Originally posted by: Tiptup
I agree that Empire was the height of the OT Star Wars saga, but within the OT+PT saga, Empire actually kind of sucks. It's like that boring filler episode that the little kids don't really enjoy but will sit through anyways . . . .
Wow, I'm suddenly getting the feeling that George has been unconsciously trying to destroy the impact of Empire Strikes Back . . . I mean, I know that the above quote was a joke and that he doesn't really dislike Empire (nor does he really think it's the worst), but, when I think about, perhaps he subconsciously wants to tear down the movie in the eyes of popular culture. His prequels (and RotJ) make the film seem out of place and unimportant while simultaneously ruining the meaning and impact behind every revelation in the film. The two remaining strengths of Empire, its character drama and emotional impact, have been at least partially maimed in his latest edits of the film.
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I agree that Empire was the height of the OT Star Wars saga, but within the OT+PT saga, Empire actually kind of sucks. It's like that boring filler episode that the little kids don't really enjoy but will sit through anyways . . . .
Wow, I'm suddenly getting the feeling that George has been unconsciously trying to destroy the impact of Empire Strikes Back . . . I mean, I know that the above quote was a joke and that he doesn't really dislike Empire (nor does he really think it's the worst), but, when I think about, perhaps he subconsciously wants to tear down the movie in the eyes of popular culture. His prequels (and RotJ) make the film seem out of place and unimportant while simultaneously ruining the meaning and impact behind every revelation in the film. The two remaining strengths of Empire, its character drama and emotional impact, have been at least partially maimed in his latest edits of the film.
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I disagree with ya there Tiptup, cause SW'77 or ANH is the one that suffers with the saga now, not ESB or ROTJ. You have to look at it this way when you watch it 1-6 in that order. The story is established and focused on the jedi vs sith, not the common man like the OT established. You follow in the PT the story of Anakin, Kenobi, and QuiGon for 3 movies along with The Emperor rising to power, and then you have characters like Mace & Yoda, who are both jedi too. The only non-jedi character is Padme, and she is a queen/senator, so she has EVERYTHING to do with the politics of the rise and fall of the Empire.
Now you get to Episode IV, and all of the sudden you have this movie that deals with a bunch of common guys like Luke, Leia, and Han battling the Evil Empire, while the movie has humor spread throughout that actually makes it a pretty funny sci-fi movie in some respects. The only main character who is a jedi is Ben Kenobi. So you have an audience who has followed around the jedi/sith battle for 3 movies, and all of the sudden they are wondering what happened to Yoda & The Emperor?
On top of that they are used to huge CGI environments in the PT movies, and now are stuck in a movie on a dessert for the first hour, which luckily resembles Tatooine in TPM, and the claustophobic deathstar for the second half, something will have to give, either you love one or the other? On top of that, they followed Anakin and his story for 3 movies, and now he is in the movie for about 15 minutes?
ESB/ROTJ were atleast made with the Anakin/Luke relationship in mind, and that fits with the PT movies, so in that respect they work a hell of alot better then Episode IV does. ESB has a glimpse of the Emperor, and it is about the same amount of time he gets in AOTC. It has Yoda for a huge part of the movie, so now it is dealing again with jedi issues as the MAIN story. And finally you get the Vader/Luke battle at the end which finally continues on the story of why Anakin turned in Episode III.
ESB doesn't suffer, ROTJ doesn't suffer, ANH does big time. The irony of the whole saga thing now is Lucas actually fucked up his best movie he ever directed, cause anyone who sees it 1-6 will not love it as much as someone who sees it as their 1st SW movie.