Which Star Wars movie is 'yours'?

I think in order to relate to and feel sympathy for a character in Anakin's position you have to basically like them, or at least some element of them. Those guys you mentioned were all likable on some level, troubled, angsty souls. It wasn't so much the angst which made them appealing as the sympathy you felt because of the torture that the angst was causing to a remotely likable person. I think a lot of people didn't really like Anakin and so struggled to sympathize and relate to him.

 

I dunno, man. Bogey is really tough to like in "In a Lonely Place" (my god, that's a really weird thing to write, preposition-wise). You never really know what he's capable of, how violent he can become until the end. I think it's to Ray's credit as a director that he was able to make one of the few movies where Bogey isn't just a scruffy anti-hero-- here, as in "Treasure of Sierra Madre", he's pretty monstrous.

Also, Mercedes McCambridge is pretty much impossible to like. But then she's the villain, and you're not supposed to like her-- the real wicked witch of the west.

 

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. But in Anakin's case, don't you think that liking him on some level is kind of essential to making the whole saga fit together and making Anivader's redemption work at the end? GL was definitely going for the Jimmy Dean thing in AOTC, but Jimmy was always likable in some way. Anakin isn't really as far as I can tell. He's kind of creepy and slightly psychotic. Kind of like a less likable Travis Bickle.

 

Anakin's at his most likable in TPM, TCW, and the first 20 minutes of ROTS.
As for the saga, I dunno. In TPM he's likable "I guess." But he's not exactly easy to empathize with. How many of us at ten years old could race at death-defying speeds against the galaxy's toughest aliens? I think you're supposed to at least empathize with Anakin by the end of ROTS, and I remember the first time I saw it I was surprised at how much I could. I didn't see it coming.

 

Yep, I agree with what you say about Anakin in TPM and Clone Wars. I actually quite liked the guy in the cartoon series. There was some warmth and humour there which counterbalanced his troubles and made him more of a flawed hero than I ever saw him as in AOTC. ROTS, somewhere in between the two I felt.

 

Jimmy Dean? Man, now I think you're confusing him with Abe Froman.

At any rate, I still thought he was likeable enough. All his torments were based on stuff you could relate to (Jedi are celibate, and not allowed to visit family-- kinda sounds like that sucks), his displays of Jedi skills are all plenty impressive (true, that's not entirely enough for "likeable", but it at least makes him pretty damn cool), and while Hayden's performance often goes into awkward territory, I think he plays "hurt" well enough to win over our sympathies at least until he starts genociding his way through women and children.

Granted, I think he went a little too emo in ROTS, but even then it was all pretty much in character. Anakin comes off like somebody out of the "Final Fantasy" games, all epic fighting skills and glam-rock fashion style on the surface, and nothing but hearts of ice and wounded prides underneath. Maybe if he had spiky-hair, it would've done the trick.

 

I must just be a cold, heartless man to not be able to relate to AOTC Anakin.

 

Nah, I just related to all the weirdness about his character. I loved how just about all of his scenes ended on very deliberate awkward pauses, and how nervously he held his body language in a lot of scenes, shoving his hands in his Jedi pockets so deep it almost seemed like he'd noticed his fly was undone, and he was trying to cover it up. I was also watching a lot of "Twin Peaks" when that came out, so maybe that's part of it. He's like all the best and worst parts of Agent Cooper, James Hurley and Bobby Briggs all rolled into one.

 

The Star Wars movie that is "mine" would definitely have to be RotS. I followed the film's creation every step of the way. Some highlights from those couple of years:

-The Darth Friday reports
-The leaked Back in Black video from that summit meeting
-Before the Helmet Thursdays
-Knollvision Tuesdays
-Post Notes
-Set Diaries
-Waiting for that BTH featuring lots of senators in Palpatine's office with Palpatine himself lurking in the background, which we never got. Bless you, Everton.
-The revelation of the title at Comic-Con 2004 and the Kashyyyk concept art gallery
-The November 2004 debut of the teaser trailer (which I actually stayed home from school to watch)
-All of the high-res spoiler pics that gabe shared with us in December (Sweet dreams are made of these...)
-The debut of the theatrical trailer during an episode of The O.C.
-The leaking of the soundtrack in April 2005
-Going to the midnight showing and seeing people everywhere with lightsabers

I feel like I watched this movie "grow up", so it holds a special place in my heart, even if it isn't my favorite Star Wars movie. The anticipation for this movie that I experienced with fellow fans in the 3SA forum from 2003-2005 is an experience that I will never forget.

 

Can I have two? Perhaps AOTC and ESB?

 

I would have to say ROTS. I've never been more obsessed with a movie before it came out like i did with that one . I would browse through the live webcam thingy they had to try and find any clue to what was going to happen. I remember i saw crispy Anakin at one point and i went crazy... my cousin never believed it was Hayden, he said it was some alien or something

Needless to say i've also never studied a trailer so much. I sat through the friggin' O.C (man that show sucked! ) just to see it on tv and then just replayed it endlessly on my pc for weeks.

Yeah, the ROTS forum became my home ... aahhh good times!

 

The Phantom Menace. It was the first Star Wars movie I saw, and the lightsaber battles made me fall instantly in love.

 

Revenge of the Sith. MAN I miss 2005. The spoiler forum was so fun.

 

Except when I was being spoiled. ARGH!!!

