Which was your favorite Star Wars Movie?

[ButchJohnson]

Jar Jar was a complete debacle, and there were other ethnic stereotypes I found pretty offensive in that Episode 1 (Italians and Chinese took quite a hit as well, courtesy of Mr. Lucas!)

Point taken that Ewan was not as great as he could have been. I just think the one standout for me regarding the newer movies was his protrayal of Alec Guiness as Obi Wan. I think he did a dead-on impersonation. Could the acting have been better? Probably. Could the scripts have been better? I'm certain. Who gave a carp about young Anakin in the first movie, anyway?

Yeah that poor little kid playing anakin aka Darth VAder was just ridiculous. I don't blame the kid, I blame Lucas for ruining his films. He almost should have left well enough alone, he kinda recovered with the last 2 but that Phantom Menance almost ruined the whole franchise. "Meesa think-ie George-es out of ideas Meesa says" (Jar Jar)

 

[TheGoofster]

Not too many surprises on this poll.
I really wasn't expecting anybody to vote for Phantom Menace. I did think that the Clone Wars might have gotten a vote of two from the younger generation who didn't first see the original trillogy.
I do find it interesting that the Empire Strikes Back got the most votes. I thought that Return of the Jedi would, simply because of the way it wrapped things up (perhaps the Ewoks lowered the total). I also thought that the original SW cast was at it's best in ROTJ. Don't get me wrong, I loved Empire, but I personally felt that Jedi was the culmination of the series.

 

[DLBDS]

The first 3 in general, but I would have to say the first one Ep IV. as for Phantom menance I thought that was a huge debacle/joke in my opinion. He almost ruined the franchise with that. The last 2 were decent. But I wondered why he never picked any actors that could act, and the ones he did he directed the acting out of them. To me the acting in the final 3 movies was terrible. The old school style of special effects in the older ones I thought in many cases was better as well. Not so much the very last one, but I thought PMenance looked almost like a bad video game on the SEffects.

I agree! I can't stand that guy who played Anakin. He was HORRIBLE. If it weren't for the SPFX, I wouldn't even buy them. I was a Star Wars nut before these movies came out (I have the toy collection to back that up.). I didn't even go see the last one in the theatre! Actually, I just saw it on one of the premium channels the other day. The films definitely went downhill.

 

[RobInBigKC]

My favorite was the original because it was so NEW. I had never seen anything like it before and it captivated me. Nothing can compare to a film taking you somewhere you've never been before and totally getting you lost for 2 hours.

Yeah, what he said!

It was awesome back in the day! We saw it 14 times in the theater!
Nothing like it! Even though now it can seem a bit outdated, none of the other movies has touched it for it's originality or draw of loyal fans.

ITA with both! I don't even remember how many times I saw it in the theater, over 50, honestly (back in the good old days when I was a kid and had time to "waste" like that plus good movies played for months and months back then and you could still find single screen theaters where the screen was HUGE and it only cost $1 or $1.50 for the child's admission price I had to pay).

The first time I was invited to go see it I passed. The second time I accepted and actively sought out (um, invited myself with friends ) every opportunity to go after that!

While my four DS's enjoy going out to see the movies of this current decade, I don't know that they've ever been "wowed" by a film like many of us were back in 1977.

-- Rob

 

[musicotb]

It's a toss-up between 5 & 6, but I voted for Empire.
I thought ep. 3 was the only really good one of the new 3.
I'm still bummed that DBF has NO interest in watching them... *sigh* he's a web/computer dork - he's supposed to like Star Wars!

PS, I thought Yoda was fantastic in all 6 movies ;-)

 

[olena]

Empire! It had laughs, action and romance on the run and my favorite scene in all the Star Wars movies......the Asteroid Scene. I love to crank it up when that comes on.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

The first one is called Stars Wars: A New Hope

 

[TheGoofster]

The first one is called Stars Wars: A New Hope

It is now, but it wasn't when it came out. It was just called Star Wars, and that is the way I prefer to think of it. I don't care for the new series, so I will stick to the way I remember it.

 

[sotoalf]

The Empire Strikes Back is the only film in the series approaching art, the only time the relationships are developed maturely.

 

[720L]

I love every Star Wars movie, but return of the Jedi is my favorite. I love the Ewoks, I love Jabba and when Vader turns on the Emporer and kills him--what a scene! It still makes me cry when Luke takes off Vaders mask......

 

[castleview]

I'm a softy for the original even though Empire was probably the best movie. I just loved the farm scenes on Tattoine in Episode IV. Of the prequals, I'd go with Revenge of the Sith. Episodes 1 and 2 decimated the whole story for me, but Episode 3 made things a little better (loved the fight scene with Obiwan and Anakin).

I just wish George Lucas would let other people direct...and write dialogue. The director of Empire was an actual actor's director so I didn't cringe the way I did through all the Padme/Anakin scenes.

