ST Is the sequel trilogy more anticipated than the prequel trilogy?

i worked in cinema when the special editions came out and we had a reel check showing for the staff about 2am in the morning was a seminal experience seeing it on the big screen again! Come 1999 I was made redundant a few months became Episode 1 came out, I was gutted on so many levels! Maybe we should have a cinema workers club on here?
I was pretty psyched for the PT as I was working in thei industry and I loved the mythological stuff in the films and was always intrigued about it starting on Episode 4. On a personal level I think I was more psyched for PT but evens out when I think of taking my young kids to a Star Wars film on the big screen! -
also I am very fearful of Abrams/Disney. I loved the whole story being one mans (GL) labour of love. So I am more fearful than anything else. I think people disliked the PT because they were not ready for how different it would be and that Han and Luke were not in it. Iam fearful for exactly the same reasons! I also disagree that most fans dislike the PT. I wonder if it would be possible to have a definitive poll (say at moment of login) and find out what percentage of people on the website actively dislike the PT/than say just prefer the OT. For me its all one story so like them equally.

 

I would say yes it is. Many of us from the very begining knew that Lucas would eventually do the backstory... I was shocked when 7,8,9 were announced...

 

Some dislike the PT, not most, the box oiffice would say otherwise... only the nerds who do not grasp the big picture and are still butthurt over Han and Greedo.

 

The box office doesn't say all that much about people actually liking it. The importance of the PT story can account for attendance at the PT better than it's quality. I know people who repeat-viewed TPM trying to acclimate themselves to it and discover how best to enjoy it.

 

I would have to say no. The prequels were bringing back Star Wars after so many years away and there was the whole mystery and speculation about the Clone Wars and how Anakin actually became Vader. Because it involved characters we already knew we had a vested interest in learning more about them and seeing them in their younger days. With Disney now in charge of the sequel trilogy and a seventh film on the horizon my observations are the general public is not very interested at all, and most consider the prequel trilogy leaving a bad taste in their mouth.

 

I can't say really for sure because I was only two months old when TPM came out, but it seems like this upcoming trilogy has a lot more hype.

 

I can't speak for everyone in my generation, but my friends and I have currently devoted much less daily energy to the new films than we did leading up to TPM. Of course, I was in college back then, and now I'm well into my 30s. As others have pointed out, while we knew where the story had to go in a general sense, we didn't know a lot of things the PT is criticized for were going to happen. I think for at least some of us our expectations are lower after the PT brought home the fact that we have been moved to the periphery of the target audience. As a more general observation, I simply don't feel the same systematic anticipation throughout entertainment/consumer culture that existed back then, though of course we're only really just getting started with the ST.

Incidentally, selling a lot of tickets != anticipation in the way it has applied to Star Wars in the past. IMO none of the movies that have outgrossed TPM had more anticipation leading up to them, and if there were a function that summed hype from the first announcement to the end of its run, I believe only Titanic, The Dark Knight, and Avatar clearly surpass TPM.

On a philosophical level, everybody wants to believe they were "in" for the biggest of whatever it is they're invested in (which obviously applies to my own feelings about the anticipation for TPM; I waited in line for RotJ too, but I was just a "stupid kid" back then). Additionally, these subforums are a place for people who are self-selectively hyped for the new movies, so the atmosphere reinforces the believe that we're part of something huge (especially so now that so much of our lives is lived on the internet).

 

It never seemed to me that those movies were more hyped than TPM. In fact the only movie I've seen in my lifetime that qualifies is Batman '89. If you're well into your 30's you should certainly remember that.

 

My personal feelings aside, I sense that there is currently a general lack of real enthusiasm about the ST. Star Wars fans seem polarised by JJ's involvement, and the general public seem a bit 'meh' to the whole thing (given the market is totally saturated at the moment). I don't think any real excitement will commence until we start to see photos of new villains and the old cast etc. If JJ wants to build anticipation/excitement, I think he needs to forget this 'closed lid' and secretive approach and start releasing images etc. post haste... general audiences won't be taken in by that particular 'mysterious' gimmick.

 

The subject matter of the ST might also have something to do with it. Granted, I didn't witness the hype surrounding the PT (I was out of the loop for pretty much all of it), but if I had to hazard a guess, I would think that people were excited to delve into the backstories of beloved, immensely popular characters like Vader, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and (most importantly) to see the Jedi in their prime. The PT being prequels was double-edged in that people already knew what would happen but, because of this, they already had some investment in the characters and curiosity to see them and their stories.

With the ST, though, I think it's different because Han, Luke, and Leia's fates were so neatly tied up in ROTJ. Plus (and I hate to say this because it's so shallow), the ST is going to feature the Big Three who are significantly older and handing the reigns to a bunch of newcomers nobody really knows anything about or has any reason to be interested in (yet) besides their tangential relationship to the franchise.

With the PT, there was a story to be told there that people were already pretty interested in but that's not really the case with the ST. On the plus side, though, I think this gives the ST a much better chance of having a good reception because people can come into it with fewer preconceived notions (hopefully) which necessarily means less disappointment.

