main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Discussion Generation gaps among the fans

Discussion in 'Archive: Disney Era Films' started by princessnikki, Nov 28, 2012.

?

Are you an original era fan, a Special Edition fan or a Prequel Trilogy Fan?

  1. Original Era

    98 vote(s)
    61.3%
  2. Special Edition Era

    28 vote(s)
    17.5%
  3. Prequel Trilogy Era

    28 vote(s)
    17.5%
  4. Haven't seen any movies and the E.U stories are my Star Wars!

    4 vote(s)
    2.5%
  5. What is Star Wars? Is that the one with Captain Picard?

    2 vote(s)
    1.3%
  1. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    Derp dis Star Wars is old people stuff. Me like Twilight.

    Twilight sounds a lot like "toilet" if you say it 10 times fast.
     
  2. Han Shot First

    Han Shot First Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 29, 2012
    Not sure if it's generational, or just down to taste! In my opinion The PT's CGI effects and dialogue have no heart and soul!
     
    KevinM1 likes this.
  3. DarthKreVass

    DarthKreVass Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 27, 2008
    Some people my age think I'm nuts for being a fan of Star Wars (I'm 48). To them I say... "Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerf herder." :)
     
  4. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    I say that too, but then they look at me, laugh, beat me up, and then take my wallet :(
     
  5. DarthKreVass

    DarthKreVass Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 27, 2008
    I hand everything over before I say it so I can avoid the beatings [face_relieved]
     
    Pro Scoundrel , KevinM1 and Echo-07 like this.
  6. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    Really? I should do that from now on.
     
  7. EUdiscoverer1136

    EUdiscoverer1136 Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 18, 2012
    CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY!
     
  8. Bad_Feeling

    Bad_Feeling Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2002
    The Special Editions got me interested, the Prequels got me addicted - I'd say I'm Prequel Era overall because without them my interest would have waned.
     
    Episode Swag and DarthKreVass like this.
  9. Zaxxon

    Zaxxon Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2002
    I was born in 1973. I saw all three movies in the theater although I was very young for IV and I remember crying because the Tatooine scenes were too bright because I was a crabby 4 year old. In between IV and V my uncle had some reel to reels of IV so we were amazed watching them on the wall in his basement. I mostly remember watching the escape from the death star / tie fighter fight in their basement. My cousin also had a view master thing that looked like a white movie camera that you cranked to view the scene of the Stormtroopers blowing into the Tantive V with Darth Vaders entrance. Without the internets, and the ability to look up anything these were important things etched in my mind. My friend across the street was the first person I knew who started getting the toys. He had the death star so we spent months playing with that thing. Like it's been said already it was an amazing time to be a kid during these years. Star Wars was king. No one was seen as a nerd for enjoying all things Star Wars. Maybe parents or older people did and there was a nerd stigma I don't remember, but at school for those years Star Wars was king. For me the toys came during the Christmas after Empire came out. Man what a Christmas that was. Opening ship after ship figure after figure. Walker, Snow speeder, Millenium Falcon, Tie Fighter.... Cloud City vehicle thing! BOBA FETT!!!. :p To this day I still remember that morning vividly! I also have a vivid memory of getting Yoda and IG-88 on the same day. It was a greuling trip to a clothes store with my mom and the payoff was this store had these two figures for sale at the check out line. It was awesome! Days, weeks, months, years playing with these toys. I loved to study the Empire Topps trading cards trying to re-create those scenes from the movie and remember how they played out. Jedi was also king but I was little bit older and getting past playing with toys. Boba Fett getting killed like that still haunts me to this day. Ofcorse I'm of the belief he rocketed out of there and the burp was just him clownin' to let everyone know he's alright. Being from Chicago, the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Cubs playing sports, football, baseball, whiffle ball and intellevision took some of my passion away from all things Star Wars after Jedi. I also was lucky to grow up watching Walter Payton and Ryne Sandbergs careers plus ET, Raiders, Rocky, Blues Brothers and all the other great movies and TV shows of the time. Things and interest always change as I grow older but I've always held on to my love of Star Wars since 1977. :)
     
    Episode Swag and Echo-07 like this.
  10. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    Wow - after reading these responses I feel old. I'm in my early 40's, so am definitely a first-generation SW fan, and have been ever since first seeing the film in '77 (I also remember the '79 theatrical re-release). It is definitely one of my best & earliest childhood memories. And, in the days before VHS tapes became prevalent, I remember spending hours looking through the SW storybook. the original Marvel comic adaptation, & those early trading cards to "relive" the film. In addition to the films, I was/am also a huge fan of the early EU (Marvel comics, Brian Daley HS novels, LC novels), the Kenner SW toys, The Ewoks TV films, and the Droids & Ewoks cartoons. I continued to be a fan through the "Dark Times" (late '80's - early '90's), and enjoyed the resurgence of SW popularity with the HTTE Zahn Trilogy, the Dark Empire Comics, etc.

