Some of the most oft quoted lines from the Original Trilogy amongst me and my brothers are the admittedly cheesiest ones. "But with the blast shield down, how am I sposed to fight?" "But I want to go into Tosche Station to pick up power converters" "Thats not true thats impossible!" etc. etc. I'm telling you, cheesy becomes classic in time. At least for me. That's why Vader's "Noooooo" def didn't bother me.

I think ROTS has had a huge impact on my list . . . .

1 - The Empire Strikes Back. Why? It had the two things that AOTC needed desperately. A Jedi training . . .and a dialogue heavy duel. But it also had a villian that seemed an important character. The villians in the prequels are not only disposable, but if u added up 'stand-alone' villain screen time in AOTC and TPM, you'd probably get like 2 minutes. I think anyone who views the movies for the first time chronologically, will HATE ANH and be relieved with this, the best episode of the saga.

2 - A New Hope. I really hate to put this so closely to ESB. Why? This movie is simple. It's ridiculously simple in comparison to the other 5 movies in the trilogy. To think that some new viewers will go from the complex politics and events in ROTS to this is staggering. It's like going from a symphony, to watching a kid play the piano in a small recital hall. But it is second nonetheless. . . it is a really exhilarating flick. I always enjoyed this movie FOR it's simplicity . . .and its lack of politics and complicated relationships. It's really just a generic story told in an amazing way. ROTS changed this for me, because I was left feeling like the shift of character focus was jarring. It went from a story of the galaxy (ROTS) to a story of a young man and his adventure.

3 - Revenge of the Sith. This movie had twice as much pay off as ROTJ originally had. Everything in TPM and AOTC had led up to this point, and we got the ending we all wanted. I think *THE* most dramatic events in the entire saga happen in this movie. The purge of the Jedi . . . the duel . .. the death and birth montage . . . This movie walked a thin line in concept and execution, but the sheer importance of its events to the saga saved it from being hyper-active and choppy.

4. The Phantom Menace. I really wanted to put ROTJ here . . .but I am viewing these movies very much as two trilogies. The Phantom Menace was a better movie than ROTJ. It stumbled . . .but not badly. I never minded Jar Jar . . . .and everyone I know that has seen that movie loves him (excluded jaded internet posters like myself). Darth Maul was awesome. The pod race was pretty cool. The Space fight was pretty good, except for the wooden pilot dialogue. (Ric Olie . .. bah) I remember in '99 I really liked the character of Qui-Gon . . . he was my favourite. I only wish he could have been a ghost in the next TWO prequels. He should have been the Ben Kenobi of the PT. *sigh*

5. Return of the Jedi. The Empire Strikes Back made promises that Return of the Jedi couldn't possibly keep. Everything about the movie had a very, "been there, done that," feel to it. In watching all the movies back to back, ROTJ felt like more of the same, whereas ESB was a shattering refreshment. The Final Duel was something special . .. there is no doubt . . .the dialoge and preformances were perfect. The final space battle is awesome FX wise, but I was never as attached to Lando as I was to Luke or Han. Han Solo really got his 'scoundrel wings' clipped in this movie. I guess being frozen in carbonite can change a man . . .but he went from ditching on the rebels at hoth, to being a rebel soldier/commander. For some reason the idea that Leia is Luke's brother never sat well with me. It felt like it stomped on their scenes together in ANH and ESB . ..I can't put my finger on it, but the whole plot thread felt wrong to me. (probably the butchering of the mythology of ANH, if you get what I'm saying) Come on . . .the ewoks weren't that bad. I just think they had too crucial of a role in the downfall of the Empire . . .they should have made a large impact, small contribution . . .showing the importance that even the smallest person can . . .*que LOTR quote*

