Ok, apparently since there are so many posts in here, I need to break up my responses! (don't worry, that's a good problem to have!)

And I know I mentioned this in the opening post, but PLEASE try and use spoilers!! Even if it seems like common knowledge, if it tells anything even remotely big, use them. I mean, I know we're all fans here... but what if someone who hadn't seen them came wandering in? Some people might come in here because they're curious, maybe even wanting to know a little more about it before they jump to the decision about watching them. We don't want them leaving having it all ruined, now do we?

I know a lot of people have harped on Jar Jar Binks, but he honestly never bothered me that much.

Yeah, he never bothered me much either. I guess he's like a younger sibling... half the time funny and adorable, and half the time annoying.

The biggest problem I had with the new trilogy (barring the cheesy Anakin/Padme lines for which I blame George Lucas and Hayden Christensen) was that General Grievous' role in the film Revenge of the Sith was so downplayed and pitiful compared to what he was in the Clone Wars cartoon shorts that Cartoon Network released between Episodes II and III.

Really? Huh. I guess it didn't bother me, cause I didn't know what I was missing. How much do those cartoon shorts add? Should I look into them?

As for the constant tinkering and changes that seem to occur with every re-release, well... Han shot first. CG touch-up I don't have as much of a problem with, but changing the story is unacceptable. Things like that change motivations and ruin character arcs.

I haven't really seen all of the changes for myself, but I think it's safe to say I agree with you. Touch-ups seem alright. But characters should be left alone.

(the storm trooper hitting his head as they enter the controle room is funny no matter how many times I see it)

Is it bad that I don't remember this? Maybe I'm in need of a rewatch.

While the effects, and battle scenes are more imressive in the "newer" movies there were still too many things that raised questions.

I'm not Lucas, but I'll try to tackle these from my perspective...

Why did Amidala apparently not age from Episode1 to 2?

My guess, is that it seems that way because of the age difference between her and Anakin.

In Episode 1, if we can trust the song ( ), Anakin was 9 and Padme (aka Amidala) was 14. In Episode 2, I'd guess about ten years had gone by. She was already older, and so she only visibly aged a little. But the jump for Anakin was from little boy to late teens... obviously it'll seem more drastic of a difference.

Anikin's eventual "conversion" to the dark side seemed rather lame. He had just stopped Mace Windom from killing the chancellore because it was not the Jedi way, yet then falls right into the dark side?

I think Anakin had been teetering on the edge of falling to the dark side since

. I think his fear for Padme's safety is what pushed him over the edge... Palpatine claimed he could help. What guy wouldn't try almost anything to try and save the one he loved?

The original trilogy looks rather dated now, given all the advancements in CGI and special effects, but it was unbelievable for a bunch of college kids when we went to see it for the first time....

I'll bet!

...And stayed up late at night discussing the deep questions of the first 2 movies, like "Is Vader really Luke's father?" or "Who is the other Skywalker?" DVDs didn't exist yet and even VHS copies weren't available then, so the only option (for those really worried about such questions) was to see the movies in the cinema again and again.

Gosh, that must have driven you guys crazy! I bet you're glad for the ability to rewatch them any time you want now, right?

I think that experience colors my opinions of the movies. I much prefer the original trilogy because the story was new and full of questions (of course, there was no shortage of theories about how it would end up).

Oh, I don't doubt it! I know that I'm the same way! I mean, I like the new ones just fine, but nothing can live up to your first experience with it.

A favorite scene comes from the original...Luke looking over the desert at the double sunset. The music is just perfect. Now it may look simple, almost quaint, but at the time it was a powerful image.

Simple, but yet, as you said... powerful. I always found that moment beautiful. Sad, but beautiful. One of my favourite scenes as well.

On the one hand, I don't mind many of the changes Lucas made in the re-releases; they're his movies, I guess. On the other, I'd prefer he not mess with the originals.

That's just it. Part of me is like "they're his movies... shouldn't he have the right to do what he wants with them?" And part of me is like "don't mess with a good thing. it's been around this long for a reason". Oh, well...

