Obsevations from watching all six movies after playing SWTOR.

[Deafknight]

I don't recall if it was 1 or 2, but someone mentioned "There has never been a full scale war since the formation of the Republic."

This clearly shows The Old Republic era was not always there, it was added after the movies. Because from KotOR-ToR there is a near-constant War/Cold War cycle.

Republic != old republic.

[BrerBear]

I'm born in the 70ties, grew up with the first trilogy, and I went to see Phantom Menace in the cinema because I was totally psyched. It was one of the biggest disappointments ever. Jar Jar Binks is terrible. The story is terrible. The CGI makes everything look clinical. The movie had some good moments but overall I found it severely lacking. I lost interest in SW for years after it.

My point? Your age may greatly influence which of the movies you like best.

Very much this.

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, also born in the early 70s.
When Episode I came out, I even shelled out big bucks to see it early at a charity screening with Lucas. I was that obsessed.

It was bad. I tried to justify liking it, but it was really bad.

For a lark, I watched the Blu-ray edition last weekend and... it's even worse. Thirteen years on, the special effects aren't even very good. And scenes with Jar Jar and little "Anni" made me want to avert my eyes. They are PAINFUL. The story is terrible, and the whole movie is full of badly-paced, overlong spaceship landing scenes.

The upcoming 3D re-release of Episode I will do nothing but remind people how bad that universe became. It's not going to create a new generation of Star Wars fans...

[Larynx]

Republic != old republic.

Old Republic = Republic in the movies

The Old Republic's history prior to the movies, if we go by what dokhidamo said, did not exist in it's current form since there's been pretty much constant (well, relative to the timespans) warfare since the Hyperspace War

(and the majority of these conflicts were because of those pesky sith)

[Aarnor]

I saw the original trilogy when I was 7 in anticipation of Episode 1 coming out soon (don't remember the exact time frame but my older cousin was a Star Wars fan). I was immediately interested in the original trilogy and having been young and growing up with the new trilogy I liked them at the time as well.

Looking back now I definitely like the original trilogy better. The acting wasn't awesome and neither were the effects but the story was better and at least the acting doesn't seem so forced (as it is in the prequels).

What bothers me about the prequels is that it took a story that was one of my favorites and ended up smashing it until all that remained was action shots with lightsabers alternating between camera angle 1 and camera angle 2. If you watch the special features for the prequels virtually everything was shot in front of a green-screen/blue-screen which not only makes the scene's environment less immersive since it isn't real and gives that actors a hard job since they don't know what they will be interacting with in the movie clearly. Additionally from the special features it's pretty clear no one questioned George Lucas unlike the originals so instead of the story being collaborative and effective it comes off as forced and discontinuous.

I could rant longer but I think that makes most of the point for my opinion of the series.

[KidCanuck]

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/s...hantom-menace/

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/s...of-the-clones/

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/s...e-of-the-sith/

Watch these. They are very ... enlightening.

[mostlyharmless]

In terms of how the movies have been rated by professional movie critics, just look to rottentomatoes.com:

original trilogy:
Episode IV: 94%
Episode V: 97%
Episode VI: 79%

recent prequels:
Episode I: 60%
Episode II: 67%
Episode III: 80%

[Deleted]

professional movie critics

In other words, random people from all around the world who see a movie and form an opinion about it.

You would have to be an actor, a director, a producer, a sound guy, and all the other people required to make a movie put together, with at least a decade of studies in the field of "what makes a good movie" to be called a "professional" movie critic. If you're just a guy watching a movie, then it's just an opinion.

Sure, even just a random guy can spot really bad acting, much like a toddler points to a dog turd and yells "poo!" with a gleeful smile on her face. That doesn't make the random guy an expert in the field or an authority in the matter, though.

Those Rotten numbers, as well as IMDb numbers, represent the general consensus on the matter, which is quite often - in fact I would say a majority of the time - much more reliable than the opinion of some random guy calling himself a critic.

At least we're not talking about music, even though there are people who have the balls to tell you what sounds good and what doesn't.

[Razeo]

At all the prequel fans, take a look at the video below and come back at me.

Strong emphasis on the 2nd half of the video starting at 1:17.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B15P7HwzjHM

[tenzing21]

First lets think about this. When the originals came out, GL had a limited budget and was making what was planned to be a B movie.

George Lucas is the ONLY person in history to have have directed both the all-time top grossing big-budget motion picture (Star Wars) and the all-time top grossing independent film (THX-1138). We could be making films for another thousand and this will not happen again. Lucas and his vision revamped Hollywood. There is the 50s and the golden age, then a sharp decline til Lucas redesigns motion pictures. When he was writing scripts and/or directing were the best years for Hollywood in my lifetime. When he ceased, Hollywood's revenue dropped sharply. There is a correlation. And that's all she wrote.

[Koalachan]

George Lucas is the ONLY person in history to have have directed both the all-time top grossing big-budget motion picture (Star Wars) and the all-time top grossing independent film (THX-1138). We could be making films for another thousand and this will not happen again. Lucas and his vision revamped Hollywood. There is the 50s and the golden age, then a sharp decline til Lucas redesigns motion pictures. When he was writing scripts and/or directing were the best years for Hollywood in my lifetime. When he ceased, Hollywood's revenue dropped sharply. There is a correlation. And that's all she wrote.

And that doesn't change the fact that nobody thought the movies would do well. Not even GL really knew what he was starting at the time.

[tenzing21]

Sure he did. He had the backing of the most powerful man in film, at the time, Francis Ford Coppola. Harrison Ford got the role of Solo over Burt Reynolds to due to favors George owed Francis. I'm sure you mean well, but you are way off-base on your two key points; quit while you're behind.