Lord of the Rings Trilogy vs. Classic Star Wars Trilogy

[Bass Puppet]

um, LOTR.....DUH!

 

[Celtavian]

re

For its visual beauty alone, Lord of the Rings is the best trilogy ever. No one has ever brought to life an imaginary world like Peter Jackson brought to life Middle Earth. You could show Lord of the Rings without sound and still be overwhelmed by the imagery. It is a beautiful, visually breath-taking set of movies with Return of the King being the best of the three in terms of visual beauty.

 

[diaglo]

For its visual beauty alone, Lord of the Rings is the best trilogy ever.

if you want visual beauty Winged Migration has it beat a thousand fold.

LotR on paper is way better than the movies.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I can't choose.

Star Wars will forever be the end all, be all Science Fiction Trilogy.
Lord of the Ring will (most likely) take up its own place as the end all, be all Fantasy Trilogy.

 

[John Crichton]

To me it is apples and oranges.

I am a huge fan of both. In the case of Star Wars I have loved all of the films (prequels included) and recognize the flaws which I have had years to pick out. But the films stand up VERY well and have injected themselves into our culture and collective consiousness. Sure, LotR technically came first and Lucas did use some elements of it but Tolkien wasn't inventing the wheel either. He just made it run better. Yes, I understand he basically invented the modern fantasy fiction genre but it had been done many years before by both the Greeks and Romans.

If we are talking pure movies (which we have to for the sake of conversation) and comparing Star Wars 4-6 and LotR then I simply have to look at a few things. Lucas wrote, directed and produced the majority of the Star Wars movies from scratch. I'm not going to go into style or opinion about either Jackson or Lucas here because it distracts my point. Jackson had one of the best writers in history for his movie, he simply adapted it. Add to that, LotR was already widely popular with a gigantic fan base to draw people to the theater. Add completed artwork and years of study done and analysis on the topic.

Lord of the Rings had tens of millions of fans before the movies were even in production. To me, this made the task of creating the films easier than Star Wars. Star Wars set the bar. It also made possible the creation of the Lord of the Rings motion pictures by its success. So we have a chicken or the egg situation, in my eyes.

Add to it that the stories are very different. They simply share a fantastical setting, based on what the creator's views of world events were at the time. There is allegory to be found everywhere in both. Both have war. both have a huge journey. There are characters that are similar, the most obvious ones being Gandalf and Obi-wan.

Both have achieved (in my mind) greatness. Time will tell on how LotR stands up. But I cannot separate the prequels from Star Wars and that is where this whole comparison breaks down for me. Star Wars will be 6 movies of epic length. That is something no one has ever done before with any success. One could make a length arguement saying that with the EE that LotR is ~12 hours and Star Wars will clock in at ~14. While it does make sense I still see apples and oranges.

To me, LotR is one long movie. Its individual parts weaken without the rest of the story. The original A New Hope stands on its own just fine and an arguement could be made for The Empire Strikes Back as well. This is not to fault either film series or individual films as both work very well.

So if asked to make a personal choice, I cannot. Right now I am on a LotR buzz that probably won't go away for weeks. I've had the same with Star Wars. It's a great feeling! They both share a special place in my heart and always will. Sure, the final Star Wars prequel could diminish my feelings but I doubt it. It will most likely enhance it.

That said, they sit side by side, brother and sister on the high pedestal. Sure, one will occassionally lose its luster or tilt to the side but all you have to do is pick it up, polish it off and place it back in its proper place.

Different experiences, different films, same great feeling about both.

Amen.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Well, I'm a little confused by the topic itself. If your asking which will be marathoned into the ground over the next 20 years, it's probably going to be LotR because it's newer, more state-of-the-art, and, well, not everyone's seen it 100 times yet.

But if you are asking which will be the paragon of geek cinema, it's Star Wars by a mile. All you have to do is say "Use the Force, Luke" to someone and it's Instant Quote-Swapping Time. You try to pass someone on the freeway and you yell "Punch it, Chewie!" You hear a dog whine and you think of Chewbacca. The only pop-culture item that even approaches Star Wars in terms of sheer "Always lingering somewhere in the back of your mind, waiting to pop out"-ness is Simpsons.

I'm not saying LotR will never approach this level of being in the collective consciousness, but I doubt it'll be anytime soon. I mean, the books have been out for 50 years, and when was the last time you heard total strangers having a serious discussion (IRL, not on these boards) over who'd win in a fight, Aragorn or Legolas? That's the test.

 

[Endur]

Star Wars vs. Fellowship of the Ring ... Hard Call. Fellowship was great and TRUE TO THE BOOK. Star Wars was original. I'd say Star Wars wins, but very close.

Empire Strikes Back vs. Two Towers ... Empire wins. Not Close.

Return of the Jedi vs. Return of the King ... Return of the King wins. Not Close.

Overall, a tie, with Jackson winning on movie making and Lucas winning on originality (i.e. he wrote the Star Wars story).

Edit: Best alltime fantasy/sci-fi story might be Return of the King.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

LotR on paper is way better than the movies.

Case in my point- diaglo and I could probably spend the next several days spamming this thread with various well-supported by minutae arguments over the merits of the books vs the movies and how well the movies captured the important and relevant themes of the book. It's this kind of inspiration to inanity that geeks crave.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Overall, a tie, with Jackson winning on movie making and Lucas winning on originality (i.e. he wrote the Star Wars story).

[geek out] Unfortunately, I'm not sure we can credit Lucas with story originality. Setting originality, certainly. But Episode 4 is nearly a transcript of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress." The rest of the series has been built entirely under the influence of Joseph Campbellian myth concepts. Pretty good way to build a story, actually, but hardly original.

Of course, Tolkien happily acknowledged his sources, as well. He owes a great debt to a variety of European myths and tales, most notably Beowulf, of course. Personally, I think he did a better job of hiding his sources and taking new directions. [/geek out]

 

[Desdichado]

[geek out] Unfortunately, I'm not sure we can credit Lucas with story originality. Setting originality, certainly. But Episode 4 is nearly a transcript of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress." The rest of the series has been built entirely under the influence of Joseph Campbellian myth concepts. Pretty good way to build a story, actually, but hardly original.

Of course, Tolkien happily acknowledged his sources, as well. He owes a great debt to a variety of European myths and tales, most notably Beowulf, of course. Personally, I think he did a better job of hiding his sources and taking new directions. [/geek out]

Frankly, I'm sometimes a bit sceptical about all this Campbellian discussion in relation to Star Wars. I think someone made that comparison after the fact, and Lucas latched on to it, thinking it was a great idea. In early interviews, Lucas is continually talking about how he wanted to emulate the old serials, it's only as he's older that he starts blathering on about Joseph Campbell.

And for that matter, I think Campbell gets too much credit anyway.