Attack of the Clones. Putting this film last really says something about Star Wars. It's still a good flick. The "worst" SW movie is still a good movie. The love scenes and stalker looks ripped this movies soul out for me. This movie was solid, especially Obi-wans path. The reason the movie got good at the arena was because we knew there was no more room for mush. It's not that SW fans don't like a good, "I love you, I know" but just not the trite, stalkerish, forced, akward, disgusting atempts at dialogue in the love scenes. They almost go so far as to ruin ROTS . . . they are clearly in love . . .but they seem like a different couple. I think the movie starts brilliantly . . .I loved the Blade Runnerish speeder chase. And after it was done, I liked everything involving Obi-wan, and almost nothing involving Anakin. This movie makes the PT about Ben more than Anakin for me. Ben is doing something . . .Anakin is sitting around obsessing over the past. In ROTS and AOTC the best Anakin scenes are with Obi-wan. I wish they hadn't have split them up. I needed a ghost Qui-gon . . .I needed Anakin training . . .I needed a cave scene . . . I needed things to get more emotionally complicated. I needed a good duel against a duelist who didn't need a digital face plate to walk around. If you told me about this movie in 6 sentences I would be totally amped about seeing it. Sadly, the strong ideas in this SW movie fell flat, mostly due to cluelessness about romance.

Truth is, I like all these movies. I will show them to my kids when I have them. And for the sake of argument . . .I will show them 4,5,1,2,3,6.

You know, I had always thought about what order to show people the films in, but it was always "Which trilogy first?" to me. But this order really, really seems to work great. You get the biggest surprise still in ESB, which raises questions that the PT will now answer in like a giant 6+ hour flash back! Then right after you see Vader's fall, you get to see him redeemed. Very simple order, but it's a great idea.

There're some inconsistencies but nothing major and no plot holes that can't be explained. Same could be said about OT (Obi "lying" to Luke, Leia kissing her brother, Luke being very different and Han and Leia being not themselves in ROTJ, etc.).

Right, but then Leia says in ROTJ that somehow she always felt it...

Why can't I fit it into the OT? It matches up fine.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121766/ratings

3.3% have given ROTS a 1 star, that may not seem like much but 80% have given it an 8 or above, yet b/c of those candyasses given it 1s, its continued to drop to the point where it will soon be under 8.

Now, even if you didn't like ROTS, do you really think it deserves a 1? Apparently 1312 do. I can't think of a movie I would give a 1 off the top of my head, maybe something with Ben Affleck, but seroiusly. A 1? It just proves you people still want to hate Star Wars Prequels for some reason...I don't get it.

Well what else can you expect from IMDB when even the original Star Wars got 1 from 3000+ people. Or, which is even more ridiculous, 7600 users gave Godfather 1 star. These ratings are truly messed up.

Great director, great film.

It's really hard to rank these movies because I love them all, but here it goes:

1 - Revenge of the Sith - Just too much of a Star Wars fan's wet dream here, definitely numero uno. Lightsabers, Vader, Death Star, Emperor & his lightning, Jedi Purge, you could go on forever. Definitely has the most emotional moments of the saga as well, except for the end of RotJ.

2 - Return of the Jedi - I don't let the Ewok sequence bring this one down. The Ewoks would have been fine if they would have just cut the whole capture sequence and went straight to 'help us get into the bunker'. The whole last third of the movie is a deserving ending to the saga, almost as emotional as Sith. The fact that there was a second Death Star (unoriginal idea) didn't bother me in the least, because it looked so freakin cool under construction. End space battle was just as good as the OSB in Sith IMO. The PT definitely makes this one more powerful, and a deserving #2 spot.

3 - A New Hope - This being the first one puts it above Empire IMO. Also the lack of a real ending in Empire I think hurts it as a stand alone movie. The desert sequence in the beginning sort of drags out now that I've seen it probably over a hundred times, but the coming of age of Luke Skywalker and the emotion at the end of this movie really put it at a well deserved spot above Empire.

4 - The Empire Strikes Back - Very emotional, classic moments, Han Solo at his best. But seeing Luke Skywalker at his worst (I know it's supposed to be like that) as well as the lack of a real ending puts this lower on my list.

5 - The Phantom Menace - Just because this is number five doesn't mean this isn't a good movie, I think it's a perfect opening for the saga. I also like the fact that it feels a lot like ANH. And I liked Jar Jar. If I didn't have such nostalgia for the OT I might even rank this #3 or #4.

