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What do you love about Star Wars?

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For me, it all started when I was looking for a movie to rent and saw the original trilogy playing on the demo screen the store had set up (the "new" THX Faces editions). It was the beginning of ANH where Vader and the stormtroopers burst through the doors of the blockade runner , tore up ass, and Vader choked Antilles. I knew I had to see that movie. So I rented ANH and just loved everything about it, the timelessness of it, the SFX which were just jaw dropping to me, etc. Luckily my birthday was in the next couple of weeks and I got the entire trilogy on VHS. I wore out those old pan and scan copies like you wouldn't believe.

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!

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That's an easy question.

What I love about Star Wars is they are the ultimate kids movies/trilogy. I loved watching them as a kid, it set of my imagination off like wildfire and when I wasn't watching the movies all I thought about was SW. Whether it was playing with the action figures or running around the backyard pretending I was Luke Skywalker chasing down and shooting stormtroopers.

What I also love about SW is although they were the greatest kids movies that we grew up with, they are also kick ass movies to watch as an adult. Nostalgia plays it's part for all of us but the movies also have plenty to enjoy as adults, kind of what Pixar is good at. Parents don't mind taking their kids to see these films because everyone can enjoy them.




"Well here's a big bag of rock salt" - Patton Oswalt

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When I was a kid in the 80's I remember always playing with my odler brothers Tie Fighter and Darth Vader action figure. I also remember watching it on VHS for the first time, I vaguely remember going to movies to see ESB, but then later my Dad got the Laserdisk set somewhere in the late 80's and I enoyed it greatly. Then somewhere in the 90's, he got the faces VHS set, and we had a great family threeday viewing of it. It is the nostoglia for me, it brings back wonderful memories.

What do I love about other than that? I love the fact that a small farm boy could achieve such great things, and that the big bad empire could be toppled by a much smaller force of rebels just by wit and determination. I also loved the humor and sarcasm of Han Solo, plus admittedly, I love Darth Vader a lot.
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There are lots of things I love about Star Wars, but they are many and quite obvious so I'll not mention them.

One thing I have begun to apreciate first as an adult, is that the characters in the original trilogy feel like real people. Too many characters in movies and on TV these days say and move perfectly, and often without emotion.
Luke, Han and Leia are corny sometimes, and make fools of themselves, but these details add to the realism, and we get to feel for the characters.
For instance, Luke's "I care" on the Falcon in ANH after Leia has left the cockpit. The bickering between Han and Leia in ESB. Another example is that Lando's goof "That was too cloose" which was left in in ROTJ. They all contribute to what makes Star Wars great.
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I think the question should be, "Why do you still love SW?"

I still love the movies because they have that rare combination: They are fun movies yet they are still very good movies in a movie sense. Most fun movies usually are 'guilty pleasures' which are not the best made movies in the world, really have no drama, and lack the depth in the overall story, so they are usually just summer action movies you rent and enjoy and never watch it again until it comes on cable. Most quality movies like Schindlers List, Raging Bull, and Platoon don't have that much replay value because you have to be in the mood to watch them cause they are so dramatic.

The OOT movies have that perfect blend everytime you watch them of humor as in Luke, Leia, and Han in the deathstar in SW, drama as Lukes stares at the Binary Sunset, Mythology as Kenobi explains to Luke about the force and his fathers lightsaber, and depth as Vader reveals himself as Lukes father in ESB. But they still possess an overall enjoyable, fun experience for 2 hours cause you have 3 realistic good guys to cheer for and with the combination of constant action, great effects, and awesome music, to me you have the perfect movie experience. The OOT movies are not the best movies of all-time, but they are still my 3 favorites.
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Even as a young child, I always loved Star Wars because of its message of goodness and because of its spiritual themes. I mostly dislike the prequels and the SEs because they destroy those concepts.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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To me, when i hear "what do you love about Star Wars" i immediately think of Star Wars, the film. Then i remember, "oh yeah, its also a series" and so i remember to include Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in there. I guess that tells you what Star Wars means to me--in other words, the original trilogy with the original film as its fundamental base.