 

[ZuZugal]

ESB is my true favorite. When we sit down for a "Star Wars" night I let the kids choose but if they tell me to pick it's ESB. There has never been anything like the original trilogy.
The only scene I really like from Ep1 is the podrace...very cool. I love the sounds and podracers make. I like the first half of Ep3...mostly for the FX and Grievous. Reading the books has been almost better when considering the prequel movies.
Han Solo will always be my favorite character. Obi Wan comes in a close second (both actors, Guinness and McGregor.)
Watching all of the various "making of Star Wars" is interesting too. Fun to see all of the behind-the-scenes stuff and how many darn light saber props there really are!

 

[Skywalker]

For me its a toss up between Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. I think they are both such powerful conclusions to their trilogies and they both leave me in tears, one in a good way and one in a bad way. LOL.

 

[sotoalf]

I still remember Return of the Jedi as one of the great disappointments of my life. Even as a ten-year-old the battle scenes seemed rushed, I had no idea why I was supposed to care about the Luke-Vader relationship, and the Emperor (at the time) seemed so laughable. "This guy in the horror makeup splashing tobacco juice in his mouth is the delicious villain we've been taught to fear for three movies?"

 

[Mickey&Nicky]

Return of the Jedi rocks! I love the final space battle over Endor and also the new digitally added scenes where you see the different planets celebrating their freedom. I thought (at least on the part of the original trilogy) that this is the glue that holds the two trilogies together.

At the risk of becoming the minority, I actually enjoyed The Phantom Menace. I think on its own, it was a well-rounded movie. In terms of overdone CGI in the prequel trilogy, I think it is the least of 3 evils.

Finally, the top reason why I like Phantom Menace is that it incorporated the classic "simultaneous missions" theme that I loved from Return of the Jedi.

IMO Jedi has it's flaws (Ewoks) but the rest of the movie is so good I can get past them. I love the how the end works with the different missions and the final conflict in the throne room.

In fact, I think Phantom uses many of the same themes as in Jedi, e.g. podrace vs. speeder bike chase, Boss Nass vs Jabba the Hutt, Trade Federation Control ship destruction vs. destruction of Executor & Death Star II, outside help from Gungans vs. outside help from Ewoks, etc. (the list goes on).

 

[alexandria674]

I loved Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi equally. I loved Sith because it showed the tragedy of Anakin and Padme's life. I always feel so sad when I see Padme laid out during her funeral. Return of the Jedi was good because you got to see the salvation of Darth Vader through his son, sure the ewok dancing in the forest thing is lame, but when that is overlooked, the movie is quite good. Besides, what is better then Princess Leia in that metal swimsuit?

Funny joke about Star Wars, when the third one came out my dad bought two really cool lightsabers and me and him were playing around. He played Darth and I played Luke and he pretended to cut off my hand. So while I yelled out "No!" in my fake agony voice.I pushed my dad. He said " That didn't happen in the movie!"
"Yeah" I said in a hurt voice " But it should of"

 

[*BTMRR*]

Return of the Jedi is the one that I could watch over and over so I think that's my favorite.
Revenge of the Sith isn't my favorite (I prefer any of the original three over Episode III) but it is a great story. I thought it really redeemed the other two new ones.

 

[Feej]

1. Empire - Had a great story and script. Also the most important scene in the entire series.
2. Episode IV - Amazing effects for its day and nothing like it had come before.
3. Episode VI - Wraps everything up neatly and also has a nice redemption theme running through it. BUT, it had those stinkin' Ewoks! I still hate those guys.
Episode III - Knew what you were getting (Birth of Vader), and was the best of the prequels. I rekon' Lucas would have redeemed himself with fans if he had killed off Jar Jar Binks in this one...
Episode II - Lots of action and Yoda gets his Jedi on! Has a whiney Anikin though and that ruined it for me.
Episode I - Jar Jar Binks, say no more....

 

[ICF]

Empire is the tops, IMO without a question.

SW and ROTJ are good, but neither is perfect. ROTJ would have been better if they had used wookies rather than Ewoks.

As for the prequels....

TPM has a cool villian in Darth Maul, but they went over the top w/Jar Jar. I don't hate the charachater, but some of the stuff was just too much with him. We actually watched this one recently on Spike and it wasn't Jar Jar that was so bad, but Jake Lloyd just flat out SUCKED.

IMO, they should have started out with Episode II (more or less) as the 1st prequel, then actually shown the Clone Wars and more of Anakin's path to the dark side as the 2nd movie and then finished with ROTS. My son and I have enjoyed the clone wars cartoons on TV and it would have been nice to actually see some of that incorported into a movie.

 

[CarolinaBlue]

My favorite was the original because it was so NEW. I had never seen anything like it before and it captivated me. Nothing can compare to a film taking you somewhere you've never been before and totally getting you lost for 2 hours.

I couldn't have said that better myself! 32 years later, it still captivates me.