The Last Jedi

[WrongVerb]

wasn't sure where to put this, so I'll put this here:

TNT (or perhaps TBS) ran a star wars "marathon" over the weekend. Episodes 1-2 on friday, 3-4 on saturday, 5-6 on Sunday. Sometime late saturday night after getting the kids to bed and cleaning up from a party we had for my youngest birthday I was searching thru channels and found episode 3 & 4 on TV. Figured it was good enough background noise while I picked up some of the new toys, cleaned up, etc.. Finally settled down on the couch to watch the end of 3 and the beginning of 4. First, it reminded me just how poor so much of the acting and writing/directing of the first 3 episodes were, 2nd, it brought up several huge, glaring conflicts b/w episodes 3 & 4. I'm sure this has been hit upon, but when I first introduced the movies to our oldest, probably 3-4 years ago I did them in an order I found recommended on the internet 4-5-1-2-3-6. I loved the movies/toys as a kid, I've seen rougue one and episode 7 but I wouldn't consider myself a "huge" fan so I've never actually watched episodes 3 & 4 back to back in any sort of order at any point in my life, much less with a 30 second gap b/w the start of the ending credits and the opening roll of the next one.

Anyhoo, a long winded way of saying, how the heck does C3PO not remember Obi One? How the heck does Obi One stat that he doesn't recall owning droids like that before (R2D2 claims that Obi One was his prior owner if you don't recall, when Obi One says he doesn't recall owning droids like that before). Chewbaca also played a huge roll in episode 3, but seemingly can't recall or doesn't offer any insight into what he knows of the force, Old Ben, yoda, the droids, etc... Really bothered me how much they emphasized their rolls, then seemingly gave them all anesthesia in episode 4. Looking back, I'm wishing they would have involved them less in episode 3 and prior so as not t take away from episode 4.

At the end of three, in what is almost a throw off line, someone orders 3PO's memory be erased.

In ANH, I think Ben was attempting to maintain the subterfuge until he saw the message from Leia, at which point he tells Luke about Vader "from a certain point of view" and gives him the light saber.

Oh, and I share your sentiments about the poor acting and script. It's really too bad Lucas tried to do so much with episodes I, II, and III. He needed Kasdan helping write the scripts, and someone around him to tell him "no" on occasion. It's like we all can see where he was going with the stories, and I actually like that direction, but the bad acting and script just overwhelm that part of it to the point of it being a huge mess.

[wolfboy]

At the end of three, in what is almost a throw off line, someone orders 3PO's memory be erased.

In ANH, I think Ben was attempting to maintain the subterfuge until he saw the message from Leia, at which point he tells Luke about Vader "from a certain point of view" and gives him the light saber.

Oh, and I share your sentiments about the poor acting and script. It's really too bad Lucas tried to do so much with episodes I, II, and III. He needed Kasdan helping write the scripts, and someone around him to tell him "no" on occasion. It's like we all can see where he was going with the stories, and I actually like that direction, but the bad acting and script just overwhelm that part of it to the point of it being a huge mess.

This is a great video if you haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk. Primary difference between the original three and the prequels? No one would tell Lucas he was screwing everything up by the time the prequels came around.

[medford]

^ I thought about that line as well, which I noticed saturday night, but as you said, its almost a throw away line, probably should have been emphasized a bit more. Even if you attest that Old Ben was being coy (though he clearly should have known that Luke bringing him those droids, Luke in particular, meant something big, something that the hologram image itself wasn't really going to change, that still doesn't explain Chewy's memory being for crap.

At any rate, I think its reasonable to understand that there were always going to be inconsistencies b/w 1-2-3 and 4-5-6 due to their timeline and length b/w production. However, I think its the realization of just how much better episodes 1-3 could have been. Perhaps it was the nearly universal dislike of Jar Jar Bink's character that lead them down the path of relying on Chewy, C3PO and R2D2 more, but those 3 should have been trivialized, limited to cameo appearances, and limited the story lines to the rise of Obi One and Annakin/Vader. Perhaps if they would have gutted 95% of episode 1, started the time line at episode 2 (or at least made Padame something closer to Annakin's age when they first meet), turned episode 3 (the transformation into Vader) into the 2nd story, then expanded the time line of Rougue one to fill in the gaps and use that as episode 3 the whole thing would have flowed better. Instead you have the awkward gap b/w 1 & 2, and another b/w 3 & 4 that Rogue One (which I really liked) only partially filled in the gaps) where seemingly all knowledge of the Jedi or rise of Darth Vader and the empire is forgotten in a short 16-20 years (how old is Luke in 4?) Episodes 2 & 3 make the Jedi out to be really, really big, that kind of impact doesn't fade from memory in 20 years.

[WrongVerb]

This is a great video if you haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk. Primary difference between the original three and the prequels? No one would tell Lucas he was screwing everything up by the time the prequels came around.

I've posted this in other threads, but it's absolutely the best takedown of episode I. It also takes down II and III. The production style of the critiques is unique and sort of abrasive, but get past that because the narrator really knows what he's talking about. The language is NSFW btw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

[TheBigLebowski]

I absolutely hated it.

Lifelong SW fan — legitimately questioning if Rian Johnson actually likes Star Wars.

Hated it as well. First SW movie I have legitimately disliked, including all 3 prequels. This movie was an unmitigated disaster.

[nickADon29]

Yeah I don't mind the fact they are introducing a ton of new characters. Many of the actors playing the classic characters are getting way too old to continue playing in the type of storylines viewers will want to see.