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Which one of the Star Wars Movies was made WITHOUT the fans in mind?

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 (Edited)

The first three are obvious, because the fans did not know what to expect:

Star Wars (1977)
The Empire strikes back (1980)
Return of the Jedi (1983)

Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
–> The story unfolded like no one expected …i mean Midichlorians? No fan-service here, move along.

Star Wars The Last Jedi (2017)
–> Again the story unfolded like no one expected. Johnson did not care about the fans. No fan-service here, move along.

SW Movies, that were developed & executed WITH the fans in mind:

Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
–> Lucas did some course correction here in order to please/calm the fans after TPM. More action & light saber fights, reducing Jar Jars role, injecting OT elements such as the Clones (visual similar to OT Stormtroopers), Tatooine homestead and Jango Jett (visual similar to OT Boba Fett).

Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
–> Lucas continued pleasing the fans: Scaling back Jar Jar so that he was barely in the movie, again lots of light saber fights, Emperor gets his ROTJ face, the famous Tantive IV corridor, X-Wing precursors and Death Star I being build. In general lots of winks to Episode IV. Some elements were necessary for the story (Anakin VS Obi-Wan) some were not (Emperor VS Yoda, the most obvious fan service element imo).

Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015)
–> Well, we all know what happened here. Unoriginal Episode IV Copy or paying honorable tribute to Episode IV? You have to decide for youself.

Rogue One - A Star War Story (2016)
–> That one is obvious imo. Allowedly, it is linked very close to Episode IV, so there should be some OT elements, but … LOOOOOOOOOTS of them were too distracting & unnecessary. Fan Service everywhere.

Solo - A Star Wars Story (2018
–> This one could have a been a fan service mess too, but it wasn’t. Again like ROTS you need to have some necessary elements if you want to tell a an origin story about Han Solo (like Han meets Chewie). But on the other side: NO Jabba the Hutt, NO Tatooine cantina, NO Greedo, NO Mynoks, NO Ord Mantell, NO Jedi, NO Darth Vader, NO Death Star, NO Rancor, NO Boba Fett and NO Slave I in this film. They could have … but they did’nt do it.

Rogue One is redundant. Just play the first mission of DARK FORCES.
The hallmark of a corrupt leader: Being surrounded by yes men.
‘The best visual effects in the world will not compensate for a story told badly.’ - V.E.S.
‘Star Wars is a buffet, enjoy the stuff you want, and leave the rest.’ - SilverWook

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I’ve always wondered how much truth there is to this claim that Lucas course-corrected the PT following the TPM backlash.

Did he actually say that in an interview or is it just pure speculation by the fans?

Sure, the fact that Jar Jar gets sidelined after being so front and center in the first movie makes a strong case for it, but how do we know that wasn’t the plan from the beginning?

Solo feels the least connected to the other films, and I really appreciate that.

Rogue One’s overly fan-servicey aspects, combined with the introduction of too many new characters we’re given too little time to actually care about, are why I’m the weirdo who ranks it at the bottom of the LFL-under-Disney movies. Someday though, if they ever release the deleted scenes, I’d love to see what a longer cut could do to improve things. In the meantime, anyone want to recommend a fan edit?

Then there’s TFA. As much as I would’ve wanted something truly different from both ANH and TPM, I’m okay for the most part with how it turned out. It’s trying just a little too hard to please the fans in certain places, but for me its strengths far outweigh its shortcomings.

I loved TLJ. That’s all I’ll say about it.

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 (Edited)

I believe the PT was the unrestrained vision of Lucas. He could do whatever and he wanted- and all you have to do it watch those documentaries to find no one questioned him.

The Disney films are a mixed bag, with TFA / RO clearly made for the fans and it (for the most part) working.

TLJ, on the other hand, is an exception seeing Rian Johnson leaving his mark on SW. for better or worse… as so many still debate.

Solo is a mixed bag. The concept of a Solo spinoff is so clearly an appeal to the fandom. It’s a tad insulting. But they completely missed their mark, because no one asked for such a spinoff. Then we have Lord and Miller who I predict added most the original stuff. But they were fired, and Ron Howard just made the most Star Wars movie they could do. TLDR: Made for the fans, but with a poor understanding of the fans. With a few new scenes.

