The Original Trilogy - a general Random Thoughts thread

Now that there is a dedicated ‘Original Trilogy Discussion’ forum on the site, and the General Star Wars Random Thoughts thread is in the ‘General Star Wars Discussion’ section, some of us on here thought it may be a neat idea to have new ‘General Random Thoughts’ threads focusing on each of the three Original Trilogy films.

Plus another thread for ‘General Random Original Trilogy Thoughts’.

In other words… a few threads for some light discussion of these much loved, iconic and ground-breaking films.
 

And so:-

Star Wars (1977) - a general Random Thoughts thread

The Empire Strikes Back - a general Random Thoughts thread

Return Of The Jedi - a general Random Thoughts thread

The Original Trilogy - a general Random Thoughts thread (this very thread)
 

One of the many standout features across the whole Trilogy for me is James Earl Jones’ seminal delivery of dialogue for the character of Darth Vader. He added such power, authoritative wrath and wondrous menace… to the already striking visual aesthetic of both the mask and suit, as well as the colossal prowess and performance by Dave Prowse under the helmet.

All films of this nature need a strong and memorable villain… and yet James Earl Jones’ voice-work for Vader lifted the character to another level of fear-inducing badassery; which is probably not an easy thing to achieve in movies where the ‘bad guys’ usually tend to be played as stereotypical caricatures or are somewhat ‘hammed up’ by the actors playing them.

A great little article on JEJ and voicing Vader - including his thoughts on ESB’s director on the delivery of his lines…

‘James Earl Jones Didn’t Believe Darth Vader Was Luke’s Father’

“I said to myself, ‘He’s lying. I wonder how they are going to play that lie out?’” the actor says.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-james-earl-jones-didnt-believe-darth-vader-was-lukes-father-1066729

and an article on him meeting Carrie Fisher for the first time in 2014 - for filming an episode of ‘The Big Bang Theory’:-

‘Star Wars’ James Earl Jones And Carrie Fisher Only Recently Met For The First Time’:-

www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-Wars-James-Earl-Jones-Carrie-Fisher-Recently-Met-First-Time-66441.html
 

Also, the following is a true story… Harrison Ford and James Earl Jones once teamed up with each other to defeat the Nazis - impressive, most impressive (apologies for the bunny)…

^ I love it 😃

James Earl Jones is the man.
 

For me it was the ships and vehicles, especially growing up with the toys and figures.

The beaten-up ‘second-hand’ look of the rag-tag Rebel Fleet gave the story some extra depth and quality, a sense of the ‘hopeless cause’, that they were scratching around for anything and everything to us vs the well resourced and ‘new shiny’ Empire - with their seemingly limitless supply of ships.

And it was great, and something different, as a kid seeing that on-screen and then running off and playing with those aged / battle-damaged toys etc.
 

The SnowSpeeder and B-Wing don’t get enough love in my book - pah to those fancy X-Wings 😉

Rodney-2187 said:

Has anyone ever been removed from the end credits? I remember reading something, but can’t find anything now. Am I just misremembering… again?

I know that some folks have been removed from the films but are still in the credits.
But I can’t think of anybody being removed from the credits.

^ Rootleaf , I cook , good food , yes …https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Rootleaf_stew

Rodney-2187 said:

Well, it says “So You Want to Be a Jedi?” is canon, and there’s a recipe for it in the Galaxy’s Edge Cookbook, so that must be it. Dagobha sure looks like it has a lot of frogs though. Luke train there for a while. I’m betting Yoda slipped one in at some point.

could be the case, lol . People here on Earth do eat frog legs though 😃 and Root leaf actually first started as a promotional thing for the TESB radio drama…https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Rootleaf_stew/Legends that Radio Drama will always be canon to me . oh , and the recipe as originally published called for 3 lbs . lamb or “other” meat , so yeah , slipped Dagobah frogs in there he did !..https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/yodas-rootleaf-stew-by-craig-claiborne/177787

Me too.

Victory Celebration is, I think, one of the best tracks in all the Star Wars saga (helps that I’ve been playing it a lot today… see current affairs thread!). I could maybe have done without the reminder that gungans exist in Return of the Jedi, but I think the revised ending is far more powerful. It’s a beautiful, nostalgic, and bittersweet piece that’s so perfect to end the trilogy. I like Sebastian Shaw as a force ghost because he has a very warm smile and Anakin’s older self appearing actually makes sense, but say you were doing an episode I-IV movie marathon as George Lucas would no doubt like you to do, seeing Hayden Christensen as that little connection between trilogies must feel quite a payoff.

I always liked how right next to Han frozen in carbonite Jabba had a Tauntaun and Jerba head mounted on his wall. Just a neat little background detail that ties the 3 films together.

Bloody retcons and their unforeseen impact…

I see the added celebration scenes as flash-forward, and that is how any intelligent viewer should interpret them.

canofhumdingers said:
It’s truly a double edged sword in a way. Without his stubborn determination we probably wouldn’t even have these films we love so much. But at the same time it is this quality that has caused some tremendous frustration at times. And in the case of the OT it is robbing us of a significant piece of our culture, art, and history.

This is how I feel but ultimately I’ve come around to really appreciating there are people like George who are such adamant auteurs, doesn’t make it the right or wrong way to make movies for an audience but I’m happy to see the spirit represented especially when that maverick energy gave us so many GOOD things. I think it’s fine Lucas kept working independently and I share solidarity with his anti-corporation feelings.