Hal 9000

My ranking isn’t too different from the norm. However, I’m going to use my edits of the PT films in place of the originals.

ESB - Pure cinematic genius; could watch any time
ANH - Groundbreaking cinematic joy, only very slightly hindered by a dip in pace partway through
ROTJ - Fun and exciting, if a bit juvenile, conclusion to the trilogy featuring a nice subversive subplot of the redemption of the villian
TFA - Fun ride to restart the franchise and set things up going forward, though lacks the weight of the prior stories to an extent; very similar to Trek '09 in that respect, and it’s evaluation will largely depend on how the subsequent films go
COD (Ep1) - Stylized opening to the prequel trilogy with stilted, dry performances and directing; has all the trappings of a Star Wars film with an inescapably boring bent
LOE (Ep3) - Downbeat and somber ending to the ostensibly tragic PT, which is still a chore to get through, with everything falling quickly into place as if the author ran out of time
TAS (Ep2) - Awkward middle film with little in the way of an independent story, plagued by bad ideas and awkward acting/directing

If you’re up for it, I still recommend reading the novelizations of the prequels in place of watching the films.

Yeah, and I am hoping Episode 8 delves into her inner conflicts and fears ala the ‘dark side cave.’ JJ and company make her out to be mysterious, so I hope that’s actually followed up on, and it’s not another Sifo-Dyas situation.
I do really like Rey, and hope we get to see a different side of her in 8, where she has room to grow and be challenged. And maybe some details that will retroactively make TFA’s depiction of her make more sense.

Yes to both. Ric was the chosen one all along. I’m still hoping an elderly Olie pops up in the ST.

I’d predict the film ends with the lead character(s) sacrificing their life/lives to beam the plans to Leia.
I can imagine seeing ANH directly after this, and screaming at Luke as he casually takes his time with R2, and the mission is delayed as it rests just with them.

BmB said:
If not for Rey’s annoying “I don’t need no help from a MAN” attitude Finn would be little more than a Gary Stu counterpart. His ability to fight competently with a lightsaber without any training or force sensitivity at all is insane.

There is no correlation. It is not because she’s a woman. It’s because she’s a mary sue. However, conversely it is highly likely that she was written to be a mary sue because she’s a woman. The current political climate is such that any character flaw on a female lead that is beyond superficial is likely to be seen by those who like to be outraged as a direct attack on women. And we all know hollywood does not take risks like that.

Criticism of these shallow characters is likely to be seen as an attack on women too, for some reason. In a lot of ways it’s perfect marketing ploy. You can’t criticize the film because the leads are oppressed minorities, and you especially cannot criticize those characters. If I say “Harrison Ford was sleeping through it.” you won’t bat an eyelid. If I say “Rey is a Mary Sue and Boyega can’t act” I’m a racist and misogynist. Or what?

This is more or less what I was getting at. I’m glad for the likable leads who aren’t just white guys, and I think the meaning and impact of making that decision would have been more powerful if they weren’t hypercharged JJ Abrams characters who are übercomletent and excellent at everything.

EDIT: For the record, Anakin in TPM comes close to being a Mary Sue. I can think, though, of a scenes en route to and on Coruscant that depict him as out of his element and doubting himself. But I’d submit him as having the same qualities, more of less, that I am picking out of Rey.
Also, if you’ve seen Plinkett’s video about JJ’s Star Trek '09, it’s similar to his critique of how Abramd pumped the characters up to the degree that they’re all supergeniuses. But the lead few characters have clear flaws that are addressed in the story. Maybe Rey will too, in the broad scheme of things across the whole trilogy, but I felt this was underwhelming in TFA in isolation.

Bingowings said:

John Doom said:

*deleted

^THIS

ALLOL
I took this to be an endorsement of not posting, and/or biting our tongues.

Looked almost as awful as Dooku’s digital double.

My phone makes interacting with quotes difficult, but Lord Haseo, my point about Rey is that the film gives me the impression that she is awesome at everything, and hardly makes any mistakes or has any flaws. It’s just my opinion, of course, and I do really like her. I felt myself empathizing with her, which gives TFA a huge leg up on the prequels.
And my comment about people disagreeing being objectively wrong, that was obvious sarcasm.

AOTC sucks, but I’m interested in discussing similar and opposite opinions. Anything else just seems antithetical to the purpose of a forum.

TV’s Frink said:
But if you think… you’re objectively wrong.

This is the sort of unhelpful garbage I’ve been seeing lately. And not just here and there, but militant daily efforts that add up to a larger sentiment of inhospitability.