Why do I love Star Wars? The same reasons everyone else does: incredible imagination, an interesting plot, great action scenes and special effects and loveable characters. Basically, thats why the film(s) are successful. You could probably analyse it as a four-stage design of success:

Firstly, because its exciting. Chases, explosions, shootouts, swordfights, absolutely fantastic special effects--these are the reasons why we are all initially captivated by the film. Its designed in a very calculated graphical sense to be visually stimulating. The film is filled with imagination and action, with aliens and creatures and spaceships that travel at the speed of light and doomsday weapons that blow up entire planets, and its presented at a very quick pace--the audience always has their attention stimulated.
Secondly, the storyline--a fantastic tale that is ingenious for its use of archetypal themes and plot points and updated science-fiction/fantasy interpretations; you got everything from knights of the round table to John Ford's old west to Buster Crabbe and the Flash Gordon serials, and they are all weaved together in a seamless blend of archaic and modern storytelling. All these dressings however still would not be effective if the true through-line of the film, the rise of Luke Skywalker, was not compelling. The back-story and environment are complicatedly designed so as to be rich and full but the heart of the film is quite simple and easy to follow.
Which brings us to the third point, the characters. This is the true hook of the films. All the fancy special effects, stimulating explosions and intricate plotting would be for naught if the characters weren't compelling, and this is where the original trilogy leaves behind the prequels. The characters were warm and funny, fully rounded and three-dimensional, written with wit and intelligence and acted with realism and sincerity. They were relatable and believable. This above all else is why the film was successful. They are the heart of the story, and in spite of the over-the-top design of the film, the characters are so sharply defined that are able to penetrate through the overwhelming material and become the focus of the film.
Fourthly, the spiritual themes and optimistic message made you feel good. At its most basic, Star Wars was about believing in yourself, about the power of positive thinking--Luke uses the Force because he believes he can, he defeats Darth Vader because he believes in himself. Star Wars, at the end of the day, was the ultimate feel good movie, the story of the triumph of good over evil. This is what kept people coming back when other great character-driven action films faded away, to delve into the mythology, and to be re-affirmed in their belief in the world.

All these things combined made the film a huge hit with audiences in the historical context in which it was released, but these things remain to this day as the basic formula for an audience pleaser. A clever and universal story, well told and well crafted, with terrific characters and optimistic spiritual themes, filled with action and excitement and imagination and with eye-popping visual effects. What more could you possibly want?
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What di i love about Star Wars?

It's probably the first memories i have from a movie, and it was more than a movie it was an open window on a whole new universe.
That got me into movies, sci-fi,comics,music etc...

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The Star Wars trilogy reminds me not of the "power of myth" blah blah, but of The Beach Boys. All nostalgia aside, it is beautifully detailed pop art and has that universal, melancholy tale at the center about Luke growing up/leaving home. That raises it above its cheap 30s serial roots. Return of the Jedi, as shaky as it is in certain areas, concludes that story in a very pure way, so I rate it very close to the other two. I feel the trilogy has more in common with American Graffiti than I-III.
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I love star wars for it's christian themes: Family, Forgiveness, redemption and Salvation.

(an effect which is totally lost with the destroyed 2004 RotJ Ending)

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"I feel the trilogy has more in common with American Graffiti than I-III"

Yeah, so true.

"I love star wars for it's christian themes: Family, Forgiveness, redemption and Salvation.

(an effect which is totally lost with the destroyed 2004 RotJ Ending)"

Yes, great Christian themes like family, forgiveness, redemtion, salvation and WAR!!! J/K!

