Saga Rate The Six George Lucas Films, Favorite to Least Favorite (poll added)

Restart I'm guessing.

 

I'd personally lock this one and start a new thread. But then we'd have to restart every two years when episodes 8 and 9 come out. I don't know. I'll probably archive my "George Lucas Saga" ranking spreadsheet and start a new one with Episode VII.

 

I cast my vote for Empire, as predictable as that may be, it's still the best in my humble opinion

As for my ranking:

1: The Empire Strikes Back
2: Return of the Jedi
3: A New Hope
4: The Phantom Menace
5: Revenge of the Sith
6: Attack of the Clones

(I'd like to clarify that although I rate the OT above the prequels, I am certainly not a prequel hater, and numbers 3 and 4 in my list could easily swap depending on what mood Im in )

 

This forum is certainly active enough for it at least

 

I personally won't add TFA to the rankings until Episode 9 is viewed.
Just give me something SW, and that I can be invested in for 2 more movies after TFA.
I'll sort out the rankings then.

 

1. ROTS
2. ESB
3. ROTJ
4. TPM
5. ANH
6. AOTC

 

My ranking
1- The Empire Strikes Back
2 - A New Hope
3 - Return of the Jedi
4 - Revenge of the Sith
5 - Attack of the Clones
6 - The Phantom Menace

 

This poll will not be accurate for over a year after the final film has been released. Time is needed to let it sink in and find its place among the others. Not long before ROTS came out I conducted a similar poll here in the forums. AOTC was many peoples favorite of the series. I can assume it was simply because it was the newest film.

 

Or because it is the best film.

 

Hah, true, I like how you think But BattleDroid1138 does have a point, I think.

I personally also need time for the experience to sink in and not to judge too hastily. Positively or negatively.

 

But we won't be able to make that judgement at the time. It's the first movie in 10 years as well. First time we see Luke, Han and Leia on the Big screen in years as well.
We will look at the movie more fondly the first time and who knows we might miss a detail the first time around. It's most likely not going to hold up after several re-watches. For some people it will hold up but for some it won't.

 

I agree with both of you, I was just being facetious. It's better to let the dust settle than to rush and put up a poll which will give the newest film an artificial bump. You get a more accurate picture of things after things digest over time.

 

1.TPM

 

1. TPM
2. ROTS
3. AOTC
4. ESB
5. ANH
6. ROTJ

 

Well, this looks like a good subject to devote my first post to. I remember the day I watched Revenge of the Sith in the cinema like it was yesterday. As an 11-year-old boy, I was so impressed by that movie. For me, there isn't a better Star Wars movie than Episode III. Hopefully, I will be this December as impressed as I was in 2005, but, to achieve this, The Force Awakens must be very, very good.

1. Revenge of the Sith;
2. The Empire Strikes Back;
3. A New Hope;
4. Return of the Jedi;
5. The Phantom Menace;
6. Attack of the Clones.

 

The fact that I ranked Attack of the Clones as the worst movie of the saga, says more about the quality of the other movies than about the quality of AOTC. So, AOTC is more the worst of the best ;-) The biggest reason for me why the movie isn't as good as other Star Wars movies, is the compulsory love story between Anakin and Padmé. It didn't feel natural. It was more like: "Okay, they have to fall in love, but, actually, it doesn't fit into the story." And the dialogue between especially Anakin and Padmé wasn't helping, of course.

 

It's a classical romance of star-crossed lovers in the vein of Romeo & Juliet. It does fit the story, but more so from Anakin's perspective. Padme became his surrogate mother once he left Tatooine, and now in his confused post-adolescent mind he sees her after 10 years and he instantly feels a physical attraction to her. For Padme, I feel she's attracted to Anakin physically once she's able to get past the initial shock of him no longer being a 9 year-old boy. Padme's attraction expands after interacting with Anakin. Anakin complements her, he protects her, he's funny, he's playful.

