Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[JamesKurtovich]

We all fantasized about what really happened and we got to see it unfold. Still exciting although you know the fate of the characters involved.

Would we have been more into the action had we not known who lives or who dies? Probably, yeah. But Lucas didn't make those movies first.

I prefer the OT first because I view it as "modern day" whereas the PT is more of a history lesson. Want to see some SW? Put in ANH! Want to see how it all got to that point? Throw in ROTS.

[OG Pooh]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

We all fantasized about what really happened and we got to see it unfold.

I prefer the OT first because I view it as "modern day" whereas the PT is more of a history lesson. Want to see some SW? Put in ANH! Want to see how it all got to that point? Throw in ROTS.

As much as I love the OT, I find them difficult to watch because they look so outdated. Not that I have anything against older films. Just look at my sig... The majority of my top-10 are pretty old films. Episodes IV-VI feel more like filmed plays than epic motion pictures. Everytyhing feels like a small set with no life going on around it, where I-III feel like they take place in a wide open, living, breathing galaxy. I won't even go into the OT hairstyles. I'm almost afraid of seeing the OT on BD. From the standpoint of effects, the OT was so way over the top for it's time, it ends up really showing it's age. IMHO, Forbidden Planet has held up better.

[DarkDune]

Sometime it is kinda interesting to think of little Annie in that Darth Vader suit:

[DarkDune]

Originally Posted by OG Pooh

As much as I love the OT, I find them difficult to watch because they look so outdated. Not that I have anything against older films. Just look at my sig... The majority of my top-10 are pretty old films. Episodes IV-VI feel more like filmed plays than epic motion pictures. Everytyhing feels like a small set with no life going on around it, where I-III feel like they take place in a wide open, living, breathing galaxy. I won't even go into the OT hairstyles.

I hope they feel more UPDATED with the Blu-ray release. Watching the DVDs on an HDTV is kinda disappointing. And the DVDs are gorgeous, for DVD!

[OG Pooh]

Originally Posted by DarkDune

I hope they feel more UPDATED with the Blu-ray release. Watching the DVDs on an HDTV is kinda disappointing. And the DVDs are gorgeous, for DVD!

One of (the few) issues I have with the updated versions is that the redone special effects make the rest of the films look even older. There's all the redone, modern special effects mingled amongst bad rubber masks and 1970's haircuts. GL goes through the time, expense & effort to place Jabba in ANH, but leaves Artoo walking down the stairs to the docking bay in the same fashion that a child would "walk" a Barbie doll down a set of dollhouse stairs. Knowing that Artoo can fly, this is unacceptable to me. The same goes for when he (Artoo) was exiting the X-Wing on Dagobah... He should have just flown out & onto shore. If GL was going to make Artoo fly in the PT, he should have made the appropriate changes to the OT or not done it at all. It's things like this that make the OT look even older. Seeing as it is supposed to be after the PT, this is a bad thing. Even if under Empirial rule, technology didn't advance at all, it shouldn't have gone backwards (especially for things already in existence). I'm sure the uber mega geeks will rationalize that replacement parts weren't available or something along those lines, but... Please.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

If this is true though - why didnt he make the PT first? Kind of confusing.

I think George Luca took the chapter he thought would be the most standalone and commercial and one most likely to get finance for (out of the six outlines which he may or may not have done at that period of time) and pitched that. That was a sound decision on his part lol....

[dallywhitty]

I thought Lucas initially had no intention of developing a six-film series when he released the original film? I assumed that was why it was later re-released with the Episode IV: A New Hope title.

[JamesKurtovich]

Yup, it looks dated. Not too bad for the 70's though. Han looks fine and I don't think Leia's style was ever considered 70's fashion.. Haha.

Although Anakin's haircut in ROTS was kind of weird too. I guess it can be compared to Leia's buns... A trend in that galaxy far far away but not here?

The overuse of CG in the PT kind of takes me out of the action. I like the "real" sets used in the older movies. For example, Yoda. His digital counterpart seems more fake to me.

Although I admit, the PT created beautiful sets like Naboo and Coruscant, but it just went overboard imo. I mean, the clone troopers didn't even look like they had real costumes and they came out looking like cartoons. The stormtroopers looked so much better.

Another example is Dooku's scene on ROTS. They couldn't just have him walk down the stairs like a normal person, he did a flip and it ended up looking lame.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I thought Lucas initially had no intention of developing a six-film series when he released the original film? I assumed that was why it was later re-released with the Episode IV: A New Hope title.

Maybe he thought the Episode IV title would confuse people? When ESB was a go he could put the IV back into a ANH.

[JamesKurtovich]

The title was simply "Star Wars" but the "Episode IV" was always in the opening scroll wasn't it? It was always IV...

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

The title was simply "Star Wars" but the "Episode IV" was always in the opening scroll wasn't it? It was always IV...

Only when it was re-released in 1981.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Only when it was re-released in 1981.

It was just Star Wars, Episode IV A New Hope was added for the '81 re-release as Dally posted. Also for '81 it was given a 4.2 soundtrack for 70mm.

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I thought Lucas initially had no intention of developing a six-film series when he released the original film? I assumed that was why it was later re-released with the Episode IV: A New Hope title.

