The Original Star Wars Trilogy (1977-83)

The rewatch continues, and I now move to the film which used to be the conclusion to the Saga...

- I love the Jabba's Palace sequence.  The production design of his headquarters is outstanding, and the Jabba puppet itself is so unique and tactile; it really looks great.  I also love the atmosphere set up in the palace, mostly accomplished through the ambient echos, music, and crowd noises.  And of course Salacious Crumb's iconic laugh. 

- The conclusion of the Vader-Luke storyline is pretty much perfect.  Adding the element of the Emperor as this outside force swaying the bond between the two in various directions works very well.  And of course, Vader's ultimate decision really strengthens both this storyline and the whole trilogy in general.  Having these throne room scene really amps up the personal stakes to go along with the larger-scale stakes.

- I love that we visit a forest planet this time around.  It really contrasts with the desert and ice planets of the previous films.  And of course there is the speeder chase, which is an excellent set piece that still holds up.  I especially like the shots at night, like that amazing shot above the landing platform with the AT-AT moving through the trees.

- The space battle at the end.  I mean, cmon!  Its awesome.

- Speaking of the last act, I think the editing in this part is incredible.  I had just talked about this with Phantom Menace, but the intercutting between the three story-lines happening consecutively is expertly done.  I was thinking as I was watching that this is probably a pretty influential movie in this regard; in the way that an action climax is broken into various parts all inter-cut together.  And though the tone all the three parts (throne room, space battle, forest battle) are all quite different, it flows together beautifully. 

- The musical beat when Vader threatens Leia is awesome.

- I love how Threepio gets his own moment here.  The Ewoks think he's a god when they see him, and treat him as such.  This is such a fun part and its nice to see our beloved goldenrod have that.

- This is a small thing, but I really like Admiral Piett.  He really stands out among the Imperial officers.  While most of them disappoint Vader and are usually killed, Piett seems to have figured out a way to confidently survive at the top.

- I know people complain about how the first at with Jabba has nothing to do with the overall plot, but I think it really adds to the film as an adventure movie.  Our favourite characters are going from encounter to encounter, which I really like.

- I love this movie, but I will say that the acting here feels just slightly off-par a lot of the time.  This is especially evident with Carrie Fisher (I've never liked her performance on the ewok bridge scene), but it also happens with Billy Dee and even Ford a bit too.  Some of their lines just aren't delivers with as much gusto or authenticity as usual.  On the other hand, I highly appreciated Mark Hamill this time around.  Its probably his best performance of the three. he really brings it.

- Speaking of the bridge scene, I know that Leia being Luke's sister is such an essential part of the lore, but... really??

- We  never see Han in the Falcon the entire movie, which is a drag.

- I know you want me to say something about the Ewoks here, but I'm not going to.  I have no issue with Ewoks.

- The ROTJ SE is definitely the most Egregious, if for no other reason than for the added song performance at Jabba's palace.  How on earth did anyone think this was a good idea??  The CGI characters really clash with the aesthetic, the song is awful, and the close ups of said characters are so bad I shudder in recalling them.  It wrecks that carefully crafted atmosphere I mentioned earlier, especially with how it ruins the impact of Oola's death, and gives us a bunch of unnecessary garbage in an otherwise great sequence.

- I am against all changes, as you can tell, but I don't mind the Bantha herd.

- When the special editions first came out, I was most excited with the new ending that they gave us.  I always thought the Ewok song was a goofy way to end things, so I liked that they gave us new music and showed us celebrations of other planets (including an as-of-yet never seen Coruscant).  But now... I want the Ewok song back.  There is so much nostalgia loaded in that goofy melody, and I like the way it contrasts from the pathos of Vader's funeral to the uplifting celebration.  Bring back Yub Nub!

- This isn't an original SE change, but was rather added in after the prequels.  They added Vader saying No. Nooo! when he kills the Emperor.  I really cant express how awful this is.  It really robs the moment of a lot of its power.  Remove this immediately!  The song is incredibly bad, but this is worse.  And going off of this...

- Adding Hayden Christensen to the ghost ending? Really??? First, it makes no sense to go to a younger form.  Second, don't throw elements from the weaker films into a classic.  Third, its once again disrespectful to the original actor, Sebastien Shaw.  Sigh... I'm okay with the special editions existing, but not at the expense of the original films.  Come on Disney! What is taking you so long?? Do what is right.

