(Episode II) Yoda makes me squeal with glee.

[Welverin]

It's a pretty fun theory to think about, if one I pray doesn't come true. I do look forward to this supposed twist in the upcoming SW movies I keep reading rumors about...

It was an interesting theory but there is one major flaw that wasn't mentioned, Anakin is to young to be Ben Kenobi in ANH. He's nine years old in tPM, which takes place 32 years before ANH. This means Anakin is 41 at the time of ANH and at least ten years to young to pass for Ben (and I'd say closer to twenty).

 

[Mistwell]

Wow, that theory really is cool (though I don't buy it).

As for Trimeulose and his "I'm almost crying over here (seriously)" ... well, what can I say. It really is just a movie. Lucas said long ago, and some of which he repeated last month in Time magazine, the only intent he ever had for Star Wars was to present a few episodes in the middle of a Saturday afternoon radio show, cheap adventure movie, or pulp comic book. That's it. The cowboys / swashbucklers have a bar fight, rescue the princess, swings across the room, have sword fights, kill the evil guy wearing the black hat, and everyone celebrates in the end. Later, they get trapped in the Alamo, and go on to blow up the enemies fort. The force is thrown in because Lucas was in the midst of becoming a Buddhist at the time (and, as he says, it's because everyone where he lives, which is Marin county, is a Buddhist). Fast races take place in the movies because Lucas loved racing where he grew up in Modesto, California (and turned to comic books, radio shows, and cheap adventure movies after his serious car accident).

There is really very little that is even slightly original in any of the Star Wars movies. Take it out of outer space, and you can find literally dozens of (usually bad) movies and radio shows and comic books of Lucas' generation that feature the various plot points of all of the movies.

You can worship the original movies all you want. But I doubt you will ever be satisfied. Enjoy them for what they are, good, youthful entertainment, and you will like them all.

Me, I love them.

 

[Gizzard]

Random thought: Heres the ratings of the various movies from the rottentomatos website (which is an average based on the published reviews of a big bunch of national critics AFAIK)

Star Wars 97%
Empire Strikes Back 97%
Return of the Jedi 79%
Phantom Menace 58%

I went to check this out after reading a messages in this thread that claimed, "you're just looking at the old Star Wars through rose-colored nostalgia glasses" or alternately, "TPM wasnt a bad movie by itself." (For what its worth, I figured all these film critics would be a more impartial judge than us D&D geeks.

Its an interesting excercise; if you use the sorting algorithms you can see what other recent sci-fi movies fall close to TPM scorewise (Pitch Black 54%, Jurassic Park III 50% for example) and what other movies got high ratings (X-Men 77%, Harry Potter 79%, LotR 96%).

For the record, I'd agree with these ratings give or take 5 points.

Back to the original subject; I sure hope the next movie is good. If you follow the trend line though, the next one should be rated just below 40%. That puts it in the same league as The Cell (38%). Hmmm. Still hoping anyway.

 

[Ristamar]

Random thought: Heres the ratings of the various movies from the rottentomatos website (which is an average based on the published reviews of a big bunch of national critics AFAIK)

Star Wars 97%
Empire Strikes Back 97%
Return of the Jedi 79%
Phantom Menace 58%

I went to check this out after reading a messages in this thread that claimed, "you're just looking at the old Star Wars through rose-colored nostalgia glasses" or alternately, "TPM wasnt a bad movie by itself." (For what its worth, I figured all these film critics would be a more impartial judge than us D&D geeks.

I don't know how much stock I'd put in the scores of the movies in the original trilogy. I'm not saying I disagree with them, but perhaps if the reviews would have been tallied when those movies first came out, I'd put more faith in them. However, plenty of critics revised their original opinions (whether they had given a formal review or not) of the films years after they were released and became almost universally beloved by the movie-going public. Bad mouthing a film that's essentially considered a classic would be pretty stupid.

Also, keep in mind that plenty of today's critics seemingly don't know their a** from a hole in the ground. Let's take a look at the esteemed reviewers from EW... first, Lisa Schwarzbaum. This woman is supposedly one of the 'Cream of the Crop' reviewers. She gave Attack of the Clones a C+, which apparently scores as a 'rotten' review. She also gave Fight Club a D and Crossroads (yes, the Britney Spears movie) a B+. Owen Gleiberman, another 'Cream of the Crop' reviewer from EW, gave O Brother, Where Art Thou an F and Deep Blue Sea (the Jaws ripoff) a B-.

As I glance over these very odd scores, one thing comes to mind -- movie critics don't know jack ****.

Basically, don't worry about what some moron from the New York Times, or any other supposedly esteemed critic, has to say about the movie, and don't worry about tallying positive vs. negative reviews. Just go watch it with an open mind, and for a few hours, be a kid again.

 

[Gizzard]

> Also, keep in mind that plenty of today's critics seemingly
> don't know their a** from a hole in the ground.

Ah, you scared me there. I went back to look; overall Fight Club got a 78% and the Britney movie got a 13% which are pretty sensible numbers. The whole point is that they mass everyones opinion together and therefore looking at what one particular critic says kinda defeats the purpose.

> However, plenty of critics revised their original opinions...

Thats a good point. I think its overly cynical to think that most critics changed their reviews from bad to good over time, but its worth keeping in mind. OTOH, I dont think we'll see TPM slowly climb to classic status over the next decade.

 

[333 Dave]

My theory (which, despite appearences, I've had since this thread started):

Anakin is cloned, the clone becomes Vader and kills the origonal. This keeps both what Ben and Vader says true. (you know, Vader betrayed and murdured your father, as well as he is your father). Now in the midst of the Clone Wars I think that Anakin would be the first Jedi cloned, seings how he's so f-ing strong in the Force.
Now I hope in Episode 3 they bring out Aanakin Skywalker and they have this huge fight... . And of course the clone Aanakin doesn't know that Anakin has kids... or even who Padmé is.

Ooh new theory: Anaking was genetically engineered (by Palpatine of course, and the 'perfect student' embryo planted in Shmi where nobody would find it, Qui-Gon's stubmling on him was an accident, though in the end its better for ol' Palpy because his 'student' gets some serious training before corruption).