    I liked the Special Editions back in '97, and though I didn't like all of the changes, it was nice to see all three films in the theatre, back to back. Also really enjoyed the Prequel Trilogy, though nothing really beats the OT, IMHO.

    It is also very interesting to me that there are so many different generations of SW fans out there. In addition to all of the ones mentioned/covered in this thread, there are kids out there now who are growing up on the Clone Wars cartoon & for whom the ST will be the first SW films they see in the theatre (this really makes me feel old - LOL).

    I also agree that as time has gone on, SW has become very diluted & has gone through many different incarnations from the days of the OOT. Back in the day, there was barely any EU & the only films were the OOT. Now, you have the OOT, the SE OT, the 2004 DVD OT, the 2011 Blu-ray OT, the PT & all of it's incarnations, the Clone Wars micro-series, the Clone Wars cartoon, the huge & varied amount of comics & novels, role-playing games, card games, video games, Star Wars Angry Birds, Star Wars Transformers, the forthcoming ST, etc., etc., etc.

    So, what is SW anymore? I guess it's whatever you want it to be, or whatever incarnation you grew up with that you feel the most nostalgia towards (maybe)....
     
    Echo-07 likes this.
  11. EviL_eLF

    EviL_eLF Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 16, 2003
    I was born the same year as Star Wars... in '77. Obviously I didn't get to see that one in theaters, but my Mom was pregnant with me when she went to see it and she swears I was hooked on it from within the womb!

    I DO remember seeing ESB when I was only 3 late in the summer at the France Ave. Drive-in... it's one of my earliest memories in fact, yet it's a very clear memory. I even remember the shock of the reveal and the discussion it caused in the car on the way home from the theater! Obviously when I was 5 and we saw RotJ on opening weekend I was so beyond nuts for everything Star Wars... loved the Ewoks then, and still like them today! I don't care that they look like teddybears! They can still take down Stormtroopers with the best of'em!

    I like most of the additions to the OT in the special edition, though they should have left Han shooting first... but whatever.... doesn't detract from my Star Wars experience what so ever. I think the PT was very well done, and each of the PT Episodes was an improvement over the last with RotS now being my 2nd favorite installment of the entire saga thus far!
     
    KevinM1, Echo-07 and Lady_Skywalker87 like this.
  12. swarm87

    swarm87 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2012
    started with OT, SE came out when i was 10, didn't really care for the PT grew up on the concurrent EU
     
  13. Echo-07

    Echo-07 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2012
    We got a couple of lahsa apsos in the years after ROTJ and my mom won't admit it but I thinks it becasue they looked like Ewoks. :p

    [​IMG]
     
  14. CoolyFett

    CoolyFett Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2003
    Heck I didn't even know there was a special edition until getting TPM dvd. Seeing all the work they put in made me a fan.
     
  15. Rogue_1138

    Rogue_1138 Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Oct 31, 2012
    Reading this thread has been fascinating. I really enjoy hearing everyone's stories.

    My cousin is ten years older than me, and he showed me ANH in 1995, when I was 5. I played with his action figures and Millenium Falcon from the 80's while I watched the movie.

    Obviously, I was hooked from day one. I got my first action figures (from the new Kenner line) that Christmas.

    Rather than immediately show me the other movies, though, my parents made me wait! I saw ANH at Thanksgiving, but my parents made me wait to watch ESB until my last day of school the following June. The wait was excruciating—six months was a long time at that age—and, in the interim, I watched ANH nearly every day before I went to afternoon kindergarten.

    I answered the poll as "Original Era" after reading the first post, but, after reading through the thread, I don't think that's quite right. The first time that I saw Star Wars, Han shot first and, as far as anyone was concerned, Han would always shoot first. I associate the roots of my fandom with the unadulterated OT. I was a fan soon enough that I anticipated the SE release. At the time, nobody else my age that I knew had seen Star Wars. They didn't understand the strange games I wanted to play on the playground, so, in the limited way that a 6-year-old born in 1990 can do so, I identify with the limited cultural presence of Star Wars in the early to mid 90's.