IIRC, the original original story was going to be like James Bond series... with no set number of episodes or anything. He was going to keep doing them every few years until he got tired of it or died.

Then he was talking about a 'trilogy of trilogies' (9-episodes) for a decade or so. The rumor goes that with his divorce and all that (around the time he was doing Return of the Jedi), he decided he may not be able or willing to do a sequel trilogy so telescoped it all into RotJ. So, the "other Skywalker" wouldn't have been Leia, the Emperor wouldn't have been overthrown at the end of Episode 6, etc. The real sister and Emperor himself wouldn't have been revealed until Episode 8 or 9. That retcon kinda killed the whole idea of a 'sequel' trilogy.

Ever since he started working on the prequels, he's been consistent on a 6-episode arc... some of which still doesn't quite fit, cause Vader is at best a peripheral character in ANH. Tarkin is the 'main' bad guy...

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by OG Pooh

As much as I love the OT, I find them difficult to watch because they look so outdated. Not that I have anything against older films. Just look at my sig... The majority of my top-10 are pretty old films. Episodes IV-VI feel more like filmed plays than epic motion pictures. Everytyhing feels like a small set with no life going on around it, where I-III feel like they take place in a wide open, living, breathing galaxy. I won't even go into the OT hairstyles. I'm almost afraid of seeing the OT on BD. From the standpoint of effects, the OT was so way over the top for it's time, it ends up really showing it's age. IMHO, Forbidden Planet has held up better.

Just the opposite for me. The originals I feel are epic, exciting films with great, memorable characters. The Prequels, while visually they do expand the universe of Star Wars and show a more detailed and elaborate galaxy, is much more like a stage play, having a large portion of the movies with actors sitting and talking, or slowly walking around and talking, or standing in a room and talking-- okay you get the idea. Furthermore, I find the cgi effects overdone, giving the movies a sterile, fake feel to them. I believe that in the years to come the OT will look much less dated than the PT.

[AintNoSin]

Originally Posted by Uxi

The real sister and Emperor himself wouldn't have been revealed until Episode 8 or 9. That retcon kinda killed the whole idea of a 'sequel' trilogy.

So until episode 8, the only glimpse of the emperor would have been "old lady monkey-eyes?" I like it. And the idea of ending ROTJ with an unknown Skywalker yet to be found is pretty compelling.

They should have plowed on with 7, 8 & 9. Probably without Leia and Solo (not that I dislike the characters, but Ford was getting bored with SW and never would have signed for another trilogy and Fisher's drug use probably would have been an issue). Then they could have gone back and done 1, 2, & 3 possibly about the same time they did them anyway.

Best part: Lucas would have been so busy with the sequel trilogy, he wouldn't have had the time or energy to f*** with the original films.

[Geologist]

Maybe episode 7 could have just been an exciting story about the Ewoks - can you imagine how cool a rebellion on Endor could have been? A few Jedi Ewoks and perhaps Jar Jar could make a visit. That would really fit the story and make the whole story arc more fluid. Oh and add some more podracing...

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by OG Pooh

As much as I love the OT, I find them difficult to watch because they look so outdated. Not that I have anything against older films. Just look at my sig... The majority of my top-10 are pretty old films. Episodes IV-VI feel more like filmed plays than epic motion pictures. Everytyhing feels like a small set with no life going on around it, where I-III feel like they take place in a wide open, living, breathing galaxy. I won't even go into the OT hairstyles. I'm almost afraid of seeing the OT on BD. From the standpoint of effects, the OT was so way over the top for it's time, it ends up really showing it's age. IMHO, Forbidden Planet has held up better.

Although I dont agree with much of this - bringing up a chesefest like Forbidden Planet and mentioning it against any Star Wars film special-effects wise is just wrong. C'mon man - except for the classic & fantastic 2001 A Space Odyssey, most old sci-fi films are embarrasingly bad. Tin space ships, zipper-suited aliens, and cheeseball sets.

Hairstyles? Agrreed - they are campy 70's-looking. The acting is suspect at times and a few of the effects shots havent aged as well as they could have. But, it still holds up damned well - and the cleaned up versions take care of much of the bad stuff.

Forbidden Planet though? Thats a Mystery Science Theater candidate!

[frogmort]

Check out this hairdo

[watzcoc]

Originally Posted by OG Pooh

Artoo walking down the stairs to the docking bay in the same fashion that a child would "walk" a Barbie doll down a set of dollhouse stairs. Knowing that Artoo can fly, this is unacceptable to me. The same goes for when he (Artoo) was exiting the X-Wing on Dagobah... He should have just flown out & onto shore..

The thing is R2 doesn't fly in the OT, this is due to his flying circuitry not working and beyond repair. R2 is around 40-50 years old and due to him being in the hands of the rebellion with Princess Leia there was no use for this feature.

It makes perfect sense to me and tbh people should stop comparing the old trilogy with the new?

The reason why the OT trilogy has the same look as it does is due to a "used universe" feel. This gives the impressin that times are hard due to the way the Empire runs the system.

In the prequels eveything is new and isn't under any restrictions.

It's down to the Empire capitalising and laying down strict laws.

Simples realy!

[Mahatma]

Originally Posted by frogmort

Check out this hairdo

Elvis re-born?