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Ever sit back in your chair or stop for a second in your day and say: "wow Star Wars is done."

We own all the chapters now, know the entire story it's just all done. Sure there will be TV shows and what not, but you will never get the excitement of waiting for a trailer ever again. I miss that already. I miss the anticipation. I'm upset that a good chunk of people hated the prequels and felt that they killed the Star Wars legacy. I'm pissed off that Lucas couldn't appeal to all instead of the small faithfull that always believed he had one last hurrah the whole time. I'm in some ways upset that Star Wars couldn't be for everyone in the end, but just the dreams and imagination of a single person whom you agreed with or didn't get. In some ways, alot of ways, that's very admireable. It defines exactly who Lucas is and was all along, but there's always going to be that 'but' when people talk about Star Wars, which refers to the prequels.

It's all done, like it or not, and it's going to be interesting to see how the future sees Star Wars. Will it be the brunt of jokes as it has been for the past 6 years (I havent seen ROTS fall victim yet), or will it be continually hailed as one of the greatest triumphs in the history of cinema? I truly think that no movie could have satisfied the hype that Episode I built up. No matter how good it was or would have been, people would have picked on it. Maybe a good 15 years from now children from around the world will be introduced to Star Wars 1-6 and fall in love with it the same way I did as a 4 year old kid who couldn't sleep for days because he found out Vader was Luke's father. It's up in the air for now, I just hope the cynical pop culture of the 21st century doesn't ruin for the future one of the most precious jewels of cinema history.

The hype leading up to Episode I and opening day in 1999 will always be one of my favorite memories. It was the most anticipated movie of all time, and I was there. No matter how many people hated it, I still think Episode I was a stroke of genius, for the most part. It's still the best experience I've ever had just going to a movie.

I am actually glad that Star Wars is over. I measured the last 6 years of my life on the release of the prequels.

Part of me thinks it sucks that as far as the movies themselves go it's over with. I enjoyed being able to see all 6 Star Wars films in theaters. Grant the when I saw the OT it was the 97' Special Editions (was born in 81') but at least I still saw them in theaters.

I will miss the hype of the movies, watching trailers, trying to get various clips from the films (the prequels mainly) and just be damned excited about the whole thing. I love all 6 movies, I will always charish them and glad to have them in my possession. Hell I will even buy the grand 12 disc Saga box set in 07' when that is released.

I know there are people who hate the Prequels, though honestly I think a lot of these people just say they hate them online (since you can practically say anything online) but like them in person they just won't admit it.

This forum was the only forum that I came to for spoiler information regarding for Episode III. I wasn't spoiled for Episode I and II, I guess that's why I love those two movies so much and more so for Episode III. The Prequels have succeeded my expectations and even more so.

The hype for the music portion of the movies too was always good. Though I know there are a lot that didn't like AOTC's score that much but I for one like it. I think that people will change their minds about it when an expanded 2-disc set is release with a lot of the good material that was left off of the OST. Williams did an out-standing job for all 6 Star Wars scores and I am greatful for good ol' George Lucas for keeping Williams for doing the Star Wars scores. I do not think any other composer would have done as good of a job as Williams.

Anyways I am starting to ramble on...as I said I will miss all the hype and the bitching between the fans (even though some of it still goes on today but not as much). I too hope that the film industry keeps the Star Wars Saga preserved in the future of our kids and grand kids. It is hard for us to say how the future generations of kids will persceve(sp?) Star Wars and if they will enjoy it as much as we do. If the spirit for the films is kept a live through out entire family's then it is possible that future generations of kids will enjoy the films as much as we do.

Anyhow that's enough from me.

I can't believe it was a year ago already when tern was putting spoilers up on the front page. I remember waiting until late here just to check before I went to sleep. I even will miss the petty bickering over the way tern decided to drip feed the spoilers. I will definitely miss that anticipation of premier day, i know that having had a place like this will make my memories of those times even better.

They were fun times.

The lead-up to ROTS, especially here on MF, was a wicked fun time. I think a lot of the emotion I felt on opening night came from the fact that it is all over. Never again will I get so excited over a trailer cam-rip from South America, or getting a soundtrack a month before its release date, or ogling over high-rez film stills. Sure, there'll be stuff here and there, and all six films will probably be rereleased eventually... but it is over.

And I'm satisfied.

As much as I like Episode I, I still get the feeling that it should have begun with Anakin as an older boy, the nine year old Anakin is just so annyoing.

I had a blast for the past six years. I do feel like a little something is missing, but at the same time, I'm glad it's over. It sort of feels like graduating from HS/college - mixed emotions and all. Although there might be "class reunions" in the future, (TV series, etc.) it will never be the same.

