Discussion POLL! Which is a bigger deal, Episode I or Episode VII?

Which do you think was and is the bigger deal?

Episode I when it was announced and we found out Lucas was making a prequel trilogy OR Episode VII which will have more unknowns surrounding it than the PT?

Kinda both. Episode I, because pre-1994 announcement, I never thought there would be more Star Wars films.

Episode VII, because after the prequels, I was certain that there would never be any more Star Wars films.

I say tied... They are both so huge... continuation of a story everyone thought would never happen when it was announced they would happen.

This. Can't say it better.

Episode VII by far, we knew the outcome with Episode I with the downfall of Anakin but post ROTJ is wide open (we don't know if EU will be followed or not which is exciting). It's still hard to believe it is actually happening, I honestly thought SW was dead on the big screen with GL denying there was ever a VII-IX. Always in motion is the future

Good post. Exactly.

Knowing the direction to me doesn't make one any bigger or smaller than another. It's the continuation of an assumed dead future of the all-time greatest movie franchise!

Before the announcement of Episode I... everyone had assumed based on what GL had said many times over. Star Wars was done. Finito! Then the fandom gets blindsided by the announcement that their long lost movie love is getting new installments! It's absolutely HUGE! It felt more finite actually prior to Episode I, because GL had become so disillusioned after Jedi due to family issues it caused etc. This time, though never feeling QUITE as finite since GL had changed once before, but he had some recent quotes saying it was never going to happen etc just months before the sale to Disney was announced... people were losing hope and at least started to believe it wouldn't happen.

Thus BOTH are just as massive! Revival of the all-time greatest movie franchise!

I think Ep I was always going to happen with what Lucas said beforehand. He'd been saying there wouldn't be episodes after VI a lot longer than just months before the sale to Disney, I remember reading in Empire magazine years ago that it was all done when Ep III wrapped and that was always his intention. With the EU continuing the story I thought that was the only way forward post ROTJ.

VII
Although we didn't know the details, we knew who'd live and who'd die in the prequels, we knew Anakin would fall, we knew Padme would die or at least vanish (Leia suggested she had met her), we knew the Palpatine would become Emperor, we knew all the Jedi would die etc etc.

For VII we know NOTHING except a rough idea of when it takes place.

Just me but knowing the basics of the story didn't dampen my anticipation one iota. The fun part was discovering the how and the way of the story. That was incredibly exciting!

Yeah, I say Episode VII by far too. And for the same "we don't know what's going to happen" reason.

And for me personally it's a bigger deal. In another thread I was saying how I wasn't truly excited about Episode I until the morning of opening day. With Episode VII I was immediately excited about it.

I remember it was around 7 o'clock the evening the news broke, and I was on the Bing homepage and saw that Lucasfilm was one of the "Popular Now" topics. I was thinking it was maybe the 1313 video game announcement or something, or maybe even live-action series news. I clicked on it and saw what it was about, and yeah... I've been excited ever since.

So Episode VII I say is a bigger deal than Episode I, personal-wise and otherwise.

Episode I.

Before Episode I's announcement, he had been saying over and over since '84 when he got divorced that he was done with Star Wars, and that his planned continuation of the story was never going to happen. It took too much out of him etc. He had been saying that religiously for years and years, then suddenly 180 degree turn... it's happening.

Before Episode VII yes... he had been saying it more than just months prior... I'm just saying his most recent comments were just months prior, and were starting to set the idea in when the announcement was made.

Episode VII for me personally is by far a bigger deal, though I don't remember even when Episode I was announced.

There was no surprises for the prequels. Everyone knew Anakin would become Vader, Padme would die, Obi-Wan would end up looking after baby Luke, The Clones Wars happen, and Palpatine becomes the Emperor.

For the first time since the time of the OT, we have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next. Instead of going back in time, it's a direct continuation of the events after Return of the Jedi.

Episode VII came out of years and years of assurances that never, never, never, under no circumstance would there be 7, 8. and 9. Episode 1 felt inevitable.

Episode VII came along with a business deal that established that Star Wars will continue ad infinitum. Episode 1 felt like the beginning of the last hurrah.

