Is the Original Trilogy Overrated?

For sheer impact, the effect Star Wars had on the entertainment industry and pop culture in general can never be overstated. It’s a flashpoint in our modern history that can be qualified in terms of ‘before’ and ‘after’. Those three movies are a touchstone - a landmark. They’re properly rated in that sense at least. They’re unquestionably works of historical significance.

With respect to “perfection” though, I assume we’re speaking in reference to incapsulating the synthesis of what Star Wars is. In that regard, yes. If the OT was all we ever got, then that would have been enough. Everything you need in order to appreciate what this concept is, is all right there. Everything else just operates as ‘enhancement’. They aren’t ‘essential’.

If we’re talking ‘cinematic perfection’ as a yardstick of pure quality, well . . . no. They definitely aren’t the high watermark for excellence in filmmaking, but they were never really trying to be. The goal was to be the best possible version of what would otherwise be considered 'schlock' and they absolutely succeed in that aim.

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It's amazing how many of those "touchstone moments" George and Steven are connected to

 

This is like asking if the Beatles are overrated.

If the Beatles popped up today they wouldn't be the phenomenon they were in the 1960s. If Star Wars was released for the first time in 2020 it wouldn't be the same. A New Hope is very slow compared to modern superhero/fantasy/Sci Fi films.

That doesn't mean it was a bad film or the Beatles are overrated. You can't underestimate the value of timing.

 

No. The Original Trilogy is NOT overrated.

 

The first Star Wars now comes off like a good old western film for the most part; very true. Kind of slowly paced and block-ish.

The last 15 minutes of that film, though, man...even today neurons are gripped into attention by it.
That last 15 minutes made that film what it was. The rest of the film was fun and good, but it didn't grab you by the neck and shove your amygdala into over-drive from increasingly ratcheted up intensity like a 15 minute "riser" in an EDM song.

THAT is what made it a straight work of genius. The SFX, sure? Obviously. The Sound? Absolutely. The polishing off of "schlock"? Definitely.
But all of that was something you could argue was industrial rather than artistically intrinsic to the film's story itself.

The story, however, had that one golden nugget in it that really set the bar for movies as thrill rides from that point forward - that last 15 minutes of just pure high octane tension piled up so high that by the time the Death Star explodes, your brain is leaping with chemical dumps of joy from the tension releasing in a pleasant way.

The trench run was even more genius because it visually packed in the tension with not only the trench itself but the target display showing an ever tightening lock-on - building on top of the threat levels being evermore tense, and then you have the timer display of the base coming into range, Vader jumping out and chasing after our hero, everyone dying one by one, and then a little jolt of hurrah with Han coming back, and then the final big punch of the battle station exploding.

Every step of this was set to be about taking a wider range that we're given and then narrowing that range down, and then down again, and sometimes down again.
By the near peak of the tension, we've gone from looking at a large area of the screen to focusing on one small square area on target reticles, we've gone from feeling the speed of scenes to counting seconds, and we've gone from huge blasts of sound to a quiet spacious voice in a muted cockpit.

Even today, I've watched people who've never seen Star Wars before (rare birds that they are) and they watch that film and regardless of what they think of the rest of the film, that final 15 minutes of film just grabs them.

It's just the most neurologically primed piece of film - right there with Jaws and Alien, but it's not horror.
And that is what changed everything.

A pop-corn adventure/action film suddenly became gripping to a point that rendered whole theaters dead mute for that span of film.

It captured the very essence of a sports game where the underdog crowd favorite is on pins and needles for the final stretch of the game as they are a hair's breath away from winning, but could easily lose by the same measure, and that final stretch spans half an hour to an hour of tenuous possibility - every passing few minutes adding to the already present tension, and then the team wins and the crowds go wild in uproar.

Star Wars' final 15 minutes tapped into that vein in a FILM for the first time.

And we've never gone back. We're on absolute overload of that formula now. We're so "addicted" to is that we're jaded to it, or long for something other than that.
We now dismiss them as trite pop-corn "roller coaster" movies.

But the first Star Wars still plays tight in that last hurrah of the film if you find people who haven't seen the film.
If you're very familiar with the film, and a modern audience, especially younger, then it's unlikely to feel quite the same as the familiarity and sense of it is numbed down like a VHS copy of an old sports team upset that you've seen 40 times.

So yeah...it's pacing for the most part is akin to watching an old western by today's standards (which is part of it's charm for me), but that final bit totally still stands up to today's pacing grade.
All we really do now is employ better camera gear and VFX, but if you look at any modern looming threat long-odds action thriller finale, you don't see shots, sequence, and edits that are really strongly different than what we see in the first Star Wars film.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

Not overrated, but people tend to be blindsided by the flaws in them, yet will highlight and define the prequels which have very similar flaws.

People criticise the corny lines in the prequel, whilst it had awful dialogue, there is a lot of awful dialogue and bad acting in the originals as well.

 

I wouldn’t say that the OT is overrated. To be honest, its my favorite trilogy so I may be of a biased. But, It may just be me, but I haven’t seen anyone say that it is overrated. But, I know that people are saying it may be because of this thread. I do indeed notice some of its flaws. But, I do respect the time of filming these films. Anyway, thatnis my opinion.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 3, 2020, Original Post Date: Aug 3, 2020 ---

I wouldn’t say that the PT had completely AWEFUL dialogue, which is just my opinion. It does have some pretty iffy dialogue choices, don’t get me wrong, but I do love a good ‘ol PT film. The dramatic dialogue in the PT’s just make m me like even more haha, just an opinion. I do understand the other side of this though.

 

I agree with you. Even though Star Wars is MASSIVE, the original trilogy's greatness still isn't fully understood.. hell even Rian Johnson showed that he didn't watch Empire properly with how Yoda acted.

Nothing will ever, ever beat the original Star Wars trilogy. You might not see it for a few years, but eventually you come back and your love for it will strengthen even more.. Like a musician putting down their instrument then returning to it.

It's the perfect trilogy, ahead of it's time.. so good that aspects of it still go over fans' heads. It's the Muhammad Ali of film trilogies.

 

The audience's reaction to TLJ Luke:

 

I mean I guess if you didn't watch any of the previous films or just have no understanding of Arthurian legend and the movies/stories that inspired George Lucas' Star Wars concepts.

But if you DID watch those first six movies and had any understanding of the things that obviously inspired George Lucas, his turn to a disillusioned hermit is painfully obvious.

 

What you meant?

I think TLJ's Yoda was just perfect and it matches perfectly with the one we saw in TESB and ROTJ.

 

yeah, he is playful but wise. In the PT he was too warlike. The only good portrayal in the PT era was in the first episode of clone wars, and then after that yoda just DEPLOY ALL TROOPS AT EASTERN BORDER WE MUST! something yoda should never say, or MY VISION IS CLOUDED!

 

If it wasnt for us old folks then there wouldnt be anything beyond 1977's Star Wars for you kids to enjoy.

 

What does this even mean

 

maybe that lucas is old and he created star wars, so we can enjoy it now. I guess i also don't know what that means

 

I said that in 2018... those where simpler times.

 

Best guess?

ESB was a production Lucas tried to finance without studio investment or involvement. He secured a bank loan to do it and the project immediately went over time and budget. If it weren’t for the massive cash injection netted from toy sales, ESB probably would have financially tanked before ever being released.

The adult fans today, who were kids at the time (and convinced their parents to plop their money down on a bunch of cheap plastic), saved Star Wars . . . from a certain point of view. It *might* not exist at all today if it weren’t for the G1 fans keeping it alive.

 

I like this site. Only place on the internet that makes me feel old.