Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

TPM also brought back the sci-fi/fantasy franchises. Before TPM, blockbusters were based on movie stars and original ideas, but after TPM you had Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, etc. etc. Everything had to be a trilogy or a series, much in the same way all the studios were trying to create franchises after Star Wars success in 1977.

Great.

ANOTHER thing we can blame on that shi**y movie.

[Takeshi666]

As far as I'm concerned, the greatest cultural impact TPM had was the anticipation. It was like 1977 all over again, except this time people were looking forward to it. Star Wars toys were all over the shelves again, people were going nuts about it.

...and then they actually saw the movie.

[thegoat]

Unfortunately, TPM did inspire a wave of relentless, vitriolic, over dramatic internet bashing that continues to this day (though it's not as widespread as it used to be).

To the poster who wrote "Wooden McWooden," you should be ashamed, assuming that you did not write that from your elementary school's sandbox.

[Lord Method Man]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

TPM also brought back the sci-fi/fantasy franchises. Before TPM, blockbusters were based on movie stars and original ideas, but after TPM you had Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, etc. etc. Everything had to be a trilogy or a series, much in the same way all the studios were trying to create franchises after Star Wars success in 1977.

Yeah, except it didn't.

Lord of the Rings started production 4 years before TPM came out, and the Matrix was released a year before TPM.

But no, The Phantom Menace is was brought us those movies.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by Lord Method Man

Yeah, except it didn't.

Lord of the Rings started production 4 years before TPM came out, and the Matrix was released a year before TPM.

But no, The Phantom Menace is was brought us those movies.

Okay so the whole attributing those films is a little dubious, but the first Star Wars prequel (later to be called The Phantom Menace) was officially announced back in the fall of 1994, actual shooting began in 1997, and 1999 was the release. So yeah, it was before LOTR and The Matrix.

[Bruce Campbell]

Thankfully the first Matrix and the LOTR trilogy and Harry Potter films don't suck. If The Phantom Menace is responsible in any way for those films being made then at least something positive came out of the prequels.

[Lord Method Man]

Originally Posted by Bruce Campbell

If The Phantom Menace is responsible in any way for those films being made then at least something positive came out of the prequels.

Except it isn't and the straw-grasping by PT apologists trying to play up its importance is a new level of desperate.

[sdchrgrboy]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

...(And by the way, why did either Luke cutting his hand off or Vader lifting up the emperor kill Vader? - that never made sense either.)

Originally Posted by gregmasciola

I always thought of it like the Emperor's zapping keeps getting a bit more powerful each time he does it, so when Vader lifts him up, he's the one getting zapped, and he gets the final blow that would have killed Luke.

Exactly. Vader's suit was basically an iron lung machine. When he picked up the emperor he took the full onsalught of the force lighting. After throwing the emperor, you could hear his breathing was shollow as the suit was badly damaged by the lightning. He acccepted his fate that he was dying so he wated to look at Luke without the mask, and without his suit helping him breath at all, hastened his death. Getting his hand cut off and lifting the emperor had nothing to do with it

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

TPM also brought back the sci-fi/fantasy franchises. Before TPM, blockbusters were based on movie stars and original ideas, but after TPM you had Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, etc. etc. Everything had to be a trilogy or a series, much in the same way all the studios were trying to create franchises after Star Wars success in 1977.

The Matrix preceded The Phantom Menace...and crushed it at the Oscars to boot. The Phantom Menace had @#$% all to do with Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings in 2001.

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by balthazar_bee

For the record, Natalie Portman is every bit as terrible as our man Hayden in Attack of the Clones. As a more established screen actor, it's easier to overlook I guess, but she barely seems to know what she's doing in any given scene. I've never been able to look at her the same way since.

Frankly, I think they both fare considerably better in Revenge of the Sith, a film I genuinely enjoy and admire, hmm, "in its totality"? I like parts of The Phantom Menace (I'd better, since I saw it theatrically an ungodly number of times), and there are a few isolated things in Attack of the Clones that are enjoyable...but to say that either are superior to Revenge of the Sith?

Hell, at this point I like Sith quite a bit more than Jedi, and I watched the shit out of Jedi as a kid, thinking it was the greatest movie of all time.