Speaking of the Clone Wars, fans of The Big Bang Theory know that the characters there like to refer to Star Wars. In one episode Sheldon says:

"I'm sorry but I'm not going to watch the Clone Wars TV Series until I've seen the Clone Wars movie. I prefer to let George Lucas disappoint me in the order he intended."

*Offers a virtual rimshot and ducks out for now*

Oh, gosh... the first time I saw that episode, I was cracking up for a long time after that! (and yes, I still find it immensely funny)

Aside from the fact that I grew up on the old special effects and love them, the new SFX do not mesh well with the otherwise older-looking films. At all.

Aww, really?
I suppose you won't hold it against me too much if I still kind of want to see the new SFX, just to see what the fuss is about?

And yeah, I love older special effects. I think part of the charm of movies from that era, is that they had to work so hard and be so creative to get those effects. Now, it's some planning, and then you type it into a computer. Really? That's all? No thanks! (they look great, don't get me wrong. I just prefer old ones. Example? Escape to Witch Mountain and it's sequel. Now how they arrived at those effects is COOL!)

I just finished reading the Corellian trilogy by Roger Macbride Allen (thanks for the rec, PA! ) and it was a fun read. I'm thinking that now I want to go back and re-read the Thrawn trilogy, though, to see how the characterizations of Mara Jade match up.

Aww, come on! I only read the first book in that trilogy!
Glad you liked them all, though! I'll be sure to grab the other two when I get the chance! And Mara is in the Thrawn trilogy? Ok, now I have to go find those too!

...
Ok, be back soon with the responses to the rest!

During our visit to the used book store today, I used a bit of credit to buy some of the Star Wars Extended Universe books. I chose them based on their being mentioned here, on my own past experience with the EU and on what I could learn without spoilers via Wikipedia.

The Thrawn Trilogy (read these before and enjoyed them immensely)
The Hand of Thrawn Duology (sequels to the above)
The Corellian Trilogy (mentioned here)
The Jedi Academy Trilogy (it just sounds awesome)
I, Jedi (sounds awesome and is a companion to the above)
Children of the Jedi (s.a.)
Darksaber (s.a.)

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions about these, let me know. Other than possibly rereading the Thrawn Trilogy, I have no clue where I'm going to start.

Schwinn, I've only ever read the Thrawn Trilogy and really enjoyed it. I thought that the character of Thrawn was by far the most interesting person in the book and an antagonist that I couldn't help but like a bit.

Even when I was a young child and Star Wars was relatively new it wasn't so much the Jedi stuff that interested me as it was the star fighters. I thought that the apex of it was the gigantic space battle in Return of the Jedi, but they kept on sandwiching all these great dogfights in between giant teddy bears and boring Jedi stuff. Bah! Thank goodness for modern day viewer level editing! Here's an awesome clip of the entire Battle of Endor sans the goofy Jedi/Ewok nonsense in the movie!

And here's a nifty homage to the X-Wing fighter

As well as the coolest Halloween costume ever!

Jek Porkins...providing all husky guys (like me) with a ready costume to wear at conventions.

And one last one before I lose all control here

Schwinn, I've only ever read the Thrawn Trilogy and really enjoyed it. I thought that the character of Thrawn was by far the most interesting person in the book and an antagonist that I couldn't help but like a bit.

Spoiler

He was gone before his time .

Even when I was a young child and Star Wars was relatively new it wasn't so much the Jedi stuff that interested me as it was the star fighters.

Ahem... Sci Fi... No one ever truly stays dead. There are more Thrawn related books or at least have Thrawn's handprints on them.

You ought to read the X-Wing series SL. They are actually coming out with a new one here in the near future.

The Thrawn Trilogy - He's actually rereleasing these with some author's notes in the margins that are really fun to read.
The Hand of Thrawn Duology - seriously good, but read I, Jedi FIRST. It helps fill in some of Mara Jade's story.
The Corellian Trilogy - Fun books.
The Jedi Academy Trilogy - crazy series. Good books. Lots happen.
I, Jedi - If you haven't read the X-Wing series yet, the character of Corran Horn is introduced there. Short version: He's an X-Wing pilot with Rogue Squadron. Read the first 4 books in the series for more spoilers.
Children of the Jedi - Good book, but I only read it like twice and never went back to it.
Darksaber - Good book, but I only read it like twice and never went back to it.