 

Interesting question. I guess my answer would be TESB. I was 6 years old at the time, which is a pretty magical age for SW, and I had already seen ANH enough to be ready for it. Plus, my parents and I lived in England at that time, and Alec Guinness and his wife were our neighbors just down the street. They were very reserved and kept to themselves, but they were also very friendly the times I did see them... and every time I did, especially the first couple times, I was pretty freaked out to be talking to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Of course I knew he was an actor, but still, his looks, voice, and mannerisms were exactly the same as the character.

 

I personally relate to different aspects of several of the films...I loved Anakin's fall for Padme in AOTC and her subsequent fall for him; personally, I always felt they should have kept the scene in the film with her parents; I thought that added a lot of depth to the relationship, and really showed that Padme did love him.

As a whole film, it would be ROTJ. Underrated for sure, this was the first one I saw on the big screen, albeit I was 4, but I do remember being scared of Jabba the Hutt. I remember my brother trying to trick me into thinking that Luke was the Emperor going into the Palace. Ha!

But most of all, I really related to Luke finally accepting his place in society, doing what he had to do, but never compromising his morale statutes in the process, which we cannot say about his father. He never gave into the Dark Side, even when it was the easy thing to do. He held his ground for truth and righteousness, and he won because of it.

 

For me it was definitely Episode II. I followed it obsessively as it was being made, and I saw it more times in theaters than any movie I've ever seen.

 

The OT was the first trilogy to introduce me to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. I never knew that there was going to another Star Wars movie and so it was my Dad who took me to see TPM. I only saw it once when I was 15 years old. My reactions were ... actually I can't remember but I know that I saw AOTC 5 or 6 times after it was released. When ROTS came out, I thought it was closer to what I had thought of what might have happened that set the stage leading into ANH. I think I saw it 3 times. I must admit though after AOTC was released I lost interest in SW but ever since I saw ROTS, I was amazed by it and thought Lucas finally hit the nail on this one. So I guess you can say that ROTS is my movie. lol.

 

ESB.....I had all the figurines, the Darth Vader Helmet Case, the Planet Hoth Battle Set, the Lunch box and subsequent thermos, The Snow Speeder, Snow troopers, Snow AT-At the Taun-taun had a place that the Hoth Luke could fit in to ride around, the Bed Spread/Sheets/pillow cases...we took it to playground battles recreating Cloud City battles every recess....crazy, but I guess I could say the same with ROTJ....But ESB was the 1st that I remember being impacted by.

 

Myself and all the fans from my era have ANH. It was so fresh and new and mind blowing.

 

ROTS I followed non-stop on the net during it's creation. It was a really fun time and I regret that we'll likely never be in that "new SW movie zone" again.

 

Probably Return of the Jedi as that's the first one I clearly remember going to see with my mother. I was seven years old then. She tells me I saw the original Star Wars in the theater during it's initial release in 1977, but since I was just under a year old (yeah, she was one of those parents), I don't really remember it.

What I do remember is sitting in line at a six screen theater that was showing it one Saturday morning. I'm nearly certain we got there so early we had to wait through the whole screening before hand before getting into the one we were there to see. I remember thinking it was the most awesome thing I ever saw. Strangely I was able to follow the storyline pretty well. I suspect there were some bits and pieces from previous screenings fragmented in my mind because somehow I knew already that Darth Vader was Luke's father, so that wasn't a shock or anything. It would be a couple more years before I really had a chance to sit down and watch the first two on VHS.

 

I wish I could say I followed the OT as it was comming out, but my age tells different.

I was about 10 when TPM came out, and I remember seeing the trailer and feeling the undeniable hype. I kinda lost my spark for SW when AOTC came out, but it was re-lit about a year before ROTS came out.

I remember being on the spoiler board here, and using the phrase "Spoil me for Episode III" as opposed to many others with the "Spoiler free till Episode III."

I'd say I was heavily addicted to reading every little spoiler or detail that came out, saw every behind the scenes youtube video someone found, and seeing the hyperspace pictures. I knew about 75% of the script and about 90% of the storyline walking into the theatre May 25th 2005.

 

Jedi for me. I had just turned 6 a couple weeks prior. I still remember how awesome it was when Luke lit up his green lightsaber and how it looked so green against the desert background.

I do vaguely remember seeing the cbs broadcast of A New Hope back in '80 and I was very excited to see it in theaters finally in the '90s with the special editions.

 

Tough one, but I'm going to say AOTC. I joined these boards while getting spoiled for that movie, helped get my local Fan Force off the ground, started a three-year period of writing lots of fan fiction, met some fantastic people, was generally more involved in the fandom than during any of the other films. I loved the Anakin and Padme love story, sympathized with the whiny and petulent Anakin because he was beholden to some really dumb rules that no one warned him about when he was nine years old (I could have lived without his arrogance, but that's another story). Loved the scenery, the storyline of the war building up, all of it, and yes, "Across the Stars" was one of John Williams' better pieces. I saw the movie in the theater 10 times and bought two copies of the DVD (OK, I bought full screen and my husband bought wide screen).

And as much as people complain about the dialogue, the Obi-Wan/Anakin banter in the speeder is one of my favorite dialogue-scenes in the series.

"Well, you know, Master, I couldn't find a speeder that I really liked, with an open cockpit and the right speeder capabilities..."

"If you spent as much time on your saber skills as you do your wit, young Padawan, you would rival Master Yoda as a swordsman."

"I thought I already did."

"Only in your mind, my very young apprentice."



I have good memories of all the films (except the last 1.5 hours of ROTS) but I'd have to pick AOTC. ROTJ is a close second. I was 12 when it came out. Seeing the evil Vader get redeemed gave me a lot of hope.