And, truthfully, I don't know if it's true that general audiences are all that disinterested. I do think there's quite a lot of excitement, but what is missing is information to really get people hyped. I say this because in every interview with people involved with the project, they are asked incessantly about Star Wars even if that isn't what they are there to promote. JJ in particular got it bad when promoting Into Darkness but I've also seen this happen to Harrison Ford as well.

 

I can't say which one more anticipated since I am was pretty jacked for the TPM and I am really jacked for Ep 7. It is different this time though. Last time we thought there was a chance of more SW movies someday. With episode 7 I didn't think there was any chance of more movies, and this time I have kids.

The bottom line is MORE STAR WAR!!!

 

I'm pretty jazzed for Episode 7, but I was suprised to find my friends very indifferent towards a new trilogy. In the end, they will atleast be there for Episode 7 simply because SW is in our DNA and I think there will be a nostalgia to see Han, Luke and Leia on screen again.

But the difference between the ST and PT with my friends is that they are not going give all 3 ST movies a chance if the first one isn't good like TPM was. They didn't like TPM, and they didn't like AOTC, but they still wanted to see ROTS because that was essentially the story we all waited for since Jedi in 1983. Episode 7 has to deliver, sort of like Star Wars in 1977, where it has to give us a reason to come back for Episode 8. If Episode 7 isn't that good, they will have built up no expectations this time, and walk away from a galaxy far, far away forever.

 

I don't think the ST is more anticipated than the PT trilogy (which seemed to be the biggest thing ever) but then again, we're still over two years away. One thing I think that contributed to hype around the PT was that there wasn't much else Star Wars media to consume at the time. There weren't as many books and video games, fewer comics, no tv shows, fewer fan events and gatherings and so the PT was viewed the be all, end all. Now there are multiple avenues for Star Wars fandom. While we're looking forward to the ST, there's other stuff going on SW related as well.

 

I Are The Internets...you're...younger...than I expected.

T-R-: be on high alert - anyone wearing a Leia slave girl costume will be smuggling raisins into the theater.

A lot of people seem concerned that the big 3 can't draw like they should, and that a new generation of heroes won't be interesting enough. Further, since the ST is not GL's labor of love, the care and quality will be lower. In the past, I might have agreed, but a couple of recent examples could suggest otherwise:

- Prometheus. Lots hate this film, but as someone who actually actively disliked the originals (I have been around for al of them, but the first one I saw on the big screen was the 1997 Winona Ryder crapfest), I expected little. At the end, I found myself fully interested in the future for Naomi Rapace and David.

- Harry Potter films. Eight films managed by five (I think) different directors, and all of them were well-crafted and entertaining. While got perfect, each had some emotional resonance, and the series arguably improved over time.

 

Here's a question for you. If we travel back in time to 1999 and you had no knowledge of what was in the prequal or sequal trilogy, and both Episode I and Episode VII where released on the same day which line would you be in?

For me personally I'd be in Episode VII's line since I'd personally have more desire to see the further adventures of Han, Leia, and Luke and where Lucas was taking the series now that Vader and the Emperor where dead, than Id care to see how Vader fell to the dark side. I can see the flip point of view too... since the the Clone Wars sounded very mysterious when Obi-wan mentioned them in IV however for me the mystery of VII is even more mysterious.

 

All things being equal, I would've been in line for VII. I wanted them to make the ST 1st even though I knew GL always said that they would make the PT before the ST and that Luke was supposed to be in his 60's. Those are the movies I wanted to see more. I was EXCITED for the PT, saw each one opening night and about 10 times each during their runs, bought all of the merchandise, enjoyed the movies, but in the back of my mind I WANTED to see the ST so much more.

 

I'd clone myself and see both.

 

If it was Episode 3 or Episode 7 then we might have a problem.
Episode 1 or Episode 7? Episode 7 hands down.
Though the cloning idea has merits.

 

Episode 7. Definitely.
Lucas couldn't have left the Star Wars trilogy as it was... he needed prequels.
But then Episode 7 came along, years after... and it was music to my ears to hear there would be one.

 

The ST will be great because we won't know anything about the plot.

 

Yes, but which one would you send your clone to see and which one would you go in yourself.... and where you get the clone made, I have a family reunion coming up

 

It'd be like the movie The Prestige...

 

Personally, I can't remember the last time I was this anxious for a Star Wars - or any - movie to arrive. Not because I'm curious to find out about the new cast - although I am - or because I've always wanted to find out what "really" happened next - although I have - or because I want to see Jedi Master Luke Skywalker - although I do...

...But because whatever new divides it creates, it should at least bring an end to the nauseating references to that "4 Ways To Demonstrate Abject Ignorance Of What Makes Star Wars Great" video and the mind-bogglingly stupid "Disneyfication" fearmongers that, together, are coming very close to driving me completely away from organized Star Wars fandom. Get a grip already, people.

 

No, 20 years is more anticipation than 3.

 

The OT ended with all the stories concluded. Luke was a Jedi, Palpy and Vader dead, Han and Leia together, everybody's happy... If I had to choose, there is no question, I'd choose Episode 1. The old Republic, the birth of Vader, order of the Jedi, exciting story of society's downfall, the birth of evil and the mythology presented in the OT.