The Batlord

When I saw the goofy, black, stormtrooper dude jump up at the beginning, I thought, "**** you, Ki, this is a fan parody!" Awesome preview, but I still don't know what was up with the goofy, black, stormtrooper dude.

And I don't know why they have to go back to Tatooine for the, what, fifth time? It's a sci fi movie that spans an entire galaxy! Stop going to the same damn, backwater planet that probably only has two Space McDonald's and a Cyber Walmart!

Other than that, though, I'd have to say my fav part was the X-Wings kicking up the water spray. I'm definitely tired of the overuse of CGI in the last two movies, but that looked pretty cool. Unfortunately, I can't say I'm "pumped", as the last trilogy sucked pretty much all of my enthusiasm for new Star Wars right out of me. I'm cautiously hopeful though, since Lucas isn't directing. And you really can't ruin the series any more than it already has been at this point, so bring it on. Any disappointment will just be par for the course.

I realize this might sound condescending, but as a former Star Wars obsessive who used to buy used Star Wars books on eBay, I think if anyone's entitled to be arrogant on this site, then it's me. I think people who liked the new trilogy as much as the first just don't get the original trilogy the way that fan fans do. Bam. I said it.



A lot of the things that were wrong with those movies, were also wrong with the A New Hope: awful dialogue (seriously, go watch it again, it's painful at times), two-dimensional plot (Death Star plans are phlebotinum of the lowest order, and I think there's also a word for phlebotinum-like plot devices that the entire plot revolves around), and the fact that George Lucas is a terrible director whose saving graves are his unrivaled visual imagination and drive to see it fulfilled (this was fixed when other directors did the superior sequels).

But even the first movie had a heart that the new trilogy never did, and some masterful casting gave it a gravitas that may very well have saved it from being the best B-movie ever made. Most of the Imperial officers were acted brilliantly, especially Grand Moff Tarkin (the main old guy who was in charge of the Death Star), and made the Empire seem arrogant and imperialist rather than just cartoonishly evil. Not to mention Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, and Alec Guinness. Although the new trilogy also had some great actors, the phoned-in script pretty much prevented anyone but Liam Neeson from being pieces of cardboard.

Lucas also wasn't a money-grubbing doucheguitar whose ego caused him to A.) be unaware/refuse to admit his shortcomings as a director and script writer (at least for the second two original movies), and B.) lose all sense of story-telling to concentrate purely on soulless special effects.

And if you can seriously put the new trilogy on par with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, then we are not friends. Getting into all the ways that they are vastly inferior to their predecessors would take far too much time and space (sci-fi pun FTW!).

Agreed. He was the only compelling character in the entire series. Qui-Gon Jinn should have been Obi-Wan. Bear with me here. I'm guessing that Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan couldn't have been more than early-twenties in the first movie. Ten years pass from that and II, so he'd have been in his early thirties. Then there's three years between that and III, so mid-to-late thirties. Then, there was a nineteen year gap until IV, which would have made him not even sixty. And it's entirely possible Obi-Wan was a teenager in the first movie, so he might have been closer to fifty in IV.

Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan was clearly much older than sixty. You might argue that the harsh Tatooine environment prematurely aged him, but I'm pretty sure Kenobi was meant to be a truly old man. Qui-Gon looked to be around middle-age in I, so add another twenty years or so to all that math, and you get a more than appropriate age.

I know that sounds nit-picky, but I think it's more than just continuity. First of all, considering the much closer age difference between Obi-Wan and Anakin, they had more of a old brother/younger brother dynamic, as opposed to the father/son relationship that Qui-Gon and Anakin would have had. I think it would have made for much more compelling drama as the series went on.

Also, though it has less to do with age, it was Qui-Gon who took it upon himself to train Anakin, whereas Obi-Wan was saddled with him at the dying request of his beloved master. So I imagine Qui-Gon would feel an even greater sense of responsibility for what eventually happens, which would also make for much more compelling drama.

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