So I was watching all three of the original trilogy in a row today and thought about several things:
 

1. Why were these three so much better than the newer trilogy? (If you don't believe this then why weren't they?)

2. What are a few things that make this series so great (or not great if you don't like it)?

3. What should they beware of doing in the new trilogy?

4. Do you think the new trilogy will be anything close to the original?

5. If you could pick one defining scene from the original series that sums up the movies or is the best part, what is it?

 

Feel free to add questions or comments.

 

My feelings.

 

1. There are a few reasons the newer trilogy wasn't as good:

 

• Lack of series defining ships - This is my biggest. I just didn't like the ships from this series. Not as much was in space and a lot of it is hand to hand or gun combat which wasn't what I liked. We just didn't have xwings and Awings, and Imperial shuttles, etc. Think of how many ships played barely any role in the movies and are still incredibly revered today.
• Too many effects - especially in the light saber battles. Just too much flipping and crazy effects. The Lightsaber duels between Vader and Luke just feel so much more real in the original series. And not enough talking and story in them. Just felt overdone.
• Jar Jar binks. C3po is similar in teh original but he served purposes. Jar Jar binks is a piece of crap. lol.

 

2. Light saber duels and ships are great. But a close third is dialouge. Its just so powerful throughout the movies - still 40 years later. No boring scenes with boring stories. Not often I am so engaged in 3 hour movies.

 

3. Biggest thing is overdoing things. All these effects are not needed. I watch the original series today and I don't notice the crappy backgrounds, or the fakeness of the space fights. Why? Because I am SO involved in the movie. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't overdo it. Just make it true to original form. Spend money on script and scenery, not on effects.

 

4. My wishful thinking is that they will see the problems with the newer trilogy, but honestly I don't think they will be near as good as the original. Judging by the last several movies out of that gang, I think they will be closer to overdoing things. I saw the new Star Trek movie and was somewhat unimpressed. 

 

As good as Abrams is, his movies lack Character development. I need to know why and who my characters are - Original series captures this. Newer ones and Abrams latest movies don't give me that. 

 

Just please don't be Indiana Jones 4 is my biggest thought.

 

5. The easy one is the Luke realizing Vader is his father scene - funny that he actually says "No, I am your father" not "Luke I am your Father" - However I want to go a different way with it.

 

My favorite part of the series is when Luke puts his firing computer away while in the Death Star run, finally feeling the force and letting it guide him. That whole scene to me gives me cold chills everytime I watch it.

 

Lets hear some answers!

My favorite part of the series is when Luke puts his firing computer away while in the Death Star run, finally feeling the force and letting it guide him. That whole scene to me gives me cold chills everytime I watch it.

Yeah, I liked that part as well.

The new Star Trek needed less character development because the characters already were well defined from 40 years of Trekking.

Sorry big time Trekkie here so had to defend my interests first .

The original trilogy captivated a generation because it was new. Most sci-fi had been poorly done B movies with boring fake ships and poor effects. Then Lucas came along with a new hope. It had brilliant effects and amazing ships. In a word it did what all good movies do. Transported us to a new world, completely and totally. But at the same time featured great characters and a moving storyline.

And like most sequals. The new star wars movies just can not live up to the originals. They aren't bad, they just can't compete. Not with the impossible expectations they have to live up too. Another thing is movies today just seem to focus so much on wow'ing us with effects and epic sprawling scenes that the story and characters just get lost.

Watch an old movie called fail-safe or even Rear window. Whole movie takes place in a single room with very few main characters. Both still manage to be the most haunting, edge of my seat suspenseful films I have ever seen. And this seems to be something hollywood has forgotten. They just push effects at the expense of the characters and storyline. A great film needs all three balanced and working in tandem to be great.

I couldn't agree more about reducing the special effects and going back to basic plot and character development.  That is why so many movies today are underwhelming.

 

"Star Wars is a Western and it's set in the Frontier..."

One of the main issues I had with episode 1-3 is Lucas' need to try and artificially tie the films together, R2 and C3PO had absolutely no business in the newer movies. There was also no character development and the writing was sub par, by the end of episode III I couldn't wait for the republic to fall.

Oh and Jar Jar.

Defining moments of the original Trilogy...

In Empire when Luke is on Dagobah and cuts of Vaders head only to reveal himself. The dark side is within us all.

