Am I the only one who thought the Star Wars movies were rather mediocre?

[diddle]

I know, it seems like a bait thread. That is just how unquestionably accepted and praised Star Wars is in our culture.

I just find it to be very repetitive and unoriginal as a story:

- black and white morality with no complexity
- cliche characters with unrealistic character development
- a very basic plot that uses the same situations multiple times (not even referring to how they shamelessly rehash the death star as the main plot of two of the three movies)
- disconnected plots between the movies that would suggest the writers were just making up crap as they went along without an overall plan (I'd say they didn't think they'd get past the first movie, seems they didn't plan past it. Unless they thought awkward incesty encounters were dramatic and deep or something.)
- the saviors of the universe were goddamn ewoks.
- many other things I don't have the time and patience to specifically point out.

I remember when the movies first came out, and damn they were amazingly revolutionary in graphics and scope, but I've always been perplexed by people's praise of the movies' actual story. I am ready for crucifixion - to be honest I thought the movie with the best story by far was Revenge of the Sith. It had the most realistic characters and the most complex, intriguing plot developments.

The universe of Star Wars is amazing and it has produced an amazing franchise, KOTOR remains one of my favorite games of all time and who doesn't love Battlefront. The movies of Star Wars though, not so much. Your thoughts?

[checking facts]

yes, you are the only one

[CosmicGuitars]

Yes, you are.

[truckboattruck]

such IP's are much better when not compared with their peers
for example
star wars vs...warhammer 40k
it can't even be spoken in the same breathe

but on its own, knowing no other science fiction properties...its alright
best to enjoy it like that

[xixixviixiiii]

The 'good' of Star Wars is vastly outweighed by the 'shit' of Star Wars at this point. For me, I have never particularly cared for the original Star Wars movies (haven't bothered watching the new ones past Phantom Menace) but they still carry some charm and I will watch them if they're on and I'm bored.

As far as George Lucas stuff, I much prefer Indiana Jones over Star Wars. Though there, again, I haven't watched the new Indiana Jones movie because I've heard from everyone and their grandmother that it's bad.

[MrWolly]

The time of its release played a huge factor in its reception. Lucas did something that had never been done before, so people loved it. It might as well have created the cliches it uses.

I will agree that the black and white mentality is a factor in Star Wars that has bothered me. Who's to say that there isn't a Jedi that is neither good nor evil?

[Kalyyn]

You mention Star Wars being cliched, but that's only because you're watching it with a 2014 frame of reference. Back when those movies were made, none of those things were cliches. They became cliches because Star Wars was so popular. That's like saying Shakespear was unoriginal because romance movies copy Romeo and Juliet.

[diddle]

You mention Star Wars being cliched, but that's only because you're watching it with a 2014 frame of reference. Back when those movies were made, none of those things were cliches. They became cliches because Star Wars was so popular. That's like saying Shakespear was unoriginal because romance movies copy Romeo and Juliet.

I saw them on release, and had the same feelings. They were such overdone cliches they could be dated to mesopotamia. Shakespeare was ridiculously cliche, but most of his audience had never seen anything from antiquity.

[Kraenen]

apparently you didn't watch them, or pay attention to anything going on

[Itisamuh]

You mention Star Wars being cliched, but that's only because you're watching it with a 2014 frame of reference. Back when those movies were made, none of those things were cliches. They became cliches because Star Wars was so popular. That's like saying Shakespear was unoriginal because romance movies copy Romeo and Juliet.

This is all that needs to be said. Have some perspective.

And I would argue that the Star Wars universe as a whole is still one of the best works of fiction there has ever been.

[jackofwind]

You mention Star Wars being cliched, but that's only because you're watching it with a 2014 frame of reference. Back when those movies were made, none of those things were cliches. They became cliches because Star Wars was so popular. That's like saying Shakespear was unoriginal because romance movies copy Romeo and Juliet.

The entire premise of Star Wars is a vast number of Tolkien-inspired fantasy tropes, only set in space. Star Wars isn't science fiction, it's space fantasy - as such, and given the timing of its release, it was only touching on subjects that had all been explored before.

Star Wars made a huge stir more as a result of its special effects than its plot.

[Forsedar]

Doesn't that mean most other movies are equally cliche? Most action or fantasy movies I see nowadays are so predictable. Does that mean I dislike them? No. You watch the movie for enjoyment. Who pays to sit in a movie just to complain about it? I feel living like that is rather depressing.