People want to focus on Anakin being "stalker-y" or "creepy" and I'll certainly admit there are awkward moments, but Anakin is far more respectful of Padme than Han ever was of Leia. Anakin's approach is far more innocent. He's obviously inexperienced in matters of love and this is an emotionally confusing time for him; in part it's joyful because Padme has reemerged in his life, but he's haunted by dreams of his mother's untimely death, which casts a shadow over everything.

The biggest sticking point for many seems to be Anakin's confession. Yes, how could Padme love someone who committed genocide, which seems to run in contrast to her own humanitarian views and past humanitarian conquests? I look at a film like The Godfather, which was directed by a great friend of Lucas, or Goodfellas, and I examine the relationships between innocuous women and their charismatic, but morally bankrupt husbands. The women seem unopposed to turning a blind eye to their husband's atrocities despite their own principles, because either they're turned on by it or because they're in love with the lifestyle their gangster husbands afford them(that is until Kay has a breaking point in The Godfather Part II, which Padme also arrives at in ROTS).

I think there's a part of Padme that was 'turned on' by Anakin's showing of strength even in the ghastly way he went about doing so. She rationalized that Anakin received an emotional shock to the system by stumbling upon his mother being tortured in unspeakable ways and that prompted him to slaughter the entire Tusken encampment. Padme could see this as an isolated incident, not only do to Anakin's contrition, but because of all the circumstances surrounding it -- His mother's kidnapping and the fact that these Tusken Raiders anecdotally seem to be nasty customers -- and she simply chose to compartmentalize it, especially since it runs against the overwhelming good that Anakin seems to emit.

And in a twisted way maybe this proved to Padme that Anakin would be a suitable husband because of the way he took charge to find his mother and that he was willing to do something unspeakable to protect the ones he loved.

Another issue is Padme's love pledge that seemingly comes out of no-where. Yes, this was problematic when I first watched the film, but it fits in line with the operatic nature of not only Clones, but Star Wars as a whole. Padme is the one to crystalize their romance, so it goes from being a lopsided affair to a mutually shared venture. If you look between the lines, as I've detailed it ultimately makes sense -- from my pov -- but on face-value alone Padme's love confession comes off as forced and artificial. AOTC being my favorite film of the saga, it works for me, and I love Lucas' attempt at a classical romance, but I understand why for others it doesn't work, especially if you look at it in a modern context.

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. The Phantom Menace
6. Attack of the Clones

 

I won't make my decision on 7 until at least 8.

 

Top to Bottom

ANH

ESB

AOTC

ROTJ

ROTS

TPM

 

My go:

1. ANH
2. ROTJ
3. TPM
4. ROTS
5. AOTC
6. ESB

 

Well the very best thing best thing to do would be to wait until the ST is over and then still wait a few years after that to let it all settle down.

This of course will not happen.

As excellent as I though TPM and AOTC were until ROTS I couldn't gauge fully how each played off of the other and how the trilogy worked as a whole in terms of the build of all of the elements of visual storytelling with the characters.

So as it should AOTC made TPM a lot better and ROTS made both of them better still and they in turn made the conclusion of ROTS amazing (plus of course the already known second half of the story which the PT in turn elevated to another level.)

Yes the excitement of newness factor is high.

Then of course statistically there is virtually no way that TESB is ever going to be surpassed over time though it could possibly be by a new movie right after. But for so many fans it's the ultimate.

Star Wars is a certain kind of thing and as we see TPM and AOTC are really not quite the thing that many of those fans are looking for. Close but not quite there.

For one it's not until the end of AOTC that the Clone Wars start the actual "Star Wars" within the story itself. TPM and AOTC are in a way the preludes to the "actual" prequel story of ROTS (which contains well over half and arguably 80% of the prequel story).

 

This is a VERY tough question for me. Its like picking your favorite kid haha. But I guess if I must rank them...

1. Revenge of the Sith
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. Attack of the Clones
4. The Phantom Menace
5. Return of the Jedi
6. A New Hope

Ugh, that was painful.

 

1. RotS
2. ANH
3. ESB & AOTC
4. RotJ & TPM

 

I thought it felt natural. I just wish Lucas would have spent a little less time on it.