Episode VII begins a new chapter in a story whose conclusion is unknown. Episode 1 began a story whose ending had already been written.

Episode VII means accepting new creators that, for better or worse, are unproven at creating Star Wars. Instead of the comfortable elders from Episode 1 who had served us fairly well in the past.

We're moving forward, but into the undiscovered country.

The coming of Episode One was a bigger deal. For years SW was considered done and gone until it started its welcome creeping back into the video games and the toy stores and the bookshelves in the '90s after being almost nonexistent (unless you went to Star Tours and walked out into its attached gift shop, which was like a store that time forgot.) The annoucement around 1993-1994 of the Prequels was almost unbelievable. TPM was the culmination of the advances in visual effects work throughout the '90s. The story of the Prequels was "the rest of the story". There was no widespread criticism and cynicism about STAR WARS at the time, well, actually up until the Special Edition. To be a Star Wars fan didn't mean being considered as a "geek" or a cult following. Labels like that applied to "Trekkies". SW was mainstream pop culture and highly regarded. The excitement all over the modern busy internet about these new movies can't compare with that time when people paid to go see a movie just to see a trailer for TPM. With these movies, we're just getting more STAR WARS and its importance in the thought-to-be-completed saga isn't known yet.

Episode VII, I had a feeling there'd be some sort of prequel when the trilogy was changed to Episode IV, V and VI. As to say these have been added so we know this isn't the beginning, that will one day be shown. It was more of a when then an if it would happen with the rumours and news always circulating through the late 80s/90s. With Episode VII, it was just so unbelievable. With Star Wars going to TV but stalling, Lucas talking retirement, the not so positive reaction to the prequels. It felt things were winding down.

No I thought SW was done as a cinematic series. Then out of the blue total shock, the thought we may see Stormtroopers again or X-Wings, the continuation of the Skywalker story all on the big screen as a brand new trilogy! Haha still so unbelievable.

This is happening, right?

I don't remember when it was announced either.

I know I had only been on the internet for three years back then, so... And I remember on the Apple homepage they had a Quicktime ad with the trailer and everything, but yeah, not much else.

One thing I also remember was a lot of people saying they'd rather see VII, VIII and IX instead of I, II and III. I do remember that well.

I say Episode VII. Back before the prequels, we knew that some day - some day, we would get more Star Wars movies. They couldn't just have IV, V, and VI, but not I, II, and III. However, once we got those, and after a few statements that didn't leave much room for interpretation, the vast majority of us were absolutely 100% iron-clad guarantee certain that there would be no more Star Wars.

All of a sudden, out of the blue, Episode VII. Funded by one of the biggest corporations on the planet - a company known for not doing anything half-assed. A company who would bring in top notch talent to fill every role. It's fresh, it's new, and most importantly, it's unknown. At no point in Episode I were you ever concerned that Obi-Wan might die. You probably didn't let yourself get attached to any of the other Jedi because you knew what was in store for them. Episode VII? Luke could die. Leia could die. Han could die. Chewie, Threepio, Artoo, Lando, Wedge, you name it - any of these actors could come back, only to bite the big one in the first five minutes of the movie. And the first time you see it, you won't see it coming. For the first time since 1979, you can leave a Star Wars movie - surprised.

I'll play the role of Captain Obvious and say that it's Episode 7 because it's right in front of us. But more thoughtful answer is that this trilogy progresses the saga instead of regresses it by telling a backstory we largely knew about, IE The Clone Wars, Anakin as Jedi and his fall to the Dark Side to become Darth Vader.

Episode I by a considerable margin. Back then that was pretty much the only new film I was dying to see. For me Episode VII is closer to "just another release" than any type of event I've been craving for years. Not that I won't see it and enjoy it, but honestly I was more than content with the six film saga.

I voted "undecided" but, after reading a few posts, I somehow think I'd say Episode VII is a bigger deal simply because we just don't know anything about what will happen in the ST. I say this as somebody who waited, quite literally, for hours and hours and hours to download the first Episode I trailer on dial-up internet. The line from the Episode I trailer I remember most is: "A communications disruption can mean only one thing—invasion."

Tough call, but at the end of the day, VII wins because we know nothing going in.