Saga The little things you love about each movie...

R2 has mad skillz.

 

One of my favorite parts is in ESB when Han covers C3PO's mouth to shut him up as he tries to find out where Luke is. The other part is where Han yells to 3PO, "Hurry up goldenrod, or you're going to be a permanent resident!"

There are many more, but those are some of my favorites.

 

Good thread.

These films are so much a part of my life and I love all six so much (yes, I'm gushing) I could list dozens about each minute of the entire saga but then I'd be typing 'til Christmas! Anyway, here is one from each:

TPM: seeing STAR WARS during the crawl followed by a new Episode number after years of seeing IV, V, and VI.

AOTC: Anakin's casual jumping out of the speeder kilometers above Coruscant's surface.

ROTS: Obi-Wan's flip out, spinning exit of his starfighter and immediately taking out the droids on the Invisible Hand.

ANH: R2 and 3PO's relationship in the desert--it gives the feel of so much history.

ESB: The look Luke gives Yoda after the Jedi Master tells him "your weapons, you will not need them."

ROTJ: The shot of hundreds of TIE's swarming the Falcon during the Endor space battle.

 

Don't know if it has been mentioned but I have always loved Anakin's line in RotS with the Invisible hand break in half.

Anakin "We lost something."

Hayden's delivery is PERFECT and worthy of Han Solo at his very best.

 

ROTS: When Obi-Wan enters the hyperspace ring and leaves for Utapau. The music in the scene is really foreboding of the great tragedy to come. It really is the most definitive moment of ROTS for me. Between that, the music, and Anakin's dream with Obi-Wan in it right afterwards. Truly amazing.

 

There is one that comes flying to mind. Little moment that might not even be noticed by many but packs a huge punch for me.

ROTS: During Padme's funeral the shot of Jar Jar Binks. Every antic and goofy annoying thing that Gungan ever did was paid off ten-fold with that one shot. There is nothing sadder to me than the shot of the crazy boisterious out-of-control clown stunned into devastated sadness. That floored me. And it changed my whole feeling about JJ in all the films.


The other big "little" moment for me is another sad one. When Obi is about to leave to kill Grevious and is saying goodbye to Anakin. No one realizes this is the last time they will ever see each other, at least until the End. Anakin is upset and fragile. What gets me is the way Ewan McG plays this. Obi wants to comfort Anakin. I feel he wants to tell Anakin to hang in there just a bit longer, this thing is almost figured out. Never in the history of cinema has a guy been in more need of a "bro-hug" than Anakin needed right then and there. And you can tell Obi simply doesn't know how to do that. He was taught by the emotionless Jedi the wrong lessons. Its very sad. And it makes me really feel for Old Obi-Wan later, who has so much guilt.

 

I. The Grebleips species.
II. Homer Simpson piloting at the Battle of Geonosis
III. Jedi youngling, Sors Bandeam's body flinch when Darth Vader draws his lightsaber.
IV. R2-D2's beepings literally sounds like "shutting them down," when C-3PO asks him to shut them all down. (I just noticed this right now and wanted to post this)
V. Ice Cream Maker Man
VI. Rystáll Sant flirting with Boba Fett

 

wut

 

Hearing Darth Vader breathing for the first time in his suit. People gasped in the cinema.

 

II.



V. From the evacuation of Cloud City in ESB:


(The prop is an actual ice cream maker)

 

xD nice
Your pic for the Homer Simpson thing isn't showing though

 

Priorities, man. Priorities.

 

That one about Jar Jar is nicely put and I agree, but you really totally nailed it with the latter one about Obi-Wan's stiffness, if you will. I have always wondered if Ewan's performance as Obi-Wan was that way on purpose. And I believe it was. I totally agree with your point about the emotionless Jedi and Anakin really needing a bro-hug there. I think we never even see any such display of affection in the PT between a Jedi Master and an apprentice.

So some people may call it lazy or unimaginative writing, but I personaly feel it does a great job of portraying the emotionless Jedi.

 

Looking back at that post, I realize that Star Wars is a very messed-up film series.

