Do you really like Star Wars?

[Templetroll]

I loved the first trilogy. Phantom Menace lost me with that medichloran .... stuff. It was just a mistake, along with characters added to be Happy Meals toys (Jar-Jar). They didn't need it.

I went to see the Clone one, I'll go see the next, but I no longer have the need to be there the first day. I'm looking forward to seeing the creation of Darth Vader, so long as that is cool the movie will be okay.

I never had interest in reading the novels, no opinion beyond that.

 

[Captain Tagon]

I've enjoyed the movies, but the books were mostly awful.

Eh, I think awful is a bit too strong of a word to use for the books. I can remember only a few that stuck out as bad in my mind, and for the most part they were at least enjoyable reads to pass the time through middle and high school.

 

[Ferret]

I voted for the new ones, I thought it meant the redo of them not the new films. I actully like all of them, I've only seen the new ones once, maybe twice, but the old ones 2-3 times. And that was all a while ago. But i like them all, but I've never seen any of the other stuff, books, t-shirts any of it. Apart from Clone Wars, the cartoon.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I like the original trilogy. I like the mythos of Star Wars. The Jedi, the Force, the evil Empire of stark Black and White devouring the galaxy. The death's head Darth Vader. The lightsabers. Luke starting to become a machine, just like his father. The symbolism of it all.

The new movies have great fight scenes. Clearly George could afford better choreographers this time around. But other than that (and Natalie Portman. ) they don't do anything for me. I don't really think George himself understands why some of us loved the original trilogy. He stumbled across something brilliant with the original trilogy. Now he's just stumbling.

Midichlorians? *sigh*

 

[JackGiantkiller]

Hate: midichlorians, Jar Jar, little Annie, Hayden Christensen's wooden acting, Natalie Portman's wooden acting, all the secondary character's wooden acting (I blame the director, i don't think he allowed enough rehearsals and takes to get the right feel). I especially hate that they manage to make the great Christopher Lee look stupid several times. I hate that the great villain potential of Darth Maul was prematurely crushed. I hate the overly cartoony nature of some of the alien villains, like the Trade Federation.

Love: Liam Neeson as Qui Gon, Ewan MacGregor as Obi Wan. Mace Windu is a cool character, and I wish Samuel L. Jackson had been given sufficient takes to portray him. It is sad that the best played character in the prequels is Yoda...but that is to be expected from Frank Oz. I love the special effects, and the lightsaber battles are good, good, good. The starfighter battles are better in the second of the prequels than the first.

I wish that all of the Jedi had spent more time with lightsaber and battle practice...many of the secondary characters look like kids with toy sabers, not Jedi. The over dependance on CGI battle droids made it very hard for the actors to portray the fight...it looks like they were directed to do a set of movements...and then the action wasn't really matched to it all that well.

Lord Pendragon, we are in accord. Except about Portman.

 

[Wombat]

I so clearly remember seeing Star Wars on it's first run. Back then it wasn't A New Hope, it had its proper name -- STAR WARS.

That movie was so much fun! I mean, after about five years no absolutely no decent hero films, here it was -- good guys, bad guys, minimal plot, questionable acting, whopping great special effects. It was a very simple film. A great one? No, not really, but a lot of fun, perfect popcorn fair. And I, like most of the audience that first time, stood and applauded when the Death Star was destroyed.

Then came The Empire Strikes Back. Man, it pushed Star Wars to 11! Deeper plot, better acting, fantastic effects and scenery, that film had everything! And because of that there was a lot of hope for all future films.

...then came the ewoks...

Talk about a massive disappointment! Stone Age Teddy Bears versus the Empire? And holding their own? And George wanted me to believe this? Forget it. As long as the movie was on Vader's ship and the new Death Star, it was great, but when it was planetside (Tatooine and Endor both), the whole thing just got childish and silly.

But to frost me, he had to go and make "Episode I". Episode I? I had seen Episode I! It was called Star Wars! But no, now Star Wars was A New Hope, George's ideas had run dry (ho hum, yet another Death Star destroyed, this time by accident), The Force was now tied to bugs in the veins instead of mystical training, etc., etc.

Star Wars has burnt me too often. Yes, I read the novelizations of the first three books. They were so-so. I read another one involving organized crime -- I found it nearly unreadable. For me, there are the first two-and-a-half movies and that is it. Everything else is merely a faded imitation of the glory that was.

 

[Crothian]

Eh, I think awful is a bit too strong of a word to use for the books. I can remember only a few that stuck out as bad in my mind, and for the most part they were at least enjoyable reads to pass the time through middle and high school.