6 - Attack of the Clones - Unfortunately this suffers in the same way that Empire does in being the middle chapter, although I think Clones did end better than Empire. The love scenes didn't bother me as much as the Obi-Wan Kamino visit (with the exception of the Jango fight), but still that whole middle part bogged down big time for me. It does stand up well as a Star Wars movie though, but ultimately it comes down to how emotional it is, and this one is the least emotional of the saga to me. It has it's share of classic moments, the Dooku duels, Tusken Slaughter, and the Battle of Geonosis come to mind.

If your talking about viewing order (for people new to the saga) I would say without a doubt watch them 1-2-3-4-5-6. Everything that happens in Revenge of the Sith trumps saving the surprise in Empire by far. Having one of the good guy heroes go to the darkside is like a 2 hour long 'I am your Father'.

Obi-Wan vs Jango was one of the best fights in the saga!

I think the Anakin/Padme fight at the end of ROTS is the best of the saga. But man...Padme goes out like a pussy, didn't even get a shot in. I guess I can cut her some slack for being knocked up but seriously...take some jujitsu or something!

My rankings :

4. ANH/TPM : I think that A New Hope, though a great movie, is still the weakest of the PT. Since it wasn't made with sequels in mind, I think a lot of the story lines that were made in it were pretty much finished up, (except the whole Luke/Jedi triaing and Han/Bounty Hunter stuff). Well, I guess I just really didn't like it as much as the rest.

The Phantom Menace, while still a mediocre movie doesn't seem to capture the feeling of Star Wars in every scene. The beginning reminded me a bit of how Luke entered Jabba's palace with his hood up. But after that it started becoming its own movie with its own quirks. Until at least, the first duel between Qui-Gon and Darth Maul, which still gives me the chills. Seeing Anakin as a child just shows that he was once a young innocent boy. However, I think the whole "chosen one" stuff could have been done with out. Couldn't he have just been an exceptionally powerful Jedi?

3. AOTC/ROTJ : Attack of the Clones came off just like TPM. At first it feels like one of the older movies, but in the end lets you down. George's play on the whole "Its a bit of a mystery/love story" didn't play out AT ALL. All we got was some clunky dialogue between Anakin and Padme, and some "I'm stupid and I don't know what I'm talking about" lines from Obi-Wan (his first conversation with the Prime Minister). The ending lightsaber fight should have been longer, and Obi-Wan and Anakin shouldn't have gone down so easily. Or at least so quickly. The length of all the fights including Yoda's (not including the stuff before he draws his lightsaber) doesn't even break 3 minutes.

Return of the Jedi was a long movie. I didn't like the whole rescue Han thing that much. It felt like it bogged down the movie for about half an hour to 45 minutes. However, after that it started to roll a little more smoothly. The Ewoks were an obvious market to younger audiences, and since I was relatively young when I saw them, I have grown to accept them in the movie. In the end with the whole Emperor/Vader/Luke thing, it is still one of my favorite parts in any Star Wars movie.

2. ESB : The Empire Strikes Back comes in at number two for me. Though the ending was kind of, "Gee, that sucks" everything leading up to it was great. Luke's training and the introduction of Yoda were some parts that could have potentially ruined the movie, but thankfully they didn't. In fact, you forget that Mark Hamill is talking to a rubber puppet. The whole asteroid chase remains to be another one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The Luke/Vader fight was epic, probably the most epic fight in all of the Star Wars movies. There's just something about seeing(or barely seeing) Vader standing there, with his breathing echoing around the room.

1. ROTS : Yes, Revenge of the Sith is my number one. My reason? I look back at all of the Star Wars movies and I look at them all. Then I look at Revenge of the Sith and realize that watching it is the most fun I've ever had during a Star Wars movie. The part that sells it the most is the Jedi Purge across the galaxy, the most dramatic being Ki Adi Mundi's death, in my opinion. Hearing the thrum of Anakin's lightsaber when it came on to kill the younglings sent chills down my spine and the whole ten minutes of Jedi killing put knots in my stomach.

