# Movies whose reputation \*wrongly\* decayed over time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2015, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120 "2015-10-01T08:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/121 "2015-10-05T18:22:51Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Everyone hated the Ewoks, yet somehow they were popular enough that The Ewok Adventure TV movie got made. And somehow, that was successful enough that it got a sequel Ewoks: Battle for Endor. Yeah, no one like them at all, no siree bob, they totally ruined Jedi for everyone at the time, oh yes they did, you know it. I do not think anyone disagrees that the six-to-ten-year-old demographic liked Ewoks. It is generally people who were in that demographic when VI was released who speak fondly of the movie and think it is as good or better than the previous two. _Ernest Goes to Camp_ was successful enough at the box office to spawn four theatrical sequels (and many direct-to-video). I have yet to meet an adult who has made an argument that it is a great film. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/122 "2015-10-05T18:30:14Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > I do not think anyone disagrees that the six-to-ten-year-old demographic liked Ewoks. It is generally people who were in that demographic when VI was released who speak fondly of the movie and think it is as good or better than the previous two. > > _Ernest Goes to Camp_ was successful enough at the box office to spawn four theatrical sequels (and many direct-to-video). I have yet to meet an adult who has made an argument that it is a great film. HEY! Jim Varney’s Ernest films were a cinematic JEWEL, easily equivalent to… no, no, I can’t. I just can’t…😛 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/123 "2015-10-05T18:41:51Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > I do not think anyone disagrees that the six-to-ten-year-old demographic liked Ewoks. It is generally people who were in that demographic when VI was released who speak fondly of the movie and think it is as good or better than the previous two. Thing is, it was the exact same demographic that loved “Star Wars” when it first appeared, and made it a monster hit … but they aged; by the time _Return of the Jedi_ arrived, someone who was 10 when _Star Wars_ was first released was now 16, and more likely to balk at Ewoks. In short, the original audience aged, but the target demographic didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/124 "2015-10-05T19:09:37Z")
Here is why ewoks suck, Bad Assed little Fucking Bear People who will Happily Eat a Muther Fucker, but are also cute and slapstick as hell, they constantly run into each other, drop things and generally kill shit on accident. It would be funny if you replaced them with ninjas, as it is Cute/Badass do not mix well in this movie at all. Its the same dumbassed thinking that put the dwarves/Smaug scene in the Hobbit where it turns the big evil nasty MOST POWERFUL DRAGON EVER into a total slapstick joke. Directors who do this, do they even realize what effect this has? ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/125 "2015-10-05T20:56:23Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Thing is, it was the exact same demographic that loved “Star Wars” when it first appeared, and made it a monster hit … but they aged; by the time _Return of the Jedi_ arrived, someone who was 10 when _Star Wars_ was first released was now 16, and more likely to balk at Ewoks. > > In short, the original audience aged, but the target demographic didn’t. That is not quite it. The first two films just had a broader demographic. They had an appeal to kids, but did not pander to them. Just look at how Yoda was handled in the TESB. He was a muppet who could have been Fozzie-Bear-annoying, but instead was a very balanced and nuanced character–humorous and comical some of the time, wise and witty most of the time, dark and ominous at the needed times. It was a character that worked for all ages. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/126 "2015-10-05T21:12:10Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > That is not quite it. The first two films just had a broader demographic. They had an appeal to kids, but did not pander to them. Just look at how Yoda was handled in the TESB. He was a muppet who could have been Fozzie-Bear-annoying, but instead was a very balanced and nuanced character–humorous and comical some of the time, wise and witty most of the time, dark and ominous at the needed times. It was a character that worked for all ages. I do think, though, that it is part of the reason. I remember kids who were of just the right age to be obsessively excited about _Star Wars_ when it first came out … by the time that _Return of the Jedi_ appeared, they were six years older, and naturally, the same things did not excite them as much. To recapture the same audience, they would have had to make he series grow more “adult” as the audience aged. That didn’t happen. Sure, some of the characters were nuanced - but some were not (CP3O was, basically, a comic cowardly bultler throughout). The series was a space opera based on the oldtime serials, and it was aimed, mostly, at kids. Where it blew everyone away was in its epic look and sound, not it the ‘adult-ness’ of its plot or characters (in that respect, it was a standard fairy tale with a princess, mysterous knights, and, of course, swords). ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/127 "2015-10-05T21:28:53Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The Force Awakens is still two months away, but we already know the names of several major characters because of how their merch is being marketed. I hope one of them is named Archie Andrews, just to fuck with fans’ minds. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/128 "2015-10-05T21:42:36Z")
Admittedly, it’s been a while since I was a kid, but I’m still trying to figure out why I’d want to be Kylo Ren for Halloween when I still don’t have any idea who he is or what he does. Just like I feel sorry for any kid who jumped too soon and bought a Jar Jar Binks costume… ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/129 "2015-10-05T21:44:17Z")
Years ago, around the time Phantom Menace came out, some TV network held a big contest for fan made short films. The big noise was that George Lucas himself would judge the winner. George picked “Christmas Tauntauns,” a little cartoon about a little girl who wants lots of Star Wars toys. That told me something right there. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/130 "2015-10-05T22:32:53Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > And Boba Fett first appeared, and was named, in the _Star Wars Holiday Special,_ which remains canon despite George Lucas’ best efforts. It shows the master stroke of merchandising/marketing genius that was built into Star Wars that any male grade schooler in 1980 would be able to identify the bounty hunters Darth Vader brings aboard the _Executor_ without any of them being identified within the movie and only Boba Fett having any lines of dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/131 "2015-10-06T00:08:29Z")
Not sure I agree with that… although I would agree that it’s totally true NOW… ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/132 "2015-10-08T00:15:47Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > One thing I’ve never gotten is the complaint that a film is “dated.” Like, “I can’t stand **Easy Rider** , it’s so dated to the sixties!” Well, yeah. It’s a movie from the sixties, about the sixties. The problem with Easy Rider is that some of the production sucked. There were other movies from the sixties that didn’t have the flaws that ER had. That being said, I love the movie. There is still much good, and much fantastic production. It’s just that the flaws in it are so dated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120.md?page=6)