I think awful fits really well. There were a few that I liked but some of the Star Wars books become the first that I wouldn't even finsih reading. And that was when I was much younger, I'm sure if I read them I'd have evena lower opinion of them now.

 

[haiiro]

I like the original trilogy (yes, even Jedi), and to a lesser extent Episode II, as well as most of the toys, and all of the Lego that doesn't stem from Episode I. I've read maybe one of the books, and none of the famous ones (like Zahn's), and not seen any of the TV specials or other spinoffs.

I didn't see a poll option that reflected this mix, so I didn't vote.

 

[Qlippoth]

Never read the fiction beyond the novelization of Eps. 4-6; haven't played any of the video games (though Battlegrounds interests me). When Star Wars first came out, I was 7 years old and couldn't wait for that happy day when I'd be driving cars without wheels. Loved Empire (despite its requisite Lucasity, I still think it's the best of the bunch); liked Jedi mostly for Jabba's scenes, the space battle scenes, & especially the speeder bike chase.

I've found that with the prequels, it's more of a pick-and-choose affair; when Phantom Menace came out, I (being older & jaded, I guess) HATED Superboy Anakin, the midchlorians sell-out of (what I'd previously thought) a non-science-fictional mysticism, and of course, the Gungan Who Will Not Be Named. However, I LOVED Palpatine's plotting, Ewan MacGregor as Obi-Wan, the lightsaber duels, and the pod race (the Tusken Raiders' taking potshots at the racers more than made up for the Jeff Foxworthy race announcer).

Attack of the Clones? HATED the wooden performances (though Anakin and Padme are lovely to look at), the diner, and the godawful Romantic Dialogue. LOVED Palpatine's plotting, Ewan MacGregor as Obi-Wan, the lightsaber duels (go Yoda!), and that wonderful, awful feeling when the Imperial March plays at the end as the proto-Empire begins.

All said? I'm 35, and still finding myself HATING and LOVING movies (instead of saying, "whatever"). I'll be in line for Ep. 3.

 

[Zulithe]

I like most things Star Wars, and some of it I love. Very little, if any, do I hate, but the stuff I like least tends to be from the Expanded Universe.

For starters, I don't dislike the midichlorian explaination like a lot of fans do. You have to see where Lucas is coming from with that idea. When writing Star Wars, Lucas was HUGELY inspired by the writings of Joseph Campbell. You could say one of the underlying themes of Campbell's research is finding explaination to things that most people don't delve into much, instead just blindly and ignorantly accepting it. Lucas is definitely not that sort of person, and wanted to put a logical face to the force, explain why it was stronger in some than others, etc. To me, this works better than having the Force be something extraordinary or mystical since I do not believe such things anyway. Everything is natural or can be explained, and in Star Wars, so is the force.

At the same time, I understand why many are upset. But it makes me wonder how upset people would be if other things, like God, or how the universe was created, or how humans came to be what we are today were explained. They would lose a lot of their appeal and magesty I suppose once people see that it isn't as grand as they had it worked out in their imagination, which is exactly what happened to The Force to some fans. It's unfortunate, but this is Lucas' world and I approve of his choice.

I read the Zhan trilogy, and tried reading The New Jedi Order, but there are things about Star Wars which can never translate well to the page, and this is coming from a book lover. The music, the sound effects, the moody and gritty sets. This is why I am so looking forward to the new TV series. Television is a format much more appropriate for expanding the Star Wars mythos than books, IMO.

I loved the Clone Wars tv series, if for nothing other than the fight sequences. I think a more realistic animation style would have been better, but I still enjoyed it. No complaints.

I really bought into the hype of Episode I that started around the time of the Special Edition theatrical release. I went to a packed midnight showing with 5 or 6 friends, it was a blast. I wasn't let down one bit. There are things I would have done differenty but so would anyone. To get into those changes would be a thread unto itself, but I will say that I wouldn't have darkened the film (much) and I agree with Lucas that the story of Darth Vader needed to start on a lighter note. To have him be the "evil" character we see in Vader in the original trilogy from the get go would have been a mistake.

Like a lot of people, my favorite Star Wars film is Episode V. We were promised a lot about Episode II, and how it was supposed to be more "Empire" like, being the second movie of the second trilogy and all. In that respect, it was a real failure, but on its own, I still like it. I think the reason it faired less at the box office than Episode I was simply becuase the hype about "Hey, Star Wars is back! Yayy!" had ran its course, not becuase it was a bad movie or that fans were fedup and rejected it. That's a bunch of bull. Most fans enjoyed Episode II more than Episode I anyway, if anyone bailed, it was Joe Public, not the fans.