Then, when Padme met Anakin on Mustafar, and the whole conversation came up about "I'm doing this for you." It could have been great, but I don't think Portman truly felt the emotion of what was going on. Hayden, however, I think nailed his role at the best of his abilities, which he proved could be pretty good. I just wish the line would have been "We can rule the galaxy as husband and wife" to mirror his "father and son" line. Then when Obi-Wan emerges from the ship and Anakin chokes Padme (which should have been more brutal) and their conversation started I got chills down my back. The last few seconds before the fight always sends chills down my back.

^ Hey, You've got everything backwards!

Everything is backwrds because I was leading up to my number one.

And remember, everything is my opinion.

*Sigh*

It goes like this:

4
3
2
1

As if it was counting down to my number one choice.

Now that is some heavy duty looking!

Does this one go from the best to the worst or the other way?

best to worst, or hes totally retarted.

One of the greatest soundtracks in the history of great soundtracks!

Sith - Fucking brilliant. Wrapped up the PT/SW saga in grand style. Above and beyond what I was hoping for. The most emotional of the saga, eclipsing ESB in that regard. The entire Mustafar ending was perfect in IMO, wretching, but perfect. Sidious, Anakin, Obi-Wan. The three main characters owned this movie from start to finish.

Jedi - My all time fav movie as a kid. Could watch this movie anytime of the day or night without thinking twice. Maybe because Jedi was my staple diet as a kid I've never, to this day, had any problems with Ewoks. If the Vader/Luke/Emperor finale wasn't emotional enough before, well now it's ten fold after ROTS. Just great and JW's score - do I need to go on?

Empire - Love the more adult direction that was taken with this film. Too many great things to list. The Bespin scenes are some of the greatest in the saga, the revelation, Luke using the force to contact Leia, Luke/Vader duel. Probably the best soundtrack of the saga as well, just ahead of Sith.

Clones - A film that was hindered by poor editing. Some of it really stood out like a sore thumb. Which is a shame because this movie could have been anything. Kamino and Geonosis rocked, and the Arena and Clone Wars was action and mayhem. Really kicked into gear Palpatine's insidious plans.

New Hope - The beginning of it all, the granddaddy of modern cinema. Ever since that Star Destroyer rumbled overhead cinema was changed forever. Fuck cinema - lives were changed forever!! Introduced Vader who went on to become the most popular movie villian of all time. This movie had something for everyone of any age and is still cherished to this day.

Phantom Menace - A conundrum of a film. This set so many things up for the saga it's hard to fathom. I have given up trying to understand the constant backlash against this film, and am generally bemused it's not given higher status among fans. I'm just glad there's a light-hearted movie in the PT that I can watch knowing that the shit really hits the fan later on, particularly in ROTS.

Well yeah you probably noticed I didn't rank these films in any order, such is the difficulty I have in doing so. But here is a general guide as to where they fit although that's bound to change in the very near future.

Exactly, not only do you get the Hero turning into the ultimate villian, you also get the reveal that Palpatine is a sith lord. The arrest scene would be a very big surprise for those who haven't seen the OT. And imagine seeing Vader, by the time of the OT being all cold and distant, even more tragic.

sheep

you guys notice that the word Sith was never used in the OT?

Neither was Palpatine or ewoks.

I remember being quite confused as a child as to what a Sith was.

Organa was never used either in the OT, or Naberrie in the PT. This goes on and on and doesn't matter.

Did you know that the phrase 'Star Wars' wasn't used in any of the six movies?

Didn't Yoda once say: Began this 'Star Wars' has. ?

SI's on point with his summaries of all the films.

Watched Phantom Menace last nite, first time in a lil while. Every time I watch it I'm reminded that it's actually a pretty good movie and one I find immensely enjoyable. Sometimes I take that for granted.

The episode that is slowly slipping down my ranking, which I did not expect, since the release of ROTS is AOTC. The lighthearted adventure of TPM is necessary and fun. But I think AOTC could have been more dramatic. It's tone was still on par with ROTJ, when it could've aimed for ESB perhaps. I dunno, it seems silly to think that AOTC should be downgraded just b/c ROTS was so damn good. I haven't watched it in a month or so. AOTC is a very well structured film, its well crafted and extremely entertaining, but like SI said, the editing did hinder it.

I believe the correct wording was "Begun, the Clone Wars have." This was said at the tail ending of ATTACK OF THE CLONES.

