Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
Much as I contend the prequels did well financially because they were technically Star Wars, I don't think many people will want to experience all 6 as a saga, to be watched back-to-back over a week or a marathon weekend. There's only a niche audience for the 'Skywalker Father and Son' saga, and a much bigger Star Wars audience who wouldn't want to waste over 6 hours of poor entertainment to lead them into the 6 hours of glorious fun and adventure.
Further, I don't think anyone who was born before 1999 would, if they were to watch all six films, want to experience the story in its chronological order of fictional events; most will rightly want to watch them in the chronological order of creation, which presents the story to its greatest effect.
Not that there's zero effect from watching it 1 to 6, but the better story effect lies in watching the main story, then the back story.
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Much as I contend the prequels did well financially because they were technically Star Wars, I don't think many people will want to experience all 6 as a saga, to be watched back-to-back over a week or a marathon weekend. There's only a niche audience for the 'Skywalker Father and Son' saga, and a much bigger Star Wars audience who wouldn't want to waste over 6 hours of poor entertainment to lead them into the 6 hours of glorious fun and adventure.
Further, I don't think anyone who was born before 1999 would, if they were to watch all six films, want to experience the story in its chronological order of fictional events; most will rightly want to watch them in the chronological order of creation, which presents the story to its greatest effect.
Not that there's zero effect from watching it 1 to 6, but the better story effect lies in watching the main story, then the back story.
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This is a good point, and I think the one thing that made the OT great and still popular today is replay value of the movies. The OT are one of the few set of movies that fans can watch hundreds of times and they aren't some niche or cult fanbase, they are the masses.
Many people love movies like Shawshank Redemption, they have built a following that the fans seem to love the movie more than anything in the world, but again it is a niche fanbase. Although Shawshank is a great movie.
The OT movies have so much replay value I often wonder how I have never got sick of them? How can I watch Star Wars '77 again and again and never get sick of it, same with ESB & ROTJ. I love so many other movies, but I do need some time after I watch them or I will play them out, but the OT is different.
I believe the PT fanbase won't be as big for that reason alone, the way the trilogy is structured as GoMer says, the Sith doesn't hit the fan til Episode III, so it leaves you with 2 setup movies to get to the real story. What I am saying is the PT movies don't hold up well individually, cause they were designed as a trilogy. The OT movies hold up as a trilogy and individually cause Lucas was making them by the seed of his pants hoping the success will bring him enough money to make the next one. Sure ESB doesn't have an ending, but no one was sure in 1980 there would be a third SW movie, so Lucas had to make ESB just as great as SW, cause if it failed, the end of the SW.
The PT was made knowing he was making Episode III, and that is why every PT fan I have heard from thinks ROTS is the best of the PT movies. One reason: Whether you like the movie or not, it has every plot point a SW fan could dream of, so Lucas really threw all his marbles in Episode III.
I just can't see a huge amount of saga fans in the future, and I think that will have a trickle down effect on the OT too, as I don't see as many diehard SW fans as the generation that grew up with the OT. I still say the 1-6 newcomer will watch the OT totally out of context and will only love the second half of ESB, and the Throne Rooms scenes in ROTJ, the other stuff they will say is all exposition, meaning the Han, Luke, and Leia stuff. The sad thing is that supposed exposition that coincides with the tragedy of Anakins story is the reason I am a diehard fan.