I becaame disillusioned after seeing Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars was excellent at the time. Groundbreaking. Sure it had some flaws, like the stormtroopers using Sterling sub-machineguns and Han Solo using a 1898-type broomhandle Mauser, and Lucas mistaking “parsec” for a unit of time (there are a lot of apollogists for that, explaining that Solo was making a joke, but it sounds a lot like fundies defending the Bible – there is no evidence on-screen that it was anything but a mistake), and the dialog is just plain hokey; but the first film was rollicking good fun and nothing like it had been seen before.
The Empire Strikes Back was the best of the original three. I still get a chuckle at the scene where Yoda is sort-of moving up and down on Luke’s back and saying, “Ahh… ahhh.” Actually, I didn’t much care for the Yoda character. Too Muppet-y. I also didn’t like Ol’ Big One Kebobish’s reappearance. (Nothing against him; I just like making fun of his name.) He pops up in the swamp and says, “Luke, you have to concentrate on the force. Let it work through you. Oh, and by the way, Darth Vader is your father and Leia is your sister. Jeez, look at the time! I’ve got to get back to the ether! Ciao, babes.” I thought that could have been done better. Personally I would have made it into a Greek tragedy: Luke falls in love with Leia (as he did) and sleeps with her. She becomes pregnant and then they find out they’re siblings. She goes off to some remote planet to bear her brother-son or sister-daughter and the child becomes the next hope. In the meantime, Luke is killed by Vader in a reverse-Oedipus thing and Vader is stronger than ever. Queue next episode.
Return of the Jedi started out okay. And who didn’t like seeing Carrie Fisher in the slave costume? But the teddy bears! (What were they called?) I hated them. Really hated them. They spoiled the movie for me.
I think Lucas saw that the demographics were pointing to children being the primary viewers of his films. He made the business decision to make “Muppets in Spaaaaaaace!” instead of a “serious” space-opera. Good for business; not good for people who have outgrown Muppets. Star Wars was a science fiction film that could be enjoyed by everyone. The Empire Strikes Back was too. Return of the Jedi started out well, but then went on with characters that could really only be appreciated by pre-adolescents. The Phantom Menace looked like a Disney film after Disney stopped making films like Swiss Family Robinson and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and started making kids-only films.
Attack of the Clones. My god, what a crappy titles. I keep hearing Frank Sinatra singing, “Send in the clones…” Or I think of “Killer Clones from Outer Space”. Bad, bad title. Star Wars mentioned “the Clone Wars”. The title should have been Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Yes, “wars” twice in the title is awkward; but it’s better than “Attack of the Clones”! Besides, no one uses “Star Wars” when referring to the titles of the other films. They’re referred to as “The Empire Strikes Back”, “Return of the Jedi” and “The Phantom Menace”.
An interview with Lucas in TV Guide has him saying that he never intended to make three trilogies. He said that that was something Marketing came up with and that he has no intention of making a third trilogy. Unless he can do better than The Muppet Show, then that’s a good thing. The next episode is supposed to be “darker”. I hope that means it will be more suitable for a wider audience. He can’t continue counting on the good will generated by the first series. He needs to make good films.
That movie rocked!