Originally posted by: auximenies
Regardless of how one feels about ROTJ, I don't think this is a valid "configuration". ESB does not have a proper ending (by design). It's the only one of the three that has a cliff-hanger ending like the old serials that GL cites as inspiration. No doubt, Star Wars is a true standalone (because GL had no idea if he'd get a chance to continue the story), but Empire must be followed up by another film.
There is another configuration you didn't mention:
The Prequel Trilogy (all by itself)
Those films are so different from the One True SW Trilogy that as far as I'm concerned they can stand by themselves.
The whole bit was just me musing about it. Not particularly well thought out though. Regardless of how one feels about ROTJ, I don't think this is a valid "configuration". ESB does not have a proper ending (by design). It's the only one of the three that has a cliff-hanger ending like the old serials that GL cites as inspiration. No doubt, Star Wars is a true standalone (because GL had no idea if he'd get a chance to continue the story), but Empire must be followed up by another film.
There is another configuration you didn't mention:
The Prequel Trilogy (all by itself)
Those films are so different from the One True SW Trilogy that as far as I'm concerned they can stand by themselves.
The SW + ESB thing just represents the purest vision of Star Wars to me. It's not really complete, but I started to see the original trilogy in phases in terms of creativity. With each film, the story of the saga (or what it had intended to be) changed and so these configurations more or less describe different phases in Lucas' vision of the saga.