[Kraenen]

The entire premise of Star Wars is a vast number of Tolkien-inspired fantasy tropes, only set in space. Star Wars isn't science fiction, it's space fantasy - as such, and given the timing of its release, it was only touching on subjects that had all been explored before.

Star Wars made a huge stir more as a result of its special effects than its plot.

i can't really think of any movie that caused a huge stir because of its plot....maybe 2001 space odyssey, or fight club? but they weren't good movies because of their plots. it was how the story was told. and that's largely why star wars (originals) were so good.

[Funky Kong]

I never really got into Star Wars either. It was too campy for me to get into.

[diddle]

And I would argue that the Star Wars universe as a whole is still one of the best works of fiction there has ever been.

I absolutely agree with this. The movie plots however were incredibly lacking. Shakespeare used hackneyed plots that any educated person of the time was familiar with, but those people weren't his primary audience. People that had never been introduced to them were.

[Deleted]

yes the prequels are actually a lot better, this is becausethe original movie was planned as a stand alone movie and everything after it was completely made up, now the people that are blinded by their own nostalgia will never admit this, but you and I know it's true

[Flutterguy]

I know, it seems like a bait thread. That is just how unquestionably accepted and praised Star Wars is in our culture.

I just find it to be very repetitive and unoriginal as a story:

- black and white morality with no complexity
- cliche characters with unrealistic character development
- a very basic plot that uses the same situations multiple times (not even referring to how they shamelessly rehash the death star as the main plot of two of the three movies)
- disconnected plots between the movies that would suggest the writers were just making up crap as they went along without an overall plan (I'd say they didn't think they'd get past the first movie, seems they didn't plan past it. Unless they thought awkward incesty encounters were dramatic and deep or something.)
- the saviors of the universe were goddamn ewoks.
- many other things I don't have the time and patience to specifically point out.

I remember when the movies first came out, and damn they were amazingly revolutionary in graphics and scope, but I've always been perplexed by people's praise of the movies' actual story. I am ready for crucifixion - to be honest I thought the movie with the best story by far was Revenge of the Sith. It had the most realistic characters and the most complex, intriguing plot developments.

The universe of Star Wars is amazing and it has produced an amazing franchise, KOTOR remains one of my favorite games of all time and who doesn't love Battlefront. The movies of Star Wars though, not so much. Your thoughts?

So, for the first point, your gripe is that the story contains a theme of good vs evil and therefore lacks complexity. Ignoring that there are plenty of "gray" characters in the story, namely one of the most popular characters, Han Solo, how does good vs evil automatically translate to a lack of complexity? What do you even mean by that?

"Cliche characters with unrealistic character development." Again...What do you even mean by this? Do you have any examples?

On your third point, it's a basic plot that uses the same situations multiple times? You're letting go of the Death Star, but then you don't elaborate. What are these other situations?

The plot flows pretty well between all the films. Did you have trouble following it? Seems pretty straight forward to me. Things were elaborated on between the films as the writers changed as well as the directors. Each film in the original trilogy had a different director. If your biggest confusion was about Leia kissing Luke to make a point to Han, they didn't know they were siblings. I mean that's pretty tame really. A highly regarded classic story has a man marrying his own mother without knowing it.

The savior of the galaxy is Luke Skywalker. Surprised you missed that part.

If you don't have the time and patience to elaborate, why even start a thread about it?

[jackofwind]

i can't really think of any movie that caused a huge stir because of its plot....maybe 2001 space odyssey, or fight club? but they weren't good movies because of their plots. it was how the story was told. and that's largely why star wars (originals) were so good.

Plenty of movies are praised for their plots

[Lumennon]

One of the biggest problems arises when people keep referring to Star Wars as a science fiction franchise. It is not. It is very clearly fantasy and / or adventure, it just happens to take place in space. I think if taken for what it is, it's pretty damn good.

It's when people try to base SW in actual sci fi that we wind up with stuff like...

Midichlorians.

*shiver*

[diddle]

The savior of the galaxy is Luke Skywalker. Surprised you missed that part.

Sadly, the ewoks were just as much to credit as Luke. The rebels couldn't have won without them. The technologically advanced empire was defeated by a neolithic band of furbies.