Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[headphones]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

I really don't understand why someone would prefer the special editions over the theatrical ones, no offense. If they were shot a couple decades later I would be able to understand it better, but in my opinion seeing all the CGI in those films looks so goddamn strange. Computer-generated jumping rats and dinosaurs along with Jim Henson-style puppets in the same film makes no sense in my opinion. I'd rather have the original creatures back like the werewolf in the cantina instead of the CGI pot-smoking Rastafarian lizard.

Yeah it's super out of place. I do not seeing technology in movies that didn't exist when the movie first came out. Plus all of the CGI adds nothing to the plot of the film.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by Nicolawicz

Actually, I think that's a puppet. Still pretty stupid, since the werewolf is a million times more memorable (it's clear that Lucas just isn't very bright. A lot in Star Wars turned out so good thanks to the limitations. And a real director did The Empire Strikes Back).

Originally Posted by Bobbyjoe766

STAR WARS (1977) was a fluke and he almost ruined EMPIRE when he tried to edit it himself and JEDI has his fingerprints all over it.

Yeah, he only created the SW universe.
Has certainly given fans(on both sides of aisle) much more than he's taken away.
But don't let little things like that ruin the titanic sized alterations, that far outweigh every thing that came previously.

[WestMan]

Originally Posted by Class316

Watching them starting ep I is stupid because if nothing else it ruins the Darth Vader reveal. They are meant to be watched 4.5.6.1.2.3

But it creates many more suprises. Talk to kids who didn't grow up on the OT and have watched them in order. The surprise of Palpatine becoming The Emperor and Anakin becoming Darth Vader work great when watched order. And the redemption of Vader at the end of Episode VI is much much much more powerful.

[crissrudd4554]

Heres my order.

Proper order: 1, 2, 3, 4 (SE), 5 (SE), 6 (SE),

Preferred order: 4 (OT), 5 (OT), 6 (OT), 1, 2, 3

To put it bluntly theres no 'correct' way to watch these. Why? Everyone has been introduced to these films at different times. Those who got into SW in the last 15-20 years will likely go in the 'story' order and may like the PT best because they were the newest and likely saw them in the theatres. Fans who back farther than that (like myself though only by a few years) will likely like the first trilogy best. My interest in SW started around the time of the SEs so I do have a soft spot for those versions. That being said I do prefer the original cuts since they were the first versions I owned. Im not against Lucas having his vision or fans wanting to view the films a certain way but not allowing the originals to not coexist with the current versions is a rewriting of history which I dont agree with.

I like the Prequels. Maybe not as much as the first trilogy but I dont hate Lucas for making them. I look at it as being able to know what preceded the originals for better or worse. That also being said I do prefer practical FX and do thing the overuse of CGI gets old after a while. I just saw the trailer for the new Mummy film a few days ago and me and my family were all saying how much CGI is going on at once. Sorry but for me all movies look the same these days.

[master gandhi]

To me, the special editions are an exercise in indulgence on the part of Lucas. One could attempt to argue that it helps the original trilogy to mesh with the prequels, but if that was Lucas' mission, he strayed from it a lot. So many of the changes are seemingly just there to be different, not even to enhance the story.

The restored Biggs scene works. The Jabba scene just slows things down and hurts our perception of him. Some of the effects updates work IMO, like the enhanced space fight at the end. Mos Eisley gets a little too much added. I enjoyed seeing the changes at first because I'd seen the original cuts so many times by then, but they shouldn't have completely replaced the original cuts with the special editions. I guess from a marketing perspective it could be confusing to have different cuts floating around out there.

TNT has been airing the movies a bunch lately, since they're showing off that they have exclusive television rights to the films right now. It would be weird if they aired different cuts of the films. It would confuse the newer generation of fans, and they would have had to call one version by a different name, so people could tell which version is airing. Like call the originals the legacy editions, or simply call out the special edition versions.

As much as I disagree with Lucas for pretty much burying the original cuts, I've come to accept the special editions, even after they've been changed twice more since '97. They're still Star Wars to me, and it's my favorite franchise by far. I'm happy that newer generations enjoy the special editions, and Lucas didn't just make them for himself. I mean, he pretty much did, but he must have done something right (or not enough wrong) if those who didn't grow up with the original cuts are still thrilled and moved by the special editions.