Sith Army Knife. Nice one, SL.

Has anyone played the Star Wars DVD Trivial Pursuit game? My 12-year-old nephew (who's quite the SW geek) has it, and we've enjoyed playing it a number of times. It's much like the original game, but with SW-specific categories, and to get a wedge piece it's necessary to view a DVD video clip and answer correctly.

As is often the case, some questions are incredibly easy and some are pretty obscure.

There's a separate "for the win" category which also requires a DVD answer. If you answer correctly,

I've got the Star Wars Original Trilogy Trivial Pursuit (say that three times fast!) game, but it hasn't been played in a very long time, largely because my younger brothers and nephew are all rabid Star Wars addicts. If you have a good grasp on the movies you can probably win the game in one turn provided the dice roll your way.

The only Star Wars games I've ever played were the LEGO versions. II was way better than I: better mini-figs, better defense moves during a fight, better space battles (the X-wing is easier to fly than the Millennium Falcon), and better story clips. Both are pretty much only for LEGO geeks who also happen to be Star Wars geeks. Most Star Wars fans I know don't get how cool LEGO Star Wars are. It's a to-scale model of the Death Star in your bedroom made out of little plastic bricks! How cool is that?

Great car, SL! I wants it.

Hayden Talks Star Wars Memories!

Movie Blog Magazine recently ran into the ultra-cool and always nice, Hayden Christensen, who ten yrs ago was hand picked by George Lucas himself out of 1000’s of choices to play the young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode II. For the 10 Anniversary, Hayden remembers what it was like getting the part and the feeling of shooting a huge Star Wars movie . .

Read more: http://purpleslinky.com/humor/hayden-christensen-talks-star-wars-memories/#ixzz1wQK65aE1

I wanted to say, new that I finally noticed this thread...

I'M SO GLAD THAT NO ONE IS HATING ON EPISODE 1!

Been a SW fan my whole life, and I never could understand why people seem to hate it with such a vengeance. Because of Jar Jar? Come on. Even if you don't like him (I do ), that shouldn't be enough to ruin the movie. And Qui-Gon is one of my favourite Jedi.

I always have appreciated the more minor characters in the saga, so I always like telling people that my favorite character is Wedge Antilles. I just always liked the fact that he was a survivor I guess. And I always wanted to pilot a Y-Wing... not an X-Wing, a Y-Wing. Don't ask me why .

Been a SW fan my whole life, and I never could understand why people seem to hate it with such a vengeance. Because of Jar Jar? Come on. Even if you don't like him (I do ), that shouldn't be enough to ruin the movie. And Qui-Gon is one of my favourite Jedi.

Phantom Menace is definitely the weakest of the six films. And I can't totally blame Jar-Jar for it either...the movie is just bad. Rather than me take up 20 paragraphs explaining the problems I had with the film, I wrote a review of it on amazon several years back which I will link here. It's just easier than typing it all out again.

Even though Jar Jar is a bit much to the Story. It is kinda understood that he is that classic sidekick character, that many folks have a love/hate relationship with. He does'nt really get in the way of the narative as much as he is overbearing sometimes in the movie.

But I actually have a great fondness for Star Wars: Phantom Menace. Certainly not perfect movie, but a solid 1930 Space Adventure. Which is what the first adventure is more of a direct Tribute too. The cast is overall great, ( Sam Jackson, Frank Oz, Liam Neeson, Ewan Mcgregor, Ian Mcdarmid, Ray Park ) Portman gets a bad rap & little Jake Loyld plays the part he's suppose to play. The effects and production seem to hold up extremely well.

Right, I'm not claiming EP1 is a cinematic masterpiece, but I agree it's certainly a solid movie. It just was nice to see that not everone thought it was rubbish . And it has a bit a sentimental value for me as well, as it was the first SW movie I saw on the big screen.