I don't know. As much as I loved those movies in my youth, I always found ROTJs original ending a little... gay. I liked the more somber music at the end. After all, it was the end of a great war, and much was lost. It is perhaps the one change made in the SE that I always felt was appropriate. Maybe it would have been better with less CG. Oh, but since you said 2004 instead of 97, then I guess you meant the whole "horny sailor" Hayden head pasted over Anakin Skywalker's head, not the Ewoks singing.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I was never fond of the Ewok song and was glad to hear an ending written by John Williams in the SE. However, the Hayden head is unforgivable.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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The thing that always bothered me about the original Ewok song is that it roughly translates to the Ewoks proclaiming their freedom and newfound rights from oppression. Correct me if I am wrong, but weren't the Ewoks unaware that they were oppressed in the first place. They just lived in trees and they had nothing the Empire wanted, Leia and C3-PO had to tell them what was going on before they would even help. After all this, why are the Ewoks so happy about destroying something that didn't even effect their way of life at all, other then the troopers taking over some of their land. They even had a song all wrote up within hours of ending the battle. I guess they were going to be blown up after the DSII was completed. but they didn't know that at any time.
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That is a good point. I never thought about that before.

What I USE to like about Star Wars is that the OT gave this impression of a vast universe, an explored galaxy, and it seemed so epic and sweeping. The PT has really defused that atmosphere for me and it just all seems lackluster and trite now. I find it very difficult to watch any Star Wars now without thinking about all the crap that's hanging off of it.
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Originally posted by: C3PX
"I feel the trilogy has more in common with American Graffiti than I-III"

Yeah, so true.

"I love star wars for it's christian themes: Family, Forgiveness, redemption and Salvation.

(an effect which is totally lost with the destroyed 2004 RotJ Ending)"

Yes, great Christian themes like family, forgiveness, redemtion, salvation and WAR!!! J/K!

I don't know. As much as I loved those movies in my youth, I always found ROTJs original ending a little... gay. I liked the more somber music at the end. After all, it was the end of a great war, and much was lost. It is perhaps the one change made in the SE that I always felt was appropriate. Maybe it would have been better with less CG. Oh, but since you said 2004 instead of 97, then I guess you meant the whole "horny sailor" Hayden head pasted over Anakin Skywalker's head, not the Ewoks singing.


In reality, the only reason I prefer the original theatrical ending over the '97 one is because footage with the main characters is longer.

(Luke and Leia's embrace and Luke's wink to the spirits are the most obvious examples)

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Originally posted by: ferris209
The thing that always bothered me about the original Ewok song is that it roughly translates to the Ewoks proclaiming their freedom and newfound rights from oppression. Correct me if I am wrong, but weren't the Ewoks unaware that they were oppressed in the first place. They just lived in trees and they had nothing the Empire wanted, Leia and C3-PO had to tell them what was going on before they would even help. After all this, why are the Ewoks so happy about destroying something that didn't even effect their way of life at all, other then the troopers taking over some of their land. They even had a song all wrote up within hours of ending the battle. I guess they were going to be blown up after the DSII was completed. but they didn't know that at any time.


Yeah, the Ewoks in the final film really have not motive to fight or celebrate. You get the impression that once the Death Star was complete the Imperials all would have left and life would have continued on, totally unaffected. In the first drafts Endor was one of the moons of Coruscant, and was being deforested and harvested for natural resources--which is why Palpatine calls it a "sanctuary moon" in the final film, even though its not. It was supposed to be a sanctuary for the overpopulated Coruscant, which indeed would give the Ewoks a reason to save themselves from the invaders.
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I always wondered why he called it "the sanctuary moon."

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Yeah, the Ewoks in the final film really have not motive to fight or celebrate. You get the impression that once the Death Star was complete the Imperials all would have left and life would have continued on, totally unaffected. In the first drafts Endor was one of the moons of Coruscant, and was being deforested and harvested for natural resources--which is why Palpatine calls it a "sanctuary moon" in the final film, even though its not. It was supposed to be a sanctuary for the overpopulated Coruscant, which indeed would give the Ewoks a reason to save themselves from the invaders.

And wouldn't it have made sense to make the moon the site for the Jedi Temple?
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What do i love about Star Wars? It's a Western, a Samurai film, a Fantasy, a war movie, & a coming of age story........ all set IN SPAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaccceeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I like Darth vader and Luke skywalker
May the force be wth you .........