Star Wars Episodes I-III -- Like a bad daytime TV soap?

Question

I am a Star Wars fan, don't get me wrong. The imagination and design is great in all 6 episodes and the resulting video games (X-Wing Alliance, Rogue Squadron, for instance) are awesome.. Episodes IV (New Hope), V (Empire Strikes Back), VI (Return of the Jedi) were great -- the story and the presentation..

It seems to me at least something was lost in I (Phantom Menace) II (Attack of the Clones), and III (Revenge of the Sith).

Episode III especially just seemed to play out like a bad soap opera you see on daytime network TV. I and II were so-so, but not up to standards of the last three movies done 1977-1983.

So a question...

What was your impression of I-III vs IV-VI?

Anything else you'd like to add would be welcome.

P.S. The only reason I bring this up now is because HBO has been playing Episode III over and over lately.

Answer 1

The toughest part for someone alive in the early seventies is looking at the early films as they would have if they saw them for the first time in the last few years. Many of us older fans saw eps 4-6 with childlike innocence and we have convinced ourselves to this day that they were the greatest movies ever made. We then approached the newer films but without the childlike naivete and most said they sucked and don't stack up to the originals. One other factor is that when viewing the original trilogy in the seventies and eighties, we didn''t know what would happen next. By going back in time to tell the prequels, we know how they're going to turn out, so the suspense full mystery parts are absent. Add that to the fact that the original cast of nobodys tried harder than the current crop of thespians, and you end up with a really long answer that doesn't answer anything (ahem).

My main point: it's an apple and orange comparison, as the trilogies have more differences than similarities. The worst part, in my book besides the afore-mentioned acting, was that technology got better for "older" movies. They did a pretty bad job aging the new movies to look older than the original trilogy. I also think that we were expected to know more than we did about the behind the scenes stuff the Sith were doing to make the empire out of the republic. I think George assumed because we knew the end, the details weren't that important. You definitely have to view them separately as, while both definite stories of the Star Wars universe, they are too dissimilar.

IMHO, the originals are still the best, in enjoyability, acting, dialog, writing, and originality. That's another thing: Lucas relied too heavily on "this technological terror you constructed", and got too far away from rubber masks and elaborate sets. In an interview with Liam Neeson, he said all the sets for Ep 1 stopped at 6' high and the rest was all CGd later.

I'm done. Really.

No, really.

Answer 2

Episodes I-III: definite disappointments. Lucas should have let someone else direct. I felt we could have done without Episode I all together. I recently saw Episode III and the only thing I could think of duriing that openig scene with the silly little robots that were attacking the spaceships was the time could have better been used on character development. sadly, that could be said for all three of those movies. I want my money back.

Answer 3

Well, IV- VI seemed... deeper, I guess is the word I'm looking for. They were better, cuz in the end, good triumphed. I-III, well... I guess the catch phrase for those was "If it can't be good, at least it can be loud (and full of special effects)". And evil kinda seemed to win at the end of III. Don't get me wrong, I love all the movies, but I really think they went down hill after George went to just producing with less actual writing.

Answer 4

George Lucas is getting close to retirement and he needed a few more bucks to get the retirement home. Knowing that over marketing and the lack of brains in today's society, he put 3 more movies out. He made millions off of them and screwed up the legend he had created. I hated I, II, & III. I don't consider them to be true Star Wars Episodes.

Answer 5

Episode II & III were definitely way too overdramatic.
But, to be honest with you I never really liked the drawn out IV - VI, they seemed really boring to me.
My favorite is Episode I.
Episodes II & III were definitely the worst.

Answer 6

I found Episode III to be particularly mushy and melodramatic. Actions scenes are great, but way too many love scenes and the acting too cheesy during them.

Answer 7

a lengthy time period in the past, in a galaxy far distant, Han Solo once pronounced: "i have were given a foul feeling about this." yet on the opposite, I truly have a strong feeling about the subsequent action picture star Wars. i visit agree that JJ Abrams does no longer were my first decision in any respect, i'd have lengthy gone with Ridley Scott per chance. yet i'm very hopeful.

Answer 8

I just love Star Wars!!!! I think it's just awsome!!! I think it just seemd that way because everyone knew what was eventually gonna happen so it wasn't too special. Although my favorite episode was II mostly because Hayden Christensen (Anakin) is sooo DAMN SEXXY!! lol! but also cuz I just liked it the most. but i think 4-6 were better cuz they were the originals and 1-3 were wat happened b4 that so we all knew what was gonna happen.

Answer 9

i liked all six but Jedi is my favorite