Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

The light saber battle in Phantom Menace in particular is very obviously green screened. And it stands out even more in HD. I find it VERY distracting.

Considering it's nearly 20 years old I think it holds up rather well.

[Caseyscott]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Considering it's nearly 20 years old I think it holds up rather well.

The technological achievements by themselves are astounding, unfortunately they so heavily disrupt the characterization that it takes me out of the film. If more focus had been directed at character development and proper direction within the artificial world it wouldn't have mattered, as I'm sure there are countless examples of films with poor effects that still remain engaging, even the original trilogy probably falls into that category.

[Class316]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

It's interesting, we've had 8 Star Wars movies and in 5 of them the concept of a planet or planet-like object capable of destroying another planet is in them. It's safe to say the concept is a core part of the Star Wars universe nearly as much as Stormtroopers or Wookies.

ANH
ROTJ
Force Awakens
Rogue One

What's the fifth one?

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Class316

ANH
ROTJ
Force Awakens
Rogue One

What's the fifth one?

The Phantom Menace kinda counts because of the Trade Federation's Droid Control Ship.

[English Patient]

Originally Posted by Class316

ANH
ROTJ
Force Awakens
Rogue One

What's the fifth one?

Revenge of the Sith showed the first Death Star in its early stages of construction.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

It's interesting, we've had 8 Star Wars movies and in 5 of them the concept of a planet or planet-like object capable of destroying another planet is in them. It's safe to say the concept is a core part of the Star Wars universe nearly as much as Stormtroopers or Wookies.

Someone I know had this to say about the planetary superweapon thing appearing in many of these movies. Not that I agree with it.

It's a BORING trope. They've done it before. It needs to stop. It's not nearly as interesting as it originally was to the vast majority of people. There's a difference between what works in principle (satisfying cliches in that franchise) and what works in practice (audience reception).

[MasterSandman]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

The light saber battle in Phantom Menace in particular is very obviously green screened. And it stands out even more in HD. I find it VERY distracting.

Interesting. I've never been distracted by that. Padme and Anakin in the droid factory as well as Obi-Wan chasing the bounty hunter at the beginning of ATOC really distract me though.

[Class316]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

The Phantom Menace kinda counts because of the Trade Federation's Droid Control Ship.

Don't think it was intended to blow the planet though.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by MasterSandman

Interesting. I've never been distracted by that. Padme and Anakin in the droid factory as well as Obi-Wan chasing the bounty hunter at the beginning of ATOC really distract me though.

Me neither. One of the things I love about Phantom Menace is how NON green-screeny it looks for the most part. Sure, that's helped by using a lot of actual locations, miniatures and sets but even something like the lightsaber three-way looks fantastic because it has to match the realism of the footage around it, as well as the natural imperfections of the anamorphic 35mm acquisition.

But the droid factory in Clones? Ugh. And even the other stuff in that movie shot with proper miniatures has a really weird, fake look, partially because they struggled with getting the depth of field right using the digital cameras, which had such small sensors that they had to put stupidly long lenses on to emulate the sort of DOF you'd normally use on a 35mm camera when shooting miniatures. Lucas should've swallowed his pride and just shot the miniatures on VistaVision.

[BladeRunner2007]

The Phantom Menace is the only film of the PT that actually feels and looks like a film. Yet, its story has almost no impace on the overall story arc of the PT. Same goes for Attack of the Clones. The only one where the story counts is Revenge of the Sith, yet it feels and looks way too much like a video game. So in a weird way, I'd say Revenge might be the best movie of the PT, but Phantom remains my favorite.

[bobbyh64]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

The Phantom Menace is the only film of the PT that actually feels and looks like a film. Yet, its story has almost no impace on the overall story arc of the PT. Same goes for Attack of the Clones. The only one where the story counts is Revenge of the Sith, yet it feels and looks way too much like a video game. So in a weird way, I'd say Revenge might be the best movie of the PT, but Phantom remains my favorite.

The Phantom Menace is the only film in the PT that feels and looks like a film because it IS the only film in the PT. The other two were shot digitally.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

Yet, its story has almost no impace on the overall story arc of the PT.

That's ridiculous. Because of its story Palpatine becomes Chancellor while Anakin meets Padme and is discovered by the Jedi order, separating him from his mother and thus setting the stage for her eventual death and his related issues which become the proximate cause of his turn to the dark side.

"It is time for you to let go."

"I don't want things to change."

"But you can't stop the change, any more than you can stop the suns from setting."

~

"Your thoughts dwell on your mother."

"I miss her."

"Afraid to lose her, I think, mmm?"

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"Everything. Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you."

~

"Why'd she have to die? Why couldn't I save her? I know I could have!"

