Episode 3

I was disappointed with the last two, so I'm looking at Episode III with cautious optimism. From what little I've read about it, it could redeem the franchise. I hope so.

This is coming from someone who saw Episode IV in the theatre - back before anyone knew it was Episode IV - 17 times.

I won't see it in the theatre, but that's because I so completely despise being in movie theatres now, which seem to be filled with gabbing, wrapper-crinkling, cell-phone equipped morons.

I'll wait until the DVD release so I can enjoy it properly.

Last movie I saw in theaters was the re-release of Grease.

FABULOUS!!! (two snaps in a circle)

Seriouoly, I prefer to wait until I can watch in the comfort of my own living room, relaxed, boxers, bowl of ice cream,...

Besides, the DVDs now have so many things that you cannot get in the theater.

Hey,

I thought the first one was fun and I saw it in its first run. But after that I am totally lost as to what all the fuss is about. I only watch Star Wars films on broadcast TV because there is no real story, it's just seems to be one overly produced segment full of potential toy sales after another. The scripts are abysmal and the acting is even worse. It is a space soap opera with the emphasis on opera and all that that implies. I'm happy for whomever is excited about a new installment but I am deep in the weeds as to why.

There are people who see the Stones every time they roll through...
There are people who have the White Album in every media it's been released in...
There are people who read a book over and over again, even though they know the ending...
There are people who have seen every John Wayne movie ever made and still think he was a great actor...

I saw Star Wars when I was five. I remember having a hard time sleeping that night cuz every time I closed my eyes, I saw TIE fighters screaming through space or the blue-green glow of a light saber. I remember having a crush on Princess Leia, swinging across creeks like Luke Skywalker, learning to swagger like a Correlian smuggler. I remember my friends and I cutting the ends off of brooms and painting the handles red or green and making the "vvvmmm-vmmm-Kshshshsh" sounds when we fought.

Sure, the plot is tired, the story is hacked together, and the best acting comes from a seven-foot freak in a hair suit and a midget in a trash can. But that summer of 1977, it became my favorite movie, and has remained so.

May the Force be with you...

There was an article in the KC Star about the SW fans, and they used the Stones comparison too. Thier point was that even though the Stones haven't written a good song in 20 years, people still go see them to relive the magic opf the past. Same idea. Many fans are going to try to rekindle the feelings they found in the first series, not for any real love for the current films. How many of the fans a thte cons are in "new" SW charaters costumes? How many are in the oldschool storm trooper suits?

I saw "Star Wars" way back on June, 14th 1977; that was when the local theatres chose to release it here. There was a lot of trepidation on their ends, all thanks to the January 1977 release of "King Kong"; a lot of hype, a horrible movie. They wouldn't get fooled again.
I was actually first in line (I was such a 14 year old dweeb), and would be there for the opening days for each of the original trilogy. I want to see it, but purely for entertainment now. I'll see it in a couple of weeks, after the initial waves.
I just don't go for a lot of what passes as science fiction these days. Heck, "Star Wars" isn't even sci fi; as Bill said, it's a space opera.
I'll wait to see the "Mars" movies, if they can get them moving along. We'll see.

An Astronomy/Space Illustrator & Real Stickler

I am going to the first showing in my home town of Eugene, Oregon at 12:01 am. Im am only 13 so I will be jacked up on caffine all damn day. I think I should go buy a straight jacket so I doon't fall off my desk.

I saw Episodes I and II on opening day, but I will not see Episode III on opening day.

I don't want to take off work because we are short handed and one of my friends has to work also. We are going to wait a week or two and all go see it together.

In answer to Williamhearn, one of the reasons Star Wars - specifically the first three - did so well was that they followed the structure of the classic hero story, in a modern wrapping.