And you know what? ROTS looks rather discordant in that context when stacked against ROTJ. In the Richard Marquand picture, maimings and willful amputations go down after the middle installment. In the George Lucas-directed prequel trilogy, things comparatively get a little crazier.


Anyway, I'll throw in a new one -- totally random, just been re-watching this segment...

AOTC -- Younglings scene. Entire scene is fabulously done, and one little detail I like (and just picked up on) is the part when Yoda says, "Liam, the shades". The name seems to be a reference to Liam Neeson, which is pretty nifty in itself, but the thing I noticed and/or hadn't been paying attention to before, is that the kid actually uses the Force to bring down the shades.

He holds his hand up to a little control pad, which dims as the shades begin to go down; and there is heard a pan-pipe sound reminiscent of that accompanying the view screen flashing on to reveal Queen Amidala (to the Neimoidians and the audience) for the first time in TPM. Very nice foley work even -- and the sound is so gratifyingly clear in this film (sourced from the beginning in 24-bit audio).

Overall, it's a great bit of direction/story-telling which, in addition to the "lightsaber" practice, visually shows that these kids (or "Liam" at least) are further along in their training than Anakin at that former age. And even here, Yoda is giving his students a chance to flex their still-budding skills, before the star-map flashes up, before he has actually posed a question. Wonderful detail that communicates Yoda's pride in his pod of younglings; and which speaks on many other levels as well.

 

OK, I'm about four years late, but here it goes. My six little things from each SW movie.

TPM
The moment Padme reveals herself to Boss Nass. That may surprise the audience, it definitely surprised everyone in her escort, but not Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. It's very cute moment because throughout the whole movie Padme is, although a teenager, very smart, wise and brave, but when she does this and the two Jedi look at each other it turns out how naive she was when she tried to fool them.

AOTC
Watto recognizing Anakin. Amazing moment for two reasons. First, he's a CGI character and the moment he realizes who's in front of him is executed brilliantly. Second, this is a nice buildup from TPM where Watto treated Anakin with respect, with this scene it's more than obvious that he loved him too.

ROTS
Anakin holding Padme's japor snippet. Yes, another reference to TPM, like it's there to remind us how long has Anakin loved Padme when he does what he does.

ANH
Leia to Tarkin: Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board. I love that Leia! Leia that tells the bad guys what they are in their face, Leia that grabs a gun to fight her way out of prison, Leia that makes sarcastic replies to her savior Han. Unfortunately, Leia from ANH didn't make to TESB and ROTJ.

TESB
Han taking out the tools to dig a hole in snow after shoving Luke into tauntaun. Luke is warm and safe, he saved him, then he decides to save himself from the cold. The whole saving-my-friends thing from the OT is great, but Han's decision to stay out until he finds him is ver touching.

ROTJ
Luke questioning Yoda about his father. Luke's face at that moment screaming: Come on! Give me something! Yoda's reluctance to tell him the truth and the moment he admits that Vader is Luke's father... It's like, OK, now we can start with ROTJ. Fantastic more than little moment.

 

The little scenes between Anakin and Padme in TPM, especially when he asks her if she is an angel. Found it really cute.

 

I love that Leia too! Although I find it amusing, that her accent in that scene changes into a bad British one
And yeah, it's too bad that rather than the badass princess/fighter she was in ANH she started to be written as "Han Solo's girlfriend".

And so as not to steer too much off topic:
I re-watched ANH yesterday and for the first time I took notice of the great acting. I haven't watched ANH for a few years and as I was younger I didn't really pay much attention to it, aside from a few really badly played scenes (especially in ROTJ).
So, I absolutely loved Peter Cushing's Tarkin and I guess ANH was Harrison Ford's best portrayal of Solo. I especially loved the scene when the group finds out that Leia is on the Death Star and when Luke says "We've got to get her out of here!", Han just looks at him like he totally has no idea what's going on and asks "What are you talking about?!" He looks as if what he really wanted to say was "What the f#@$ are you talking about?!"