As for the viewing order, I'm partial to the original release order of 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3. But then again it's a nice idea to end on a high note with Jedi's finale, instead of ending it with build up for episode 4. Chronological makes logical sense. Episode 1 isn't a great start IMO, but it is technically the earliest part of the story, until we get prequels/spinoffs that predate episode 1.

[Class316]

Originally Posted by WestMan

But it creates many more suprises. Talk to kids who didn't grow up on the OT and have watched them in order. The surprise of Palpatine becoming The Emperor and Anakin becoming Darth Vader work great when watched order. And the redemption of Vader at the end of Episode VI is much much much more powerful.

But see, you are meant to watch Episode I knowing that Palpatine becomes the Emperor. You are meant to watch Episode II knowing who Boba Fett is. You are supposed to know that Clone Troopers prelude Stormtroopers. And so on and so forth.

Whatever one's preferred order is, the "meant" order is 4.5.6.1.2.3

[ElvisForever]

Originally Posted by Class316

Watching them starting ep I is stupid because if nothing else it ruins the Darth Vader reveal. They are meant to be watched 4.5.6.1.2.3

And again it coud be childhood nostaligia over watching a story that makes sense.

"The Darth Vader reveal", so what is Episode III to someone new? Gee so Anakin turning into Darth Vader is just so terrible because it is a powerful story ark that has come from dispair instead of an unearned Darth Vader just looks cool vision?

Instead of being an audience reveal it is a Luke reveal that maybe shoulld have always been to begin with?

But hey, lets have new viewers end with the down ending of Ep. III instead of the powerful send off to VI that show hope and wrap up and Anakin in a state of grace after being saved by his son???

For me, a large portion of the CGI is seamless. Most people don't know what all was changed because of concentrating on the few bad ones.

To each his own, but I am not in the camp that any order is ok, and neither is the creator. Making movies to make money is not the same as only wanting them told one way.

Originally Posted by Class316

Whatever one's preferred order is, the "meant" order is 4.5.6.1.2.3

Ummm, that doesn't make sense. Numbers are meant to be sequential, it is how the rest of the world sees it.

Even from the moment Lucas put IV, that is him saying there is more to come so shift your mind accordingly.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by ChainsawJedi

Marquand insisted that Lucas be on set every day while filming Jedi and, when he turned in his edit, it was so bad that Lucas ended up having to make the film over.

Uh, I don't think that's what happened. Maybe you mean he re-edited it?

[The Fallen Deity]

If I'm watching the 2004 or 2011 SE's of the OT I'll always watch the PT first due to the way they've been re-edited.

On the other hand if I watch the TC's or the 1997 SE's I won't bother with the PT.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Class316

But see, you are meant to watch Episode I knowing that Palpatine becomes the Emperor. You are meant to watch Episode II knowing who Boba Fett is. You are supposed to know that Clone Troopers prelude Stormtroopers. And so on and so forth.

Whatever one's preferred order is, the "meant" order is 4.5.6.1.2.3

What's weird about that is that you're right-- from a certain point of view. Audiences DID have that perspective when the films came out. But Lucas seemed to have different ideas in the aftermath of the prequels for future generations.

Release order is a perfectly valid way to watch them, but Lucas designed the films to be watched in Episode order once he finished the prequel trilogy. When he made the prequels and modified the original trilogy with prequel elements (starting with the DVD release) he retroactively turned the originals into sequels. The lynchpin of this was transforming the ghost of Anakin into Hayden at the end of Return of the Jedi. Seeing Hayden at the end does not work at all from a story or thematic perspective without the context of the prequel trilogy.

Just the fact that he modified the films like that at all should show you Lucas' mindset-- he wasn't careful in making the prequels feel like back stories for the originals, he just did what he wanted and then altered the originals to fit the prequels accordingly, instead of the other way around. He even went as far as to avoid showing the starlines when ships go into hyperspace, because he wanted to maintain that "reveal" in Episode IV (apparently the Darth Vader being Luke's father moment was less important).

