I do agree the saber battles were much better in the Prequel Trilogy. Ben vs Vader is the only thing in the originals that I hate(and it makes no sense in Lucas' continuity because in Ep III, Sidious is flipping off walls going mad yet in Ep IV, the following episode, Ben can barely hold his saber and he's way younger than Sidious).

Wizard magazine has a nice resulted poll for SW on it's site, click to take a look.

Oh and I'm currently reading an e-book about the making of the originals, it's free to dl so any OT fans, I'll give you the link if you like.

“Empire had the better ending, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, and Han gets frozen, taken away by Boba Fett. I mean it ends on such a down note, and that's what life is, a series of downing.”
(*peter)

The “end” of ESB was good but I really wouldn't constitute it as an “ending”

I liked the “end” of Dead Man's Chest and The Two Towers but neither had an actual “ending”

so, nobody in here likes Jar Jar Binks?

Doc Fritz

inebriantia
I know I know but for me I just mainly love the effects of the first 3, granted the time difference makes a huge difference, and in those days that cg was super advanced, I just like that there more jedi, more lightsaber battles, more bang and flash, lol. I'm not that big a fan of episode 1, but for me sometimes the last 3 get too boring, I like story and all but I need a lot of pizzaz so to say. I'm not a big fan of Hans solo and I dont like how Ben Kenobi just doesn't seem that powerful, everyone just seemed more bada$$ in the first 3. Also I'm scared to say it but I actually liked Hayden playing Anakin, I'm probably the only one from what others say, also I do like how they added him in the remastered version, alright I'm outta here before I dig myself too deep, lol.

Don't apologize. I grew up with the Original Trilogy (I was six in 1977, 12 in 1983–I was the target audience) but to me the Prequels are just as amazing. Watching the originals without the blinders of nostalgia, the acting isn't really that much better, and there's plenty of hokey dialog to go around in all six movies. And is Jar Jar really all that much cornier than some of the droid schtick in the originals? No, not really.

And yeah, the Jedi in action are amazing. After watching them tear into each other in Ep. 3 the final battle between Vader and Obi-Wan in Ep. 4 is…well, kind of embarrassingly ponderous.

After seeing it, I had to approve of having Hayden show up in Ep.6. He IS Anakin Skywalker, and it carries a lot more emotional resonance seeing the guy we saw rise and fall in two movies than some other guy who could really be just about anyone. I think Lucas could have short circuited some of the bitching about that, though, by maybe taking the time to make Hayden look a little older for that shot. :-)

I still consider Ep.5 the best, but Ep. 3 is very close behind. And after the prequels, I actually think Ep.6 is a lot better–the scenes with Vader, Luke, and Sidius have a lot more depth now that we know all the backstory

oh I won't argue with the fact that the originals have their cheese factor too. It was a sign of the times… but seriously honestly no bull crap, did we seriously need to have darth vader be the maker of threepio? what was that? (*rant) Nostalgia may be blinding me to some things, but I think realistically that and the midichlorians

and jar jar

and the episode 1 yoda puppet

and Nooooooo

and overdone cgi

and r2 with rockets

and palpatine's convoluted scheme. Sifo Dyas still boggles me.

and the poor writing

and padme and anakin in the grass

force ghost after thought

and hovering inches from lava

Palpatine's body shrivelling being a weird accident that barely is explained by the force lightning reflection idea some have come up with…

(Oh now all the images of palpatine screwing up his face in terrible overracting from Mcdirmad have come into my mind again… ugh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ECjbb60G5o)

was just dumbness from Lucas than me somehow not seeing the prequels through a star wars virgin's eyes. Some things were just stupid. Grievous for example. Most. Pointless. villain. Ever.

I view those movies as Lucas having too much freedom to add the kitchen sink. If he was given some constructive criticism instead of gushing adoration from his employees, those films would have easily been masterpieces, each one of them. the fx are brilliant. the music is brilliant. where they're weak all lands on Lucas poor writing and directing and that kills me… He didn't have to direct and write all three. He's not very good at it. What should have happened was the scenario that gave us empire.

edit: and oh god why was chewbacca in revenge?

You post gave me quite the laugh, Wes. But I mostly agree. I really don't know why Ol' Lucas insisted on directing and writing all of them, when he said no for the last two of the OT. Maybe he wanted more recognition? Yeah, it would have better if Lucas had a good producer who told him how to make the films better instead he got Ric McCallum, who only tells Lucas everything he does is pefect because his lips are glued to Lucas' butt.


And GL also felt he had to tie all the films together, which is why we got things like Chewie in Ep III and Vader creating C3PO