I have issues with Rey’s character. I dislike how she seems to be so strong and capable right out the gate. In ANH, Luke comes across as kind of an idiot, and only later with training grows.
You might point out that he destroyed the Death Star by opening up to the Force with little prior instruction. But Rey shows up able to pilot the Falcon through an escape that would make Han wince, a ship she strongly implied to never have flown before, as well as do things via the Force that Luke took years to discover.
And if I’m playing by your standards, this opinion has been very prevalent following the release of the film, so you must be objectively wrong for disagreeing.

Change her to male and none of this is any different.

I don’t disagree with you, Frink, about any of the specific instances of clear trolling you cite. I just hate to see people being told that their opinion about a set of seven movies is invalid. I think there’s something to be said for the opinion that the prequels feel more legitimate than TFA because they sprung from the mind of Lucas. I don’t hold it, but I think there’s something to discuss there without shutting them down.
Trolls are one thing, but it just seems like we’ve been going overboard. We’re feeding them, really. Let the trolls go hungry until they leave. I’d rather say to the well behaved newbies, “You’re an idiot! Let’s get a drink.”
Carrying this poorly thought out metaphor further, with OT.com being like the Cantina, I suppose TF.N could be see as the prequel era Jedi Council: rigid and blinded.

Can we be the Ewok village? Roast the trolls over open coals and invite others to join the tribe? Eat human flesh and dance around?

I’ve been here since 2003. I was a mere 13 years old back then. The site’s purpose was to get the original, unaltered Star Wars trilogy properly released and preserved. That was the goal we rallied behind. We didn’t require an orthodoxy interrogation to join and participate. When people started doing edits or even preservation of prequel material, we didn’t tell them we thought their efforts were a waste of time.
Nowadays, there’s quite a bit of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba around here. Someone comes into our cantina and we feel the need to announce that we don’t like them. That is uncalled for most of the time. There have been trolls as there always have, but I don’t like the bum’s rush people seem to be getting lately.
And, Frink. I love ya, but you’re the most obvious offender of the above right now. The more you tighten your grip, the more young users will slip through your fingers [into the forum]. (Hmm… That metaphor didn’t work at all!) I like the humor Frink brings to the table, and even half of the smartassery. But we are painting ourselves as an unwelcoming place full of fundamentalists.

I understand there’s been some trolling lately, but surely we can stop harassing people for giving their opinions as they differ from ours.
TV’s Frink, please try to play nice and let the forum be a little less like walking into the Mos Eisley cantina.

I used a modified version of smudger9’s crawl template for FCPX.

Yeah, Myspleen and FanEdit.info.

Ahem I thought it was a nice touch to get the same actress back for Mon Mothma as Episode III. That was my first takeaway from the trailer, hoping that they hadn’t thrown a third one into the mix.
The aesthetic of classic '77 era Star Wars and lack of Jedi and lightsabers excites me. The movie doesn’t even have to be all that great for me to really enjoy something like this. It’s not part of the ‘saga,’ and I feel it will be freer to explore without fearing it will disappoint us.
Should be a ton of fun.

More like if Han Solo weighed fat hundred pounds.

NSFW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OioTXEKF870

Two quick thoughts. During my initial viewing, I felt the lack of any political exposition, considering how important it was to the prequels’ story. Not saying I wanted a ton, but I did want a bit more than we got. Just the basics of the history or basis for the First Order and Resistance. As the first follow-up to the story since ROTJ, it’s an elephant in the room to go so far to avoid any and all political stuff.
Also, it just seems like Kylo Ren let Rey beat him. No, it’s like Adam Driver just let Daisy Ridley arm wrestle him into shorting out the saber. Just subjective on my part; the momentum of the scene gets you to root for Rey so you don’t really mind if her victory isn’t totally believable.

Wow, thanks for sharing. And welcome to the world of fan editing!
That aspect of LOE is something I don’t think I’ve really found in any other edit, of trying to somewhat replicate and approximate the earlier ideas before they did reshoots to emphasize Padme’s impending doom. Corigar’s edit sort of did this, and I thought it dovetailed well with the idea Q2 went with of showing Padme to survive the events of the film.
If you’re curious, I’d recommend the chapter on ROTS from ‘The Secret History of Star Wars.’ You can also listen to the commentary track on the edit itself.
Really good to hear people enjoying these cuts.

http://blueballfixed.ytmnd.com/

Scott109 said:

I agree that a lot of the dialogue was poorly written and that the film could have been edited much better. LucasFilm should have hired Hal9000 as an editor.

Only if I could go back in time to do it. Aside from being 12 years old at the time, I would have been a terrible editor. It’s only after steeping myself in the fan editing done by others over the course of years that I approached AOTC ready to actually do something good.

My favorite way to watch through the saga is one film per week. It makes it into a serial adventure.

Rey’s nightmare revisited.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L58oh3wIiNw

Now that we have Ep7 (and soon Ep8 and Ep9) to continue the story, I have lost all reservations about recommending plain ol’ release order. Doesn’t even matter whether you’re a newcomer or veteran.