I'm well aware that this is the general perception, but the truth of the matter is that the prequels made a shitload of money and were eagerly awaited and accepted by the moviegoing public. The PT made over a billion dollars in the US alone; the only other series that even came close in roughly the same time period was LOTR, which had over 50 years to build up its fanbase, and whose audience didn't have to wait 3 years for each succeeding chapter.

Star Wars fans seem a little too willing to eat shit for some reason; maybe it makes their own "devotion" seem that much more sincere, somehow, if they imagine that the rest of the world doesn't get it. Or maybe it's just an unrealistic view that anything less than #1 all-time grosses and Best Picture awards mean that the films are failures.

It doesn't help that anything as big as Star Wars just becomes a big target to critics and other know-it-alls who get paid for telling you what you like. You can see it happening with King Kong currently: it's a 3-hour film that has no built-in fanbase, a story that everyone already knows; nevertheless, it's made over $100 million at the height at the holiday movie season, has been #1 at the box office for its first two weeks (only one film all year has held #1 for three weeks) -- and yet it's considered to be an underperformer.

You know what, if you genuinely like something, it doesn't matter fuck all what anyone else thinks. There may never be another Star Wars film, but I'm still capable of losing myself in that universe whenever I start up any of the DVDs, no matter how many times I've seen them. What else can you ask from it?

I remember seeing 'Star Wars' (before it had the words "A New Hope" attached) in the theatre back in '77 and I read everything Star Wars I could get my hands on; movie guides, fan magazines, and those Marvel comics. I was sucked into these movies and the mythology of that far away galaxy. One of the things I recall reading was that the Sith wore their lightsabers upside down (blade emitter pointing upward). I don't know why this stuck with me but when I started getting excited for the special editions and prequels all those old books came off the shelf and a flood of old memories washed over me.

Now it's all over, and I wonder if any film (or story) will have that effect on any of us--or popular culture--ever again. In a way, I hope not because i want those films to retain there special place in my memory.

Funny I was just thinking about it last night. Its the first time I remember in years not thinking about a Star Wars movie coming out in 3 years. Those were really fun times. Especially waiting for the spoilers each night on the front page of MF. It was a special magical time, I guess. And as far as kids. A ton of kids love the prequels.

My fondest memories are from seeing the original's as they came out in 77, 80, and 83. At that time, no movie had the kind of effects they had. Thats what was so special about them. Those original films were the pioneers. Now days, everybody copys each other, and I think thats what took away from the prequels, aside from the "cereal acting" ( don't know if thats the right interpretation ) and heavy CGI. Thats not to say the prequels were not ground breaking, they were in all respects. I think you get what I'm talking about.

By the way for those of you here as well as the other fans who were bitching about the acting in the Prequels. Keep in mind Lucas has said many times through out the last 6 years of making the Prequels that he had written the dialogue this way on purpose. He wanted to have an old 30's-50's style to the acting. Hayden said in the 2nd disc for ROTS that he understood why he was held back in acting in AOTC.

I think that's why a lot of fans hated the dialogue for the Prequels because it was something different and not like the OT.

It probably would have been better for all considered if that had been made clear to him while AOTC was being shot.

Lucas' work is a lot more interesting without all the bullshit reasoning that he comes up with for why some things don't work. The first rule to keep in mind when you're showing your portfolio or reel to someone is that you never explain what you MEANT to do; if it's not clear in the work itself, the explanations just sound pathetic. This is something that Lucas still seems to have trouble with.

That last bit of ROTS of Vader on the Star Destroyer gets me every time.

I wasnt fussed on any of the end parts of RotS - except for the funeral scene.

AotC provided the most exciting ending for any of the PT episodes - and that really should have been the ending for TPM.

TPM was kinda boring but AOTC and ROTS were awesome...still don't understand any hate for either film. AOTC's love story was weak but whatever it was still a damn fun entertaining film. No complaints about ROTS though.

Where have you been dude?

We live in unique times.
Even the ancient Greeks, Egyptian Pharoahs, bronze-age ridge-dwellers - they all had a Star Wars film to look forward too.
There has always been a Star Wars film to anticipate...
...until last May.
Now there are only Star Wars films to look back on.
We will never anticipate a SW film again.

I poke my head around from time to time but mostly I've been in hiding. When law school started I basically had to quit fanforce and sell my costumes and props. I'm on break right now but I go back to school in two weeks.

I understand -- make sure you visit my booth at Comic Con.

This disappointment many have in the prequels doesn't have much to do with the films themselves and the hype Episode I generated just by it's mere existence. People say that because it makes them feel good. No, the haters despised the prequels because, at every step of the way, Lucas made different decisions than they would have (the entire prequel trilogy being about the Clone Wars, endless OT riffs, etc).

