What are your favorite (and least favorite) Star Wars sequences or scenes?

Mercurius

Legend
We talk a lot about Star Wars in this forum, and several times I've seen good old-fashioned ranked film lists. But I thought I'd try something different, partially inspired by my half-serious, half-silly list here.

The task of this thread is to list your very favorite Star Wars sequences, as well as your least favorite ones. I think this is an interesting take, because Star Wars is filled with so many great sequences, but also quite a few that weaken a given film, even threaten to destroy it.

By "sequence" I mean something more than a scene, but I'll leave it for you to decide (I edited in "scene," as I found myself gravitating to listing a few). The entire Hoth part in Empire Strikes Back is a sequence, but so too is the smaller sequence within it of Luke getting his ass whooped, spending the night in tauntaun entrails, and then floating in a tank wearing a diaper. You decide - they're your favorites, after all.

Feel free to list as many as you want, just rank them. If you want a number to work with, how about five? Similarly with your least favorite.

I'll post mine in a reply.
 
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Mercurius

Legend
I'm tired (its midnight here in Hawaii), but will offer my first thoughts:

Five Favorite Star Wars Sequences and Scenes
1. The Emperor-Vader-Luke sequence in Return of the Jedi. This is the best of all SW sequences, imo. And man, that haunting theme with the silhouettes of Luke and Vader dueling.
2. Cloud City. The whole damn thing. (Empire Strikes Back).
3. The Battle of Yavin. Frickin X-Wings! Endor in space was probably better, but this is more iconic (A New Hope).
4. Han Solo et al flying from Hoth to Cloud City. The space worm, but perhaps the kewlest moment of all Star Wars moments; Han doing his great floating away with the garbage thing, and then Boba Fett one-upping him and following (Empire Strikes Back).
5. Mos Eisley, especially the cantina - the original only, though. So classic. (A New Hope).

Five Worst Star Wars Sequences and Scenes
1. Leia flying through space in Last Jedi. No words.
2. The pod race in Phantom Menace. The announcer alone was just so annoying. And I know he was a kid, but Jake Lloyd..ugh.
3. Anakin-Padme romance in Attack of the Clones. Tear my eyes out.
4. The casino sequence in Last Jedi. Why?
5. The lava fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. Would be OK if not for that horrible "I hate you!!!"

Hard to leave out so many good ones (Hoth, fight vs. Darth Maul, Luke with Yoda, Whiny Luke on Tatooine, Leia's rescue on the Death Star, etc), so I'll have to revisit tomorrow.
 

Zardnaar

Legend
In no particular order.

Battle of Hoth

Space Battle of Endor

Luke/Vader lightsaber duel RotJ

Anakin/Obiwan Mustafar

I'm your father reveal+preceding duel


Worst ones

Leia in space TLJ

Anakin-Padme romance Attack of the Clones

Dooku-Yoda duel Attack of the Clones

Space Battle kid Anakin TPM.

Jar Jar Phantom Menace tongue in podracer TPM
 
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Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member
The Luke/Vader/Emperor/Shield Generator/Space Fight combo of RotJ, which was all intercut together.

Plus the Trench Run in ANH.

Although there's plenty of others I liked a lot there's nothing which matches those two scenes.
 

Doug McCrae

Legend
I like the slow opening of The Force Awakens where we see Rey living her life as a scavenger amid the wreckage of a space battle. It's good because it's basically the opposite of what we've come to expect from a Star Wars film - exciting action scenes with the fate of the universe at stake.
 