And pretty much the rest of Empire. To quote Clerks, "all Jedi had was a bunch of muppets."

The new Star Trek needed less character development because the characters already were well defined from 40 years of Trekking.

Sorry big time Trekkie here so had to defend my interests first .

The original trilogy captivated a generation because it was new. Most sci-fi had been poorly done B movies with boring fake ships and poor effects. Then Lucas came along with a new hope. It had brilliant effects and amazing ships. In a word it did what all good movies do. Transported us to a new world, completely and totally. But at the same time featured great characters and a moving storyline.

And like most sequals. The new star wars movies just can not live up to the originals. They aren't bad, they just can't compete. Not with the impossible expectations they have to live up too. Another thing is movies today just seem to focus so much on wow'ing us with effects and epic sprawling scenes that the story and characters just get lost.

Watch an old movie called fail-safe or even Rear window. Whole movie takes place in a single room with very few main characters. Both still manage to be the most haunting, edge of my seat suspenseful films I have ever seen. And this seems to be something hollywood has forgotten. They just push effects at the expense of the characters and storyline. A great film needs all three balanced and working in tandem to be great.

Rear Window is an amazing movie, however trying to compare a master craftsman like Hitchcock to Lucas isn't exactly fair. Lucas is a good filmmaker, but isn't in the same league as Hitchcock.

Rear Window is an amazing movie, however trying to compare a master craftsman like Hitchcock to Lucas isn't exactly fair. Lucas is a good filmmaker, but isn't in the same league as Hitchcock.

I was more citing them as an example of movies that were masterfully done on character and story alone. No special effects and changing scenery every 30 seconds needed. I made no intention on comparing hitchcock to lucas :P

Point taken. I wonder how a movie like Rear Window or The Rope or even Vertigo would be received if released today.

Not growing u in that time, I'll probably come at this a little differently from you old geezers.  Why the prequels the biggest letdown in film history:

 

1. The acting in these movies was atrocious!  Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Samuel L Jackson were the only decent actors in the series, and they were all very disappointing.  And of course the movies are close to unwatchable due to the performances by ol' Hayden and Natalie.

 

 

2. The dialogue in these "films" is the worst in any movie I've ever seen.

 

3. CGI was heavily overused in these movies.  Just because this technology was starting to look good doesn't mean you have to use it in the entire movie!

 

4. As DNIIM said, the lightsaber battles were way overdone.  The original's battles were too boring, but the producers REALLY overcompensated.

 

What made the originals great was that they were the opposite of the prequels.

 

On to what will make or break these new movies.  If these films break with cannon SW law (as laid down by the novels) there will be thousands of furious fans.  Also, people would rather have a great story with good character development and acting than another movie relying on special effects.  Massive CGI battles are in every movie, and the film can't use this as a lifeline.

On youtube, search "red letter media" and watch their videos on why ep 1-3 sucked.  That is probably the best explanation / arguments you can find online.  You can skip the weird/creepy narrator stuffs if you wish.

 

My personal take is in ep 4-6, Lucas surrounded himself with good / decent directors and editors who complement Lucas and could stand up to themselves. In ep4 the editor was credited with so many little things that made the movie epic. The reason ep 5 was arguably the best movie was because Lucas pretty much let the director did his own stuffs.  You could see the hints of craps in episode 6 (Ewok!!) where Lucas basically hired a puppet director and did most of directing and producing himself.

In ep 1-3, he was the big boss and nobody in his company dared to challenge him less losing their cushy jobs.  These movies were written, directed, produced, and edited by George Lucas as evident in the movies' tunnel vision.  So crappy directing plus convoluted story lines did those 3 in. JarJar and the sh**ty acting were just the evidence of those 2 points.

 

For the record, the 2 new Star Trek movies were NOT Star Trek.  They were generic action movies in space. You can change the title to Star Break and rename the main characters Capt. Bob, Mr. Dood, Lt. Uuua, Dr. Drone, etc and you would still get the same enjoyment.  These movies are the dumbed down version (with lots of explosions) of the most intelligent scifi franchise in history, made for the new generation.  Which is EXACTLY what Star Wars needs.  So I am not worry about SW 7 since JJ Abrams is on the helm.  However, if they cannot keep Lucas' involvement to bare minimum then all bets are lost

+1 To everything said here.