PT Revenge of the Sith 15th Anniversary Celebration

I know this is one day earlier but what the hell . In honor of the 15th Anniversary of ROTS, the final installment for George Lucas and the Prequel Trilogy, share your experiences and memories from 2005 during what was considered to be the final SW movie.

This can be a catch all from first movie reactions, to memories during the trailer/TV spots, to commercials and the marketing.

I remember how exciting it was when my parents surprised my brother and I with Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader's lightsabers. We used to play in our side yard on top of a small rusty fishing boat we kept there and played the scene where Anakin and Obi-Wan were on the lava platform.

I also vividly remember lots of marketing from this era. I begged my grandpa to buy me a cereal I never tried just so I could look at the back of the box which gave my first glimpse of what Emperor Palpatine would like in the film. It also came with a dope lightsaber spoon.

 

I cheat and get my Ep III post from the PT nostalgia thread back into that one, because I've said lots of stuff about RotS in there:

Episode III was (and is to this day) my most anticipated movie EVER. I've never ever longed for a movie as much as for this one and my hype for Ep III was bigger then for any other movie before and after.

After Ep II was released my family finally got fast internet which made it possible for me to join Fan Forums and follow the production of Ep III more closely then with Ep I and II. What struck me and made me sad was the hatred and bashing withhin the fandom of SW which I encountered for the first time back in late 2002 when I joined a big german fan forum. I never had encountered so much (or any) negativity against the Prequel movies before and was suprised and saddend by it. Through the next 3 years (and beyond) I went on defending those movies and Lucas. What was obvious for me was that OT Generation fans were more aggressive against the new movies (and it's fans for that matter). I really fought with many older/adult users and didnt always play nice, just as they did. Reflecting this now I have to say that my doings and words were not ok all the time. But I was 15/16/17 and defended something I passionatly loved. Nowadays I'd act more civil for sure. On the other hand...there are always two persons in a fight.

I remember the time between Ep II and III to have some great stuff to pass the gap. They released amazing Clone Wars novels and Comics telling the story between the movies in almost real time. Hightlights were the The Battle of Jabiim, Cloak of Deception, Jedi Trials, Labyrinth of Evil, Obsession to name some. But the greatest thing for me was the Clone Wars Mini Series. I remember watching the first episode with my Hyperspace account and just loving it. My english was well enough developted so I could understand eveything and was so happy to have a weekly dose of new SW content. I think to this day that the way LFL filled the gap between Ep II and III during the production of the final movie was genius. I felt like I knew these characters inside out and developted an even deeper attachment to them. I really felt like I experienced the Clone Wars in those years with those characters so when Ep III came along I had so much backstory in my head and was so connected to the characters that Ep III felt really really like coming full circle.

Clone Wars 2003-2005


Beside the great in-universe media content LFL did a great job covering the production. Do you guys remember the VERY first pic of Anakin/Hayden we got through the webcam from Hyperspace? It was the one pic were he hold his finger up just like Vader did. I guess the scene was the cut scene from the Bluray were he talks like R2 . LFL provided us with regular webdocs which I watched multiple times just to catch as many details as possible. They released Behind the Scenes pics with their "Before the Helmet" Series, showed Sets with the "Knoll Vision" Series and many more I cant recall. It made it easier and harder at the same time to wait for the movie. I was cautious to not spoil myself with leaks but of course I followed all and every official release from LFL online and with print media and so I knew LOTS of new Designs and new Aliens. The Trailers of course were must watch releases and I recall how a good friend of mine wrote me an SMS during my school day that the first teaser had been released and I headed home as quick as possible after school to watch it. The second trailer made me choke up really bad and I couldnt stand having to wait two more months.

2004 marked the first time I ever attended a convention. German Jedi-Con 2004 was the very ever event for me and I felt at home from the start. It was during easter of 2004 and I just had the time of my life. The best thing about the event was to meeting a guy I would call my best friend for the next 6 years. He was there with a good friend too and we met because had conctact through a forum before and he wanted to say hi. Though he lived like 400 kilometers away we manage to stay in contact, connect more and more and became best friends. To this day I cherrish this friendship and miss those times because I've never connected with anyone as much as with him (beside my girlfriend). He become like my big older brother (he is older then me) and lots of stuff I love and do nowadays I learned through him. Unfortunatly we parted somehow but we are still in contact and talk now and then.

