Topic: Sci FI Poll 18: The force is already telling me the winner.

[Sirgod]

Star Wars E4 A New Hope (1977)  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/

vs

Star Wars E1 The Phantom Menace (1999)   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120915/

First of the Star Wars polls Gentlemen.

Stephen

[marstone]

now to see if old campy style beats over new sappy style or vice versa.  As unlike the Star Trek movies, these had one guiding hand, but  alot of time and changes in that one mind.

[Grand Master of Shadows NCC37385]

I didnt like the new ones...or even the "re-do" of the old one. The one that showed Jabba slithering along.

[Sirgod]

I'm with Shadow. The original three where the best. And Damn IT HAN SHOT FIRST!

Stephen

[762_XC]

Easiest one yet.

[FoaS_XC]

a little bit harder than i thought it'd be, actually.
Your basically asking me to compare the best of the prequel to the worst of the originals.

I actually didn't like A New Hope all that much. I felt it was an archtpyical adventure story, complete with the herald, the dragon, and the lost sage forcing the hero to come into his own. Cliche.

That being said, I still picked A New Hope over Phantom Menace ><

[762_XC]

You really thought Phantom Menace was better than Revenge of the Sith? Aside from Darth Maul and probably the best lightsaber sequence in any of the films, I can't think of a single thing it has going for it.

[FoaS_XC]

That being said, I still picked A New Hope over Phantom Menace ><

[knightstorm]

Aside from Darth Maul and probably the best lightsaber sequence in any of the films, I can't think of a single thing it has going for it.

Jar Jar Binks.

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

Meessa thinkin da a new hope is da most bombad movie of da two. 

[762_XC]

...that's a bannable offense.

[Nemesis]

Not that it is actually SciFi (Fantasy Adventure in SciFi setting -Obi Wan is even called a Wizard) but A new hope is the more enjoyable movie.

[EschelonOfJudgemnt]

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

That's no moon. It's a space station.

Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought.

Who is the more foolish, the fool or the fool that follows him.

You can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting.

Despite the fact I really liked Qui Gon Jinn, this one was a no brainer, and besides, they killed Qui Gon off...

[TAnimaL]

I'm not sure what's more surprising, the fact that SW1 got two votes or SW4 being called the worst of that trilogy. I mean, srsly???

This community is always full of surprises, I'll give it that.

[Lono]

Had to vote for the one I knew - A New Hope!

Never heard of that other one - was it a straight to DVD release?

[Sirgod]

LOL, I <3 Lono.

the other one was in theaters bro. It along with the other two just sucked.

Stephen

[knightstorm]

The problem with the prequel trilogy was that Lucas started believing his own BS.  The original trilogy was pure escapism.  Unfortunately, after he made the films, he got the idea to try to hype them up as being derived from some sort of larger social archetype.  At some point he started believing his claims, so when he made the prequel trilogy, he tried to make some sort of socially relevant higher art, and ended up falling flat on his face.

[Brush Wolf]

The problem with the prequel trilogy was that Lucas started believing his own BS.  The original trilogy was pure escapism.  Unfortunately, after he made the films, he got the idea to try to hype them up as being derived from some sort of larger social archetype.  At some point he started believing his claims, so when he made the prequel trilogy, he tried to make some sort of socially relevant higher art, and ended up falling flat on his face.

the prequels really felt like he was using special effects just for the wow factor instead of following his own rule that they were to help tell a story. 

[762_XC]

There was nothing wrong with the story. He shot himself in the ass with three things mainly:

1) His own soap-opera style writing
2) Hayden Christiansen
3) Jar Jar

[EschelonOfJudgemnt]

One other point about the 1977 Star Wars movie, before Lucas 'updated' it... (Yes, dammit, Han shot first!).

Star Wars hit the theaters in limited release on May 25th, 1977.  Wide release didn't occur until July 15th, 1977, partially because Fox wasn't quite ready for how well received the movie was.

Star Wars cost $11 Million dollars to make (in 1977 dollars that was A LOT).  Since that time, it has grossed $775,398,007.  Not bad for a movie made in 1977...

Here are the numbers for how much money it took in in 1977:
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=starwars4.htm

When it first came out, 20th Century Fox was taking a gamble of sorts.  NO movie like this had been done (this being the era of police/car chase movies and such).  2001, Silent Running, etc. were all fairly grounded in science, whereas Science Fantasy was a new thing to many audience members (Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers aside). 

Add the budget that was spent on Star Wars (which was a lot of money at that time), and the fact that it could have very easily went the other way (flop/mediocre), and you can see why it being successful was such a big deal.

Note that Logan's Run was released almost a year earlier (June 23rd, 1976).  It cost around $9 Million to make, and only grossed around $25 Million, with another $9.5 Million being made in Rentals.  This gives you some perspective as to how Star Wars MIGHT have fared...

