Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Arawn]

Next thing you know someone will claim they saw the Biggs Tatooine scene in the theater...

[Lyle_JP]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Why would they have to leave off A New Hope? That's a change which could easily be branched in, unlike the myriad of SE changes. As for the audio, I could take or leave the mono but a 2.0 original Dolby Stereo, a 4.1 70mm and a 7.1 'final' remix would suit me fine.

Would love the original 4.1, but the original 2.0 I'm a bit agnostic about. I think there are better 2.0 mixes, like the 1985, or even the THX mix. Both of those have more "bite".

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Lyle_JP

Would love the original 4.1, but the original 2.0 I'm a bit agnostic about. I think there are better 2.0 mixes, like the 1985, or even the THX mix. Both of those have more "bite".

Sure, I'd be happy with the 'Definitive Collection' THX 2.0 mix on there too.

[Thomas Guycott]

Originally Posted by Brandon K

Yes, Ralph McQuarrie is a genius when it comes to visual design and imagination

While McQuarrie deserves all the praise he has, he unfairly receives all the credit: Colin Cantwell, Joe Johnston, John Mollo, and Nilo Rodis-Jamero deserve it just as much. In fact many of the subjects in McQuarrie's paintings were designed by the other four.

[Falaskan]

Does anyone appreciate the PT more, now that TFA is basically ANH 2.0?

[Thomas Guycott]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

Does anyone appreciate the PT more, now that TFA is basically ANH 2.0?

Not really; they're still lousy movies.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

Does anyone appreciate the PT more, now that TFA is basically ANH 2.0?

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

Not really; they're still lousy movies.

This. Unless TFA can somehow go back in time to 1999 and make the Prequels not outright suck, there's absolutely no reason to reassess them.

[StingingVelvet]

Yes, I'll take a well-made but derivative corporate cash-grab over a well-meaning but poorly made passion project any day. Sorry George.

[Geoff D]

Not sure I can.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Yes, I'll take a well-made but derivative corporate cash-grab over a well-meaning but poorly made passion project any day. Sorry George.

I get the sentiment but can't agree. You've hit the nail on the head of why I can never have the seemingly murderous hatred so many have for Lucas now even though he's made and done things that completely undermine his legacy.

Force Awakens had to win me over that it WASN'T a derivative corporate cash grab. After my 2nd viewing of it the seams started to show, but I think it has a lot of heart.

But ultimately, I tend to say you can keep both the cash-grab and the well-meaning passion project and I'll watch the movies a director made when they were vital and respectfully look the other way when they've passed that prime. Though I will always give them the benefit of the doubt.

[balthazar_bee]

To play contrarian, I think TFA has increased my appreciation for the prequels.

Granted, I already quite liked ROTS, but even the other two, for all of their flaws, were an attempt to establish different environments, characters, stories -- all while maintaining a rather canny visual symmetry. This is a very different thing from the pastiche slash wholesale story theft of episode VII.

Admittedly, I'm the only person in my family who hasn't seen TFA since that first screening on the 17th, and the consensus seems to be that it's easier to enjoy the second time. But I don't know. The whole proceeding just felt a bit too rushed, and what heart it had seemed to rely wholly upon the memory of fans.

If the prequels' concerns had been TFA's, they probably would've been universally loved, but every bit as forgettable, just for different reasons.

I'll probably end up filing it somewhere ever so slightly above ROTJ, which means below 5, 4, and 3.

But it's odd, or at least misleading as a ranking, because I'd say that every Star Wars film has at least one sequence that's more exciting than any that's found in TFA.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Not sure I can.

Geoff, did you prefer the prequels over TFA?

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Yes, I'll take a well-made but derivative corporate cash-grab over a well-meaning but poorly made passion project any day. Sorry George.

The problem is that this isn't a case of a "poorly made passion project" - it is a superbly well made but poorly understood trilogy.

The same people who are so vitriolic about the PT, if given the budget and the director's chair to make the prequels, would have done something that was 100% derivative. They wouldn't have come up with something truly original like Lucas did.

And yes, in many ways TFA is wholly derivative, and a corporate cash-grab; now that it has been a B.O. smash, Disney knows it doesn't have to aim for any higher artistic standard. It can just crank out clones of the OT, add the appropriate amount of diversity for this day and age, and laugh it up all the way to the bank.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Geoff, did you prefer the prequels over TFA?

Prequels plural, no. Revenge of the Sith? Hells yeah, I think it widdles upon Force Awakens from a great height.

[Lyle_JP]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

Does anyone appreciate the PT more, now that TFA is basically ANH 2.0?

I think TFA borrowed liberally from all three entries in the OT, but largely it's a pastiche of ANH and Jedi. Like his work for Star Trek, JJ Abrams knows how to remake and reuse, but he's lousy at creating original stories. That said, TFA wasn't awful, I've just seen it before. The PT films are mostly just awful.

[HeavyHitter]

I saw TFA twice.

The first time, I was thinking a 4 to 4.5 out of 5. It was very exciting.

The second time, maybe 3.75 to 4 out of 5.

I'm not sure how well it will age for me.

[imsounoriginal]

TFA is entertaining fan service. Good movie, but I prefer all the prequels over it. Sincerely hoping that Eps. VIII and IX actually do something more original and interesting; TFA was a good way to re-establish the brand and bring in new fans while winning over the old ones, but the new movies need to actually start telling their own story.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Prequels plural, no. Revenge of the Sith? Hells yeah, I think it widdles upon Force Awakens from a great height.

I can second this. It felt like it had real purpose and was clearly the point of making another trilogy. I place it third in the order of ALL of the movies including this new one. That said, it does have issues that probably wouldn't have been so prevalent had they not been worse in I and II and he'd made one film instead of a trilogy.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Lyle_JP

I think TFA borrowed liberally from all three entries in the OT, but largely it's a pastiche of ANH and Jedi. Like his work for Star Trek, JJ Abrams knows how to remake and reuse, but he's lousy at creating original stories. That said, TFA wasn't awful, I've just seen it before. The PT films are mostly just awful.

I agree with everything except the part about the PTs. There was a lot more original stuff in any one of the prequels than there likely will be in all of the new trilogy. I mean, Lucas created that universe to begin with, so he's the one with the real imagination. Others will simply try to borrow from or elaborate on what he created.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by happydood

I can second this. It felt like it had real purpose and was clearly the point of making another trilogy. I place it third in the order of ALL of the movies including this new one. That said, it does have issues that probably wouldn't have been so prevalent had they not been worse in I and II and he'd made one film instead of a trilogy.

Same here, it's third in my ranking too. And yes, it's not perfect! Unfortunately the first two prequels suffer from an excess of ideas over coherent storytelling, and although the story FINALLY comes into focus for Ep III (by Lucas' own admission it contains the most meat of his original outline) Lucas still wasn't able to fit everything in because he left himself too much story and too little time to tell it. But I still love it for what it is, it's Lucas most assured directorial SW effort by far and that opening shot alone is greater than anything I saw in TFA.