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Ranking the Star Wars films — Page 171

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Just watched TROS for the first time since December, and I enjoyed it a lot more this time! Adjusting my ranking:

  1. A New Hope
  2. The Empire Strikes Back
  3. The Last Jedi
  4. The Force Awakens
  5. Return of the Jedi
  6. Rogue One
  7. The Rise of Skywalker (was 9)
  8. Solo (was 7)
  9. The Phantom Menace (was 8)
  10. Attack of the Clones
  11. Revenge of the Sith
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 (Edited)

FIVE-STARS

  1. Rogue One
  2. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  3. Star Wars (1977)
  4. Return of the Jedi (1983)
  5. The Mandalorian
  6. The Rise of Skywalker
  7. The Last Jedi
  8. The Force Awakens
  9. The Clone Wars (2008 - 2014 animated TV series)
  10. The Clone Wars (2008 animated movie)
  11. Rebels (2014 - 2018 animated TV series)
  12. Resistance (animated series)
  13. Solo
  14. The Phantom Menace (1999)
  15. Attack of the Clones (2002)
  16. Revenge of the Sith (2005)

FOUR-STARS

  1. Ewoks (1985 - 1986 animated TV series)
  2. Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
  3. Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984 TV movie)
  4. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985 TV movie)
  5. Clone Wars (2003 - 2005 animated TV series)

THREE-STARS

  1. Droids (1985 - 1986 animated tv series)

Documentaries:

  1. From ‘Star Wars’ to ‘Jedi’ : The Making of a Saga (1983)
  2. The Definitive History of Star Wars (2015)
  3. SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  4. The Making of ‘Star Wars’ (1977)
  5. Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi (1983)
  6. Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys (2014)
  7. Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)
  8. When Star Wars Ruled the World (2004)
  9. The Director and the Jedi (2018)
  10. Secrets of the Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey (2016)
  11. The Skywalker Legacy (2020)
  12. The Beginning : Making ‘Episode I (2001)
  13. From Puppets to Pixels: Digital Characters in Episode II (2002)
  14. Within a Minute: The Making of Episode III (2005)
  15. Ralph McQuarrie: Tribute to a Master (2014)
  16. Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2004)
  17. Elstree 1976 (2015)
  18. A Conversation with The Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later (2011)
  19. The Prequels Strike Back: A Fan’s Journey (2016)
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^ awesome list, man. It seems you haven’t left anything out either? 😃

I think a few of may soon be re-watching much of the Star Wars content and re-evaluating them given recent events.
 

Is there a similar thread for ranking Star Wars videogames?

50 Cent is just an imposter

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THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
A NEW HOPE
RETURN OF THE JEDI
THE LAST JEDI
REVENGE OF THE SITH
THE FORCE AWAKENS
THE PHANTOM MENACE
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
ATTACK OF THE CLONES

My stance on revising fan edits.

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joefavs said:

Just watched TROS for the first time since December, and I enjoyed it a lot more this time! Adjusting my ranking:

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

After watching TROS again in quarantine with my parents, I have decided this was a ridiculous ruling and I am reversing this decision. Back to the old order it goes!

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joefavs said:

joefavs said:

Just watched TROS for the first time since December, and I enjoyed it a lot more this time! Adjusting my ranking:

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

After watching TROS again in quarantine with my parents, I have decided this was a ridiculous ruling and I am reversing this decision. Back to the old order it goes!

Yeah, TROS isn’t better than Solo. But also, neither is RO.

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DominicCobb said:

joefavs said:

joefavs said:

Just watched TROS for the first time since December, and I enjoyed it a lot more this time! Adjusting my ranking:

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

After watching TROS again in quarantine with my parents, I have decided this was a ridiculous ruling and I am reversing this decision. Back to the old order it goes!

Yeah, TROS isn’t better than Solo. But also, neither is RO.

Solo is criminally underrated.