As a young moviegoer, I had NEVER seen anything like this in the theaters.  Star Trek - The Motion Picture was still 2 years away.  Battlestar Galactica didn't come out until July 7th 1978.  Star Wars broke a LOT of new ground, in the special effects department as well as for the Genre in general.

Sure, there was a lot of 'B' movie quality sci fi that had been around since the Flash Gordon days, but this was simply on a whole new level.  Plus, it had some great acting talent that simply gelled well together, even if we didn't know who the heck played Darth Vader (James Earl Jones did the voice, of course) until much later...

Heck, putting your main villian in a full suit, behind a rigid face mask was itself a risk of sorts...

Star Wars was a big deal when it hit the screens.  In comparison, Episode I was simply a continuation of an already successful franchise.  Sure, the special effects were cool, but that ground had been broken a long time ago.

For you younger types who didn't get to see Star Wars in 70 MM in 1977, well you missed out.  Of course, home computers were not quite a reality yet in 1977 either, you kids are so spoiled! 

[Tulwar]

One other point about the 1977 Star Wars movie, before Lucas 'updated' it... (Yes, dammit, Han shot first!).

That was hardly the only disaster in the update!  The origional edit is no longer, but even the existing version of Episode IV compares favorably with the collections of cliche's that came later.

[Sirgod]

There was nothing wrong with the story. He shot himself in the ass with three things mainly:

1) His own soap-opera style writing
2) Hayden Christiansen
3) Jar Jar

4) Damn Nascar.

[Kreeargh]

I'm with Shadow. The original three where the best. And Damn IT HAN SHOT FIRST!

Stephen

I had to vote for the Epp1 for the fact its atleast a begining of it all    For years as a child I wondered what the hell was really going on, Return of the jedi made things more clear but alot still was a ?
. Later years I made up my own story untill Lucas and others shot that all down with Epp1 but atleast its done. Now the public needs to remake it in their own immage and have fun with it.

Damn right he shot first ! A awol storm trooper blah blah isnt gona get caught by the likes of Greedo.  Lucas did let alot get screwd up but i think most of that had to do with the kids watching and the markeing $$ of it all.  The shame of it they should have added Han in there near the end of epp3 joining the Republic just before the sith took it over.

[Sirgod]

Oh shoot man, You should hear me rant about ET and the Rifle to walkie Talkie thing . GRRR.

 On second thought, no one needs to hear that rant. LOL

Stephen

[knightstorm]

Oh shoot man, You should hear me rant about ET and the Rifle to walkie Talkie thing . GRRR.


Stephen

They were turned into flashlights.

[knightstorm]

There was nothing wrong with the story. He shot himself in the ass with three things mainly:

1) His own soap-opera style writing
2) Hayden Christiansen
3) Jar Jar

Hayden Christiansen proves the power of the darkside, for it is through the emperor's will that he is transformed from a whiney emo *%tch to the awesomeness that is Darth Vader.  As for Jar Jar, Star Wars is not supposed to be taken seriously, I had no problem with him.

[Sirgod]

Flashlights, your right.

Stephen

[762_XC]

There was nothing wrong with the story. He shot himself in the ass with three things mainly:

1) His own soap-opera style writing
2) Hayden Christiansen
3) Jar Jar

4) Damn Nascar.

NASCAR was not til episode IV. Poor Porkins.

[knightstorm]

Flashlights, your right.

Stephen

Wasn't there also some film where they removed cigarettes in the DVD release?

[Kreeargh]

Flashlights, your right.

Stephen

Wasn't there also some film where they removed cigarettes in the DVD release?

I dont recall in the old remakes but there was that little wana buy a death stick comment in epp2 in the city.  For all that wants to bitch about starwars think this Trek would NOT be the same without it!  ILM made many to add to the Trek.

[Andromeda]

A friend of mine likes to tell the story of how he first saw episode IV.  A friend invited him to go with the friend's family to see this new SF movie at the drive through so they could laugh at the wires and cheesy special effects.  Then came the Star Destroyer fly-by... 

Episode IV was ground-breaking in special effects.  Remember the computer generated wire-model of the Death Star?  That changed a lot of engineering design in the real world.  I always found Return of the Jedi to be the worst of the original trilogy.  Empire was technically the best, but still A New Hope Star Wars was a bigger phenomenon.  And the only version that matters was the theatrical release.  Later editing just doesn't count so I pity the people who never saw it the way it first appeared. 

I liked Revenge of the Sith best of the new trilogy.  I didn't have any problem with Jar Jar in the first movie.  I enjoyed it, but it wasn't special.  It was just another movie.  If it hadn't been part of Star Wars, I would have seen it once, been happy, and forgotten about it.