If we were talking about an indie movie nobody had ever heard of before, it wouldn't be a big deal, but a lot of people spent a lot of years shooting their own prequels in their imaginations. Lucas's story -- just by virtue of showing subtlety, pacing and restraint in a lot of instances -- wasn't bad, it was just unacceptable to these types because Anakin didn't give in to the Dark Side by the end of Episode I and chase down Jedi for the next two movies.

Star Wars's legacy is marred by it's own fans. There's nothing wrong with the story, it's just that certain people with no imagination refuse to even give the prequels an objective review because they're so far outside of the parameters of those Imaginary Prequels which fans have been daydreaming about for decades. They wanted 10,000 Boba Fetts and they got Jar Jar. Their poison and vitriol does seem to have had some sway over public opinion. TPM got mixed reviews, but I don't remember reading very many bad ones for AOTC and *none* for ROTS (which I find very telling), but asking Joe Moviegoer what he thought of the prequels inevitably includes "why Jar Jar?", "Separatists, whaaa?" and so forth.

There's nothing wrong with the Star Wars saga; there's plenty wrong with the fans though.

You hit the nail on the head with this post. There are legitmate complaints about TPM for sure, but fans had forever to create their own "cool" versions of the prequels in their heads. IMO no movie could live up to those "standards".

now that i look back i still can't warm up to ep1 or 2. they lack alot of things in alot of ways.

i definitely agree w/ the PerfectCr post on anakin being way too young in the first film.

i'd say they're ok, not great though. too bad.

The Star Wars saga is a mismatch of plot intentions and other horrid editing catastrophes. Doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the fans...

wrong.

the FANS are fucking idiots (for the most part), there's actually nothing wrong with the FILMS.

SI...you ARE the films. I saw you with your lightsaber attacking that young padawan on the steps of Fox... :p

I completely agree with you on that statement there. The entire saga is awesome. Ya there maybe a few things here and there that seem kind of dorky but name me one movie that doesn't have some sort of dorkyness to it or cheesy dialogue or whatever.

The fans claim that the Prequels have cheesy dialogue, well hell look at the OT for crying out loud. Now if you say it doesn't have cheesy dialogue then you must be watching different films that what I'm watching.

The main problem with Star Wars is ESB - it fucked everything up. It was written and directed by people other than GL and it was SO good, GL had a nervous breakdown. The fans then all set the standards of sequels upon poor old ESB. So when ewoks came along, fans began to loose faith..and it just snowballed from there.


So, I say BLAME ESB!

The Ewoks are are worse than Jar Jar, seriously.

Their loss.

My fondest memories were in 1980 when the first few previews of ESB started airing on TV. I loved seeing the original Star Wars when I was four and five years old, many times on the big screen and at the drive in theaters. I started collecting all the action figures, and such. When I was seven, I didn't have access to fan magazines, and there was no internet, so when the first preview of ESB came on my 13" color TV set, I flipped out. I was so excited to see AT-AT walkers, and R2-D2 raising up too look into Yoda's window of his hut...I littereally started bouncing off the walls and the couch, etc. And when I got home from school one day and my parents told me we were going out for pizza then going to see ESB...wow, really great times. I miss those feelings

Flaxer, you must be roughly the same age as me. Your account is exactly how I remember it too. I saw the ESB trailer for the first time as a 7 year old during my normal routine of Saturday morning cartoons in 1980. I was so excited I ran upstairs and woke my parents up and made them promise to take me. My Dad was actually as excited as I was. Those were good times and that is what Star wars will always remind me of. Now, my Dad and I can watch all six movies in theater he built in the basement of his house. It may be over for Lucas but it aint over for us.

I disagree. I find subtlety and pacing in the Ep's 1 and 2 that far more "artistic" movies hardly match. Star Wars (as a saga) is, was and will always be popcorn entertainment with a little bit of soul thrown in, but that's primarily because the OT is fairly simplistic in it's structure and in it's story. The prequels, on the other hand, broke a lot more new ground and expanded on much larger, more complex themes than the OT. Forgive me, but I feel this is simply an objective fact. The PT witnesses a fairly utopian government decend into tyranny, aided and abetted by the people within and overwhelmingly approved by the people without. The PT addresses war (as a social construct) as, ultimately, a morally bankrupt institution that ruins the lives of everyone associated with it. The PT depicts the Jedi as fairly benign protectors of society, protectors who were systemically slaughtered because of the threat they posed to the coming New Order.

What does the OT have to compare to all that?

I'm not shitting on the OT, it's great and I love it as much as the PT, but it's a far more simple, coming-of-age type story. "A boy becomes a man and must confront the sins of his father". There's a ton of validity in that but for my money the PT has a far richer, more interesting and entertaining storyline.

The issue here is that fans didn't want anything innovative, anything new or different, anything that strayed too far outside of the parameters of what they thought The Prequels Should Be. Whose fault is that? George's or the fans'?