Maul- A Star Wars Story

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Hal 9000 said:

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
A NEW HOPE
RETURN OF THE JEDI
THE LAST JEDI
REVENGE OF THE SITH
THE FORCE AWAKENS
THE PHANTOM MENACE
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
ATTACK OF THE CLONES

PSYCHO_DAYV SOCK CONFIRMED! 😉

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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I’ve decided that ranking these movies as some abstract exercise in filmic quality is folly. So I’m going to numerically rank them in terms of how I felt when they actually released:

First, the Star Wars:

  1. Star Wars - A stone cold timeless classic which has never been topped
  2. The Empire Strikes Back - The best Star Wars sequel and a perfect coming-of-age tale
  3. Return of the Jedi - A worthy sendoff of the trilogy with some of the best optical effects ever made

Next, the Attempt at Recapturing Star Wars:

  1. The Phantom Menace - A fascinating if flawed space adventure with a good mix of practical and digital effects
  2. Attack of the Clones - The inflection point of the saga, whiffing on almost everything except the score
  3. Revenge of the Sith - Taking all the poor choices of Clones and doubling down, officially killing the prequels

Finally, the Never Coming Close to Star Wars:

  1. The Force Awakens - The opening crawl throws Star Wars in the garbage, and it manages to get worse from there
  2. The Last Jedi - A sophomoric postmodernist deconstruction of the garbage fire that is this IP
  3. The Rise of Skywalker - An attempt so pathetic that it truly becomes so-bad-it’s-good

So yes, the Episode numbers exactly correspond with the quality of the saga, simply because each misstep of the previous entries becomes part of the story and lessens it. The story of Star Wars is legitimately worse because of the prequels, and the 1-6 ‘Saga’ is trivialized and trashed by the ST. Attack of the Clones is better than The Last Jedi simply because TLJ never had a chance to be part of a meaningful story.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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oojason said:

Hal 9000 said:

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
A NEW HOPE
RETURN OF THE JEDI
THE LAST JEDI
REVENGE OF THE SITH
THE FORCE AWAKENS
THE PHANTOM MENACE
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
ATTACK OF THE CLONES

PSYCHO_DAYV SOCK CONFIRMED! 😉

Just going with how the titles appear in the crawls. If I were a sock I’m a hell of a sock. A Force sock!

My stance on revising fan edits.

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After rewatching The Rise of Skywalker for the digital release, I’m beginning to like it more than I did in theaters. Because of that, here’s an updated ranking:

  1. Star Wars (1977)
    An absolute classic. I must have seen it 500 times already, and I’m still hooked every time.

  2. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    An almost perfect movie, but I still don’t get quite as much enjoyment out of it as I did with the original.

  3. Return of the Jedi (1983)
    Still a great movie, but not really on the level of the other two. The endless wacky aliens really bring it down.

  4. The Force Awakens (2015)
    Not very original, but it succeeded in making everyone interested in the franchise again. Too bad its sequels were so controversial.

  5. The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
    A decent conclusion to the sequel trilogy. Some of the revelations are kind of lame, but it doesn’t deserve the constant hate it’s been getting.

  6. The Last Jedi (2017)
    Some scenes are good in isolation, and I like the overall message, but the meandering subplots and cringeworthy humor don’t do it any favors.

  7. Revenge of the Sith (2005)
    Much better than the other two prequels, but still not good. I like some scenes, but the movie as a whole ranges from stupid to bland.

  8. Rogue One (2016)
    Basically just two hours of “Remember this?” The characters are as bland as the color grading, but at least the final battle sequence is pretty neat.

  9. The Phantom Menace (1999)
    I don’t like the cartoonish humor or the boring plot, but it’s by far the most “filmic” prequel. The others feel like video games by comparison.

  10. Solo (2018)
    Like Rogue One, but worse. Everything bad about that movie is turned up to 11 here. I can’t remember a single moment I liked.

