Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[happydood]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

You know what did it for me? It was the strangest thing... but when I saw the first full-length trailer for FORCE AWAKENS in March 2015, I saw this image for the first time:


<<<<EDIT: this was supposed to be the crashed Star Destroyer on Jakku, but the image didn't carry over>>>>

...and that was it. It was like a light-switch had been tripped inside of me. Suddenly, all STAR WARS was good STAR WARS and I needed as much as I could get my hands on. After a decade of despising the prequels with the fiery fury of a thousand suns, I went out and snagged the 3-movie "Yoda" blu-ray set at Fry's Electronics in Los Angeles, came home and poured myself some Jack Daniel's (to ease the pain of Jar-Jar and Young Anakin), fired up the home theater... and actually enjoyed myself. In that moment, I let go of all my longtime yearning for what the prequels COULD HAVE BEEN, and simply started to embrace WHAT THEY WERE. Now I can even enjoy the them WITHOUT the Jack Daniel's.

I can appreciate people being disappointed with the Prequel's execution, but for all the clumsy dialogue a film series with some of the greatest symphonic music in American history and a lesson for kids to not get attached to the material world or to dogma are not small things.

[RancorKeeper]

Give Michael a cape and well ...

[Bobbyjoe766]

No amount of alcohol/drugs could make me enjoy the prequels.

With each viewing, these chapters become more torturous to watch. These ‘films’ are horrible and most definitely have not improved with age. I haven’t seen them in some years now.

The prequel discs are bolstered by some very fine supplemental features - the only reason I still own them.

The sequels aren’t much better.

Rogue One is the best of the DISNEY bunch imo.

[Gold Ranger]

The Phantom Menace = Attack of the Clones = Revenge of the Sith = A New Hope = The Empire Strikes Back = Return of the Jedi > Rogue One = Solo >>>>>>>>>>>> The Last Jedi > The Force Awakens

[Jar Jar Stinks]

Star Wars is a hot pile of garbage now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH_W...ature=youtu.be

In my opinion, there's one guy who could've saved the series: Denis Villeneuve. I thought Blade Runner 2049 was better than the original. It would've been great if they had handed him Episode IX.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

Star Wars is a hot pile of garbage now.

What many people have kept on saying about Star Wars for over twenty years to the point of absurdity.

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

Star Wars is a hot pile of garbage now.

Then stop posting on these forums. Find something better to do with your time. Good riddance. I can't imagine posting a single comment on a forum for a movie or franchise I thought was "garbage". I'll never understand that.

[Caseyscott]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Then stop posting on these forums. Find something better to do with your time. Good riddance. I can't imagine posting a single comment on a forum for a movie or franchise I thought was "garbage". I'll never understand that.

Elaborating constructively is fine, we should be able to discuss films we strongly dislike, but the forum benefits when opinions of any flavor are supported by their associated rationale.

[AFFanAttic]

A funny Twitter post I saw recently, and I can't remember who said it, said something to the effect of "so many star wars fans measure their fandom for the franchise by how much they hate it."

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

Star Wars is a hot pile of garbage now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH_W...ature=youtu.be

In my opinion, there's one guy who could've saved the series: Denis Villeneuve. I thought Blade Runner 2049 was better than the original. It would've been great if they had handed him Episode IX.

I don't think so-- Vileneuve's style of films doesn't seem a natural fit for Star Wars. Unless Villeneuve wanted to make a space fantasy serial adventure movie, which would be way different than Blade Runner or Arrival. He could make a spin-off with a different tone, I suppose, but not Episode IX.

I'm actually glad Abrams is just doing IX himself, honestly. He did start the story and characters of the new trilogy, and whatever you think of Rian Johnson's middle chapter, he has plenty of leeway at this point to conclude it however he wants.

[spanky87]

How is a Star Wars cartoon that seems aimed at young children indicative that the Star Wars franchise is " a hot pile of garbage now”?