Not flaming you Ternian, just (hopefully politely) disagreeing.

That's pretty cool. I think our vibe on thattime is right on, just as you indicated. Regarding the dad thing, mine was pretty excited too, unfortunatally he passed away about six months before ROTS came out. It's silly to think about things I wished I could have done with my dad, but the sci-fi fantasy boy in me wished me and pa could have seen ROTS and Return Of the King Together.

(sob story over).

Glad to see someone "get something" out of my post and refresh fond memories. Good thread CoGro.

"GL has nothing to do with ESB" is one of the most ridiculous statements I hear from fans. Even from hardcore fans who should know better. Even though he's not in the credits but most of the ESB's final draft is his (as admitted by Kasdan himself). Yes, Kershner works better with actors but at least you have to give GL some credit for being flexible and allowing Irwin and the actors improvise and change the script where they felt it was necessary. Otherwise Lucas was heavily involed with all the aspects of the making of ESB. Kershner (and Kasdan) have contributed a lot but even they acknowledge it's mostly Lucas's movie... so it fails me why fans can't.



"Lucas hates ESB" is another fans' asinine belief. So what if ROTJ is different in many ways? It doesn't prove anything.



Actually, I agree with that. ESB is a great movie but it's not perfect (what is?). It has some flaws that fans choose to overlook but tend to exaggerate the very same flaws in the prequels.

ESB has been put on such a high pedestal... I'm even glad that ROTS now rivals it with many fans.

It's that contribution that makes a difference. Lucas is a great inventor - as in pushing the limits of film technology. But he is crap at script work and getting a story across - and that is plainly on show with the PT.


Anyway, I think it is a certain tone and direction that makes ESB so different from all the other movies. GL could just not get that in the prequels.

But was it really his goal? Each of the SW movies has something unique and different from other chapters. Why would you want another ESB when you already have one?

Excellent point!
Lucas has already stated that he wasn't interested in outdoing any of the previous episodes.
He just wanted to tell a story.

all this talk about the greatness of SW has pressured me into watching ROTS...again...!! the pity..

oh, and T, dude that was no padawan learner, he was well trained in the Jedi arts...

...and I kicked arse at euchre that night too !!

Good post CoGro. It's weird it all being over. There's a huge void in my life, not following up on prequel news as I have on a daily basis for the last 10 years of my life.

It will be interesting to see how Star Wars is referred to in the future. I am a pretty adamant believer that the prequels stack up to the originals in nearly every category, yet, ROTS was the only one that I felt really had any impact on people, and even then it was fleeting. It's very disappointing in general.

Hopefully in time, people will see the 6 Star Wars as one, but that's wishful thinking.

But, they better start working on that TV show quick. Us SW fans need to be occupied.

I was thinking about this recently too. I think what it boils down to for me isn't even not getting another film. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love all of the films more than I can describe, but what I'll miss more is never having the times with my friends in anticipation for a new movie. Never camping out in line again. Never speculating with them what will/won't happen in the next installment. It's those times that defined it for me. While we all enjoyed the movies, without these other times that's all they are: movies. Instead we have a large part of our lives that are involved with Star Wars. And I despite anything I may think about the movies(no Qui-Gon scene, "crapping acting", etc.), I guess I do owe George a thank you for all of the good times.

Yea, all good things must come to an end I suppose. Though I surely will miss it. The energy and hype leading up to each movie becomes instant nostolgia.

Look on the brightside....atleast we still have the two T.V. series to look forward to, and hype will once again spark more discussions. Maybe not on the level that the movies did, but hey...it's something. I can already see the plothora of torrents, screen caps, yousendit links, and rapidshare links to the latest episode that was aired posted in a thread. I can't wait until that moment arrives.

dude, you are trying waaaay too hard....

I agree...Agent Smith you seriously just need to give it a rest all ready. No one gives a rats ass about you.

Fixed

The Saga is over....But the DVDs are gonna keep coming out. Knowing what kind of a bastard Lucas is, he's gonna release a special edition of the Prequel Trilogy as well.

Bring on more dvd's i say. I'd love a special edition of the prequels (especially if it includes a CGI yoda in TPM). Why can't there be an original theatrical cut, a special edition and an extra deluxe platinium edition. - similar to lord of the Rings extended editions. I enjoyed all the lord of the rings films and eagerly awaited the longer special edition versions. George filmed the scenes and ILM even added CGI for the bonus features of the DVD's. Stick the scenes back in say. Why can't george do that. I hate all this pacing excuses. Make an edition for the fans, and another edition for the critics.

Now back on topic. I love that the films are over and the skywalker story arch is finally wrapped up... but I also can't wait for a new episode a week star wars TV installment.

Star wars ain't over for me just yet...

LOTR- long and boring
SW- long enough to get the message across and fun to watch

What's so hard to understand about this?