General star wars talk/discussion/complaining

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Entertainment wise, there is legit nothing better than good Star Wars.

Good Lord of the Rings movies.

 

[Reynard]

Good Lord of the Rings movies.

 

[Vael]

The only real question that matters: which are better FOR YOU -- lightsaber duels or space battles?

I love a good duel but I have to say EVERY Star Wars movie has at least one great space battle. The ones in RotJ and Rogue One are probably my favorites.

Both ... or neither.

A good fight does something interesting to advance the story or reveal a character. Good fights have clarity of action (ie, I know what's going on) and ideally something fun or unique about them.

But they are not required, Andor has one space battle and while it's a banger, it's not what made the show so good. The Acolyte has some great lightsaber duels ... but it's still a bit incoherent as a TV show. AOTC and TROS both have a lot of both ... and I still don't care for those movies.

Still, presented unordered (because I would flip flop on the exact sequencing) ... my top 5 lightsaber duels / space battles (Film only).

• Space Battle: The Battle for Scarif (Rogue One). This is a great battle. Easy stakes, easy to figure out what is going on, a fun fight with a shield generator ... and that visual of that Star Destroyer getting pushed into the other one. Great battle.
• Both: The Battle for Endor (ROTJ). Gotta give it to ROTJ, the battle for Endor worked on all three levels. The personal duel between Luke and Vader, the confused melee of the space battle, and I'm pro Ewok shenanigans taking out Imperial walkers with traps and such.
• Lightsaber Duel: The Duel of the Fates (TPM). On the other side, we have the finale of The Phantom Menace, where only the lightsaber fight really works for me. (Actually, I don't mind the bits with Amidala and troops storming the palace, but the less said about the fight in orbit or Jar Jar's shenanigans with the battle droids the better). You have one of John William's best pieces that isn't in the OG trilogy, this one really works for me. (Putting these two next to each other do make me think how much is this an age thing? As I grew up with ROTJ, but was an adult when TPM aired, so I had less patience for the slapstick in the Prequels, but didn't mind it at Endor.)
• Lightsaber Duel: The Throne Room (TLJ). Rey and Kylo Ren tearing up Snoke's Imperial Guard is another great fight. The fire, the bright red of the guards, it is a visual feast.
• Space Battle: The Battle of Yavin (ANH). The OG. The icon. This made Star Wars.

Honorable mention to ESB, but Hoth isn't really a space battle and the fight between Luke and Vader was great vibes, but spatially confusing.

 

[MarkB]

It's not just that Star Wars movies tend to have duels and battles, what makes many of them stand out is having multiple simultaneous battles intercut with each other, where the ebb and flow of conflict is reflected across all battlefields.

Done most effectively in RotJ and Rogue One, with conflicts at the personal scale along with larger surface and space battles.

TPM also does this with a total of four simultaneous conflicts, but Jar Jar's antics and Anakin's accidental-hero stuff undermines two of them.

 

[payn]

TPM also does this with a total of four simultaneous conflicts, but Jar Jar's antics and Anakin's accidental-hero stuff undermines two of them.

For sure. That movie needed drama relief from all the gags.

 

[Zardnaar]

Looking at the more popular stories, games etc over the years the essence of Star Wars.

1. Lightsabers
2. Jedi/Sith
3. Starfighters/space combat
4. Set piece battle on the ground.
5. Fringe/criminal type stories (thanks han).

Most popular stories over the years generally fall into tjise categories. Eg Rogue Squadron Games/TIE fighter games , Thrawn stuff, Knights of the Old Republic, Bounty Hunter/Fett etc.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Good Lord of the Rings movies.

 

[Reynard]

Having finally finished Maul: Shadow Lord:

That is sone of thr best Star Wars in years.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Rogue Squadron Games/TIE fighter games

Starfighters are very easily gamified. Starfighter games are older than Star Wars.

Thrawn stuff,

Thrawn does not use a lightsabre or fly a starfighter. He is all about large scale strategy and tactics. Having just rewatched Sink the Bismarck!, this is something I would like to see more of in Star Wars. Some TCW episodes manage to pull this off. Much of the action takes place in the war room over several days, and focuses on where to allocate resources.

Knights of the Old Republic

Lightsabres and spaceships are part of that setting, but this was a story based game focused on a strong narrative and detailed world building. It didn't just give us different coloured lightsabres because they looked cool, it assigned meaning to them. It also created the Sith code and other elements of Star Wars lore that we now take for granted.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

For sure. That movie needed drama relief from all the gags.

Lucas wasn't wrong to try and make the movie appealing to kids, but the aging Lucas was becoming increasingly out of touch with where the kids were at. So we ended up with something that tried too hard and was full of dad jokes.