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I just wanted to hear your thoughts on this.If they continue the story,do you try to get the original actors to return,or recast?I'm not really crazy about this,but maybe they can rejuvenate a franchise that Lucas seems to have tried his best to destroy.

Why? Episodes 1-3 already dragged the series down pretty much as far as possible, so either these new movies will be redemptive or they'll be bad and nothing will change. 

And Lucas isn't writing anymore so the new one is pretty much guaranteed to be better than Eps 1-3. 

I think Ep. 3 has the best action sequences of the prequels, but I think for me 2 is the most watchable overall. The dialogue of 3 is just so, SO bad imo that it drags sections of the film to Jar-Jar territory. 

I love Star Wars, but I think that Lucas is in some ways the worst thing about it. His original screenplays were wretched before other people cleaned them up and the best entry was the one he had the least to do with (the aforementioned 5). I agree that the clone wars TV series is excellent and in fact most of the expanded universe stuff is excellent as well (and mostly untouched by Mr. Lucas). George Lucas' vision is admirable but honestly, I think it's primarily the work of others that have made the SW universe what it is.

Which is why I look forward to Ep. 7 with cautious optimism. 

Ignoring the newer films:

Positives of Star Wars:  Boba Fett, Dark Vader (before the reveal), Han Solo, Billy Dee Williams, the Slave Leia costume, Ewoks (that's right, I find them a positive) inspired Spaceballs

 

Let's just say I never understood why these films were are so important to so many people. 

Star Wars is important and you dont need to try to understand it, just accept it.

C3PO is a legendary character and indispensable

As a Star Wars freak myself I am glad the series will continue as it will make my SW collection all the more valuable as it maintains its hold on popular culture. 

Actually there will be more merchandise with the new movies and TV series being made so thats good news for all collectors.

Hey that was your post number 666

on Halloween

scary!

anyhoo, it may be a hoax I agree but makes sense in a weird sort of way that Lucas would want it to continue without him

Sshhhhhhhhhh Spielberg may be watching and taking notes

I really don't want to see an aging Luke,Leia,Han and the rest trying to rebuild the Republic.If the EU books can be filmed I'd like to see something like the New Jedi Order,where the focus is on the Solo and Skywalker children.Or movies that deal with prequel events and some of the interesting side characters.Shadows of the Empire would be a pretty awesome movie.

Now for summer blockbuster in 2023, it's Star Wars Episode Seven - part seven! 

I'm utterly indifferent to the franchise (I did quite enjoy Bioware's take on the Old Republic). But I strick'alee associate myself with half of episode IV and two-thirds of episode V. Okay, maybe the first ten minutes of episode VI. I ignore the prequel trilogy as best I can (while admitting that, even if I don't like it, III is much better than the first two prequels). I'll probably hate this one as much as I hated Indiana Jones 4. Nuking the fridge? Really? I'll bet they'll sneak some third rate buffoons into the acting line-up. How about some Seth Rogen, Gabriel Iglesias, Adam Sandler and Channing Tatum? The new dark sith lord: David Bowie!

This is probably the only thing we actually agree on.  I much prefer the prequels to the OT.  The OT is just a generic adventure story with pretty one-dimensional characters, and while the acting in the PT is maligned, the OT provided no better in the way of acting.  And Ian McDiarmid, who was turned loose in the PT, blew away all the other actors in both trilogies.  And I don't care what people think of Hayden, I thought he was a much better actor than Mark.  A little stiff in II, but in III, his performance was pretty exceptional I thought.  Finally, they didn't blow up the same freaking machine twice in the PT.  I mean really, it was bad enough they spent so much of IV focused on blowing up the death star, but we had to live through it again in Jedi.  Parts of IV and VI are ok, but yeah, V is the only one that even comes close to standing up to the PT.  I don't understand all the love for the OT and all the hate for the PT.  Political intrigue, character development, Darth Sidious > generic adventure romp any day of the week.

I agree 100%.

We agree in wanting a better world. We just differ on the ways to get there Doc 

Of course, the least said about Jar Jar Binks, the better. 

 

They re-released these movies at the end of the nineties, adding computer generated stuff, but very little , just a few computer generated characters in the background and one extra scene as I remember. But these things adds nothing. That extra scene with a computer animated Jabba The Hutt, I don't even remember what happened in it , or what was the point of it. I mean, what was the point? So this new technology granted Lucas to finalize the movies the way he always had wanted them to be? What is it in these added things that is so important, and that couldn't have been done originally, without computer technology? It was all about money of course.

 

Then came the new movie, Phantom Menace. I think I was very prepared to be disappointed, but I couldn't have imagined what I was about to see, it was shocking. I mean, it's not exactly a failure. A failure would happen when having tried to live up to big expectations to create something that feels authentic and natural, with modern freshness. It was 16 years since "Return of the Jedi", so it was a big moment. And they delivered what appeared like a Disney movie. I couldn't see any true ambition behind it. There was no feeling for the series, it didn't feel like Star Wars. So I guess it was only about money again.

 

I don't see those three movies as being part of the series, and with that perception,  III: Revenge of the Sith is actually pretty good to me. Visually it's nice with the environments and costumes. The atmosphere is more serious with Anakins process of turning to the dark side.

 

So Disney has bought Star Wars? It's a big trademark, think about the toys and videogames and merchandise. A colossal amount of money. I don't think there is room for any ambition and creativity which seeks an authentic Star Wars feeling. But it will of course have the latest technology in special effects. And a host of new characters, and stuff that are likely winners with the crowd, like some Boba Fett inspired character and other retro-inspired stuff, just to entertain the audience.