 

Just one for now, from ESB: when Luke gives Chewie a friendly scratch and gets a bear hug in return. Adorbs.

 

Obi-Wan's smart ass quips.

TPM
"You were right about one thing, Master. The negotiations were short."
"Why do I sense we've picked up another pathetic life form?"

AOTC
"Oh, not good."
"Good job."

ROTS
"Not to worry, we're still flying half a ship."
"Another happy landing."

ANH
"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?"

And most of all, his incredulous facial expression when Han boasts about his "special modifications" to the Falcon.

 

Also in AOTC, he says: "Why do have I the feeling you'll be the death of me?" (or something to that effect).

 

And "I hate it when he does that."

 

Far, far too many for me to list, particularly for ANH and ESB where practically everything is awesome. But here's the particularly memorable little bits for me:

TPM:
- Jar Jar's little gasp of fright when the bongo electrics spark. I don't like Jar Jar but that always makes me laugh.
- Qui Gon and Shmi's little moments together that form the most interesting relationship in the film.
- Maul's reaction to being sliced.
- Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's smirk to each other when Padme reveals herself as Amidala that seems to say "did you guess too?"
- Everyone's reactions to the energy walls during the duel.

AOTC:
- Anakin needlessly freaking Padme out in the field by pretending to be dead.
- The moment where Anakin makes that comment about dictatorships working and Padme gives him that look which says she's not quite sure if he's joking.
- Threepio's endless puns in the arena tickle me, particularly "oh, I'm quite beside myself" which is just genius.
- Obi-Wan realising he's thrown himself over the edge with Jango - "oh, not good...".
- Kit Fisto's smiling!

ROTS:
- Palpatine putting the hood up and becoming the Emperor.
- Yoda effortlessly knocking out the guards.
- I love the 'high ground' thing as it's a very clever callback to Maul's death.
- The individual Jedi deaths in Order 66, particularly Ki-Adi.
- The final, mournful use of Across the Stars when Padme puts her head in her hands on Mustafar.

ANH:
- Admiral Motti getting force-choked. Just classic.
- Han and Luke's implied battle for Leia's affections on the way to Yavin.
- Han's noise when he arrives at the Death Star - "Yaa-hoo!"
- The pilot deaths.
- Obi-Wan's look before he dies.

ESB:
- Yoda and R2's fight over the lamp. I like it because amongst all the fakery it seems like Yoda is genuinely put out by R2 snatching it from him.
- "Would it help if I got out and pushed?" "It might!"
- The whole asteroid field scene.
- "Sorry, your worship". "Can you stop calling me that?" "Sure, Leia." The way he's deliberately annoying her makes me chuckle.
- Chewie caring about Threepio on Bespin whilst everyone else forgets about him.

ROTJ:
- Lando's squeal when the Sarlacc gets him.
- The shaky-cam during Vader's final scenes, particularly when he goes down against Luke. Very unsettling.
- "Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield...."
- Jabba's disgusting death.
- The black ewok showing utter adoration for Chewie in the AT-ST, stroking his hair and grinning at him. Really sweet.

 

TPM: The lightstaff intro via Maul
AOTC: Mr. Lee as Dooku
RotS: Palps compassion to Anakin on Mustafar
ANH: Peter Cushing, enough said.
ESB: Spiritual Force
RotJ: The soundtrack, Ian as Palps, redemption

 

ROTS in the beginning space battle where Anakin tries to help the clones who are being attacked by droid fighters and Obi-Wan basically says let them die. Always made me wonder whether the Jedi actually cared for the average Joe at this point in time.

 

The opening scene in A New Hope with the first glimpse of the Star Destroyer.

Obi-wan removing his hood after saving Luke.

Vader's mask slowly appearing through the carbonate mist after freezing Han (my favorite shot in a movie....ever!)

Vader waiting for Luke at the top of the stairs in the freezing chamber on Bespin.

Palpatine laughing between the crossed blades of Luke and Vader.

Vaders memorial pyre....sad

Anakin, Obi-wan and Yoda together at the end of RotJ. (The original version, not Hayden!)