If Phantom Menace is on TV I'll watch it, but I still maintain that of all of the 6 SW films released it stands head and shoulders above (or below in this case) the rest as being the worst one. The big offenders in the film:

- The dialogue is clunky at best. Lucas is a great idea man and has wonderful vision on what he wants, but he needs to be kept away from the script.

- I have nothing against Jake Lloyd, but his lines were painful at times. They could have made Annakin much more interesting...we don't really get to see much of his nascent relationship with the Force, just that he's a pretty good pod-racer.

- Jar-Jar. I know they were trying to create a new Chewbacca for the new trilogy, but this one fell flat on its face...a reggae Bob Marley aquatic alien with grace of a drunken yak. Everytime Jar Jar Binks (or most other Gungans for that matter) speaks, I cringe.

- There is NO chemistry between the actors! And this is huge! Liam Neeson turns in a pretty good job, but I just don't care about anyone else in the movie. I just had this feeling that they were there and reciting their lines so they could pick up the paycheck at the end of the week. Natalie Portman says her lines more woodenly than the Black Forest, and her performance didn't feel smooth. Ewan McGregor did well, but one person can't carry the film and shouldn't have to. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, and Harrison Ford all had a lot of fun working with one another in the original trilogy, and because the shoots were so difficult they deeply bonded during the making of the films, and this comes across in the movies. The characters all click with one another on screen...no one can deny this. I don't think this really happened during TPM...I think maybe they should have hung out with one another more when they were off work, or played some Galaga in the break room, or something, but they didn't and their dialogue with one another suffers because of it. They look bored and/or uncomfortable at times...I don't know how better to articulate this issue, but hopefully you see what I mean.

- CGI is nice, but it shouldn't replace the movie. I miss old studio models.

I really do want to like the movie, but it is deeply flawed and just atrociously scripted. The storyline is needlessly complicated when all it really ever needed to succeed was the simplicity of plot that the first trilogy had. Jar Jar is a canker sore on the film, and poor Jake Lloyd never recovered from his experiences with this movie, which isn't really his fault. As I said, sometimes Lucas needs to step back and let someone else make the movie.

It's far, far, far below the best of the series, Empire Strikes Back, that's for sure. I know this may irritate some, but I just could never warm to this film for those reasons.

Hehehe

I just wanna say that I agree with a lot of what you said. Very good points.

If Phantom Menace
Jar-Jar. I know they were trying to create a new Chewbacca for the new trilogy, but this one fell flat on its face...a reggae Bob Marley aquatic alien with grace of a drunken yak. Everytime Jar Jar Binks (or most other Gungans for that matter) speaks, I cringe.

Mabie not a Chewbacca, as much a just a silly side character for kids, like in the cartoons of the 60s,70's & 80's. Which many people have a very strong feeling over. One way of the other. I could have certainly lived without. .

There is NO chemistry between the actors! And this is huge

I don't know if I 100 percent agree with that. I think Liam had nice chemistry with little ani's mom as well as little Ani has with her. I also think Sir Ian had good chemistry with the scenes he was in with Portman and Liam. The quietier scenes with Qui-Gon and little Ani where nice and I wished there were more of them in the movie. Mcgregor was great all round. Yoda was fantastic. Heeheee.

cgi is nice but it shouldn't replace the movie. I miss old studio models.

Agreed. Same here. Actually if you watch the "Behind the Magic", Phantom was probally one of the last movies too really use a big combo of old school effects and new tech. There were a lotta model work used in the movie.

Opinions are like elbows and I got a lot of elbows. Just my 2 cents. Or 1 mabie.

I would agree that TPM does not measure up to the originals but in my opinion it's much better then AOTC. It is overlong and the dialogue and acting is not-so-great at times but the story line is much more complex and there are so many new things we learn about the galaxy. And all the action scenes (Except the Jar Jar ones ) are very well done. And as far as I'm concerned the Maul-Obi Wan- Qui Gon fight is not just the best lightsaber fights in the saga but one of the best choreographed "Sword" fights I've ever seen.

Not a great movie but it has enough great parts to be enjoyable which is all I ask of a film.