Anakin's gotta be a young, naive boy. It's important to his story. It's his life story, and GL is dealing with his life in a very Freudian manner where his background shapes his character. You'd end up having to tell the story of TPM through exposition, and that would be very ineffective. Besides, isn't having one last feel good Star Wars worth it? It is to me.

After having seen TPM again and paid closer attention to it, in my mind the only flaw (asides from some cheesy Jar Jar and Anakin stuff that ultimately doesn't deter me from enjoying the movie at all) is that too much time is spent getting us to Tatooine. The cliched term "page 17" in screenwriting may be just that, cliched, but its also important. By page 17, we need our story. And TPM is Anakin's story, not Qui-Gon's, Obi-Wan's or even the Queen's. Ultimately, it's Anakin's story, and our other heroes, Qui, Obi and the Queen, should meet him about 15 minutes earlier than they do in the film. Personally, I would've just started the film under the scenario that Qui and Obi were sent to escort the Queen to Coruscant to deal with the Trade Federation through the Senate. Start on Naboo, you can have about 15 minutes of escape action that ends in having to land on Tatooine to fix the hyperdrive. Insert Anakin.

Other than that, TPM in my mind is a very well constructed film. It's actually pretty textbook. Like SI said, it really perplexes me why it got bashed so much. It's really quite good on the whole. I understand why it may not be everyone's taste, but there's no reason for why it has gotten the reputation as a shitty movie.

Any reason why AotC is ahead of ESB?

happy and lighthearted, i cryed when Jinn died in Obi Wans hands

Well I've only seen ROTS twice at thsi point, so it hasn't been watched over and over on DVD or sat in the back of my mind for years like the others, but that being said...

1. ESB - It's kinda a cliche at this point, but it really is just a good all-around film. The PT has just enhanced it by adding more power to the Luke & Yoda and Luke & Vader scenes.

2. ROTS - One or two missteps in the film can't knock this beast out of my #2 spot. It does 99% of everything it tries to do right, and gives the OT even more gravitas than it originally had - and any movie that makes the OT BETTER is a goddamned good Star Wars movie. And I honestly believe this SW film will stand the test of time very well - it will be the most watched PT movie by far in the years to come.

3. ROTJ - Take your "boo hoo, the ewoks!" crying and shove it up your ass. All that time wasted whining about them is time that could have been spent thinking about Jabba, Luke going apeshit on the barge, Yoda dying, Obi-Wan finally coming clean with Luke, the brilliant Vader + Luke + Sidious scenes, the awesome space battle, Luke's realization that to win, he has to not fight, and Anakin's redemption. I've seen it dozens of times and yet the scene where Vader watches Luke getting electrocuted, then looks to Sidious, then looks to his son - it STILL gives me chills. And now, with ROTS, it's even more amazing.

4. TPM - Sets the stage for the 6-movie saga perfectly. Jar-Jar doesn't bother me that much (Boss Nass was so much worse). It's kiddie, sure, but it works: this is the galaxy before everything went to hell. It's bright, it's cheery, it's fantastic. Anakin is almost a metaphor for the whole galaxy: innocent and untouched, with just the one little smude of cancer growing in it. This movie got beat up all the time just for having to follow the OT sacred cows, but I think 50 years from now people will realize it's actually a pretty solid SW film, maybe even better than...

5. ANH - Yes, it was groundbreaking and blew our minds and it's awesome, no question. Now throw away the rose-colored glasses for a second: awful writing, awful acting, awful effects. The only thing that makes this movie watchable is a solid, easy-to-follow story, Sir Alec, and how it fits into the overall picture. I think people make this movie better than it actually is in their minds. It's not BAD - even the worst SW movies are still pretty awesome - it's just not quite as good as the ones listed above.

6. AOTC - IMO, the weakest of all the films by far. It's not even half as good as any of the others, and mostly because it's a transition piece that feels too much like a transition piece - it's Lucas saying "This is how I'm going to get to Ep3". It has its moments (JAngo and Obi-Wan in JAngo's apartment, the clone war), but it's also pretty flawed, goofy at bizarre times, and ROTS does everything AOTC tried to do, but twice as well and in ROTS's first 30 minutes.