"Sometimes there are things no one can fix. You're not all-powerful, Ani."

"Well, I should be! Someday I will be. I will be the most powerful Jedi ever! I promise you. I will even learn to stop people from dying."

~

"I won't lose you like I lost my mother".

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

The Phantom Menace is the only film of the PT that actually feels and looks like a film. Yet, its story has almost no impace on the overall story arc of the PT. Same goes for Attack of the Clones. The only one where the story counts is Revenge of the Sith, yet it feels and looks way too much like a video game. So in a weird way, I'd say Revenge might be the best movie of the PT, but Phantom remains my favorite.

Menace feels very much like a hangover from the OT, it's got so many nods and callbacks dotted throughout and even the ending is basically ROTJ's only with a an extra fourth story strand rather than three (Han & Leia on the ground, Luke vs Vader, Lando in the Falcon / Padme in the Palace, Jar Jar on the ground, Qui-Gon & Obi vs Maul, Anakin in the Naboo fighter). But, as you rightly say, it's such a shame it's so disconnected from the wider story arc. Yes, it sets a lot of things up but it feels so distant from a purely linear sense, given the amount of time that's passed. If it'd finished with the start of the Clone Wars that would've been much better, but then Lucas wouldn't have had his victory scene that mirrors New Hope. Eh.

[Jakdonark]

Originally Posted by English Patient

Revenge of the Sith showed the first Death Star in its early stages of construction.

And if you really want to get technical there is a holo display of the Death Star in AOTC...

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Jakdonark

And if you really want to get technical there is a holo display of the Death Star in AOTC...

True, so it's technically in 6 of the major 8 movies.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

True, so it's technically in 6 of the major 8 movies.

Rogue One technically doesn't count as a "major" movie, per se, since it doesn't have an episode number.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

Rogue One technically doesn't count as a "major" movie, per se, since it doesn't have an episode number.

I was thinking of 'major' as in it had a very large viewing and non animated (vs Clone Wars) - already grossed $800 million worldwide.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Menace feels very much like a hangover from the OT, it's got so many nods and callbacks dotted throughout and even the ending is basically ROTJ's only with a an extra fourth story strand rather than three (Han & Leia on the ground, Luke vs Vader, Lando in the Falcon / Padme in the Palace, Jar Jar on the ground, Qui-Gon & Obi vs Maul, Anakin in the Naboo fighter). But, as you rightly say, it's such a shame it's so disconnected from the wider story arc. Yes, it sets a lot of things up but it feels so distant from a purely linear sense, given the amount of time that's passed. If it'd finished with the start of the Clone Wars that would've been much better, but then Lucas wouldn't have had his victory scene that mirrors New Hope. Eh.

I was mentioning in the Prequel-specific thread that what would have worked better was having Anakin the same actor in all three (like Luke) and started him off around the same age Natalie Portman was. Because when I watch Episode II, I don't really feel any connection at all to Episode I, especially seeing essentially a new Anakin.

You could generally still keep Episode I a bit more self-contained like it was, but keeping the same Anakin in all three, with adding more focus on him and Obi Wan meeting and becoming friends, I think would have gone a long way in improving the character arcs in the film. Not to mention you could have started developing a more natural and less weird and awkward love story between him and Padme sooner.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

I was mentioning in the Prequel-specific thread that what would have worked better was having Anakin the same actor in all three (like Luke) and started him off around the same age Natalie Portman was. Because when I watch Episode II, I don't really feel any connection at all to Episode I, especially seeing essentially a new Anakin.

You could generally still keep Episode I a bit more self-contained like it was, but keeping the same Anakin in all three, with adding more focus on him and Obi Wan meeting and becoming friends, I think would have gone a long way in improving the character arcs in the film. Not to mention you could have started developing a more natural and less weird and awkward love story between him and Padme sooner.

As I've said in the PT thread, the reason why Anakin was nine years old in The Phantom Menace was to make his separation from his mother more poignant.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

As I've said in the PT thread, the reason why Anakin was nine years old in The Phantom Menace was to make his separation from his mother more poignant.

True, and I get the point that he chose that age due to the impact it would have on someone. Luke, by contrast, was 18 and ready to go, just waiting for the opportunity to get out there and make something of himself. But you could still do plenty with a 15 year old Anakin. He would still feel guilty about leaving his mom behind on a slave desert planet, and 2 to 3 years later discovering his mom was kidnapped and tortured by Sand People while he was gone would have had the same dramatic affect.

It's all speculative, of course. I'm just imagining these alternate possibilities for fun. The films are what they are, and it isn't going to change, unless Disney and Lucasfilm decided to do remakes, which I doubt would happen.