  11. Attack of the Clones (2002)
    The only Star Wars movie that’s completely unwatchable for me. The acting is atrocious, the plot makes no sense, and some scenes are just painful to watch.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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NeverarGreat said:

I’ve decided that ranking these movies as some abstract exercise in filmic quality is folly. So I’m going to numerically rank them in terms of how I felt when they actually released:

First, the Star Wars:

  1. Star Wars - A stone cold timeless classic which has never been topped
  2. The Empire Strikes Back - The best Star Wars sequel and a perfect coming-of-age tale
  3. Return of the Jedi - A worthy sendoff of the trilogy with some of the best optical effects ever made

Next, the Attempt at Recapturing Star Wars:

  1. The Phantom Menace - A fascinating if flawed space adventure with a good mix of practical and digital effects
  2. Attack of the Clones - The inflection point of the saga, whiffing on almost everything except the score
  3. Revenge of the Sith - Taking all the poor choices of Clones and doubling down, officially killing the prequels

Finally, the Never Coming Close to Star Wars:

  1. The Force Awakens - The opening crawl throws Star Wars in the garbage, and it manages to get worse from there
  2. The Last Jedi - A sophomoric postmodernist deconstruction of the garbage fire that is this IP
  3. The Rise of Skywalker - An attempt so pathetic that it truly becomes so-bad-it’s-good

So yes, the Episode numbers exactly correspond with the quality of the saga, simply because each misstep of the previous entries becomes part of the story and lessens it. The story of Star Wars is legitimately worse because of the prequels, and the 1-6 ‘Saga’ is trivialized and trashed by the ST. Attack of the Clones is better than The Last Jedi simply because TLJ never had a chance to be part of a meaningful story.

This is a perfect post.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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My current ranking.

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

The name’s Lawson. Noah Lawson.

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My current unpopular rankings.

Skywalker Saga:

The Phantom Menace
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
Revenge of the Sith
Return of the Jedi
Attack of the Clones
The Last Jedi
The Force Awakens
The Rise of Skywalker

Spinoffs:

Rogue One
Solo

“Heroes come in all sizes, and you don’t have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It’s just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people - these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.” - George Lucas

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NeverarGreat said:

Considering this ranking, I find your choice of username and avatar…curious.

My username doesn’t really reflect my current feelings as I currently have very mixed feelings about the Sequel Trilogy. The Last Jedi is the only one I can truly sit through as I enjoy most things with Rey, Kylo, and Luke and it’s overall really enjoyable apart from some non-Star Warsy dialogue, meta commentary, and humour. The other two are more difficult to watch as The Force Awakens I enjoy for Rey but is difficult at the same time to watch now as she’s connected to Palpatine even though the parallels point to something else. Context was thrown out the window in general for the parallels and ideas in this trilogy. They forgot context as to why certain moments worked to begin with. It doesn’t help that it’s more or less a beat for beat story remix of A New Hope. The Rise of Skywalker I can’t even make sense of. It’s entertaining I guess but that’s all it has going for it for me. It truly doesn’t understand the source material at all. Especially when it comes to the maybe two callbacks to the Prequels. It also doesn’t naturally continue The Last Jedi but acts as both a sequel to The Force Awakens and disconnecting itself from the former. The only really good thing is Leia having her own lightsaber and training with Luke but even that falls apart with context when you realise she trains Rey but not her own son. Rey also declaring she’s a “Skywalker” and ending up all alone when her clear motivation from the beginning of the trilogy was finding belonging is insulting. It’s also ridiculous how she does things just because the plot says so. I still mostly love Rey but it’s disappointing seeing what they’ve reduced her down to. And don’t even get me started on “Lightspeed Skipping” and 'Somehow Palpatine has returned". Needless to say this trilogy is full of highs and lows. The Last Jedi while it doesn’t always understand the source material at least to me feels like it’s trying to be bold despite being really good at hiding its clear story borrowing from The Empire Strikes Back. It does to its credit have callbacks to Attack of the Clones also though.

“Heroes come in all sizes, and you don’t have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It’s just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people - these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.” - George Lucas

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DominicCobb said:

The good old blender ranking.

Indeed. My rankings change constantly. For a long time they were IV, V, I, III, VI, VIII, II, VII, IX but things change!

