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

CT Can I be a star wars fan if I don't like the original trilogy?

Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by jkarateking, Apr 20, 2017.

  1. jkarateking

    jkarateking Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 16, 2016
    I have always loved the star wars trilogy as a whole. I have watched every film so far as well as the two canon animated series and all the young adult and adult canon books.

    I love the prequels (revenge of the sith is my all time favourite film) and I like the two canon animated series. I always like most of the canon books and have read some of them twice. I also love the film Rogue One.

    However, I can't stand the original trilogy and its not because of the special effects. The reason is because I find it too cheesy and the characters are not likable with some bad written dialogue. Also the films try too hard to make the Empire seem evil and they refer to the Empire as evil all the time and the rebels are good when in fact the Empire are good and the Rebels are terrorists. The thing is I love the galactic civil war and the Empire but I don't think the original trilogy does them justice like Rogue One and books like Catalyst and Tarkin do.

    So can I consider myself a star wars fan even though I don't like the Original Trilogy?
     
  2. cubman987

    cubman987 Friendly Neighborhood Saga/Music/Fun & Games Mod star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2014
  3. jkarateking

    jkarateking Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 16, 2016
    Lol, so why can people who hate the prequels call themselves star wars fans? The prequels are as much star wars as the original trilogy, just updated with better characters and story.
     
  4. cubman987

    cubman987 Friendly Neighborhood Saga/Music/Fun & Games Mod star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2014
    I'm just messing with you. :p

    I do have issue with this part though:
    The Empire and the emperor are both clearly evil. For one the opening crawl literally tells us the Empire is evil. But the biggest thing is the not only the fact that they have a Death Star, but they use it on a planet with no weapons just to show that they can (not that there is a good reason for doing that). Killing billions of innocent people (including children) is just about as evil as it gets.

    I did like that Rogue One shows that there were some dark things that went on in the Rebellion though, mostly because it's a sad truth to war that both sides usually do bad things. But even in that movie it's pretty clear which side is evil and which one is fighting for the right reasons.
     
  5. jkarateking

    jkarateking Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 16, 2016

    In the days of the republic, if your farm is under attack by raiders constantly and you went to the senate for help, they would take ages to discuss it and then maybe send a jedi to deal with it if they feel like it. This jedi would only protect your farm for a bit and not deal with the source of the problem as they are peacekeepers. The jedi would leave and the bandits would attack again. The jedi can't deal with the source of the problem as they are peacekeepers. However, when the Empire rose, if you went to your local imperial governor and told them that your farm keeps coming under attack, there would be a squad of stormtroopers sent to your planet to crush the raiders and make sure there is nothing left of them. For the average citizen, the Empire is better.

    About Alderaan, they were harboring jedi fugitives and people wanted by the Empire and they were funding the rebellion. Governments often have to do bad things to protect the rest of their people. Also the rebels then went on to blow up two death stars which had lots of innocent people on like chefs, cleaners and even the stormtroopers are just men and women who signed up to fight for their government. Even Luke at the start of A New Hope was planning to sign up for the academy to join the Empire's military to fight for and protect the galaxy.
     
  6. cubman987

    cubman987 Friendly Neighborhood Saga/Music/Fun & Games Mod star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2014

    The Empire seems to really only get involved with things if it benefits them. They are also just as likely to steal the farm if they can make a profit from it, probably use slave labor too since that was another evil thing they did.


    Billions of people. Billions. Including children. And Alderaan wasn't blown up because of any of the things you said, Tarkin did it to set an example and because it was Leia's home planet. Even if he did do it because there was sympathy to the Rebellion he still would have killed a billion people who had nothing to do with it. The Death Star was not only a military base but a superweapon, that as you recall just wiped out billions of people. Most people on the Death Star were there by choice, they knew what they were getting themselves into and knew the risks. It was a military target, not a civilian one. Tarkin even acknowledges that Alderaan isn't a military target. Blowing up the Death Star is completely different than Alderaan.

    And Luke wanted to go to the academy to be a pilot, he said he hated the Empire and would likely have followed a similar path as Biggs.
     
  7. Bazinga'd

    Bazinga'd Saga / WNU Manager - Knights of LAJ star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2012
    @cubman987 jkarateking There are a number of threads in this forum and Saga that discuss the relative good/evil of both sides of the Star Wars conflict.

    For example, see HERE.

    This thread is also not the place to bash the CT. So proceed with caution on continuing this thread on topic. If it starts to go off course again, I will lock this thread.

    @anakinfansince1983
     
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  8. Dark Ferus

    Dark Ferus Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 29, 2016
    To answer the original question, you can like Star Wars without liking a certain part of it, and that includes the original trilogy. Whether either trilogy is better is up to debate, but what isn't is that the Rebel Alliance that we see in the OT is a terrorist group. We never see the Empire help anyone without benefit to themselves and they are happy to kill innocents just to prove a point.
     
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  9. ezekiel22x

    ezekiel22x Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2002
    You have to like Ewoks, but as a whole OT love is not a requirement for being a fan. :p
     
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  10. Darth Dnej

    Darth Dnej Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2013
    Yeah. If you like enough other Star Wars material, you can still be a fan. It's a massive fictional universe. I disagree that the Rebels are evil. If anything, they shown as too good in the Original Trilogy.
    What it boils down to is that you are more than welcome to not like the Original Trilogy, but it has its importance.
     
