Saga Darkest to most lighthearted star wars film.

In case you want my opinion.

ROTS: Democracy dies, Jedi purge, Padme dies not to mention the broken friendship between Obi Wan and Anakin.
TESB: The hero gets in defeated in the final duel of the film the second main character is as good as dead and the main bad guy turn out to be the greatest and most tragic movie twist of all time.
AOTC: The main character is not really a good guy but more of an anti hero. The tusken raider genocide and unlike Boba fett in ROTJ there was nothing comedic about Jangos death and he has a son(sort of) who witness his parents death making the whole conflict much less black and white then we are used to in star wars films.
ANH: Lukes foster parents die(and unlike Obi wan, Yoda and Anakin they don't come back as force ghosts) Alderan gets blown up along with Leias foster parents I presume.
ROTJ: Bunch of construction workers probably died when the second death star was destroyed robots get tortured and Ola eaten alive for the amusement of Jabba. However it is mostly a really lighthearted movie with Vader redeeming himself without really dying and we got cute little teddy bears for the kids.
TPM: Giving that most of the enemies are droid and that the sith comes of as pure evil it makes this one a very black and white I mean unless you know that Palpatine will later become the emperor. Very few main character die in fact Darth Maul and Qui Gon Jinn are probably the only ones and even they would later come back to life later(although admittedly Darth Mauls return is not A canon).
HS.I actually felt really bad for the little wookie when the empire destroyed his toys and ordered him to clean up there own mess but at the same time none of the protagonist die.
TCW: I am only talking about the movie here. I don't remember one singel person die in this film(Battle droids don't count). It felt like a very lighthearted we have to save the cute little Hutt baby kind of story.​

 

I completely agree with your list. You nailed it!

 

A number of Clones are killed in the Clone Wars film, during the battles of Christophsis, and Teth.

A massive hangar full of pilots and mechanics is suicide bombed by the vulture droids.

 

Thanks been along time since I have seen the film.

 

ANH would have comfortably the highest death toll, but I think based on tone and themes TESB is the darkest.

 

I dunno. Vader murders children in Episode III, and there's all those dead wookiees and Jedi…so I might go with ROTS as the "darkest". (And yes, I know a whole *planet* is destroyed in ANH, but there is something about seeing death up close and personal that makes it more disturbing).

Most light hearted? Probably ROTJ. Dancing teddy bears. Cartoon Han. It's got it all.

 

I'd agree with the OP

 

I'd say:

1. Revenge of the Sith: The Republic dies, the Empire is born. The leaders of the Separatists die. Order 66 is executed and the Jedi purged, including the children. Padme dies. Anakin becomes Darth Vader and is later critically injured. Losing the rest of his limbs and is burned alive. It was the first PG-13 Star Wars movie for a reason.

2. Attack of the Clones: I think it's darker than ESB. Wait, just hear me out. Anakin's baby steps towards the Dark Side. His mother dies leading him to kill an entire tribe of Tusken Raiders from the men to the children. Luke nor the rest of the heroes never do anything nearly so dark. Anakin loses half his arm, Luke only lost his hand. Most of the Jedi are killed at the Battle of Geonosis. Finally, everyone says people forget AOTC also ends on a cliffhanger, the war starts. When I watch ESB everything turns out just fine in the next movie, ROTJ. That isn't the case with AOTC and ROTS. Arguably AOTC could have been rated PG-13 too.

Now this is where things get tricky.

3. Empire Strikes Back: The Empire find the Rebels and they have to evacuate Hoth. Luke almost dies in the beginning on Hoth. Han is later frozen in carbonite and is sent to Jabba. Luke loses his hand. Vader reveals the truth to Luke. Cliffhanger ending.

4. Return of the Jedi: Luke's own battle with the Dark Side. Leia killing Jabba, which was kinda grusome. There is the cute and cuddly Ewoks, but some of them do die and it is a bit sad. In the end, things turn out okay.

I had a really hard time with the last two.

5. The Phantom Menace: One of the lightest and most innocent of the Saga. Which it's supposed to be, but it does have a few dark things. Like Qui-Gon's death, compared to Obi-Wan's in ANH, I think it's darker. I mean we see him die and we see the body. While Obi-Wan just disappeared. Anakin and Shmi are slaves. The Naboo are held captive. Also Maul is a pretty scary looking villain. Finally the ending is bittersweet.

6. A New Hope: Also one of the lightest of the Saga. We briefly see Owen and Beru's burned bodies. Obi-Wan cuts that guy's arm off and there's some blood, which always confused me because the other lightsaber wounds in the Saga do not show blood, but that's another story. Alderaan is blown up. Which don't get me wrong is bad, because of the millions of beings died, but we never even see Alderaan until the end of ROTS. Honestly I'm more troubled with everything going on over on Tatooine, Endor, and Naboo. Nor does Leia seem that upset about her home and family getting blown to bits. Pretty happy ending and I know things work out at the end of the trilogy/Saga.

 

It depends what one considers dark. The whole Saga is blasted dark given it's about *War*.

