Two problems with that. First, if you watch them out of order, they’d be kind of pointless, and second, the first three still haven’t been released on DVD.
And JThunder, I thought it was blindingly obvious that Leia kisses Luke just to insult Han, Luke knows this perfectly well, and his subsequent reaction is mostly just to rub in the insult. No romantic or sexual subtext at all, between Luke and Leia.
There’s no force on this Earth that could compel me to sit through episodes 1 and 2 again. Ever. I would rather watch Manos: The Hands of Fate without MSt3k. (I saw them in the theater because my husband is a fan and he doesn’t like to see movies alone. Ahh, the things we do for love.)
Eh? All the Star Wars movies are out on DVD. Except the Revenge of the Sith, of course, which hasn’t hit the theaters yet. Unless by “first three” you mean the non-Special Edition, Han-shoots-first versions of the original trilogy, which are still unavailable, but for someone who’s never seen the movies at all, I doubt they much care about the difference.
When we were dating, I mentioned “Obi Wan Kenobi” to my wife.
She didn’t know what I was talking about.
(She’s 40)
I’m 48, meaning I would have been about 21 when Star Wars came out. Never seen it or any of its sequels/prequels, and have no desire to.
So how come I know that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father? :rolleyes:
I saw the first one when it came out (1977? I would have been 13) and I saw the second one for the first time maybe ten years ago on TV. I think I’ve seen bits and pieces of the third one. Never seen any of the others. I don’t really get the whole obssession with it.
As far as other popular stuff around here:
I saw part of the first LotR movie, haven’t seen the second or third movies. I got bored about halfway through the first one and wandered off to read a book.
Not really sure what MSt3K means, but I see it mentioned here a lot.
Same goes for Chuthlu. (sp?)
I’ve never watched any episodes of any of the Star Trek shows, including the original. I saw one of the movies, the one where they went back in time (to our present) to get the whales, when it came out. The person I saw it with had to explain all the inside jokes to me. As with Star Wars, I just don’t get the obssession with it.
Ive not seen all the Star Wars movies either, so your definately not alone! I saw bits of one of them when it was on TV one time but Ive no idea which one it was.
I would like to watch them all someday, but Ive no idea what order there supposed to be watched in and if your supposed to watch the old ones and the news ones, or are the stories the same?
If anyone wants to enlighten me on it, feel free!
Mystery Science Theater 3000 This guy and his two robot pals are forced by evil scientists to watch really awful movies from the 1950s. Naturally, they punctuate these actual theatrical releases with snarky editorial commentary. Quite a rabid following in geek circles.
Cthulhu is the ancient elder god permeating numerous short stories by HP Lovecraft and other Weird Tales authors of the 30s (most notably Frank Belknap Long, August Derleth and Robert E. Howard). Not exactly a “human-friendly” deity, Cthulhu resembles a cross between a giant malevolent octopus and storm clouds.
“Mystery Science Theater 3000” Basically this guy and his robots heckle these really bad old movies. There’s a backstory to the guy and why he’s doing it, but it’s contrived and not really relevant.
He’s a creation of early 20th century American horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. Cthuhlu was a creation of Lovecraft’s that appears in a few of his stories. It’s this giant, ancient evil creature who’s worshiped as a god by evil cultists, and who, when he wakens, will devour the world.
You could certainly watch them in the order of their chapter numbers, but since Chapter One: The Phantom Menace and Chapter Two: Attack of the Clones are widely considered to be the weakest of the series, I Recommend you watch them in the order they were actually produced and released:
Chapter Four: A New Hope
Chapter Five: The Empire Strikes Back
Chapter Six: Return of the Jedi
Chapter One: The Phantom Menace
Chapter Two: Attack of the Clones
Chapter Three: Revenge of the Sith
Lucas went back and touched up the earlier films with computer graphics. Too bad. It’s fun to look at the 1977 release of Star Wars, see the now-clunky effects, and be reminded that this was cutting-edge high tech when it was released, and as clumsy as it looks now, it really set the bar high for all subsequent SPFX.
Confession: I don’t even like Star Wars all that much. I’m a Trekkie.
You’re obviously not even a Star Trek fan, as everyone knows that real Star Trek fans call themselves “Trekkers.”
When George Lucas released Star Wars, he didn’t anticipate that it would be a huge success, let alone setting the record for the highest grossing film of all time. That it would be regarded by generations of pimply-faced teenage boys as the coolest thing in the universe, or that the marketing rights alone would make him rich enough to buy Switzerland — well he may have dreamed about it, but he sure wasn’t counting on it.