    However, culturally, I do recognize that I probably fit better into the SE era. ANH SE came out on my seventh birthday (this blew my world at the time), so my parents and an aunt fought the crowds and got tickets for some friends and I to go see it the next day. After that day, I finally felt like the people around me understood what I had been talking about for a year and a half. Fortunately, I was only 9 when TPM came out, so I loved it. The explosion of toys on the shelves at the time was fun for a kid, too. I think I saw it seven times in theaters, and I associate the movie with that whole summer. Even today, I think there is a strong case that it features the best lightsaber duel of the first six movies. (I still haven't gotten used to adding "first" there...) Three years later, as a 12-year-old, I still focused in more on the epic visuals of AOTC, rather than the weak dialogue and poor acting. By then, I was working my way through the highlights of the EU at the time (Thrawn, X-Wing) and playing all the video games. It was a good six years for a pre-teen Star Wars fan.

    As I got into high school and my tastes matured, I began to understand some of the criticisms of TPM and AOTC. Although my excitement for ROTS did not wane, by the time I saw it I had no doubt that, as a film, it was a much better movie than the other prequels.

    Similarly, it's been fascinating watching my favorites grow with my own tastes. When I was a kid, ROTJ was always my favorite because it had the best lightsaber duel and space battle. I loved the hero of Luke Skywalker. As I've grown, I've come to appreciate the character of Han Solo much more and the quality of a film that is ESB.

    Criticisms of the films aside, though, as my cousin likes to say: It's all still Star Wars.

    It's a lot of fun to be anticipating a new movie again. The biggest upside of the Disney deal is knowing that many more generations will get to experience new Star Wars as a kid, like I did.
     
    -NaTaLie-, princessnikki and Echo-07 like this.
  16. CoolyFett

    CoolyFett Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2003
    That's what's most important for the new Disney Trilogy is capturing the imaginations of todays youth & not focus too much on what older fans want. I have the movies I support, so ill have no negatve take on the Disney Trilogy at all I already know this set of films is not really for me, so I stay positive about the 6 films I like. Telling the next generation of Star Wars their Disney Trilogy & video games & merchandise & etc sucks is counter productive. Why do fans do this? I sure will not.
     
  17. Mystery Roach

    Mystery Roach Chosen One star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2004
    See... this is what I don't get, Cooly. I'm perfectly willing to give the ST the benefit of the doubt that I could end up liking it as much as the rest of the Saga, but other than that I pretty much agree with you here. The problem I have is when you suggest that Disney should totally change the Star Wars formula for no good reason just to pander to today's youth, when history shows that Star Wars never fails to capture the imagination of the youth in any era using the tried and true formula that was established 1977 (it's gone through an evolution since then of course but the basic elements are always the same). The idea that Disney would buy Lucasfilm just to go mucking about with something which has proven to be a unique and singular success that no one else in the last 35 years has been able to replicate would be a guaranteed way to flush 4 billion dollars down the drain.
     
  18. lazykbys_left

    lazykbys_left Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2005
    Let me see what I can dredge up from memory . . .

    I was born a Japanese native in '74. I remember being taken to see RotJ (we were living in America by then). I remember not understanding how the lightsaber jumped into Luke's hand. I remember getting a Millennium Falcon one Christmas and being totally oblivious to what the thing was. I remember watching the Ewoks and Droids on Saturday mornings. I remember finding the Lando Calrissian Adventures and thoroughly enjoying them, but I'm not sure if I connected the books, the cartoons, and the movies. I remember renting the SE after we moved back to Japan and finding them okay.

    I remember not being a SW fan.

    Then came Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. I remember buying the paperback in a store that sold foreign books. I remember becoming hooked - by the Maker, was I hooked! - reading and rereading until the next two books in the trilogy came out. I was an EU fan - one who didn't watch TPM until the DVD came out, and only rented it, simply because I didn't care that much about the movies. The books, on the other hand . . .

    Much later I came across the fan film Grayson, hosted on TFN, and stumbled onto these forums. And then I discovered SW fan fiction, without which I would definitely not still be here. And given my weird attention span, I doubt I would have bought Ep1-6, either.

    Am I excited about the new SW movies? Actually, no. I'm interested in them, and (mostly) amused at the fans' reactions, but that's about it. I'll probably go see it when it comes out in theaters: I don't care enough to remain "spoiler-free till the DVD" like I did with RotS (because Japanese subtitles are distracting, that's why).