Are those quotes from an earlier draft of the screenplay, because they differ from what Anakin says in the movie?



True.

1. ROTS : great in all ways (lightsaber duels, Space battle, Jedi Purge, Darth)
2. AOTC : the battle of Geonosis, all those Jedi, Dooku duel: fantastic
3. TPM : Podracing, Darth Maul, Qui-Gon; a lot of thrilling action
4. ROTJ : Extraordinary ending, but boring first 1.5 hour
5. TESB : just good enough during the first 2 hours, great duel(Luke/Vader)
6. ANH : Very boring, no action, Obi-Wan goes out like a punk

For me the PT is far better than the OT
Maybe it's just because I'm still young (16) and I only like the big CGI battles and not those silly effects from the OT ( I know they were amazing around the eighties)

Well if you're basing your rankings entirely on CG effects then your ratings are spot on. You're lucky to be so young. People my age had to sit through movies with no CG - like crap like Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Airplane or Alien. How we survived is beyond me...

Butcher 'em all, just to get the whining out of you.

Here we go:

1. ESB. Well, the whole movie rocked (besides the wampa, but that's like a 5-minute scene), from the battle scene to the asteroids to Bespin.

2.ROTJ. I have always enjoyed this, and since i've been watching this since age like 8, so the ewoks never bothered me, and still really don't. I guess i'm just kind of used to it. Also, the whole endor scene is fun and action-filled, and the Jabba scene was cool to see how much more powerful luke was, and him kicking ass and such.

3. ANH. I just watched this last night, and it's still as powerful as ever. Its the most emotional movie (i think), and some of the scenes still had me cringing, shouting "NOOO" or jumping for joy, after about 30 rewatches.

4. ROTS. I didn't like this as much after my 2nd viewing, or even after my first. All of the fight scenes (except for Obi-Wan vs. Anakin) lacked emotion and drama, and made me groan "not again" in some of them, like Obi-Wan vs. Greivous. Speaking of Grevious, they made one of the most badass characters (from the clone-wars books and other SW novels) and made him a panzy. (he uses two lightsabers, gets them chopped off, and then uses his other two)

5. TPM. I never really had any qualms about this movie, it just isn't very relevant or dramatic. It does it's job as an opening to the PT well, but that's really all it's worth to me.

6. AotC. This movie was solid, and still has its fine points, but each time you watch it, it gets cheesier and cheesier. It still has the worst dialogue of the series.

best to worst :

3
2-5
1-6
4

i must admit that without the prequels i would not love the original trilogy as much.

Totally agree. I don't think any of the changes really made anything better.

The scenes in Jabba's palace in ROTJ took a turn for the worse as did the music. If anything, the CG bits that were added to Mos Eisley in ANH look out of place with everything else.

For me personally, the old effects were convincing enough and naturally complemented each other better than the mish mash we have now. I understand what he was trying to do, and it was probably a good test bed for effects too, but I wish we could get the original versions (with a little cleanup) on DVD.

Actually, in the DVD of ANH there seem to be some matt boxes round some of the ships that weren't apparent in my previous versions...strange. The remastering must have brought them out in all their glory.

Anyone can poke fun at old effects, the face melting scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark is pretty amusing now, but it was pretty freaky when I was a kid and didn't realise. Having said that, Blade Runner still puts a lot of modern movies to shame for realism.

Like anything, CG can be brilliant when used correctly, but sometimes it just fails to achieve that atmosphere.

After having seen ROTS 8 times (that's right 8 times so far in theatres), and parts of it over and again on my PC, I think I've gotten a good idea of how I can rank the saga, though I don't really like to consider them seperate movies but parts of an overall saga. I am using the Special Editions (THE OFFICIAL EDITIONS) of the OT in my ranking.

1. The Empire Strikes Back - It's definately the most polished and epic of all the films. There's just so much that can be said about this movie from both a technical standpoint as well as a creative one. It's my favourite movie of all time and I don't think that will ever change.