I think what strikes me most about ROTS is how lean it is. AOTC is a lot of pointless, weightless dialogue exchanges (not exactly GL's "for-tay") and scenes of spaceships taking off and arriving, while the always-reliable John Williams tries desperately to add a bit of gravity. (Even this was sabotaged at the editing stage, with Lucas and Burtt reusing several TPM cues to distracting and none-too-impressive effect.) It's the longest of the prequels, as I recall, and roughly half of the movie has exactly zero dramatic impact.

Just look at the opening scene -- almost certainly the worst scene in Star Wars history -- which has all of the film's biggest flaws on parade: A spaceship arrives, there's an explosion, followed by a poorly-written/delivered-yet-supposedly-weighty dialogue scene (that I'm still convinced makes very little sense), then a wipe transition to an anonymous room in Coruscant and some more of the same.

Every time I watch ROTS, I marvel at how much momentum it has. At the halfway point, I suddenly realize that the final act of the film is about to start, and I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. There's no fat on it. AOTC, by comparison, has no meat.

TPM is somewhere in between. A reasonably involving story, with a few questionable scenes (or scenes that wear out their welcome), culminating in a spectacular duel that tends to redeem everything that came before.

Just one guy's opinion. Might as well talk about this, since I'm sure some of us are tired of repeating, "Release the OUT already!"

I'm with you about Natalie Portman. No one in any of the prequels gets a pass from me. Gosh, Ewan McGregor looks like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world all through episodes II & III.

Revenge of the Sith is still a terrible nonsensical movie. I can understand that people like it but I can't accept that it is a better movie than the others. The acting is pure ham, the character names make me laugh out loud (Grievous? Might as well name him 'General Bad') and the story just goes around in a circle.

OK I can accept it is better than Attack of the Clones, because it is. Just not by much.

Come one now, who didn't burst into hysterics when Vader yelled "NOOOOOOOOOOO"??

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by bongozoid

Come one now, who didn't burst into hysterics when Vader yelled "NOOOOOOOOOOO"??

*raises hand*

I saw it at least twice before I knew that it was a "thing." That's certainly the least of my problems with those movies.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by thegoat

Unfortunately, TPM did inspire a wave of relentless, vitriolic, over dramatic internet bashing that continues to this day (though it's not as widespread as it used to be).

It was a shitty film. People saying so is not some kind of crime.

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

*raises hand*

I saw it at least twice before I knew that it was a "thing." That's certainly the least of my problems with those movies.

It was by far my favorite moment of the entire prequel trilogy.

[Howdy]

The prequels were just phenomenal films made by an incredible group of talented people. They captured the essence of Star Wars perfectly. What an amazing saga. A big thanks goes out to all who helped create these wonderful films.

[Bruce Campbell]

I saw Sith with my brother and parents. As we were walking out my mother said "that Frankenstein walk and the "no" were ridiculous". My mother who has never really even cared about Star Wars was actually mad at the film. We went to dinner directly afterwards and she was still picking it apart. The way Padme went out was the big thing for her. My mother still likes Jar Jar Binks and doesn't get the hate he receives so take that as you will.

[Batmon77]

im watching my 2006 Tin Box original trilogy DVD....should i have my audio set to MONO or keep it surround for Star Wars?

[Howdy]

Originally Posted by Bruce Campbell

I saw Sith with my brother and parents. As we were walking out my mother said "that Frankenstein walk and the "no" were ridiculous". My mother who has never really even cared about Star Wars was actually mad at the film. We went to dinner directly afterwards and she was still picking it apart. The way Padme went out was the big thing for her. My mother still likes Jar Jar Binks and doesn't get the hate he receives so take that as you will.

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it. I really like them.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Batmon77

im watching my 2006 Tin Box original trilogy DVD....should i have my audio set to MONO or keep it surround for Star Wars?

I would say have it on surround

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

The Matrix preceded The Phantom Menace...and crushed it at the Oscars to boot. The Phantom Menace had @#$% all to do with Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings in 2001.

Just like X-Men had nothing to do with Spider-Man two years later? Sorry, but that's not true. Yes, Lord of the Rings was already in production, but it's no coincidence that after 1999 every studio pushed more money into building franchises.

[Howdy]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

I would say have it on surround

Absolutely!