Haven't seen it yet. I plan to wait a couple weeks so I don't have to watch it next to a smelly Chewbacca on one side and a rubber-suited alien on the other. Too weird.
But what's been said so far has churned up some old memories, and some of MY first impressions of "Star Wars" when it was first being advertised.
I thought it was going to be the worst pile of sci-fi crap that had ever been filmed.
Bear in mind, prior to 1977, sci-fi in movies was basically *VERY* bad. It even took a few years later for popular sci-fi NOT to be very bad. After Star Wars, we got classics like Blade Runner and Alien - but we also got Buck Rogers on the tube and the boring first Star Trek movie.
I saw a shot of Han, Chewie and our intrepid heroes along with their robots swinging from cables like Tarzan. Androids falling over and squealing. And a bad guy dressed in a helmet and black cape who looked like something out of Robot Monster from Space.
I liked it. It was a fun movie to watch. I watched it several times that summer.
But make no mistake - it wasn't "Citizen Kane". It wasn't "The Godfather". This was fun, slightly campy space opera. A live action cartoon. Not a single performance was Oscar-worthy. I was *very* surprised years later when Harrison Ford began getting roles like Blade Runner and Indy Jones.
The story - the one with Darth being Luke's father and Leia being his sister - was - well - AWFUL. And when I listened to Obi Wan's "it depends on your point of view" I thought ok, ok, you made the damned thing up on the fly, it's a STUPID idea, and no way you were thinking this when Leia smacks one on Luke's lips in the first and second movies. You threw in the whole Leia/Han romance AFTER the first movie, because it's clear in the first who the romance interest is.
Please. They chase Anakin's old robots back to the PLACE HE WAS BORN - and he doesn't have the faintest clue about where they're going? OR WHO THEY ARE? Somehow, in his interrogation of Leia, with that little floating robot - he has NO IDEA it's his own daughter - but concocts an elaborate plan to lure LUKE, because he's known all along Luke is his son - but apparently had no idea who he was facing him down in the first movie?
I could go on. Fact is, the first three movies, while fun, are rife with weak story lines and plot holes. So what? We liked 'em.
And now to my MAIN POINT.
Surveys have shown that, while the older crowd more familiar with the first trilogy have not grown as interested in the newer films - the younger crowd DEFINITELY is MORE interested in them. There's a measurable generation gap in interest in the two trilogies. Yeah, YOU probably know some kid who says "Yeah, Mom, the old ones were definitely better", but the truth is, the younger set is far more loyal to the new trilogy - at least, if surveys are to be believed.
To be HONEST - the first three were flawed. The second of the first trilogy was the most intense - but - it had several weak and dumb premises. The third in the first trilogy - WAS **TERRIBLE**. Ewoks my azz. Jabba. Death Star II. Leia as Luke's sister. The BIKE scene. Oh - My - God. What a pile of crap that was.
And you're complaining about THIS pile of crap? I'd have to say, the Ewoks and Jar-Jar are at a dead TIE for annoying.
(Great romance lines - "I love you!!" -- "I know".)
Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet Pot.
That said - I like 'em all, warts and everything. It's fun to watch. But comparing them and critiqueing them? What's the point?