Leading into our post-BSG-4.0 Star Wars podcast arc, we’re asking that everyone take a little time out sometime in the next few weeks to pull out their copies of the Star Wars movies and give 'em a re-watch.
Feel free to discuss here, and don’t be afraid to call in your Star Wars audio comments any time – we’ll queue 'em up for use in the appropriate podcast during the arc.
I remember the feeling surrounding Clones. There was a plea, “Please don’t screw this up.” Regarding Pike’s post on “The Phantom Edit”, I think this movie and all the prequels could have used additional editing. This has been discussed elsewhere. It still amazes me that something with so much potential could be handle so shaky.
Back to the plea, I remember thinking that I should not squirm while viewing a Star Wars film. A friend I have put it best, “If Lucas is not gonna take this seriously, why should I?” He makes a valid point. There are points where you jump out of your seat with excitment and then there are moments where you hide under it.
When I watch the original trilogy there is not one moment where I FF just to get to the next scene. On a couple of AOTC re-watches I find myself zipping by the love theme.
I usually do go for the sappy stuff–Jane Austen films give the original trilogy a run for their money in number of rewatches in my house–but the Anakin/Padme dialogue is absolutely ridiculous. moments without dialogue: even worse!
Sappy is fine and part of life, but those scenes were cardboard and uncomfortable. Shakes head How does that happen?
Ok. Star Wars story.
When AOTC came out, for the first and only time I went to a film dressed in costume. Since Vader was gonna become a papa and at the time Pedro Martinez called the Yankees his daddy, I sorta mixed pop culture with geek culture and this is what I came up with.
I bought my ticket, popcorn, and found my seat in that mask. Quite a daunting task. You really can’t see a thing in them. Surprisingly I was the only one in costume. Besides I live in New York so I was totally ignored. I thot about setting myself on fire for Episode III…damn building codes!
I think this movie was one of the first that I was old enough to actually appreciate for its qualities as a film. Hayden Christiansen, in this episode especially, is a horrible actor. If I was able to pick that out back in middle school, it had to have been awful. Even the few scenes where the script gave him potential, it was kinda ruined by him cranking the whine and angst factors up to 11. I really like the score to this one and Kamino and Geonosis were astounding, but the horrible Ani-acting really put a blemish on this one for me.
“If I was able to pick that out back in middle school…”
Gosh. When I was in middle school, all we had was the first trilogy.
I feel old. Sigh. 
The worst thing about Ep. II for me was young Boba Fett. Way to ruin one of the more mysterious characters in the SW universe, though I will say that George was far kinder to him than Karen Traviss was in the Legacy novels.
I’m still convinced that Lucas should never be allowed to write romance again without someone else to help him. His romantic dialogue was so bad it makes me cringe. But the music made up for it, Across the Stars may be my favorite piece by John Williams ever.
don’t worry about it Mike. when I was in middle school, all we had was episode IV
Thank you Lady D. I was about to express the same sentiments as Mike, but you made me feel young again. 
As an uber fan I actually enjoyed this one minus Anakin and Padme. Star Wars Celebration 2 was in my hometown. It was held a few weeks b4 the movie and they showed us a sneak peak of Yoda in action. Man, that was awesome going out of my mind along with a room full of hundreds of fans.
Yeah, Yoda in action is pretty cool, but I do feel the character really lost something by becoming CGI and not a physical puppet. The fact that Yoda became a completely believable character in Ep. V is perhaps the most special effect in all of the Star Wars movies. I realize there was no way to make a puppet battle Count Dooku with a lightsaber… but, also, this is the same character who tells Luke on Dagobah that “wars not make one great.” Sure, sometimes you have to fight, even Jedi have to fight … but, for all the technical brilliance and high-geek-out-factor, that lightsaber duel diminishes Yoda for me somewhat. (No pun intended – size matters not! <g>)
I agree with you 100%. Frank Oz should have received an Oscar for what he accomplished in the OT.
My fanboy rationalization for the difference between CGI and limited puppet Yoda. is that in the PT the lightside of the force is vibrant and Yoda draws his strength from the force. By the time of the OT, the death of the Jedi and the prevalence of of the darkside diminishes Yoda’s connection to the force and his 900 years finely catches up to him.
In terms of Yoda and Frank Oz, I think you guys are absolutely right about the CG overuse. I think Yoda would have had a more effective characterization if they saved the CG for the Dooku fight. For the rest of the movie, use that believable Yoda puppet that we all know and love. It seems that with the advent of CG, Lucas thought that he could enhance the character, but instead he made Yoda a flashy special effects creature instead of someone you could connect with, like he was in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Don’t even get me started on the freakish puppet they used in EP.1…
MMM, downs syndrome Yoda has.
that is just so wrong!
It’s true.
In pants dooty make I.
Short bus today ride will I.
For frak sake!!! The guy has a lazy eye.
This would have been a more convincing Yoda than that thing.
Agreed, the specific puppet in Ep I was just wrong – I guess they wanted to make him look younger – but, in principle, they should have kept using a puppet in Eps II and III.
It’s sad. In the commentaries on Ep I DVD, Frank Oz says something about Lucas assuring him they’d never turn Yoda completely CGI, they’d always need him for more than the voice, etc. (If memory serves.) Yeah, well, so much for that.
Okay, I have to admit, of all the Star Wars films, I TRULY hated this one. The script was forced… the whole thing. Even Sam Jackson’s lines were bad (and you have to work REAL hard to make Sam Jackson look bad). The final confrontation between Yoda and Dooku… “I can see that this will not be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with the lightsaber.” I mean, why didn’t he finish it up by saying, “En garde”?
The “romance” between Anakin and Padme. WORST. LINES. EVER. Obi-Wan “Good thinking, my young Padawan!” Kenobi- “I will never join you, Dooku!” (at least he had a rhyme). Yoda - “Seeing you safe brings warmth to my heart.” (WTF!!! You’re Yoda, dawg! You’re supposed to say something like, “Alive you are, glad I am”.)
I heard that Lucas was planning on doing a film about the Tuskegee Airmen. I admire his desire (see, I’m like mulletized Obi-Wan), but gods PLEASE don’t let him write the script.
The only character I liked in that film was Jango Fett. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Mandalorians.
LOL. Except, is it just me, or is Yoda actually doing a bad, stand-up-comedian impression of himself throughout the prequels? It’s not like the dude never speaks the Queen’s English in Eps V and VI. But now, with the prequels, George Lucas is all, “Oh, that’s right, Yoda says everything backwards!” and we get frakking rubbish like, “Not if anything to say about it I have.” Huh?!?!?
Too much time around Jar-Jar?