2. A New Hope - The classic movie that will always remain on the top 25 best films of all times list. I'm not going to pull the 'ground breaking' card to justify this one and I don't need to. It's just a brilliant movie when you watch it on its own. It borrowed from a thousand sources and gave it an original feel that is just magical. The beginning of a modern myth that will last in this world until the end of time.

3. Revenge of the Sith - It was really tough for me not to put Sith ahead of Hope. The more I watch it, the more I believe it really is a great movie, not just a good one. There's alot to appreciate and love if you put the 'i didn't see it like that' or 'I would've done that different' attitude aside. Sith suffers from a few small problems that Hope doesn't from a technical point of view (which hopefully may change upon further releases) which is why I decided to keep it below Episode IV. I think the best way to sum up Sith is that it has the best collection of classic scenes in the saga.

4. Return of the Jedi - The ending, parts of the beginning and scenes sparkled in between are terrific, but as an overall film it's not as good as the ones above. It's more polished that Sith technically, but the plot isn't very strong (though the story arc is). Some great performances from Mark and Ian and some unbelieveable sequences, it's a great end to the saga but as a stand alone it relies too much on the other chapters to pack its punch.

5. Attack of the Clones - When I first saw Clones I tricked myself into thinking it was the best since Empire, but since I've smartened up. It's probably because Clones had some great potential but the story and film changed and evolved so much in production and in post that the result is a clunky mess. There's alot of the saga's worst moments in Clones, though there are definately still some great scenes and moments. Technically, it's the worst of the saga hands down, with a forgettable score sans Across the Stars and special effects that are spectacular or sub-par. Clones is a transition movie, but one that could have been much stronger with more polish and less complexity.

6. The Phantom Menace - I almost put this at 5, because of Clones' downfaills, but Menace is just the weakest film in the series to me at least. The way it sets up the story is great, but the plot could have been much stronger to engage audiences more. It's got a great score, some terrific special effects and has its epic moments, but the script brings it down when you think it's about to get going. Jar Jar will always be known as a blemish on Star Wars and Jake Lloyd's Anakin got alot of cringes and rolling eyes. There's some great fun to be had here, but as a film it's still tough for me to get through the whole thing without skipping scenes.

1. ESB
2. RotJ
3. ANH
4. RotS
5. It's a toss up between TPM and AotC

1. The Empire Strikes Back - Firstly, I'm gonna judge based on the finale alone. You can praise the Vader/Obi-Wan duel in Sith all you want, but in the end Empire's father vs. son duel is much more emotional. Vader lopping off Luke's hand, telling him the truth and asking him to turn to the dark side as Luke jumps into a god damn chasm to whatever awaits him below is one of the most emotional moments in all of Star Wars. It is shocking and still works, maybe even better than before the prequels existed. In contrast, the Vader/Obi-Wan duel's ending lacked the emotion of Empire's duel because the audience understands that Obi-Wan needs to kill Vader after what he's done. All IMHO, of course.

Empire will always be the ultimate film for the whole package, not just the finale. The battle of Hoth is so incredible after all these years. Just the right amount of matte line removal has made it stand the test of time forever. The score escpecially during these scenes is fantastic, making something like an AT-AT falling over even more epic that it looks. The closest sequence to this one I've been able to locate in the prequels is the battle of Geonosis, but that scene is so badly-scored with tracked music and it just lacks the focus of the Hoth battle. Nothing can really be compared to Hoth.

Of all the departing character moments (Anakin/Obi-Wan farewell in ROTS, Ben/Luke "The Force will be with you, always" in ANH, Vader "Tell your sister you were right" etc. in Jedi), Luke and Han's last words to each other until ROTJ in Echo Base is easily my favorite. The exchange is brief, but you can just see real friendship between them in that time. And of course, Chewie hugging Luke, one of few happy moments before the shit truly hits the fan for all of them.

2. A New Hope
3. Revenge Of The Sith

4., 5., and 6. are all interchanged constantly.

ROTS - Really hard for me to put it ahead of Empire, but I honestly feel like it captured the whole Empire feel, and then expanded upon it. If the good guys suffering a mild defeat is what made Empire so great, seeing the saga's hero turn to evil, destroying his closest friends lives in the process, in Sith is even better.