As of 2005 was my final year at what in US would be High School so of course I also dreaded May because tests and exams would be right around the corner. But still the anticipation was to big to let that cloud my mood for the film. When tickets went on sale in april for the premiere on May 18th 2005 I RUN RUN RUN for the theater and bought like 5 or 6 tickets (I dont remember how many friends went along) for preview screening. I finally HAD them! I was so happy and so excited. It was hard for me to concentrade on my studys for the final tests but somehow I made it through. I remember getting the novel some days earlier then the release of the movie and putting it into the shelf not daring to take it into my hand again. When the day finally had come I rewatched Episodes I and II the evening before and all episodes of the Clone Wars Mini Series again. I also played the first Battlefront obsessivly to distract me. Sitting inside the theater finally I was shaking...I was so nervous I could not stand the commercials. I need to say this again: this was and is the most ever anticipated movie for me. So when the crawl started I started to cry. I felt relief and happy and sad at the same time. Relief and Happiness of finally beeing able to watch this movie. Sad because the past 3 years of waiting, anticipating and following the production of the movie were amazing and so much fun. And it was to be the last SW movie ever (LOL). I cried many times through the movie and was speechless at the end. I could not stand up. I recall beeing just silent. To this day I dont remember how I got out of the cinema or how I got home. Just that when I was home I called my friend from Jedi-Con and we talked about the movie. I fell asleep feeling satisfyed and empty at the same time. The next days were strange. It felt like I had lost something. I know now it was the whole pressure and anticipation of the movie but I couldnt put my finger on it back then.

After seeing the german version I was able get my hands on a not so bad bootleg of the movie in english. I watched that several times and the movie really got emotional for me. Also my friend from Jedi-Con visited me and we went to the cinema watching the movie together like a month after its release. I recall that we drove to the cinema with the soundtrack playing in the car.

To this day the whole era of the prequels which I made through the ages of 12 to 18 I recall beeing amazing. I could not wish for anything more then to grow up with those movies. To me those movies are STAR WARS. I love them and cherrish them. Watching them makes me happy. To this day I never have waited so much for a movie like I did for Episode III. To me Lucas is a genius and I love him for what he gave me: a passion to enjoy and love.

 

Happy Anniversary, "Revenge of the Sith"! Hmmm . . . I remember when I had first saw it, I sat in theater for a good period and cried, while the credits rolled. Not because I thought it was awful. I thought it was a great space opera that ended on the right note.

 

Drink Up

 

Who can forget the excellent Burger King tie-in?

 

How time flies. I sure do remember the marketing blitz, the games, etc...it wasn't as momentous feeling as the leadup to TPM, but it had an air of finality about it.

And while the movie of course has its flaws, I still think the last few minutes were the perfect wrapup to the PT.

 

15 years wow - hard to believe it's been that long and without a doubt for me ROTS is not only the best PT movie but the best saga movie , George Lucas had been gearing towards episode 3 all his career and absolutely nailed it.......

 

The only thing I remember is really wanting to see it but my parents said I was "too young to watch PG-13 movies". This happened because my older sister had once thrown a full-blown fit during Shrek when Gingy's leg gets cut off, so my parents were very cautious with taking kids to movies after that. Now my favorite movie ever, I wish I'd had the chance to catch it in theaters.

 

I remember when I watched this film, it was after a writing course so it was the first movie I ever really analysed. So I loved it.

As well the build up, for 3 years I had been reading the books and following the comics and watching the show, all the build up to this.

And then the movie opened it was great, a good solid film, with a lot of cool stuff.

For a long time it was my fav film and it is still a close second to ANH.

An excellent movie and a great end to Star Wars, since at this point New Jedi Order (which I feel was the sequel trilogy) was over. So Star Wars, was now finished the story was told. We saw the fall of Anakin and the Republic and then saw it rise and him be redeemed and then the new heroes over come great challenges.

 

"The movie of course has its flaws"? All movies have flaws.

 

I saw it on opening night and was... moved, surprised, a bit confused.
It was an impactful experience, no doubt about it, but wasn't there something missing?
I had expected more political drama involving people like Padmé and Bail. Tragedy on a grander scale.
And what about Jar Jar? He had no role in it at all! I'd thought and hoped that we'd get better closure for the character than him just attending Padmé's funeral. A follow-up to his brief but significant story in AOTC that would show us how he was affected by it all; a final nail in the coffin for his lost innocence.
Jar Jar's story arc in the trilogy runs parallell to that of Anakin and the Republic, so I thought it was important to dwell on him for a little bit and weave him into the plot.

As it turned out, ROTS was much narrower in focus than I had expected and that took some getting used to. Granted, there was a lot more going on in the movie than I could take in on that first viewing. There WAS tragedy on a grand, political scale. I was just caught off guard because I had too many preconceived ideas of what I thought ROTS should be. As a result, I hardly even noticed any visual effects - which sounds crazy, but I was really that shocked by how different the movie was from the movie I'd expected. It felt very much like a costume drama with a very small cast of characters; a Greek tragedy that could easily have been performed live on a stage (which, when you think about it, is somewhat true).

