I don't get the hype with Star Wars. It's not even that interesting. But that's just my opinion.

Number 5 really got me. It still has the most interesting battles. (Where it's not just "bang bang, oh dear!") the story also follows a more interesting path, and you have to love twist endings!

As for the prequels, well, they did a good job, worth seeing.

As for the cartoon.... I think I'm going to be sick.

StevenC., I vote you get banned for that blasphemy.

I guess I'll have to frame you for multi-accounting or something. ;)

First and second prequels = bleh
Third one was good mostly because it finally got to the creation of Darth Vader. Very powerful ending, IMHO.

A New Hope was the best, most complete one. Empire was okay, but was just the middle of the overall story with lots of lose ends. Jedi was starting to get too cutesy.

Empire is actually the best film of the bunch.

You know what I found interesting? The trilogy line of Pirates of The Caribbean was almost identical to that of the Original Trilogy. At the end of pirates 2 Jack "dies". and in Empire Han gets frozen. But then they both come back early on in the 3rd due to the efforts of their friends. Just an interesting little simile I saw.

Star Wars I see the appeal but overrated in my book fall behind trilogies like the godfather and even LOTR. argument for star wars over godfather maybe because of the bad third movie in the godfather trilogy but Godfather may be one of the best movies of all time and you can not say that about any of the Star wars Movies. As far as the prequels they served their purpose, exposed the rest of the story and made Lucas a billion dollars

"Star Wars" ( I refuse to call it by any other name) came out when I was 13. I was the target audience - Suburban, geeky white kid who spent all his time readying scifi and fantasy, and had just started playing D&D. I saw it 13 times that summer - mowed lawns to make the money.

Empire may be the best sequel of all times. But the original is still best in my book. Jedi would have been great if it weren't for those damn ewoks. Story is that Lucas' kids were scared by the Wookies.

My kids grew up on Star Wars - my oldest's reward for coming home with good reports from his teacher was that he got to watch 30 minutes of any of my 3 VHS copies. Not the re-released monstrosities in which Greedo shoots first. For a rouge to be redeemed at the end, he MUST be a rouge. Han shot first. If he kills Greedo only in self-defense, he's already a hero. bleah.

I'm not a huge star wars fan, but Empire gets my vote hands down. IV was too much of a cookie cutter action flick with a very predictable ending. VI was better than IV, but the emperor to my mind fell flat as the master villain, and Vader's change of heart at the end was just a little too Hallmark-ish for me. V though was a great story with no real failings IMHO.

Plus, YODA ROCKS! (he got no screen time in IV and only one scene in VI)

anybody up for a live game?

gameID=15259 join now!

I liked the one where Spock dies and they bring him back to life.

Yeah the third one was really good, I have to say. I think I liked it the best of them all, the music was good, and it really had a better ending than any of them. The tragic feel is the best.

"I liked the one where Spock dies and they bring him back to life."

That's two different movies, man. He dies in Wrath of Khan.

Kaaaaaaaaaaahn!

Heh, oops...

Khaaaaaaaaaaan*

Ok thanks...so they bring him back to life in the 4th one, A New Hope. Got it!

What is this Star Wars you speak of? I thought that ended once Reagan was out of office...

No Lan I think they made 7 of them.

Well....they made a new one this year but they wouldn't let the old fat guy who played Picard in the new movie.

Maybe it was Scottie...I get them confused.

VI for sure. Better climax. Plus, there's a land and space battle going on. Not just a bunch of fighters dodging AAA and trying to get a torpedo down that damn hole.

V was the best, it had the better ending. It set VI up to be a great movie and VI just failed

Best thing about the prequels can be summed up in four words.

Don't. Fuck. With. YODA!

My love of SW involves the lightsaber battles above and beyond it all. Lightsabers are so much more personal than blasters or spaceships. So, here is my review of the lightsaber battles and the order of the movies there in.

1 - Tie between the two Luke vs, Vader fights in Empire and Jedi. If I had to give and edge to one or the other, it would be Jedi as the Emperor gets involved and the main fight was so dark and well shot. But the whole father-son thing and the way the fights were handled, simply incredible.

3 - Revenge of the Sith. The most fights. Honestly, some of the best fights (even over Empire and Jedi) as Anakin wields two sabers and takes out Dooku, Yoda takes on the Emperor, and Obiwan reluctantly takes on Anakin in a several spectacular mano-e-mano fights.

4 - Phantom Menace. We may be lacking Yoda, Anakin/Vader, and Luke in the big fight, but Obiwan as a young, brash padiwan already shows some serious prowess, if a little hotheaded. And a double-bladed saber! Darth Maul rocks!

5 - Attack of the Clones. Remember those four words? Don't. Fuck. With. YODA! He's like a 500 year old tasmanian devil. The great big arena saber battle was fun, but Yoda facing off with Dooku was the best part of this travesty of the movie. Maybe if they had actually shown Anakin's decimating the Tuscan Raider camp like the describe it in the book, I could have gotten more into the movie as a whole.

6 - Star Wars (sorry, it did NOT say Episode 4 on original release. I know. I was 11 when it came out. This isn't something you forget as an 11-year old) anyhow, it only ranks below the others in any way because the fight itself wasn't as intense as the others. Honestly, I understand why Obiwan lowered his guard and invited Vader to strike him down, and the timing was perfect when it happened with Luke watching on, but the fight up until that point wasn't what I've now come to expect as Sir Alec was way too old to be an action hero.

OK, that's my take. I should conclude this by saying that none of them are disappointments in this regard as the reparte between Obiwan and Vader makes up for the lack of long shot scenes with intense action. But some entries have to be better than others in any list.

The problem with the Phantom Menace light saber duel is that the actor who played Darth Maul is a skilled martial artist, and Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson aren't. It *really* shows (even with the whole thing being choreographed), and it's painful to watch. Darth Maul could've killed them both in under twenty seconds, but he kept holding back...

Too frustrating to be enjoyable, at least for me...

That's one of the reasons it ranks below Empire, Jedi, and Revenge of the Sith. Ray Parks is great. He is currently playing the role of the knife wielding carnie on Heroes.

It's also one of the problems I have when I watch Highlander. As much as I love the stories, Adrian Paul is also a skilled martial artist and in all the swordfights, it is painfully obvious he could take his opponent at any time he wanted.

[snip]What is this Star Wars you speak of? I thought that ended once Reagan was out of office...[/snip]

Nope. Unfortunately, 'Star Wars' is still going on. I have a relative who's working for a big defense contractor to perfect a laser that will shoot down Soviet ICBMs even though the Soviet Union no longer exists...

Like RR said, there's nothing more permanent than a government program. :-(

Han shot first.

@grumbledook - YES! It cannot be stated too many times.

Han must shoot first. The entire story of redemption depends on it.