A The prequels
B The sequels
C The Christmas special
D The special editions
E Ewoks
F Other fuckup (describe)
For me it's A, it lost its luster and magic and turned into a tainted commercial operation for children, not a universe for me anymore.
It only got worse since.
I know this is going to sound horrible but to me Star Wars jumped the shark with 1983's Return of the Jedi. It was by far the worst of those 1st 3 Star Wars movies and quite honestly it just kept on going downhill after that.
How the heck did Lucas make the first 2 so great? Maybe it was his wife idk.
It's A for me, but specifically the off-shoot film The Clone Wars. I'm not talking about the TV show, but the theatrical film that served as an "Episode II.5" I never saw it, but something about the release of that film made me go, "Oh, this isn't going to be the same," which is exactly what Jumping the Shark is.
I don't know why it didn't click in for me sooner, but it didn't. For me, the moment comes down to the realisation that these aren't special films anymore, they're just products. I know that they always were to some extent, but when it was just the original trilogy, they came from one era and there was this unbroken chain that made them work as a complete story. With the addition of the prequels, the special editions, and so forth, they became less "special" (ironically).
I don't think the Christmas Special, the Ewok movies, or the cartoon shows had this effect because they weren't trying to be part of the main storyline. Nobody was going, "Oh, after Luke the torch was picked up and carried by Mace and Cindel." The difference is that the prequels altered the main story, the special editions affected the original movie, and the Clone Wars movie (my personal point) was an obvious cash-grab, but used the "main story" to get it.
Maybe there's no logic or reason to it truly, but that is - for me - the moment. Everything after that has just been another dilution of the classic story.
I'd say E (Ewoks), although I wouldn't place the blame entirely on them. But it was clear by the third movie that Lucas and co. had run out of ideas and were only interested in milking the franchise.
shareBy the third movie, George no longer was interested in film making, but was fulfilled being the world's most successful salesman.
shareI agree, but it wasn't just the Ewoks (they were the worst) but all the other muppets. It started with Yoda in the previous film and went downhill from there.
shareWhile I hated what Lucas did to the Original Star Wars (the one that everyone now calls A NEW HOPE) with Han shooting first, and all of the other added crap, the series didn't die for me until the arrival of the prequels.
As soon as I read the opening scrawl, and it was about trade disputes, rather than something interesting, I knew it was all over. Furthermore, when the two Jedi's (Liam Neeson's character, and Obi Wan) took to the screen, and were as bland as bland could be I knew that there was no salvaging the film. Then we met Anakin, and he was 6! (I don't give Jake Lloyd crap. He was just a kid, and was doing what George told him to do!) Then we meet Natalie Portman's character, and she was just as bland as the Jedi's! And to top it all off we meet that Jar Jar guy! (I don't give the guy who played him crap either, he was simply another person who was doing what George told him to do!) If there was ever a point of no return for a series this was it! How the same guy that made the original Star Wars, and The Empire Strikes Back, managed to make the prequels is beyond my comprehension, BUT IT WAS THE SAME GUY!
What I'd like to know is how was it possible that there wasn't even ONE person who questioned George on any of that crap that I mentioned above? Not even ONE! Even his friend Steven Spielberg wasn't honest with him! How did not even one person have the balls to fill George in? Was he THAT surrounded by yes men?
By that time George was happy being the most successful toy saleman ever. He was just making two hour long commercials that people paid to see. Amazing when you think about it
Yeah, he probably is the best toy salesman ever, but he still would have held that title even if he had put out good movies. The fan base was locked in with the original Star Wars, and the kids were buying the toys like crazy. There was no need to go the route that he did, and ultimately it's why he had a falling out with Gary Kurtz.
Unfortunately, instead of getting six great films, we got two great films, one very subpar film, and 20 years later we got three shitty films.
It's a shame to be honest.
'A' for sure. The prequels were so bad with the exception of episode 3 (RotS), which I did like quite a bit, 1 and 2 were not very good films.
The ST wasn't as bad though, they just felt very similar to the OT. You just keep thinking "I've seen this before" when you're watching them. But oddly enough, like the PT I did like the last episode, ep9 (tRoS). There is some great nostalgia going on in that film that was missing in the first 2.
But the PT and ST never really lived up to the OT in my view. Ohh well, it was a nice try, I think the ST definitely needed better leads. Rey, Finn and Kylo are just not very interesting characters. The prequels perhaps suffered from the same problem. Especially when it had Jar Jar Binks, the worst SW character ever.
D
putting CGI in Star Wars 77 like taking shit on mona lisa.
Pretty much the moment we meet Luke Skywalker and realize he doesn’t know how to act and is depicted as a moron.
shareoh i get it, you just hating on the movie cos you hate white people you racist!
you get why i wrote that dont you?
... after reading a cross section of your posts , mainly on the RingsofPower page.