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  11. son_of_skywalker03

    son_of_skywalker03 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 7, 2003
    No, you do not have to like the original trilogy to be a fan of the series.
    Yes, the Empire was absolutely evil. If you take issue with this it is on you, not the movie(s).
     
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  12. Bob the X-Winger

    Bob the X-Winger Jedi Knight star 3

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    Jan 8, 2016
    You don't necessary have to like the story of the OT. The OT gave us the music, settings, screen scrawl and personalities that subsequently became part of the Star Wars story so not a fan of that is not being a fan. Liking Star Wars for the action does not make you a Star Wars fan it makes you an action movie fan.
     
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  13. Avnar

    Avnar Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 20, 2007
    When I saw this thread I thought "This reeks of a sour grapes thread because someone put the PT down in another thread" ...I hope I am wrong - But feel as though I am right [face_thinking] I also find the whole "Empire is good and the Rebels are terrorists" tiresome. It's not original and has been brought up a million times for humour purposes (see Clerks etc)
     
  14. anakinfansince1983

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

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    People can like whatever the hell they want about Star Wars and still consider themselves a fan, but yeah...what Bazinga'd said.
     
  15. Bob the X-Winger

    Bob the X-Winger Jedi Knight star 3

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    Jan 8, 2016
    You people seem to be in agreement on this but get this. If you don't like the music, settings, style & visuals of the OT how can you say you like Star Wars. The answer is you can't, people can disagree on which of the OT is the best or if the first is the best and all the rest are not good but they shaped the universe that is Star Wars. The OT have a particular technique and the further you get away from that the less of a fan you become.
     
  16. jkarateking

    jkarateking Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 16, 2016
    I agree and I'm so glad for the original trilogy as it made star wars what it is today. I don't like the origin trilogy but I appreciate it. Also I don't like star wars for the action. My best parts of star wars is when sheev tells Anakin about Darth plageuis and I love the politics in books like Darth plageuis (unfortunately no longer canon). I also love seeing and reading about the grand army of the republic and the imperial army marching.
     
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  17. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    OT and each different release, PT theatrical and Blu-Ray, ST, Anthologies, Old EU (anything between DOTJ to Legacy comics), TCW, Rebels, NEU, etc.
    As long you like something, welcome to the fandom.
     
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  18. Bob the X-Winger

    Bob the X-Winger Jedi Knight star 3

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    Jan 8, 2016

    You seem to be a fan of the literature of Star Wars the lore of Star Wars so yeah a fan of the world building of Star Wars is a fan. I am more a fan of the visual experience of Star Wars. That means the more CGI the less interested i become. I also am a big fan of making your own canon.
     
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  19. Kuro

    Kuro Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 17, 2015
    It’s kinda like saying that you’re a fan of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, but that you don’t like the books; you only like the Peter Jackson films. I’d say that such a person is not a LOTR fan. They’re a fan of the Peter Jackson films. Conversely, someone who loves the books but hates the Jackson films is a LOTR fan. (Note: I love both the books and the Jackson films.)

    The original trilogy is the foundation of STAR WARS. SW would not exist without it. So yeah, you kinda do have to like it to be a fan. I’d say that you’re a prequel fan. I’d say that you’re a fan of the expanded universe and ROGUE ONE. But I won’t say you’re a SW fan.

    ADDENDUM: That doesn’t mean you have to like everything about the original trilogy or the LOTR books. I personally despise the Ewoks and Tom Bombadil. But, taken as a whole, I love both the original SW trilogy and the LOTR books. I also love the Jackson LOTR films and I love the video game STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC (probably my favorite piece of SW outside the original trilogy).
     
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  20. son_of_skywalker03

    son_of_skywalker03 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 7, 2003
    But what is your thoughts on the Hobbit movies?
     
  21. Kuro

    Kuro Jedi Knight star 3

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    Oct 17, 2015
    **** THE HOBBIT movies.
     
  22. heels1785

    heels1785 Skywalker Saga + JCC Manager / Finally Won A Draft star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2003
    You're a fan if you want to be.

    No arbitrary set of qualifications from anyone on here should have impact on how you view yourself.
     
  23. Deliveranze

    Deliveranze Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2015
  24. Sith Lord 2015

    Sith Lord 2015 Jedi Master star 4

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    Oct 30, 2015
    Well, there was ONE Jedi that took care of one tribe of raiders pretty efficiently [face_laugh] . Although we are all supposed to think he is the "bad guy", maybe he helped lots of farmers anyway. Maybe the massacre was enough of a warning to the Tusken to better leave farmers alone in the future, or else something similar might happen to them. I'm sure it made them think twice before kidnapping innocent people again from then on. So what Anakin did may have been a pretty effective act of warning and prevention... from a certain point of view. For the first time there was someone to finally strike back and send the message that human settlers were not going to take this anymore.
    You have a point there! But I'm not sure if I agree with your last sentence.
     
  25. son_of_skywalker03

    son_of_skywalker03 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 7, 2003
    That's absolutely what I was expecting.