Here’s where I get banned.😃

I would argue that SW 77 was made for the “fans”.

ANH was development hell. No one believed in this crazy idea Lucas was pitching. The Studio was against George forcing him to continuously rewrite the script to appeal to the “general audience”… aka the fans.

Empire was less so. Kurtz is still present but everyone has confidence in George. It’s a success and they move to ROTJ.

Jedi is questionable. Although George gained power, he was turned off his by child and wanted to wrap it all up. I would say on an equal level as empire… but for the wrong lopsided reasons.

Ranking
Most director’s vision to least

  1. The Phantom Menace
  2. The Last Jedi
  3. Attack of the Clones
  4. Revenge of the Sith
  5. Solo
  6. Empire Strikes Back
  7. Return of the Jedi
  8. Rouge One
  9. A New Hope
  10. The Force Awakens

Maul- A Star Wars Story

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The idea that “most for the fans” is on the opposite side of the spectrum of “most the directors’ vision” is flawed, particularly when you talk about the Disney movies where it’s fans making the movies.

I’d also argue that Lucas conceived of the original film as for fans in many ways. He made the kind of movie which he wanted to see (throwback adventure) that he figured many audiences would want to see as well.

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Hamill asked George back in ‘76 why he was starting the story in the middle. The reply was something to the effect of “it’s the most commercial section of the movie(s).”

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Haarspalter said:

The first three are obvious, because the fans did not know what to expect:

Star Wars (1977)
The Empire strikes back (1980)
Return of the Jedi (1983)

Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
–> The story unfolded like no one expected …i mean Midichlorians? No fan-service here, move along.

Star Wars The Last Jedi (2017)
–> Again the story unfolded like no one expected. Johnson did not care about the fans. No fan-service here, move along.

SW Movies, that were developed & executed WITH the fans in mind:

Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
–> Lucas did some course correction here in order to please/calm the fans after TPM. More action & light saber fights, reducing Jar Jars role, injecting OT elements such as the Clones (visual similar to OT Stormtroopers), Tatooine homestead and Jango Jett (visual similar to OT Boba Fett).

Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
–> Lucas continued pleasing the fans: Scaling back Jar Jar so that he was barely in the movie, again lots of light saber fights, Emperor gets his ROTJ face, the famous Tantive IV corridor, X-Wing precursors and Death Star I being build. In general lots of winks to Episode IV. Some elements were necessary for the story (Anakin VS Obi-Wan) some were not (Emperor VS Yoda, the most obvious fan service element imo).

Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015)
–> Well, we all know what happened here. Unoriginal Episode IV Copy or paying honorable tribute to Episode IV? You have to decide for youself.

Rogue One - A Star War Story (2016)
–> That one is obvious imo. Allowedly, it is linked very close to Episode IV, so there should be some OT elements, but … LOOOOOOOOOTS of them were too distracting & unnecessary. Fan Service everywhere.

Solo - A Star Wars Story (2018
–> This one could have a been a fan service mess too, but it wasn’t. Again like ROTS you need to have some necessary elements if you want to tell a an origin story about Han Solo (like Han meets Chewie). But on the other side: NO Jabba the Hutt, NO Tatooine cantina, NO Greedo, NO Mynoks, NO Ord Mantell, NO Jedi, NO Darth Vader, NO Death Star, NO Rancor, NO Boba Fett and NO Slave I in this film. They could have … but they did’nt do it.

I would argue, that TLJ was made very much with the fans in mind. RJ did not set out to write an original story unencumbered by what fans know and expect from a Star Wars film, quite the opposite. RJ delibirately recycled many plot elements, and visuals of the OT only to flip the situation on its head. The movie seems to very delibirately try to avoid the outcomes, that fans expect, and therefore the narrative is still very much driven by fan expectations. A truly original story would not care about fan expectation at all, and would be surprising in some ways, and perhaps familiar in the other, but always driven by the needs of the story and characters regardless of what fans may or may not expect.