[Jar Jar Stinks]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Then stop posting on these forums. Find something better to do with your time. Good riddance. I can't imagine posting a single comment on a forum for a movie or franchise I thought was "garbage". I'll never understand that.

Easily triggered?

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

Easily triggered?

Nope. Just trying to elevate the dialogue a little. Guess that's not going to happen with a user whose entire identity on this forum is wrapped up in negativity ("Jar Jar Stinks"). Even if I agree with that particular sentiment, it shows that you've come here for a fight.

[milo bloom]

Originally Posted by JimDiGriz

Rogue One is interesting because it starts...not very well at all. Even the Rogue One title credit looks poor and unfinished. It starts off a bit like a tv movie in a way but...

it builds. And builds. Until it becomes easily my favourite recent Star Wars film and the next best after the original trilogy.

I think that's why I love it so much too. After my first viewing, I liked the movie. But every time I watched it home afterwards, I grew to love it more and more. And now that you've said that, I think that's why - the way it builds. So many other SW movies love to start with that flash-bang scene right away, and R1 takes it's time. There are some action set pieces on Jedda and Eadu, but we know they're just the appetizers. And when that final sequence starts, it becomes an absolute slice of fried gold.

For a while there, I would defend the movie by using the last act as the proof of it's goodness, but it wouldn't be as good without the build up.

I think if you asked me to rank the films, ANH and ESB would be the top two (interchangeable in rank) and R1 and ROTJ would be tied for third. It truly feels like a lost piece of saga unearthed after 40 years and I'm so glad I was here to experience it.

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Not sure where to put this post, so I might as well just put it here, in the "Complete Saga" category....

I know there's a lot of toxic negativity that swirls around these forums, but I want to take a moment just to say, as an aging 47-year-old fan who's digging the whole "Disney era"... how freaking lucky are we to have TEN pretty kickass live action STAR WARS movies??? I mean, seriously.

I was six in 1977 when the first movie came out, and I was 28 in 1999 when the prequels hit. And in all that time, I only knew a universe where there were these three amazing movies that transported me to "a galaxy far, far away...." (aside from Holiday Special and Ewok movies, which I also ravenously sought out when they aired). Admittedly, it took me more than ten years to warm to the prequels, but I finally shed my hate for them in 2015.

Since May of this year, I've been watching all TEN flicks in chronological "in universe" order -- including SOLO in the theaters, in its proper place between Episode III and ROGUE ONE -- and I'm just blown away that this huge sweeping epic even exists, after only knowing three core movies for SO long. Every installment is pure joy, for me. Every moment makes me feel like a kid again, playing with my action figures and imagining what could possibly "happen next".

I'm sorry for all the disappointed fans out there who probably think this post is sickeningly positive, or written by some wacky "Disney shill or fanboy" (which is not the case, I assure you)... and I'm not blind to each installment's shortcomings, either; I pretentiously consider myself a "true cinephile" and even a bit of a "film historian", so I feel I know what's objectively considered to be "good or bad cinematic storytelling". I don't think any of the STAR WARS films are perfect, and many of them even verge on "guilty pleasure"... but they ALL succeed in transporting me to my happy place, every time. And that's all I ask from them.

Oh, and John Williams rules.

May the Force be with us all, for a long, long time to come....

I'm a little younger than you, according to my parents my first exposure was the ANH re-release in 1978 when I was 4, but as far back as my memory goes - there was Star Wars. The toys, the Underoos, the lunchbox, but more importantly the role model that was Luke Skywalker - a simple farmboy thrust into an incredible situation who rises to the challenge.

I too have had my ups and downs with the franchise. When The Phantom Menace came out, I loved it. My wife and I saw it 12 times in the theater. But then the internet told me to hate it. Then I decided they were okay. And then I began to follow people on tumblr who made fan edits of scenes and videos that showed the scope and tragedy of the prequels and how they fit in with the OT and then the sequels came and there was a whole new generation of fans.