The Phantom Menace is my current favourite as I’m becoming unashamed of my love for it. I seriously don’t mind Jar Jar stepping in poo doo or the Eopie tooting in his face. The stepping in poo doo was put in prospective for me by a little boy on YouTube laughing at the moment with his Daddy and I quite like the sound design of the Eopie’s nose wag. In all seriousness though I love how it’s a story of people helping people. Qui-Gon frees Jar Jar, Anakin helps the group earn the Hyperdrive Generator, Qui-Gon frees Anakin, Jar Jar brings the Naboo and Gungans together, and etc… It’s a lot of good cause and effect. I really love how there’s duality between the Force and Midi-Chlorians, the Jedi and Sith, Anakin and Selbulba, Sabe and Padme, and etc… I love how the film really gradually shows the beginnings of how society evolves and changes. Even little things like Qui-Gon touching Shimi’s shoulder show how the other Jedi have mostly all lost their compassion. It’s a very innocent film rooted in underlying cynicism, corruption, greed, and lust for power. I really love the world building and action too of course. The score is also my favourite in the entire series. I could truly talk about why I love this film forever.

The Empire Strikes Back is next. What hasn’t been said already? It’s the perfect sequel. I especially love all the scenes with Luke and Yoda and anything on Cloud City. Han and Leia’s relationship is quite lovely too. The spirituality of Dagobah I think is why I love it as much as I do. Plus all the Eastern influence.

Revenge of the Sith is next because of all the layers and how it shows the final breaking point of what turns a society and good person to do terrible deeds. It really shows how the Jedi have lost their way at this point in the narrative. There’s instances notably with Anakin and Padme where the dialogue isn’t perfect but I still love the story and can look past a couple of nitpicks. I also wish Padme had more to do. I really wish the deleted scenes with her and the Rebel Alliance were included. The Opera House scene is one of the best in the saga though.

Return of the Jedi is next because of my love for Luke and Vader. The moments they share are truly some of the highest and also best of the saga. The compassion Luke shows for his father is the core of major themes and values of these films. The scenes with Jabba’s Palace are also really fun and I love when Luke returns back to Dagobah. The Ewoks are also cute and I like how they show even the little guy can overcome the odds and for the clear Vietnam influence.

A New Hope. It’s typically been my favourite and it still is up there. I’m just feeling the ones above slightly more right now. I love how there’s a story that can be told before and a story told after. It’s so very open. Luke’s humble beginnings is very relatable. Binary Sunset is truly my favourite moment in the entire saga. I love The Cantina, Death Star, and Trench Run. Leia is also a bad ass and doesn’t need anyone to save her! You can’t forget Han, Chewie, C-3PO and R2 either of course. It’s truly a classic for a reason.

Attack of the Clones. For a long time I had mixed feelings about it but lately I’ve come to see I really like it and think it’s pretty good. It’s not perfect but it’s still interesting and a good time. I especially love how we see further the decays of society with the advertising and slums on Coruscant and how Anakin and Padme have to travel as refugees. While the love story isn’t perfect it does make sense. They don’t know what love is as he’s studying to be a Jedi and she’s a senator. They don’t know what this is supposed to feel like. So it won’t be smooth. I feel super uncomfortable when watching the fireplace scene but so did Padme. So I think that says all you need to know. It’s far from perfect but it’s still a good watch. I consider it to be like a light sympathy as it gradually builds to the epic climax and the beginning of The Clone Wars.

For the Sequels see above.

And the Spinoffs.

Rogue One has really grown on me these last couple of months and I think how it captures the spiritually aspect of Star Wars better than any Disney era Star Wars film is a big reason why. I love Chirrut and the scenes on Jedha. I’m one of the rare people who prefers the opening to the last act. Overall I appreciate how it has multiple callbacks to both the Prequels and Originals but tries to be its own story at the same time. Gareth Edwards and team truly did great job with this one.

Solo I’ve only seen once. I can’t really give a fair opinion but I enjoyed most of the new things. I especially really liked Qi’Ra and Drayden Vos. All and all it’s certainly entertaining at times but feels a bit too modern for my liking and not timeless. A problem more and more common with modern Star Wars though.

There you have it. My overall reasons for loving what I love.

“Heroes come in all sizes, and you don’t have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It’s just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people - these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.” - George Lucas

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Love what you love. Hate what you hate. Be indifferent to what you’re indifferent to.

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Galaxy Quest by a country parsec.

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NeverarGreat said:

Galaxy Quest has aged like wine.

Spaceballs has aged like milk.

This, probably.

It’s been ages since I watched either, but I distinctly recall Spaceballs being infantile. and not in the saucy way I find appealling.