All Lucas wanted to do was to make a movie that paid affectionate tribute to the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers serials that he had grown up watching on TV, with a little bit of Joseph Campbell and Japanese cinema thrown in to make it interesting. And he wanted to do it his way, without studio executives breathing down his neck and making their own changes. That the film met with such huge success was astounding to everyone – to Lucas, to the critics, to the studio executives who had repeatedly tried to pull the plug, and even to the cast and crew of the film.
To understand why Star Wars was such a phenomenon, it had as much to do with the time it was released as with the film itself. The mid-70s was a heavily cynical age, and the popular films of the day tended to be dark and ugly in their viewpoint. Star Wars was a breath of fresh air, with its clearly defined forces of good and evil. Pure escapism, but with a very polished look to it – most sci-fi films of the era aimed much lower as far as production design. Its reliance on universal themes (the Joseph Campbell element) also helped it to strike a chord with very different audiences. One didn’t have to be white, rich, or even American to find the appeal. Plus, not to be neglected is that fact that nobody had ever attempted or pulled off special effects like this before. It was great eye candy – a fast-moving roller coaster of a movie that delivered what audiences of the time hadn’t even known that they’d wanted.
Taken outside of its time, a lot of Star Wars’s impact is softened on modern viewers. And, indeed, the film has not aged terribly well, which is why Lucas went back and tweaked bits of it here and there – much to the annoyance of many fans. I recall seeing it in a theater (well, sort of – in an auditorium classroom) back in college, long after Empire and Jedi had been released, but before the tweaking. Several of the kids watching had never actually seen the movie before, and one or two told me afterwards (as I was the one who had dragged them there in the first place) that it was the corniest thing they’d ever seen. Truth be told, I had a hard time defending the film. They were right, after all. It was corny.
For one thing, Lucas writes terrible dialogue. Secondly, he has little patience with the acting profession, and can’t understand that actors need more than a script, blocking instructions, and fight scene choreography to put in a good performance. And third, his much-touted maverick sensibilities render him immune to critique. If he thinks it’s a good idea, it’s a good idea because dammit, it’s his universe. So when all of this is put together, you get stories that are visually amazing, but which don’t have nearly the heart and soul that they should.
Of course, measuring Star Wars against today’s standard’s of filmmaking is probably not fair. So much of what was fresh and new in 1977 is clichéd to the extreme today. Even the special effects, so revolutionary in their day, can’t begin to compete with Peter Jackson’s flawlessly rendered Middle Earth. Not to mention that single episodes of today’s network TV programs are filmed on a bigger budget.
Is Star Wars a good movie? Certainly. Should a modern filmgoer expect it to have a fraction of the impact that thrilled audiences 26 years ago? No…that’s like expecting today’s verbivores to be shocked and outraged by reading Steinbeck. But taken on its own merits, it’s an enjoyable flick.
2 nitpicks:
Actually, Jaws truly began the Summer Blockbuster phenomenon, characterized by multiple viewings and an exploitation of the underestimated youth demographic. Jaws quickly eclipsed The Godfather to become the biggest moneymaker of all time up to that point (though that title only held for 2 years). No arguments on the other points, though.
SW came out in 1977 but the winner for Best Picture of 1976 was Rocky, so you already saw a trend toward the industry and the public favoring hyper-emotional feel good escapism over more serious “adult” dramas like Network, All the President’s Men and Taxi Driver, all of which lost the Oscar to Stallone’s boxing pic.
Why shouldn’t the movies have any impact on today’s audiences? I watched the trilogy when I was 9/10 (in 1997) and I was blown away. Still am.
Well… that’s a whole third more than I have. I know I ought to watch them but I just know they’ll be mind-bendingly dull, and spoil my memories of, say, Bad Taste 
Brief summary of the plot.
Farm boy discovers a strange attraction to his own sister, travels with a drug-smuggling murderer and then joins a bunch of terrorists when they attack a military installation where his father is stationed.
A nice, charming film, fun for all the family.
No, you’re not alone by a long stretch. I’ve never seen any of them. It never occurred to me to go to the theater back then. Now it’s kind of amusing, but in a creepy sort of way, to read of people - thousands and thousands of people - for whom Star Wars defines their formative years. I don’t get what’s been so mind-blowingly popular about it. But if you enjoy it, please feel free to continue enjoying it!
I know a 37 year old man that has never seen it.
I’ve never seen 'em, though I have seen *Spaceballs *. That’s close enough right?
You have no idea. Shitting watermellons. Watching each one of those movies was like shitting a watermellon. But hey, you don’t have to take my word for it.
Blasphemer!