Has 'Rogue One' changed 'A New Hope' in a positive or negative way?

It is the first Prequel to do no embarrassing damage to the original film(s). That's quite a feat, and Gareth Edwards struck gold.

 

Positive. Unquestionably. That is the beauty of Rogue One. It is the first Star Wars film since ESB to tangibly enhance and improve the OT movies. On my first view, I think Rogue One was better than TFA in this regard... this coming from someone who heaped substantial praise on TFA (which I still love BTW...)

 

I did watch ANH recently before watching R1 and I am planning to watch ANH tonight. For sure it is way more poignant, we understand why Vader is so angry and why Princess Leia decides to send the message using this astromech that, unbeknowst to her, was her real mother's and the war companion of his father. I guess all is as the Force wills it.

 

I think the events of R1 match pretty well with the opening crawl and the beginning of ANH. Now we know why Vader was so angry during the opening of EPIV. He knows that the plans are on the Tantive IV because he just saw rebels taking it to that very ship.

For me ANH is now a 4 hours long movie.

 

Rogue One certainly lines up well with ANH, and I think it's fair to say it provides greater context for some things (and characters).

That said, it doesn't change how good ANH is in any meaningful way. The only real difference, to me at least, is that it gives a bit more weight to the importance of the stolen plans in the early going. But it's not as though the stakes in the original Star Wars were ever unclear.

I do give Rogue One a lot of credit for not messing anything up. Playing around with such storied history and coming out clean on the other side (even helping a couple of things make more sense), is a hell of an accomplishment.

 

It absolutely improved ANH for me. The rebellion in particular got much better fleshed out and felt like a real rebel movement.

 

Definitely improves ANH. Galen's deliberate planning of a weakness in the reactor core filled what always seemed like a plot hole to me. Tarkin seems even more scheming and evil than before. And Vader comes out even scarier (I didn't know that was possible!).

 

I don't think it changes anything because we're simply seeing the opening crawl come to life.

 

God, those last five minutes. Gave me chills.

You already know how it ends, as so many critics have been quick to point out- but that's kind of the point, it's kind of the genius of Rogue One.

 

In my opinion R1 has take me back to 1977.I had watch the movie 2 times and planning to watch it again this weekend.Really this is a x-mas gift to EVERY fan of SW.The FORCE is with me and i'm with the FORCE....A NEW line about the FORCE and enjoying it.

 

Although R1 is an enjoyable movie, it adds nothing meaningful or relevant to ANH, which was written and shot as a self-contained, possibly standalone movie.

 

You could tie both movies together and it's seamless.. I went to see R1 last night and was just thrilled. I was compelled to watch ANH as soon as I got home. Adds SO much more weight, not only to the story but the rebellion itself

 

Works pretty good as a sequel to ROTS too.

 

I think it enhanced the urgency in ANH and added new meaning to some ANH dialog...

Tarkin's Line in ANH "I think its time we demonstrate the 'full power' of this station, set your course for Alderaan...." Seeing the DS only use a single reactor and "nuke" cities showed how the weapon could be used on ANY planet, not just to destroy an entire planet. If there was a planet that the Empire needed to control, boom, just wipe out their Capital city from above.

Vader's Line in ANH: "Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel Spies..." In actuality the plans were beamed to the ship the Tantive IV was docked with, Raddus' cruiser.

The biggest thing for me is the Galaxy just got so much bigger!

 

It's added another dimension to ANH, like someone has mentioned it's added more of a sense of urgency to it.

The Rebel cause is now more aligned as a result of the final act in this movie with people now pulling together to defeat the Empire. I wasn't expecting their hesitant to fight in this film and now adds more of a meaning to Rogue Squadron's name. The rebels, just like the Jedi before them, are flawed and not perfect.

It's also added more to the Empires evil ways, which I didn't think was possible.

 

One minor, minor, minor thing for me.

The end of Rogue One was so powerful for me ... for us all. Vader singlehandedly going down that corridor taking out all of the Rebels.

Then when they board the Tantive IV in ANH he sends in the Stormtroopers and doesn't appear until it's all clear.

Stylistically in ANH it's the first time we see the character, so it's perfectly executed for me, but after the end of Rogue One I feel the two don't sync.

But it's kind of hard to imagine the Rogue One Vader off camera in A New Hope telling the Stormtroopers. "I got the last one. You guys take this one. Let me know when it's all clear. Ok?"

 

Positive! Cant wait for this to come out on Digital so I can watch both back to back!