 

Not that the original movies didn't have a broad appeal, it was made to be entertaining, but it had something of its own, whereas new movies of the series will always reuse old ideas and bring nothing new except soulless computer animations.

 

I don't quite agree...a commercial interest can be reflected to different degrees, it doesn't have to be 100% commercial with a complete sacrifice of artistic and creative quality. But when re-releasing the original movies as a box, what they had added to them had no real ambition behind it beyond enticing people to buy

the box.

 

I think the original movies show countless of artistic and creative aspects that are independent of people's expectations. The sounds for example, the sound of the tie-fighter is a masterpiece in itself. It was based on the sound of an elephant. That really gave it character. That requires some creative thinking. It's got nothing to do with commerialism.  The original movies have an abundance of characteristic and expressive elements. Compare it to Jar-Jar Binks. There's a completely different mindset behind the creation of such a character.

Jar Jar Binks is the bogeyman that PT-haters love to bring up as an example of why the PT is so awful (that's usually the only thing they bring up though because they can't think of any other good reasons to hate the PT), but obviously the OT-lovers have very short memories, because they seem to forget about the fact that a good third of Jedi was spent dealing with those idiotic Ewoks.  I'm not saying Jar Jar was the greatest creation ever, but the Ewoks are at least as annoying. 

As for artistic merit, yes there were some fantastic achievements in special effects in the OT, but for story and character development, the PT was light years ahead of the OT.

Episodes 1 and 2 - a 10 minute prelude image-collage

Episode 3 - A 20 minute story introduction

Episode 4 - a 40 minute adventure short

Episode 5 - a 50 minute end to the film with the bleak finale acting as a sort of myopic denouement. 

Episode 6 - May as well chop it out entirely.

So, there you have it, my ideal single Star Wars 2-hour experience. We'll call it Black Harvest. It'd cut out all the Ewoks AND Jar-Jar. You wouldn't have to sit through Hayden's acting, really. There'd be less cheesiness. You wouldn't have to waste two entire afternoons for all of it. 

The political,religious,social and military machinations that Palpatine employed in his rise to power fascinates me.It is a large,very complex web of deceit.

n00b 

 

Yeah, someway related is better than nothing. I just look at the movies as something different from the books and tv things and etc.

 

I have to say the only thing I remember from episode 2 was computer animated robots.

 

But I think the story holds together in the first trilogy. It's an adventure movie and its strength is how characteristic everything is , the different environments, the characters, robots, the space scenes with different kinds of spaceships and all the perfectly designed sounds. The best thing of Star Wars is James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth vader.  And storywise, the battle between the light and dark side and the"force" are great story elements. And the fact that Obi Wan Kenobi trains Anakin to become jedi, and Anakin eventually turned to the dark side, and it then turns out he is Lukes father.... it's an epic story, what's to complain about? 

Though it is all in how they put it out. I found that Ender from Ender's game being so damn gifted in military strategy to be perfectly reasonable while I found Anakin's abilities in E1 to be foolishly put across. I guess it is because I respect Orson Scott Card ever more than anyone involved with Star Wars as a story designer.

 

 

Maybe you would have preferred a more conventional video game style battle, the two of them by themselves in a large area, orchestral music, surrounded by a thunderstorm with lightning flashes. These days everything is adapted to people's expectations. It becomes superficial and predictable.

 

I think it was a spontaneous unpretentious meeting, it happened naturally.

I was disappointed by prequel 1, but prequel 2 wasn't bad and I really liked prequel 3, actually.

 

It's a matter of preference I guess. I can only say that to me there isn't anything in the history of movies that can be compared to Star Wars. Looking at Phantom Menace though, I don't think it has anything that sets it apart from other adventure movies. It's more a product of its time , while I think Star Wars is not a product of its time because there isn't anything like it.

 

There are a lot of big modern movies I don't care for, I might add. Lord of the Rings - it totally sucks in my opinion. And my primary focus is not if the story is 100% waterproof and if everything is fully logical. I find Lord of the Rings to be completely soulless, shallow and superficial, it doesn't have a shred of true creative character and independence. Avatar is the same thing. I was recommended it by people who were completeky beside themselves in admiration. I thought it was crap, no more no less. Phantom Menace is not as bad as Avatar , but I still see it as just one of the products of our times. But "The Revenge of the Sith" was pretty good I must say. Maybe I should watch the second part to refresh my memory , I only remember computer animations.

 

My suspicion is that most people who likes the modern Star Wars movies also admires movies like "Avatar", Avatar 2", ", "Spider man" and countless other super hero movies (there are countless), "Lord of the Rings trilogy", "The Hobbit", "Titanic" and such crap. I like a lot of movies, but I wouldn't compare anything to Star Wars.

 

The Disney movie will probably be entertaining and have a high level of special effects. I have to confess that I found the Transformers movies entertaining and that the special effects in the third movie was remarkable, despite that it was made of compurter animations. But it shows that the technology level is advancing.But on the subject of movies with a high level of computer generated effects,  I wasn't very impressed by "Prometheus", I thought it was visually dull. I appreciate natural light and I don't think Prometheus had any of that. So if the Disney movie can make a Star Wars movie that will look good, that's a good start.

Darth Disney:  Lucas, I am your father!

Lucas:  Noooooooooooo!

 

I am looking forward to any new SW firms, as long as the writing is halfway bearable and visual effects take me away and they don't trash it up.  Just something fun to escape into and forget the world for awhile like the first time I saw SW.

 

Anything is better than another remake of past movies, The Fog, Planet of the Apes, countless Spiderman/Batman, Psycho, and while typing this I saw a trailer for another Red Dawn..........

 

It was worth seeing in a 3D theater, just to expeience being in a Roger Dean album cover.