I still remember walking through the office at work with my phone in my pocket and it buzzed with a news alert - Disney had bought Lucasfilm and was going to make new Star Wars films. I paused right there amongst the cubicles and stared at my phone, truly thunderstruck.

I used to engage the haters, but it's become so tiresome. If they don't want to enjoy it, I won't try to force them (heh). But those that want to learn and explore the themes and the archetypes and even the tropes, I will gladly discuss my thoughts and feelings.

I'm glad folks like you are out there with me. We are so, so lucky to be alive while this sage is being made. To see it's birth and youth and coming of age and re-invention all over again.

May the Force be with us... all of us.

[Jar Jar Stinks]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Then stop posting on these forums. Find something better to do with your time. Good riddance..

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Nope. Just trying to elevate the dialogue a little... Even if I agree with that particular sentiment, it shows that you've come here for a fight.

You should heed your own advice.

Would my opinion be valuable if it mirrored yours? Would you "like" my post if I said the same thing you did while using slightly different words? Is that what this forum is for... agreement?

I'm as entitled to posting my own curmudgeonly opinion as you are entitled to posting your own grossly sickening and undiscriminating appreciation of these films.

Frankly, with posts like this, I think you need to get over yourself:

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

I pretentiously consider myself a "true cinephile" and even a bit of a "film historian", so I feel I know what's objectively considered to be "good or bad cinematic storytelling".

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

I'm as entitled to posting my own curmudgeonly opinion as you are entitled to posting your own grossly sickening and undiscriminating appreciation of these films.

Frankly, with posts like this, I think you need to get over yourself:

Ha... you don't even seem able to comprehend what I was expressing in that post of mine you quoted. I was already self-deprecatingly calling myself pretentious, and the context of my comment was that I actually AM discriminating in my love of movies, and fully recognize that the STAR WARS films are almost all flawed... yet I find joy in them. At least if you're going to be insulting and condescending, you can demonstrate an understanding of the comment you're quoting.

And I never object to opposite opinions, curmudgeonly or otherwise... but it's comments like "STAR WARS is a hot pile of garbage now" that seem like a waste of everyone's time.

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by AFFanAttic

A funny Twitter post I saw recently, and I can't remember who said it, said something to the effect of "so many star wars fans measure their fandom for the franchise by how much they hate it."

Yep this sounds about right. There’s more Star Wars hate IMO these days than love to the point that I almost don’t even wanna talk about Star Wars anymore. Look I want the original versions of the original trilogy as much as the man in the moon and yes I have mixed feelings with the Prequels and newer films but even I’ll admit there’s things about this franchise that just gets blown out of proportions. It’s just a franchise people. If you love it, continue to support it. If you love parts of it, support the parts you love. For example, I don’t follow the EU but I’m not about to call out the people who do. There’s other aspects of the franchise I can focus on. If you flat out hate the franchise, then move on and go join in on the discussions on the franchises you do love. Interesting concept about opinions. You’re allowed to have your own!

[Jar Jar Stinks]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

At least if you're going to be insulting and condescending, you can demonstrate an understanding of the comment you're quoting.

And I never object to opposite opinions, curmudgeonly or otherwise... but it's comments like "STAR WARS is a hot pile of garbage now" that seem like a waste of everyone's time.

It's obvious that you have high regard for yourself and your own opinion.

It's too bad you're not so self-aware as to recognize the hypocrisy of your last sentence.

[Bobbyjoe766]

Originally Posted by milo bloom

It truly feels like a lost piece of saga unearthed after 40 years and I'm so glad I was here to experience it.

Agreed.

The previously unseen alternate takes of Gold Leader(?) used during the final battle (with a little help from CGI) fit in nicely - 40 years later.

[Show spoiler]I wish the deleted Tatooine Skywalker (macro binoculars) scene could have been worked into the ending somehow?

[Early Memphis]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

… I never object to opposite opinions, curmudgeonly or otherwise... but it's comments like "STAR WARS is a hot pile of garbage now" that seem like a waste of everyone's time.