Well, one or two additional viewings later, I'd certainly gotten used to ROTS and after a total of eight visits to the theater, it was by far my favorite Saga episode.
GL sure closed that circle with a bang!
Happy 15th Anniversary

 

I wouldn’t be a Star Wars fan until after Sith came out. Hell I bet at least 30% of Star Wars fans that are fans now weren’t back when Sith came out, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the hype around the film

 

15 years, yeesh that along time i was 11 at the time and saw it with my mom and it was the first Star Wars movie i had seen in cenima. I watches some bits of the OT on tv before but had only really watched TPM and ATOC really, so this was me experience to see a full story be complete. I'm a prequel kid, gre up on them and i loved them since i saw them. I will never forget the experience i had watching General Grevious, the slaughter of the jedi and the younglings, the fight with Anakin and Obi Wan, the burning of Anakin and the birth of Sarth Vader. I loved Anakin and Obi Wan, shcked to see Dooku lose his head, loved the Palpatine fight and Anakin's turn. Order 66 i didn't understand it then just tought they were loyal to him and he gave the order, the arc of order 66 in TCW changed all that now. I didn't understand all the politics, but got the gist of it with Palpatine becoming king of the republic. I was sad we didn't see mutch of Padme, loved seeing both master Yoda and Kenobi in action. I loved master Yoda's fight with Palpatine more then the Anakin/Kenobi fight. Yoda was my favorite in the movie with Anakin and Obi Wan. Good so many memories. TCW only helps my love for the prequel era and films.

 

Nah, that is heavily overestimated in my opinion. I more tend it be like 15 to 20 %. No more...

I just had one thought: what made Ep III so special too for me was the fact to see everything unfold in the movie what I saw beeing made during the production. @Fredrik Vallestrand said he'd never forget seeing Grievous and that remembered me about the Web Doc of Grievous: how he was designed and how he was introduced with the Clone Wars animated show from 2003! It was so unique seeing him then on the big screen after exploring the whole production of the movie with the web docus, web cams, Insider Reports and and and...watching that whole stuff which we saw "backstage" in the movie finally was very special. I hope I get across what i try to say.

I must say that Ep III was the movie I followed the most during the production. Ep I and II I was too young and had not the recources, the ST and Anthology movies were not as covered from the official side like Ep III was. LFL did a GREAT job of covering the production with all its features they offered the fans to follow the movies production. The ST and Anthologys had nothing of that sort. Most came from Leaks or the actors through social media. LFL didnt do much to cover the production.

 

I am sure there is a poll somewhere that will solve it in your or my side I’ll get back to you.

from what I found Star Wars fans are typically 18-48ish with more on the younger side of that as seen from one server I found of over 1,600 people 18-30 made up 60% of the Star Wars fanbase plus almost all these polls miss out on the kid demographic so that would also lower it significantly if they were included. You have to understand the more products there are after Revenge of the Sith the more new fans that will attract which replaces those who have stopped being fans. There are people who’s first Star Wars experience was The Mandalorian. So yes I think a 25-30% is reasonable for people who became fans after ROTS you have to realize ROTS came out 15 years ago which is almost 33% of all the time Star Wars has existed.

 

The TV Spots were fantastic

 

Very well spoken!

 

It was a heartwrenching, beautiful movie. I am 52 and from the OT era and I feel the PT was equal in all ways to the OT. In some ways I even enjoyed it more than the OT.

I just Love all of SW, including the ST, and all other media forms as well.

 

THIS

 

THIS

 

There's so much verve and operatic grandeur to ROTS that, yes, it does feel as if Lucas was unleashing an energy that was shackled within him since 1977. Everything, from the breathtaking opening tracking shot, to the exuberance of the Invisible Hand's "happy landing", to the romanticism of Anakin and Padme's reunion, to the lyricism of "Padme's Ruminations", to the crushing montage of Order 66, to the mania of the Duel of the Fates in the Senate, to the pathos of Anakin and Padme's respective deaths on the operating tables, is illustrative of a culmination.

SW isn't just one of the two or three finest SW films (I'd place it a hair's breadth behind TESB); it's one of the greatest fantasies of world cinema.

Anyway, Happy 15th to the true ending of the Skywalker Saga.

 

I remember seeing the movie in theatre. First SW movie and my favorite.

Order 66, Battle of the Heroes, the battle above Coruscant-it was amazing for eight year old me.

 

I don't think there was a time when Star Wars was bigger around me than around the release of Revenge of the Sith. Everyone I knew loved Star Wars, everyone had lightsabers, I had a lot of birthday parties where people dressed up in Star Wars costumes and having lightsaber fights (Didn't end well half the time lol). Me and my brother always pretended to be Anakin and Obi-Wan, we had gotten the double pack with their lightsabers. The Anakin one could change to red if you pressed a button. Everyone wanted to be a Jedi. The other media was amazing at the time too. I had Battlefront, Lego Star Wars and The Revenge of the Sith game, watched the original Clone Wars series and borrowed PT EU books from my school library. I really fell in love with the world of the prequels as a kid and then The Clone Wars was the gift that kept on giving. TFA release day came close to that feeling but that died out quickly after release when everyone realised it was ANH clone and a pseudo reboot.