Is the Original Trilogy Overrated?

You should consider voluntarily deleting your account because this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read in the site., . It's the most popular franchise in film history, despite the fact that both Star Trek and James Bond are older, have more films, and are both still active. It's good old-fashioned innocent fun. It's the definition of an adventure movie. They bring a smile to many faces around the world every time they are watched.

I do have to say though, I think it's extremely lame a few people marked your post as trolling. I noticed that a lot around here. People don't like what you have to say, and they mark you as a troll. I don't think you're a troll at all, I think you genuinely mean every single word that you posted and it's disingenuous to call your troll.

 

This isn't the right way to look at a movie, there are no "perfect" works of art. I don't know what people are even thinking when they make such a claim, but it seems to me they're often focusing on technical problems or issues. A work of art should inspires you, it can help you see things in new ways it can speak to your heart/soul and intellect. The OT was an imaginative and inspiring film. I can watch them now all these years later and still be inspired, they have pretty universally been established as classics, they have characters and sayings that have become the common property of our culture: Obi wan, Yoda, Luke Leia, Han, Chewy, R2D2, C3PO, Jabba we feel like we know them, they live in us. This is an incredible achievement, can you imagine them disappearing from your mind? If anything I think because we are so used to them we take them for granted and not be endlessly amazed by what they achieved.

 

In the non-canon "Shadows of the Empire" it was mentioned that Luke had a lot of work to do for the rescue mission of Han. He simply had no time to go back to Yoda. Furthermore I think Yoda already taught him everything he needed to know, now he had to grow stronger by himself.

 

Luke was basically self taught anyway. He learned a lot even before he saw and met Yoda, and there was only supposed to be a few months between ESB and ROTJ.

 

You have every right to your opinion but I just think you’re on the wrong message board to criticize the OT. Most fans here are OT fans (probably grew up with them like me) or grew up after ROTJ and watched them endlessly on VHS. Does the OT have flaws, yes. Do I want to talk about them 40 years later, no. That’s probably how most fans feel here.

I would recommend www.theforce.net as that site is populated with Pro-PT fans and many of them enjoy taking shots at the OT.

 

I don’t see anything wrong with voicing his opinion on the OT and have enjoyed reading people’s perspectives on what they think about the OT. I love the OT, but do enjoy seeing what others think and see how their views mesh with my views. The whole point of message boards is to spark lively debate and discussion (and occasionally some humorous discussions) and it’s not like his post is straight up trashing the OT like so many people do for the PT and ST. This franchise is a major piece of pop culture and their is nothing wrong with wanting to dive into analyzing it, even if it is 40 or 50 or 100 years later. Star Wars fandom covers all eras and content and I don’t think it’s right telling somebody they don’t belong here because they are simply voicing their opinion and starting a conversation.

 

I think you misunderstood my post. He has every right to starting this thread and voicing the negatives of the OT. My point was that there probably won’t be many takers on this message board and TFN was better place to discuss.

 

It's better to let people decide for themselves whether they want to discuss something or not.

 

It is interesting that Anakin was regarded as having been found rather too late but Luke was grown up. However what I'd say is that Luke was actually found at birth so he always had a Jedi Master watching over him, did it influence him, I like to think so. Obi wan did give him some training and when he died he still stayed with Luke. Luke would never have hit that target on the Death Star without Obi Wan's guidance, that to me shows that Obi-wan was always close to Luke and of course he had some intense training from Yoda and had the experience in the cave which I see as an initiation. It was certainly unconventional training necessitated by the dark times.

 

No.

 

I think you've summed up the general consensus here

 

The PT section perhaps, but the OT section is pretty much free from such noise. Or maybe that stopped once I arrived...

First he had plenty of practice with his T-16 Skyhopper bak on Tatooine (same as Biggs) and IIRC he only shot down TIE fighters from the Falcon's gunports. Apparently Kenobi's training was sufficient to make Luke use the Force to score his hit, I'm not aware that required additional Force training and the veteran pilot relied on a computer that probably couldn't compensate properly.

Luke a Gary Stu? Kenobi has to save him from the Sandpeople and in the Mos Eisley Cantina. He comes up with a rescue plan but has no return strategy and almost got the Princess and himself killed when he took a wrong turn in the Death Star. Couldn't shake a TIE and had to wait for Wedge to shoot that one.

 

i don't know...i had the VHS and it was definitely not great, but the cleanup Harmy did is pretty dang terrific.

that said, i agree with everything else you said.
i love the OT, but its real cinematic value is in its innovation and the inspiration of its message; everything else about it just serves.

and i'm so very glad that it does. : D

 

Of course, no movie is *perfect*. But the OT really does something special. I would, however, draw a distinction between the first two (New Hope and Empire) and the third (Return of the Jedi). Return of the Jedi really takes a deep in quality compared to the other two.

I love all the Star Wars movies. But in my opinion, New Hope and Empire are the only two that actually belong in the broader discussion of great films throughout history. The others are all great action/sci-fi/fantasy films, but the first two are great films, period.

 

omg that's tempting..


i could read posts about experiences of seeing SW movies at the theater all day long. it's not just an eye opener in regards to how personal it is for all of us, but exactly how subjective our opinions are.

'Masterpiece'.. 'Perfection' etc are tags that should be shown respect whenever anyone uses them - because that is how they feel. no movie is a masterpiece to everyone, but it's a beautiful thing to read a member saying that a particular movie is - to them.

 

SW 77 has many fans that aren't just SW fans, as that movie appealed to everyone and that is why it is still a classic today. I can tell you that everyone in my family loves the Original SW, but I'm the only one who continued on with franchise after that. You're looking at it from a SW perspective, with the SE, Sequel Trilogy, Prequel Trilogy, and the base of fans go far bigger then that.

Star Wars, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and ET hold up today because they are great films (and I would say perfect for their genre). The broad base of fans who love these movies goes far deeper then fanboys/fangirls like us who obsess about the movies. Most of these people don't really care about the Sequels, as they see those original movies in that context and nothing else. Wizard of Oz is another movie that holds up 80 years later, and it has nothing to do with nostalgia.

 

Putting aside the Special Edition changes, they would have remastered the Unaltered version for Anamorphic DVD and eventually BluRay, so it would have looked just as great as the SE. ET is a perfect example where I have the 2002 DVD which has the 1982 Original Version and Special Edition, as they are the same master and look exactly the same. The only difference is the added special edition effects and scenes. So if Lucas released the OOT in 2004 on DVD and 2011 on DVD the same way he did the SE (In Anamorphic), it would look just the same, but without the added effects and new scenes.