Go read some Joseph Campbell. A quick search found this link comparing Star Wars to Campbell's blueprint for The Hero's Journey:
http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/myth.html

Yes, the movie's dialogue was often simplistic, but the underlying story carried it along. Plus, the quality and amount of the special effects were so unheard of in 1977 that most of the effects processes were invented on the fly, and became industry standards. I could do a full page just on the brilliance of Ben Burtt who did the sound work.

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Ugh! Even as we speak, I'm gouging out my mind's eye.
"Star Wars" left an indelible mark on my young psyche, and I really dug the remainder of the original three. I thought they were cool... even got me into amateur film making and special effects (anyone remember "Cinefex" magazine?). It's one of the reasons I got into space art and design (though I'd already been painting for almost a year, and I had been doodling spaceships since age three). The film that left an even bigger mark was "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". That's what pushed me into really studying astronomy.
But "Star Wars" is great story telling.

Hey,

I've been reading Joseph Campbell for decades and to connect Campbell's work to Star Wars is to trivialize Campbell. Any narrative has a structure so I guess we can also talk about the influence of James Joyce on Bazooka Joe. Campbell's matrix is applicable to Desperate Housewives as well. Look, we all like pop trash. I know I do. The Star Wars franchise doesn't do it for me. When I find some pop trash that I do like I just enjoy it for what it is and don't wrap it in sophmoric intellectualization that says it really isn't a cartoon it's really a re-animation of the collective unconscious or a revisioning of mythic archetypes. Or maybe it's over-clocked Freud. Or whatever. Frankly I don't think Star Wars has the narrative stones to even flirt with Campbell's theories.

Hee hee...my daughter has it on tape. It's almost worth watching once for Steve Martin's over-the-top performance. The rest of the movie is like watching a train wreck. So disturbing, yet you can't tear your eyes away from it. Something very strange: "The Gumby Movie" (1995) completely lifted the Sgt. Pepper movie plot. It's uncanny. Why lift the plot from one of the worst movies ever made?

ahem...but to get back on topic:

I loved space-stuff when I was wee. I doodled a bit. I can recall some Space: 1999 drawings, but it was Star Wars that got me drawing. The very day after I saw it, infact. I can confidently say it changed my life.

Then I'm surprised you don't know Campbell himself praised the film for its use of mythological story structure and use of Jung's "archetype" characters during his interviews with Bill Moyers.

just keep in mind that any detraction of the Star Wars mythos is almost automatically detracting the fans and definately seen as detracting the fan who started the pro-Star Wars thread in the first place.

If you have a hard time connecting Campbell and Lucas, then connect Lucas and Homer. Great epic with great epic. Tragedy, triumph, cheese and popcorn. Heroes and villains, magic and mayhem.

I should have known better than even try. Love it, lap it and create whatever you want with it. I'm out of this silliness.

I'm certainly not doing the midnight premier thing. I did that for all three LOTR movies (which deserved it), but IMHO the star wars series has lost the ability to ask that of me. I'll see it, but after the crowds have died down. Definitely an in-theater movie though; unless you've got a home theater the size of, well, a theater, I imagine it will lose something on DVD.

Since everyone is relating their original Star Wars experience, here goes. I was in the 3rd grade, and my dad was on a long trip for business and to visit family. I would see the commercials on TV and think "wow, but it looks like it has too much violence, my parents will never let me see it." So my dad comes home, RAVING about it and we MUST go see it ASAP because it's the BEST EVER. The only caveat was that in the car ride home my dad warned my brother and I not to play-imitate the violence, or else he would catch heck from mom for letting us see it. Which of course went completely unheeded, I mean come-on?! What with all those cool lasers and swishing sabers and exploding space ships.

Ah, yes. That's also the main reason why I won't be one of the first 100 and something in our small town to watch the third episode. IV to VI really blew my mind when I first saw them back in the 80ies (hey, I was born '81 so what do you expect?). But episodes I to III just can't compete with the classics... :-)

Oh
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My
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Gods...

I'll see it tomorrow after work

Crispy Annie!

ok. quite nice so far... well, ok, it's great!

but the old ones are still better. :-p