The two darkest for Cushy are:

RotS

ESB

 

Yep, it depends on whether you equate darkness with containing the most shockingly terrible events or not. For me, just about the darkest thing that there is, is when hope is crushed and that which you held to be dear and resolutely good and foundational vanishes or becomes unclear. For that reason, I rate TESB the darkest.

 

ROTS
ESB
AOTC
ANH
ROTJ
TCW

 

For me, I tend to think of darkness not in thematic terms, but in terms of lighting, mood, and tone. So, for me, the darkest to lightest would be:
RotJ - so much of this movie is dark lit, which produces and almost creepy atmosphere
ESB - second to RotJ in terms of lighting and mood, for me. The scenes on Dagobah especially seems to be exuberant with a very decrepit, and dank atmosphere.
RotS
ANH - so much of this movie was so well lit, producing a much lighter atmosphere for me. The darkest moment was probably when Tarkin blew up Alderaan
TPM
AotC - none of this movie really felt dark in terms of mood or tone to me. It just felt so meh.

 

I agree. I'd say ROTS and TESB are the darkest, too. TESB is my favorite of the films, and ROTJ is my second favorite.

 

So were would you place tpm?

 

True Qui Gones defeat was more dramatic. Not just because we learned so soon that Obi Wan became a force ghost but I also think that Ewan Mcgregors ''no'' was much better acted then the one by Mark Hamill not to mention the soundtrack during the defeat of Qui Gon was much more fitting.

 

ROTS
ESB
ROTJ
AOTC
TCW
ANH
TPM

 

From dark to light (dark: "gloomy, opposite of cheerful")
RotS (Anakin-->Vader (mutilation, burning, etc), mass-slaughter of Jedi, fall of Republic, turn to dark side, a lot of death (Padme, "Anakin," Mace))
ESB/AotC (good guys suffer defeats, wars escalated, ends with retreat, dubious "victory," doomed weddings, etc.)
RotJ (Scenes of intense torture and abuse (in Jabba's Palace, Emperor's lightning), but goes to meteoric "upbeat" notes at resolution, galaxy-wide celebrations)
ANH (There are many battles, but there is also a wise-cracking and swashbuckling tone, although Obi-Wan dies he remains a vital element, heroes save the day)
TPM (Numerous celebrations, friendships created and relationships started rather than ended (even Qui-Gon, who dies, remains "connected" in a way, although there are many subtle hint at dark undercurrents)

 

Darkest is easily Revenge of the Sith by far...but most light-hearted? A tough call between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. If scenes of the Emperor torturing Luke didn't keep changing to rebels celebrating and Ewoks, then it'd be easy. (not that I have anything against the Ewoks; I actually like them)

 

ROTS
TESB
ROTJ
AOTC
ANH
TPM

This is how I view them from dark to lightest without the SE OT.

 

(1) Revenge of the Sith -- Pretty much everyone dies in this film: The Jedi Order, The Republic, The CIS, Padme, Anakin (reborn in ROTJ)

(2) The Empire Strikes Back -- The Rebels lose Hoth, Leia and Chewie lose Han, Luke suffers physical and emotional trauma

(3) Attack of the Clones -- Anakin slaughters the Tuskens out of revenge, Enigmatic enemy sets up the Clone War

(4) Return of the Jedi -- The Ewoks and Rebels generally outweigh the Emperor's torture and dark side influence

(5) The Phantom Menace -- Rather lighthearted save for Qui-Gon's death and the secret threat

(6) A New Hope -- This film is inexplicably brilliant at retaining a lighthearted tone, given that we saw: The Incinerated Corpses of Luke's uncle and aunt, Leia's Torture, The Genocide of Alderaan, Obi-Wan's death, and the Destruction of the Death Star

 

Tonally: Based on lighting, mood, the general feel of the movie
RotJ
RotS
ESB
ANH
AotC
TPM

Thematically: based on the content of the film and the themes it explores
RotS
RotJ
AotC
ANH
ESB
TPM

 

Why do you feel that ROTJ and AOTC are so much darker then ESB?

 

From a tonal point of view, I see RotJ as the darkest film. The Emperor's Throne feels like a dungeon, the entire bit in Jabba's palace makes you feel like you're in the belly of the whale, the night scenes on Endor are very dark, and misty, and the scene where Luke surrenders to Vader the landing pad there feels almost skeletal - as does the Death Star. Generally, the floors of the Death Star are likewise unpolished and unbuffed. They're almost a frosted black, very contrasting from the shining black that was ESB. Likewise, in ESB, everything in the Empire was very shiny, and felt very "professional".

For AotC, I thought that the idea of a Palpatine gaining power, the start of the worst conflict in Republic history, a young boy watching his father decapitated before his very eyes, the death of Anakin's mother and the start of his turn to the Dark Side with the murder of the Sand People, the general content was a bit more heavy than what we got in ESB - where the darkest thing content wise was chopping off Luke's hand and revealing he's the father.

 

REVENGE OF THE SITH
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
ATTACK OF THE CLONES
STAR WARS
RETURN OF THE JEDI
THE PHANTOM MENACE

 

Revenge Of The Sith

The Empire Strikes Back

Return Of The Jedi

Attack Of The Clones

A New Hope

The Phantom Menace