Anyway, all of this to me is why I think of Star Wars as either the UOT by itself on it's own or the "Lucas Saga" as I call it comprising all 6 films (we're not taking the new films into account with this) with the originals being the modified versions on DVD or Blu-Ray and being watched in the context of the Prequel trilogy.

[WestMan]

Originally Posted by Class316

But see, you are meant to watch Episode I knowing that Palpatine becomes the Emperor. You are meant to watch Episode II knowing who Boba Fett is. You are supposed to know that Clone Troopers prelude Stormtroopers. And so on and so forth.

Whatever one's preferred order is, the "meant" order is 4.5.6.1.2.3

Meant to know that Palpatine is the Emperor? You must have missed the debates on SW websites during the prequels on whether Episode I Palpatine was the same guy who became the Emperor.

Are you meant to Read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings before the Silmarilion? Or read Game of Thrones before Dunk & Egg? Many people love the chronology of it. I watch Captain America 1 before Iron Man 1. I watch The Hobbit trilogy before The Lord of the Rings. At some point when all of the movies are out I will watch the Fantastic Beast movies before I watch the Harry Potter movies.

You act as if watching the Star Wars movies in order ruins it. It doesn't. It just readjusts the important and shocking moments. For me personally I prefer it in order.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by WestMan

Are you meant to Read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings before the Silmarilion?

Yes.

[Bobbyjoe766]

Originally Posted by ChainsawJedi

Apparently, George Lucas edited Empire using Once Upon A Time In The West as a template, feeling that the pace of the Leone classic was exactly what he was after in the second film. I'd be interested in reading why you think his editing "almost ruined" the film.

Apparently when he saw the finished product (EMPIRE) he panicked and locked himself in an editing suite and re-edited the film to be more faster-paced,ruining the deliberate tempo (for this more character-based chapter) set by the director.

The director and another individual managed to finally talk him around.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by WestMan

As for the "Disney Era".... I was not impressed with Episode 7. It was too much of a rehash of Episode 4. Plus, it kind of ignored the ending from Episode 6 and told a story that didn't seem like a logical as the next chapter.

This isn't anything new. The Dark Empire Trilogy also kind of "ignored" the ending of Episode 6, but nobody complained.

[Bobbyjoe766]

Originally Posted by rickah88

Yeah, he only created the SW universe.
Has certainly given fans(on both sides of aisle) much more than he's taken away.
But don't let little things like that ruin the titanic sized alterations, that far outweigh every thing that came previously.

He gives with one hand and takes with the other. He gave us the OT then withholds the original versions and gives us digitally-altered crap that looks like they were remastered by his kids whom he let loose in one of the editing facilities at LUCASFILM-with their f**ked up neon-like colours.
Then he gives us-not one but three prequel 'masterpieces' to further enrich the STAR WARS universe.
The prequel trilogy was IMO nothing more than a big six hour toy commercial. In the end Lucas did more damage than good.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Bobbyjoe766

He gives with one hand and takes with the other. He gave us the OT then withholds the original versions and gives us digitally-altered crap that looks like they were remastered by his kids whom he let loose in one of the editing facilities at LUCASFILM-with their f**ked up neon-like colours.
Then he gives us-not one but three prequel 'masterpieces' to further enrich the STAR WARS universe.
The prequel trilogy was IMO nothing more than a big six hour toy commercial. In the end Lucas did more damage than good.

You sound like Kylo Ren!

[Bobbyjoe766]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

You sound like Kylo Ren!

Kylo Ren would have used the CAPS-LOCK!

[BluBonnet]

After the release of Rogue One, it's going to be interesting to see whether folks add it to the original films in the "chronological" order: 1,2,3, R1, 4,5,6, TFA

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by Bobbyjoe766

He gives with one hand and takes with the other. He gave us the OT then withholds the original versions and gives us digitally-altered crap that looks like they were remastered by his kids whom he let loose in one of the editing facilities at LUCASFILM-with their f**ked up neon-like colours.
Then he gives us-not one but three prequel 'masterpieces' to further enrich the STAR WARS universe.
The prequel trilogy was IMO nothing more than a big six hour toy commercial. In the end Lucas did more damage than good.

Isn't Disney not the one giving the OT? Could've sworn Lucas sold the franchise years ago.

[Hardback247]

Hate leads to the dark side, remember?