilogy there was not enough screen time for them. The story is so much bigger this time around as we are looking at the cause, not just the effect and the focus is in all of this about the Skywalker family. There is always the expanded universe for everything we want to see more of like the Clone Wars and maybe the Empire hunting down renegade Jedi in the upcoming series (hopefully).
Now what can not be better than the original is the originality of Star Wars. We have a basis for comparison now and who could ever really compare to that first great love we all have had, with these movies or with other things or people in our lives. Think about it, if the Phantom Menace had come out in 1977, Jar Jar would have very likely been an endearing character to most, and maybe even young Anakin. I think people in general were a lot more innocent. Then perhaps they would say of Chewbacca in the 1999 release of A New Hope, 'He looks like bigfoot and barks and whines like a dog-look at his goofy walk!' Maybe Mr. Lucas has not changed over the years as much as his fans. Let the reader of this decide if that is true and a good thing or not.
As for the dialog between Anakin and Padme, people say some silly things when they're in love. Whilst Star Wars is no shakspeare, it really did sound to me at least, when Anakin was pouring his feelings out to Padme by the fireplace it was something a young, nervous kid in love rehearsed in his head a thousand times before he spilled his guts to his loved one.
So I have to say I like all six movies for what they are and have seen all of them so many times that the "but I was going into toshi station to pick up some power converters" whine still does not bother me, nor did it bother me at nine years old sitting in the original grand old Cine Capri movie theater with my Dad watching the most amazing things still reeling from that Star Destroyer that took sooooo long to fly over the screen. God I hope I stay forever young at heart. And at that young age I thought I knew why I loved Star Wars so much, but as I grew older I appreciated it on many different levels and having recently seen that special on the History Channel called Star Wars Legacy, I enjoy it that much more. May the Force be with all of us...

[Gothic_Angelica]

I haven't been able to watch star wars since seeing episode I, it was the worse film I've ever seen.

[manephelien]

Certainly not the worst I've seen, and to be frank, once you watch the last two and especially RotS, everything falls into place. I certainly enjoy PM more every time I watch it.

The one thing I miss most in the new episodes is the old civilization look of everything. Things don't age 500 years in 20, even with no maintenance whatsoever. Most of the people lived more or less as before under both the Republic and the Empire, even though the Empire drafted more soldiers. I don't think that changing the government changed the life of the average citizen as much as people may think. Life was certainly not fun for, say, the slaves on Tatooine even under the Republic, since Tatooine wasn't really a part of it.

The moral ambiguity in the new series is rather refreshing when compared to the black and white view of the universe in the OT. Life rarely is that simple.

[C Of K]

Originally Posted by manephelien

The one thing I miss most in the new episodes is the old civilization look of everything. Things don't age 500 years in 20, even with no maintenance whatsoever.

Well, you might have to take into consideration the settings of the OT. Tatooine may have looked a little more worse for wear in the OT, possibly because droids had a bad reputation after that clone wars. (there was a strong droid presence on Tatooine in the OT)

But remember, the rebels were just a small band on the run from a galaxy-wide government. They had no time to consider luxuries like citizens, and even warriors, of the Republic. The luxuries were already there before the war started.

Cloud city, on the other hand, was pretty lavish, though a little bleak. It certainly wasn't "rundown."