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Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
My favorite sequences are pretty much light all lightsaber fights from episodes I, II and III. My least favorite sequences are pretty much the rest of episodes I, II and III.
 


basaipete

Explorer
Best:

The lightsaber battle between Luke and Vader in Cloud City. Luke never had a chance but his determination and commitment in a doomed situation is great. - ESB

The Luke, Vader, Emperor confrontation. The payoff that makes 3 movies into one great story. - ROTJ

The Asteroid Chase. Never tell me the odds! - ESB

Obi-Wan giving Luke the history of the Republic and Empire. That was all the prequel I ever needed. It was certainly better than most of Ep I-III. - ANH

Worst:

Pod Racing - TPM
Space Leia - TLJ
Any Anakin/Padme scene - Ep I-III
Jedi Rocks - ROTJ-SE
 

Jacob Lewis

Ye Olde GM
Darth Vader attacks at the end of Rogue One. That scene was so awesome. I was afraid for those poor rebels! In all the movies and shows, Vader was never so terrifying and so powerful than in this one scene. So, yeah.

What was the question? :p
 

Best:
All of Cloud City, ESB
Luke/Vader/Emperor on Death Star II, ROTJ
Death Star I trench run, Star Wars
Battle of Hoth, ESB
All of the climactic battle, Rogue One

Worst:
All Anakin+Padme scenes, TPM/AOTC/ROTS
All Jar-Jar scenes, TPM
Casino, TLJ (I understand its purpose, but about 85% of it should've been cut)
All mentions of midichlorians, TPM
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, ROTS
 

RogueRonin

Explorer
Favorite:
Luke/Vader duel in Cloud City
Luke/Vader duel on Death Star II
Mos Eisley cantina

Least Favorite:
I have a pretty high tolerance for bad Star Wars, so the only thing that I really can't stand is the Anakin/Padme romance scenes from Attack of the Clones.
 

Randomthoughts

Adventurer
I'll stick at three.

Favorite:
  1. The trench sequence in A New Hope where Luke blows up the Death Star. It's so iconic, it's easy to take it for granted. But it was such a thrill watching it for the first (second, third, etc.) time.
  2. Obi-Wan and Anakin's fight on Mustafar in The Revenge of the Sith, esp. McGregor's acting. I really felt his emotion and regret at the end.
  3. The carbonite freezing sequence with Leia's declaration and Han's response in Empire Strikes Back. The tension and banter between them was building the entire movie and this was a great pay off.
Worst:
  1. The horrible "romantic" dialog between Anakin and Padme in Attack of the Clones. Cringe worthy.
  2. (Not sure if this counts as a sequence but...) Anakin's growth spurt from young boy in Phantom Menace to strapping young man in Attack of the Clones. Wouldn't be so bad except for the romance that had to develop.
  3. Pod Race scene in Phantom Menace. Found it be filler, really, when so many other things could have been added. Nice effects and all but didn't resonate.
 




doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Best, in no order except the 1st is best.
ROTJ- Final showdown, Luke’s rejection of the Dark Side, winning by faith/compassion
ANH - Cantina
AoTC - Obi-Wan’s investigation
ESB - Vader vs Luke, and Luke and Leia’s Force connection.
TLJ - Kyo’s Attack and it’s aftermath (including Leia in space, in that scene where she very clearly isn’t flying)

Honorable mentions to Poe and Fin’s escape in TFA, both OT Degobah sequences, the battle with Maul, the curuscant chase in AoTC, the Ewok subplot, And dozens of others bc its just a really good franchise.

Worst
Rogue One - every scene that calls into question the basic nature of the Rebels as established in previous work
MENACE“Now this is what I call pod racing!” It’s a dumb line, ina dumb sequence, and ya coulda just let Anakin actually do something clever with his already established knowledge of mechanics and computer systems.
Jar-jar. I mean...tone him down and stop making him slap stick and he’d be fine. But half his scenes are just filler for cheap laughs.
 

BookBarbarian

Expert Long Rester
Five Favorite Star Wars Sequences and Scenes
1. The Emperor-Vader-Luke sequence in Return of the Jedi. This is the best of all SW sequences, imo. And man, that haunting theme with the silhouettes of Luke and Vader dueling.