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. Return of the Jedi

3. The Last Jedi

4. The Force Awakens

5. The Phantom Menace

6. Attack of the Clones

And so I end my Star Wars rewatch at the beginning: Star Wars, the one that started it all. Let's take a look.

- One thing I love about Star Wars is how complete the story feels and how classic of a tale it tells.  Sure its a very straight forward hero's journey, but what's wrong with that?  A lot is packed into the time frame of this movie, including all character introductions, establishing the world and conflict, learning the backstory of the Jedi, a daring rescue, and a final battle.

- I love how much focus is on the droids.  The first 20 minutes or so is mostly just the two of them, and they are the plot drivers.  Artoo and Threepio getting their due.

- One of the reasons this movie works as well as it does is because of the interactions of the characters.  In my Force Awakens write up I talked about how the characters felt like they instantly bonded, and that is the same case here.  I really do think this plays a large yet invisible part in the movie's success.  Luke, Han and Leia all have instant chemistry with each other and is ultimately what endears us to them.

- I love the sets in this film.  The most obvious is the interior of the Falcon, which is beyond iconic now.  But I also love the death star interiors, the cantina, Luke's homestead, the rebel cruiser at the beginning... it really helped build this world. Sorry, galaxy.

- I really paid attention to the strangeness of all the creatures in the cantina this time around and tried to put myself in the shoes of an audience member in 1977.  Musta been so bizarre.  There are some really out-there designs.

- Alec Guinness really brings a lot of weight to the film.  I love his conversation with Luke about the history of Vader and what the Force is.  As a kid this used to be "the boring part", but I appreciate it so much more now.

- I know it doesn't need to be said really, but the music and sound effects are amazing.

- Darth Vader is a really well-established villain.  I know Tarkin sort of seems like the leader here, but Vader has such a commanding presence its easy to see why he's become the most recognizable movie villain ever.

- There are so many iconic frames in this movie, from the twin suns, to Leia giving Artoo the files, to the Falcon flying down for the last minute rescue.

- One thing that has always bugged me is the lack of impact that two of the main tragedies has on the main characters.  One is the death of Luke's aunt and uncle, and the other is Leia and the destruction of Alderaan.  I know you don't want a movie of this vein to be too bogged down with tragin fallout like that, but I do think it needed to be a little more impactful for both of them.

- I guess it does seem a little weird that the rebels just let Luke fly with them in the battle.  But whatever.

- Boy, I really can't think of much else.  At least not until I get to the special edition parts.

- Lets talk about the worst one right off the bat: the Jabba scene.  First, it looks terrible.  Jabba looks plastic and not very organic.  And having Han walk around and step on his tail makes no sense.  As if the biggest gangster on the planet would just let that go.  Second, its a completely redundant scenes as the dialogue is just recycled from the much better Greedo scene before this.

- A lot of the background scenes of Mos Eisley are "enhanced" with background creatures and the like.  This is fun on a certain level but also distracting, especially since the effects are so incongruent.  There's one part where they are in their speeder and a bunch of stuff walks in the foreground that is really annoying.

- Dewbacks are added digitally.  Same problem as above.

- I actually don't mind adding the deleted scene where Luke meets up with Biggs.  For one thing, its basically just a reinserted scene and still feels of a part with the time and rest of the film.  It also provides a little more closure on Luke's desire to join his friends and gives more context to that idea.

- They changed to sound of Ben's fake out krayt dragon call for... absolutely no reason whatsoever.

- And just in case you are wondering where I stand: Han shot first.

And so we come down to the question "what is the best star wars film?"  I tell ya, its a tough one.  One one hand, Star Wars feels like a more complete story than its sequel.  Yet while Star Wars is top notch storytelling and one hell of a film, Empire just feels like its slightly better paced and goes a little deeper with its themes and ideas.  So... I'm going with Empire, but only by the slightest of margins.  These two are very, very close together at the top.

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars

3. Return of the Jedi
4. The Last Jedi
5. The Force Awakens
6. Revenge of the Sith
7. Solo
8. The Phantom Menace
9. Rouge One
10. Attack of the Clones
11. The Rise of Skywalker

Final Dismemberment Tally: 16 (Panda Baba, and C3P0 - though his gets reattached)