# Reexamining Star Wars 50 years later **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [January 19, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810 "2026-01-19T00:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/381 "2026-07-14T19:29:36Z")
Yeah, I’m not sure about the “Star Wars killed smart sf claim.” I think it’s more, "Hollywood saw the success of 2001, and thought, ‘We need more smart sf!’ and then spent ten years largely failing to produce any. Then they saw Star Wars, and thought, “We need more epic space opera,” and spent another ten years largely failing to produce any. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/382 "2026-07-14T19:35:54Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > …Then they saw Star Wars, and thought, “We need more epic space opera,” and spent another ten years largely failing to produce any. Right, like [_Battle Beyond the Stars_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/). Even at the age of 12, I thought it sucked. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/383 "2026-07-14T19:44:29Z")
Hey! Don’t dis _Battle_! It had one of the Magnificent Seven, Hannibal Smith and a spaceship with boobs. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/384 "2026-07-14T21:12:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > a spaceship with boobs. It’s not _just_ boobs. If you look at it from the top, it’s a whole nude female torso, down to the butt. Without a head. I’m not sure what that says about male culture and misogyny, but it’s probably saying something! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/385 "2026-07-14T21:24:51Z")
Piloted by Sybil Danning, Queen of B-movie schlock! Plus John-Boy. And Roper. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/386 "2026-07-14T23:22:30Z")
Sounds like an All-Star cast! 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/387 "2026-07-14T23:26:08Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Then why hire Shakespearian actors?! For the same reason Orson Welles was in the first Transformers movie and Laurence Olivier played Zeus in Clash of the Titans. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/388 "2026-07-15T00:25:49Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Then why hire Shakespearian actors?! Shakespearean actors can make lines like “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy” sound plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/389 "2026-07-15T02:22:53Z")
George, you can write this stuff, but you can’t say it! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/390 "2026-07-15T03:01:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Hey! Don’t dis _Battle_! It had one of the Magnificent Seven, Hannibal Smith and a spaceship with boobs. It basically IS The Magnificent Seven / Seven Samauri in space. Still better than _Rebel Moon_ > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > It’s not _just_ boobs. If you look at it from the top, it’s a whole nude female torso, down to the butt. Without a head. I’m not sure what that says about male culture and misogyny, but it’s probably saying something! Why is LIKING boobs “misogyny”? > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > What was special about Star Wars was not story or characters, but the world they created. I don’t think anything like it had ever been on screen - not just good special effects, but a universe that felt so lived in. Not bright and shiny and clean, but dingy and dirty and worn and old… but still fresh and original and exciting. That’s what still attracts me to Star Wars - I love the worlds and aliens and endless possibilities of that galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/391 "2026-07-15T03:33:11Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Why is LIKING boobs “misogyny”? Don’t me disingenuous. Making a spaceship that looks like.a woman but has no head? It says the builder thinks women’s heads are meaningless compared to their boobs. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/392 "2026-07-15T03:34:02Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Making a spaceship that looks like.a woman but has no head? It says the builder thinks women’s heads are meaningless compared to their boobs. “Objectification” might be a more accurate term, but I get it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/393 "2026-07-15T10:50:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Piloted by Sybil Danning, Queen of B-movie schlock! There are two different versions of the film – really! In one Sybil Danning’s costume is FAR more abbreviated than in the other. She’s also given the immortal line “You’ve never seen a go down.” ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/394 "2026-07-15T12:26:07Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Shakespearean actors can make lines like “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy” sound plausible. That very article quotes one of those very Shakespearean actors saying of the script, “This isn’t exactly Shakespeare!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/395 "2026-07-15T18:00:25Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > Hey! Don’t dis _Battle_! It had one of the Magnificent Seven, Hannibal Smith and a spaceship with boobs. > > It basically IS The Magnificent Seven / Seven Samauri in space. To be fair, if you’re going to make a _Star Wars_ rip-off, you’re also going to make a Kurosawa rip-off. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/396 "2026-07-15T18:02:51Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I don’t think anything like it had ever been on screen - not just good special effects, but a universe that felt so lived in. Not bright and shiny and clean, but dingy and dirty and worn and old… Have you ever watched _Dark Star_? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/397 "2026-07-15T18:19:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > To be fair, if you’re going to make a _Star Wars_ rip-off, you’re also going to make a Kurosawa rip-off. They’re not all great, but one of the “Star Wars Visions” animated shorts, done that time by a Japanese studio, started out mostly as a very loose retelling of “The Hidden Fortress”, and I had to sit there a moment and fully appreciate the self awareness that must have been involved in every step of the making of the short ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/398 "2026-07-15T18:19:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Dark Star No, but thanks for giving me the idea! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/399 "2026-07-15T18:26:58Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Don’t me disingenuous. > > Making a spaceship that looks like.a woman but has no head? It says the builder thinks women’s heads are meaningless compared to their boobs. I suppose if it were directed by Quentin Tarantino all the ships would look like women’s feet. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810/400 "2026-07-15T23:48:23Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > Dark Star > > No, but thanks for giving me the idea! It’s a good movie worth checking out. John Carpenter’s and Dan O’Bannon’s feature debut. I will caution you it’s a dark comedy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reexamining-star-wars-50-years-later/1026810.md?page=21)