How Often Has Your Favorite Star Wars Movie Changed?

Disclaimer: This is not a "Favorite Movie" Thread. But if the Mods think it is, then I guess they will lock it.

When I was young, my favorite Star Wars movie was Return of the Jedi. I loved the space battle, I loved the lightsabre battle, and I loved the Ewoks. It was full of action, enough action to keep a kid interested.

As I grew older and more mature, The Empire Strikes Back became my favorite SW film. I loved the dark tone of the film. Hoth was great, and the emotion of the Vader/Luke confrontation was second to none.

ESB remained my favorite SW movie until AOTC. Maybe AOTC became my favorite SW movie just because it was new, but I really liked Obi-Wan playing detective and discovering everything about the Clones and stuff. The Battle of Geonosis was amazing and Yoda just kicked ass. After the "newness" wore off, Empire once again became my favorite film, and AOTC went to 2nd place.

Then came Revenge of the Sith. It is currently my favorite SW movie. It has everything. It is dark, full of emotion, and action packed. It started off kind of slow, but once the Emperor sent Anakin to the Jedi Temple, it became a perfect movie. This opinion has remained to this day.

So, how has your favorite SW movie changed, and why?

 

When I first saw Star Wars back in 1977, at all of six years old, it was my favorite film ever. When ESB came out, it was more Star Wars and was new, so it became my favorite. I found RotJ dissappointing when it came out, and this made me re-evaluate Empire and Star Wars--as ESB is incomplete and needs RotJ as its conclusion, despite its technical superiority, it slipped back down and Star Wars was once again my favorite. The PT did nothing to change this; the original is still my favorite and the more that time goes by, the more firmly entrenched its number one position becomes for me. That is not to say that I don't love ESB or Revenge of the Sith, I do--they are great Star Wars films, but only the original is one of my very favorite films of all time.

 

Here's my favourite movie sequence...

1977 - 1980 - SW
1980 - 1983 - ESB
1983 - 1989 - ROTJ
1989 - 1995 - didn't really watch it that much to be honest. Nostagic feelings were still to come.
1995 - 2007 - ESB

No prequel or re-release has changed the top spot for me, but my 2nd favourite has changed more than Anjelina Jolie's child count.

 

1977-1983 Star Wars
1983-1989 Return of the Jedi
1989-1999 Empire Strikes Back
1999-2000 Phantom Menace
2000-2002 Empire Strikes Back
2002-2005 Attack of the Clones
2005-2006 Revenge of the Sith
2006-2007 Star Wars

 

It has changed a couple of times between ANH & ESB. I believe ANH is the one movie I've seen more than any other, but ESB is the better movie.

 

It changed once in 1997 and again in 2004.

 

Let's see, it started out as ANH, then RotJ, then ESB, then RotS... so four times.

 

Once from ESB to TPM.

 

Childhood favorite - ROTJ
After the PT ended - ROTS
Now, it's starting to veer towards TESB, but it's hard to say...

 

Return of the Jedi has always been my favorite, mostly because it's when Luke is finally a fully trained Jedi. I also like that it shows the final triumph of the Jedi over the Sith and good over evil. I'm like Empire more and more but, Jedi still ranks as the top for me. The biggest switch is that a few months ago I began to prefer A New Hope to Revenge of the Sith.

 

I was 6 when ESB came out so I didn't really get the whole character development thang, but it was around that time that my Nan started buying me the toys. I don't have a perfect memory but I think it goes summit like this;

ANH...ROTJ...ANH...ESB...ROTJ...ANH...ESB...ANH...TPM...ESB...AOTC...ESB...ROTS...ANH...

and that's where we are today, my favourite will change again, i'm sure.

 

It's pretty much been ESB since forever. ESB might be one of my favorite things ever. It's up there with certain activites, food and sports. That's not hyperbole, that's fact. And what a coincidence, it's on HBO right now. Mmmmmm....HD-SW.

The prequels have tried to get me to love them more than ESB (nice try RotS!) but have fallen short.

 

It was ESB all the way up until the prequels came out. The ESB had the big surprise in it and had Yoda! Now it's Return of the Jedi after all of the Prequels are done, it's the most emotional film of the Saga IMO.