TESB - I'll always love this film, purely because it was the first SW chapter I ever saw. Its great because of its inventive plot structure that defies expectation. Its the the second turning point of the saga and packs a heck of an emotional punch even now.

ANH - This film seems to have grown and gained extra weight from ROTS, purely because we can now see closer echoes of Anakin in Luke and understand the Obi-Wan character so much more. In particular the Binary Sunset scene, paralleled with the end scene of ROTS, seems more potent now than ever before.

ROTJ - At the moment the story got really engaging, it suddenly seemed to grind to a halt here. Once the cards were laid on the table in TESB it just seems inevitable that Luke will confront Vader and the Emperor, so we have the Jabba the Hutt episode tacked onto the beginning to fill out the film. Only new twists were the sister revelation and Anakin's redemption, which alone almost saves the film from being merely good, but then there's those damn ewoks.

AOTC - Despite its shortcomings (awkward love scenes, clumsy editing) this has a lot going for it. The mystery aspect is engaging and Obi-Wan is likeable as the Jedi version of 007, trying to get to the bottom of the clone mystery. Christopher Lee is great as Count Dooku. It's a shame that the climactic duel came off so poorly, with the Jedi saber fight nothing more than brief struggles and Yoda reduced to a bouncing green frog. Somehow I liked how Lucas kept Sidious to one side in this chapter, revealing him only at the end with the classic, 'everything is going as planned,' line.

TPM - A lot more exposition could have been gotten out of the way here, but Lucas had to follow the theory that act 1 introduces the characters. So we have a pretty linear plot with a rag-tag band of Jedi and Comic characters going from planet to planet in a string of introductory scenes. Only redeeming features seem to be Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon and the Lightsaber Duel at the end.

Because of ROTS, my feelings for TPM have changed. When Anakin says, "No one can kill a Jedi." in TPM, it definitely pulls at the heart strings. So if I were to rank the movies in which they pull at the heart it would be:

ESB
ROTJ
ANH
ROTS
TPM
AOTC

There it is. No prequel can outweigh the original.

In twenty years time the gap between the making of the OT and the PT will seem smaller and probably blur a lot for younger generations. I reckon the two trilogies won't be thought of as seperate entities but one six film saga, especially if Lucas keeps tinkering with them and makes them match up really well.

At the end of the day they're all Star Wars films. It's a shame people can't judge them individually outside of the context of whether or not they're PT or OT. It doesn't really matter, in the end. They should be judged on thier own merits.

But, you know, whatever turns you on. For you it's this way and that's cool.

That's a pretty shallow statement.

ANH drags in places and ROTJ is a pretty weak stand alone film I think. What about a Second Death Star, a cringeworthy dance sequence (in both versions), and a slow moving middle section makes it a better film than ROTS? I think you let the fact that you've been raised on the OT taint your view of other Star Wars films.

May sound hypocritical since I've ranked both AOTC and TPM below the others, but there are far too many people that walk into them thinking "there's no way this movie can be as good as the OT" and low and behold they come out disappointed. 9/10 it's because they had a different vision of the story since they've had 20 years to think about it.

And your reason for this is.......

I can't understand people who take this position, who blindly view their beloved original trilogy without an ounce of objectivity.

Poor acting, poor dialogue and uninspired plot devices plague each star wars film, yet for ANH, ESB and ROTJ these limitations are quite often ignored, replaced instead with blind love.

For TPM, AOTC and to a lesser extent ROTS, the opposite is true. The focus is on the negative, the supposed poor dialogue, acting, over use of CGI, failure to meet dumb 20 year expectations in which silly comparisons are made to the 'superior' OT.

Unfortunately this means that ROTS - which in my opinion is the ESB of my generation - continues to be labelled under the tag of an inferior prequel.

However, I wonder how it will be viewed in 15 years once the PT versus OT and Star Wars versus insert movie trilogy garbage subsides.

AOTC- killing of the sand people which we didnt see, Geonosis, Killing of sand people speach
ROTS- Yoda/palp dual, jedi slaughter, Opening space battle
ESB- has more of a story then every other one
ROTJ- luke goes dark for 10 seec and cuts off vaders hand
TPM- maul, death of qui gonn
ANH- ben kenobi