Also my number one. The music, the silhouettes, the emotion in Luke as he starts kicking the crap out of Vader, his rejection of the dark side, and what that wrought in his father all with Palpatine's delightful evil spread through it all. It was extremely thrilling and moving.
 

Celebrim

Legend
Five Worst Star Wars Sequences and Scenes

1) Reintroduction of Han Solo in TFA
: After a very promising initial sequence marred only by some questionable Cobra Commander style dysfunctionality by the antagonists, the real turning point of 'The Force Awakens' is the reintroduction of Solo beginning with - "Chewie, we're home." and ending with his reunion with Leia. While the sequence itself is OK aside from a couple of digressions, the problem with the sequence is it's implication that Han Solo has since the time we last saw him at the end of RotJ has become a failure, returning to his old dysfunctional selfish criminal behavior and having abandoned all his loves, duties, and responsibilities. This becomes the first of a series of slanders against the characters of the protagonists that of the original trilogy that collectively disestablishes all of their characters and renders the original trilogy meaningless, since now none of the characters has actually had a meaningful character arc or accomplished any of the things that they set out to do. In effect, it resets the story to the place it was at the beginning of 'A New Hope'. It's bad enough when a sequel doesn't live up to the original work, but it's unforgivable when a sequel actually destroys the classic work it is based on.

2) Reintroduction of Leia Organa in TFA: Similar to the reintroduction of Han, the reintroduction of Leia destroys the character who was so beloved in the original trilogy. While the scene itself is marked mainly by how little Leia is given to do in it or the film she appears in, the implications of the scene are appalling both in their blatant sexism and their disrespect to the original source material. The entire context of 'TFA' is a search for the "Galaxy's greatest warrior", Luke Skywalker. But at no point does anyone, villain or hero stop and say, "Wait a minute. What about the girl? Isn't Leia a Skywalker too? Isn't she just as powerful of a force user as Luke? Does Luke himself tell the audience that Leia is his equal and tell her prophetically that she will be? So how it is that Leia doesn't have a light saber at this point? How is it that she isn't perceived as the Galaxy's greatest warrior? I mean, it would make a bit of sense if Luke had run off and abandoned his responsibilities for some reason. But Leia was always stronger than that. So why is Leia just a general in some ragtag army now? Again, this reboots the series back to the place it was at the beginning of a 'A New Hope', and simultaneously slanders her character for no obvious reason other than the character's gender.

It was at this point that watching TFA I became fuming angry with the direction of the series. A lot of people are citing the scene in TLJ where Leia uses force powers to fly through space, but the problem with that scene is rooted in the problems introduced in TFA. Yes, the scene is staged very badly and I could easily describe how to stage this scene in a way that it wouldn't have looked like Mary Poppins, but the main problem with the scene is how unearned it is. If we'd been introduced to Leia the Jedi Master in TFA, even the badly staged version of this scene we got would have not been so jarring. For example, had Leia and not Rey defeated Kylo Ren in TFA, then Leia's prowess as a force user would be both explained prior to this scene AND we wouldn't have the problem of Rey as unearned Mary Sue who as an untrained force user defeats a trained one. Plus, the confrontation between mother and son would have been much more dramatic than the scene we did get.

3) Reintroduction of Luke Skywalker in TLJ: I don't think this one requires much in the way of explanation, as the initial sequence is cringy in a lot of ways and already much derided. But the real problem with this scene is the same as the other ones - this is not the character we left when we finished RotJ and this character is a betrayal of everything he believed at the end of that movie. It resets the story back to the beginning having undermined the classic trilogy. All the problems in TLJ - it's slander of the characters, the lack of logic in the story line, the lack of story focus, the highly telegraphed 'twists', the hoop jumping to obtain unearned plot points - are apparent from the viewing of TFA. There are some that are like TLJ was departure from the good movie that TFA was, and I'm like, "Did you pay attention to TFA?"

