Star Wars – Category Introduction

Welcome to the Star Wars section of my website. Use the links above to navigate through this section. I hope you’ll enjoy reading my comments about each of the Star Wars films.

July 24, 2017 –

I recently discovered this music video. I think it’s brilliant. Some of my younger website visitors will not recognize the music, but when I first heard this song, I thought it would make a great music video if set to scenes from Star Wars. Well, here it is.

As of right now, this has only 2,295 views and 35 likes. I hope you like it as much as I do.

December 24, 2016 –
As of today, I’ve already seen Rogue One three times in the theater. I loved this movie. It’s probably the most realistic of all the Star Wars movies, in the sense that not all of the characters are completely good or completely evil. It’s also the only Star Wars prequel that makes the movies that follow it even better. After I left the theater, I had an even greater appreciation for A New Hope, Empire and Jedi. I will certainly buy this when it comes out on Blu-Ray. You have to see this movie.

April 29, 2016 –
I loved the Force Awakens. Thank you, J.J. Abrams, for breathing life back into this film series. I will write my comments about this movie here on this website. But for now, I’ll just say it was fantastic.

November 1, 2015 – Episode 7 is only 46 days away. I already have my ticket. I’m very excited after having seen the trailers. It looks like Disney has done well with this franchise and the storyline. We’ll see, of course.

July 31, 2009 – I have to confess something. I’ve sold all my prequel merchandise, except for the action figures.

Yeah, I know it’s shocking, but it’s true. I finally realized I had no desire to ever watch the prequel films ever again, so why keep them on my shelf? Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I’ll try to explain why I did this.

Overall, Star Wars is a great tragic story. I’ve always thought that, even as early as 1983, right after I saw Return of the Jedi. I even remember telling people in those years leading up to the prequels that I thought this was a wonderful tragedy. It’s a warning that if you’re not careful, you can end up losing all you have ever wanted in the spontaneous pursuit of what you think you want now.

That’s what the story of Star Wars is all about. Anakin turned his back on everything he ever wanted just for the chance to take something he thought he wanted instead. Luke, on the other hand, never lost focus of what he really wanted, and even when he was tempted by it, he chose to die rather than join the Emperor.

This is brilliantly portrayed twice in the originals – once in Empire when Luke chooses to fall to his death rather than take Vader up on his less than generous offer, and the second time in Jedi when Luke refuses to kill his own father at the Emperor’s command.

In contrast, this same thing happens in Episode 3, when Anakin kills Dooku. The scene, however, for me illustrates why I have to rate the entire prequel trilogy somewhere below the original trilogy. This scene just does not have the weight that it really could have had.

This is for two reasons: First of all, The Dooku character is just too shallow, and especially compared to Darth Vader in the originals. If he had been developed more in both this and the previous film, his death at the hands of Anakin would carry more weight.

Second, there seem to be no consequences at all after this scene takes place. Does Anakin ever deal with this decision later in the movie? Is there any noticeable change in Anakin after he kills Dooku? Does Palpatine ever bring this up in the rest of the movie, as a reminder to Anakin that he’s already on the path to the Dark Side? Does Obi-Wan ever ask Anakin what happened to Dooku? Does the Jedi Council ever ask him? Does Anakin have to suffer any sanctions for it? No. All we have is Anakin’s statement, “A Jedi shouldn’t do this,” and Palpatine’s response “you did well.”

I am not in the film industry; I’m just a Star Wars fan who happens to watch a lot of movies in several different genres. But I think this scene would have been better if it had taken place after Anakin has already had his chat with Palpatine in the opera house, and after he convinces Anakin to develop the Dark Side powers to save Padme. If it had taken place then, Dooku’s death would have had more weight – both because he would have survived long enough in the film for his character to be fleshed out more, and because we would have seen more of Anakin’s motivations in the first place. After that, there would have been a more obvious change in Anakin, showing the results of having taken this step toward the Dark Side.

I have seen enough movies to know when a character has not been sufficiently developed, or when the storyline could be improved. It is details like this that are missing from all of the prequels that make them compare less than favorably to the detail-rich and tightly-crafted original films.

I personally think the originals are some of the best movies of all time, in any genre. They are absolutely fantastic. I have never seen a movie that so completely blew me away like the originals did. The prequels, on the other hand, are just fine, and in some ways, better than most sci-fi I’ve seen. But they’re not as good as the originals. I said I have no desire to watch the prequels again, and I still stand by that opinion, though the last 45 minutes or so of Episode 3 are very good.

Episode 2 was OK, but probably not any better, really, than any random action/sci-fi flick of the last 10 years. Some parts of Episode 2 were pretty bad, like almost every scene with Portman and Christensen. The CGI was very distracting as well. We probably needed to see Anakin marry Padme, but it sure would have been nice if it had been more realistic and interesting. The romance just seemed to be there only because it was required by the script. The highpoint of the movie is when you see Anakin react to his mother’s death.

Episode 1 was a complete waste of time and money – both on the part of the producers and the viewers. The only good part of this movie was Darth Maul, and he only lasted what, 13 minutes, maybe? The rest of the film is a completely forgettable celebration of computer graphic imagery.

Honestly, I’m very sorry I feel this way. I consider myself a lifetime fan of the franchise, and I feel that in many ways, the prequel films really let me down. Why didn’t Lucas add any interesting and unexpected plot twists? Why was the directing so lifeless and the editing so choppy? Why are there so many examples of juvenile humor that added nothing to the story? Why did he deviate from the already established storyline such that he had to re-edit portions of the original trilogy just to match his changes?

Personally, I blame Lucas for the lower quality of these new films. His work lately seems to be careless, especially compared to the originals. When I watch the originals, there’s no doubt he really cared about telling this story. When I watch the prequels, however, I get the feeling he’s just going through the motions, trying to earn an extra billion dollars.

So, with that being said, yes, I sold back the DVDs and the VHS tapes that I owned from Episodes 1-3. After all, there’s only so much room on the shelves of my movie collection. Why should I take up any space with something I have no desire to watch again?