 

Not once...my favourite has always been A New Hope. To me, it's the greatest movie ever made and while I love all of he Star Wars movies, only the last 20 minutes of Jedi and Menace come anywhere near the enjoyment I get from watching ANH.

 

My favorite had been Empire Strikes Back until the release of Attack of the Clones, at which point the latter became my favorite. Upon further viewings I liked AOTC less and less and A New Hope became my favorite. But since the release of Revenge of the Sith, that film has been my favorite.

 

As a child, I always found Jedi to be the most appealing. Not sure if it was the diversity of creatures and exotic locations (compared to the first two) or just the conclusion of the storyline but I loved it. It might have had something to do with all of the tree cities and forests on Endor which I could recreate in my backyard with the toys.

Ever since Middle School, I've found myself more inclined to enjoy Empire (which as a child was my least favorite.) To me the acting, writing, and storyline are just the strongest for this film. The scenes in Cloud City remain my favorite in the entire saga. It seems kind of cliche to say on these boards but Empire Strikes Back remains my favorite and I honestly don't see that changing much.

-Seldon

 

I saw the OT all at the same time when I was a kid during the rerelease. 8 years old..

I loved ROTJ instantly because I loved the duel between him and Luke. But when I was 13 I really started getting in SW and ESB took over.

Hasn't changed since. I love ESB Vader; so badass. I liked AOTC for a little while [i know, i know] but only because of Hayden. He may have be whiny and emo, but he was still good looking. ROTS is amazing too.

ESB overall.

 

It's always been Star Wars or A New Hope, whichever one chooses to call it, but all three of the originals have always been VERY close in terms of how I rank them.

 

Interesting thread. I think from most of the answers one can understand why SW is iconic. It has EVERYTHING and can appeal to everyone according to his/her preferences, age, mood etc...

My fav SW as a kid was ofcourse ROTJ. What else could it be?
As a teenager i changed to ESB.
After 2002 it was AOTC.
Now it is ROTS and will remain such forever (at least thats what i think).
So it goes if i remember correctly...

1989-1994 ROTJ I was ten when i watched my first episode and it was ROTJ.
1994-2002 ESB
2002-2005 AOTC
2005+ ROTS

 

I must be the oddball which is nothing new to me, but I've never had a favorite one or like one better than the other then switched which one I liked more. Every single Star Wars movie has been my favorite since I saw A New Hope sometime back in the early-mid 80s. Each one is great in their own way IMO.

 

ESB has been my favorite since 1980. TPM came close for a while but I think it was because it was the 1st Star Wars movie released in 15 years and I couldnt get over how cool the Saber fights were...RotS was also very awesome but as a complete movie ESB still takes it. I have no idea how many times I've watched ESB....My old roomate and I used to come home from the bars and go watch Empire...on that point though I think I've seen the 1st half of the movie twice as much as the entire movie!!! I always seemed to pass out after Han takes the Falcon into the asteroid field. I think I woke up too many times looking like this>>>

 

TESB is my nr.1 and has been that way for the last decade or so. ROTJ was the childhood favorite though. Now days it's TESB at the top and TPM at bottom. The others change from time to time, though I do like the films with more personal or emo endings a bit better(ROTS, TESB and ROTJ).

 

Pretty easy for me. I don't flip-flop favorites all that often. Star Wars had always been my favorite, up until a few years ago when I decided that The Empire Strikes Back was a better movie. That's it. It's only changed once for me.

 

I often interchange between ROTS and TESB.

When I view ROTS, I hail that as the greatest Star Wars film. When I watch ESB, I hail that as the greatest Star Wars film. Both are just as good, in my opinion. ROTS delivers some fantastic drama scenes, while ESB delivers some fascinating story-telling.

 

It may sound strange..but my favorite SW movie has been ROTJ since I was 8 years old, which was right after it came out. Being a huge Luke fan, it was awesome seeing Luke mature into this warrior in the time between ESB and ROTJ and I loved the battle on Tatooine. My favorite scenes were with Luke and Vader and I love how Luke brought Anakin back to the Light Side.

My second favorite has changed a few times, as has the rest of the list..but never my first.

Here's my list:

ROTJ
ROTS
ESB
AOTC
ANH (or Star Wars..whichever you choose to call it)
TPM