    Am I still a SW fan? I guess so - it's hard to say no with all the SW books I keep buying - but I'm not as passionate about it as most of the people I see here. I suspect I'm just a slightly-more-than-casual EU fan.
     
  19. KevinM1

    KevinM1 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2012
    I was born in 1980. Never saw the originals in the theater, but those old VHS tapes got a lot of use. I saw the special editions of ANH and ESB in the theater. Hated what they did to ANH (unneeded effects in the introduction to Mos Eisly, Han shooting second with a really poor edit, a cartoony looking Jabba not at all feeling threatening, Boba Fett looking directly into the camera as he walked by... ugh), but approved the cosmetic changes to ESB.

    I saw TPM at an opening day midnight showing. It left me completely underwhelmed, but happy to see a new Star Wars in the theater. I felt that it at least tried to capture the fun and adventure of ANH, even if it didn't succeed. AotC left me flabbergasted. A whiny, uncomfortable (that line about sand... *shudder*) Anakin who was more a petulant child to Obi-Wan than "... a good friend"? The unnecessary Sifo-Dyas plot point? The droid factory with 3PO? RotS was a much better film, but still flawed. Anakin's turn and the entire Mustafar sequence leaves me cold.

    I'm familiar with some of the EU. Zahn's trilogy, and subsequent duology (where it really felt like he tried to fix the over-the-top horribleness of some of the other series), the X-Wing series, the Jedi Academy Trilogy (three of the worst books I've ever read), Shadows of the Empire (another horrible book), and a few of the NJO.

    I watch the Clone Wars (man, it's improved greatly since the beginning) and have played The Force Unleashed games (what wasted potential).

    I think it's safe to say that I'm not a diehard/hardcore fan. The OT will always be special to me, but I've been largely unimpressed with what's come out since. Too many bad ideas, too many disparate voices. A lot of what's come since has felt like bad to mediocre fan fiction. I tend to be critical because I feel like the franchise has the potential to become something transcendent again, but it seems like TPTB never get it right.

    At this point, I'm desperate for a solid film in that universe. For me, it's been almost 30 years since there was one (have I mentioned that I greatly dislike the PT? :p ).
     
  20. darthtuttle

    darthtuttle Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2004
    I was born in 88. I first saw star wars when the special edition was released.
     
  21. Kyris Cavisek

    Kyris Cavisek Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 12, 2012
    I was born in 1989, however I can proudly say that I watched the Original Original Trilogy when I was in 1st Grade, home from school with Chicken Pox. Watched ANH with my dad (an Original Trilogy Era fan), that night my parents got me action figures of Luke, Han, and Darth Vader (Chewie, Fett, and R2 came later in the week). I got to be the "nerdy yet cool" kid in school when the remastered ones came out, liking Star Wars before Star Wars was cool. I quickly got into the youth EU, JJK, then GoF, then YJK... That lead to NJO which was a gateway drug into the EU...

    I think my generation is weird because I was 7 ish when the remastered trilogy came out... I was 9 or 10 when the Prequels came out. In my case I had friends who were hardcore OT(Remastered) fans and others who were all about the PT... I realized that whatever they saw first were their favorite. I like both, however I understand it was all made possible by the original. It is in this, that I love the original trilogy, not just for introducing the galaxy I love, but for changing the landscape of Hollywood, and for that I thank you, George Lucas...
     
    Rogue_1138 likes this.
  22. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    I love the Star Wars legos. I still collect them and ask them for Christmas. I got a big thing last year. Don't remember what it was, but I know that it was SW related. Oh and the Lego SW games for the PS2 are so much fun.
     
  23. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I love Star Wars Legos.

    And I'm a 41-year-old woman.

    I posted some pictures of some really awesome sets on my Facebook page, to which my Dad replied, "But you aren't a toddler." I said, no, those sets have about 300 pieces each. If I were a toddler I'd try to eat them. :p
     
    princessnikki and Count Yubnub like this.
  24. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    I guess I shouldn't feel silly then since I'm only 21. Man they are so much fun to build. I just love legos in general.
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  25. Valairy Scot

    Valairy Scot Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2005
    So, I'm by far the oldest here (admitted age, that is): I don't speak of SW outside of the internet because I don't want to be the "weird, Star-Wars loving, cat lady" (I only have two cats, a number of SW figures and autographs, the original Starlogs/comics, etc.) I mean, there's even some (very few) places I now qualify for a senior discount. [face_mischief]