4) Introduction of Jar Jar Binks in TPM: Again, I don't think this one requires much in the way of explanation, as the character is one of the most hated in the history of cinema, and the introduction sequence from the collision and "mesa so sorry" all the way to Jar Jar at the dinner table (every scene he is given something to do) is just incredibly cringy and inadvertently low key racist in an old school, "look how funny they talk sort of way". The big problem with the character compared to comparable characters like R2D2, C3P0 or Chewbacca which are frequently comic relief sidekicks, is that unlike those three characters we are never given any indication that Jar Jar is in any fashion useful and not just a bumbling idiot. R2D2, C3P0, and Chewbacca are highly competent characters who contribute to the party success. They have a lot of ranks in something that other members of the party lack. Notably, in addition to his "six million forms of communication" C3P0 has higher ranks in Bluff and Diplomacy than any other party member. R2D2 repeatedly saves the day through clearheaded competent action. Jar Jar is just embarrassing, stays embarrassing, and is so critical to the success of evil that some have proposed he'd make a better twist villain than sidekick. It tells you a lot about a character if people think revealing that they were actually a diabolical mastermind only faking incompetency would improve them.

There are so many other possible choices here that I think I should list some runners up:

Surviving resistance celebrates at the end of TLJ despite having experienced 99% causalities. Normal people would have PTSD at this point, and anyone that isn't a sociopath should be in a state of grief driven shock.

Qui-Gun Jinns negotiations for the star ship part, TPM. What?

Flirtation "falling in love sequence" between Anakin and Padme, AotC. Just so badly written even good actors can do nothing with it.

"I sense much fear in him", Yoda's speech at the end of TPM. What? This kid has never showed the slightest fear of anything the entire movie. Anger issues, sure. But kid's afraid of nothing.

The entire Casino sequence in TLJ.

"Nooooooo."

Yet Another Death Star reveal in TFA. Also the cringe inducing forking planet destroying beam.

The opening sequence of TLJ where they go full blown Cobra Commander with General Hux. Also the ludicrously stupid "Bomber" sequence of that same battle.

The conversation between Leia and Holdo in which they treat an insubordinate commander as if he was just a spoiled willful child. One of many cases in the script where didactic attempts to portray feminine strength results only in far worse sexism on screen than existed in the original movies. Also, Holdo's unexplained refusal to reveal the plan to anyone. Also, the sheer stupidity of that plan she was concealing. Again, all of this has to do with changes to the original script intended to convey one thing, that actually did the opposite of its stated intention.

The jump to hyperspace ramming attack which single handedly undermines all of the conceits of the series fiction in a moment. Again, the worst thing a sequel can do is not be bad. The worst thing a sequel can do is make what was once good bad. (See also 'Ender's Shadow' or Tolkien's attempts to rewrite his cosmology late in life or the Dune sequels, or even Lucas's own tampering with his classics in 'special edition' rereleases).

The extended version of the Max Rebo musical sequence in RotJ special edition.

And I could go on and on, but for #5...

#5: Rose prevents Finn from sacrificing his life to save his friends: Out of context with no other considerations involved, this is the dumbiest sequence in all of Star Wars films and could just about rival the Star Wars Christmas special for cringe inducement. Not only is there again the underlying sexism involved, in as much as Rose seems perfectly willing to let her other fellow soldiers get themselves killed, but not this boy, the entire sequence makes absolutely no sense in terms of Rose's logic, Rose's supposed character, or Finn's character, or the situation at hand. One of the single dumbest scenes in all of cinema, and so bad that it just demands parody but is perhaps so stupid it is beyond parody.
 


BookBarbarian

Expert Long Rester
I have to say the end of Rogue One is what the Sith should be in all the movies......it was a near perfect scene of rage, power, and fear.....
I think the original trilogy had a lot of passive menace in Vader. ESB in particular it's like I can feel his barely controlled rage.

The end of Rogue one showed just how terrifying it would be for a non-force user to have to battle that menace.

I loved it.
 

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