ROTJ is the better than ESB, wait til you get older.

I've always preferred ESB, in my teens and now in my late 30's.

 

The release of ROTS has upped my valuation of ROTJ, though.

ROTJ can now be seen in it's true context as the climax of the complete saga, instead of just the OT. ESB on the other hand is sort of the "filler" episode of the saga, with all due respect.

 

With all due respect, TPM and AOTC are significantly more "filler" than ESB. Furthermore, ESB kicks ass and has some of the most important events of the saga. Just because there's no death star to destroy doesn't make that movie any less important.

Anyways, I see ESB and ROTJ as one. Hell, at the end of ESB they're on the ship heading towards Tatooine. Obviously they're two movies but I like them much better when taken together.

 

Whoa, calm down chief.

ESB is not less important, it's just that the emphasis is more on character development and less on the over-arching plot of the saga, compared to the other episodes.

 

Until I was around 15 years old, ROTJ was by far my favourite Star Wars movie, but The Empire Strikes Back became my favourite at that age. A couple of years later, A New Hope surpassed Return of the Jedi as well. Now ESB and ANH are almost tied for first place.

So the theory hold true for me, but not for my friends who like Star Wars. For most of them, ESB has always been their favourite. A couple of them like ROTJ the most, and since they're 19 I think they're old enough now that if there was going to be any fundamental change in their relative levels of appreciation of each of the movies, it would have happened already. So I think ROTJ will always be their favourite (of the original trilogy at least, I saw ROTS with one of them and he said it might be the best in the saga as far as he's concerned).

 

Im 20 and ROTJ has always been my favourite with ROTS a close second.

 

I've always switched around ESB and ROTJ as my favorite, but ANH has always been third.

I USED to prefer ROTJ, then I prefered ESB, then ROTJ again, and now ESB.

 

ESB has always been my favorite. ROTJ was kinda of let down after that cliffhanger of an ending in ESB

 

I'm in the minority as well. For me, Nothing beats Jedi. ANH started it all (and the cultural significance of that movie is not lost on me), ESB was the darker,more character development one, and JEDI brought it all togethter. There are just too many things in Jedi that i love. I can't say that about empire. ESB: williams music is fantastic, AT-AT attacks, the asteroid chase, and Luke and Vaders duel. JEDI: the opening shot of the shuttle coming down from the destroyer, Luke is a jedi, sail barge assault, space battle (still the best ever) over endor, falcon flying through the death star, speeder bikes, Vader and Lukes second confrontation, the emperor is back, and finally Luke and Vaders conversation on Endor. This is my favorite scene of the six. This is what SW is all about. I love ESB but it's just not my favorite.

 

i am 25 years old.

When i was 3 or 4 i saw Return of the Jedi in theaters and was absolutely blown away.
I remeber my brother and I having or own re-inactment of the duels.

I saw the OT in reverse order, due to the lack of VCRs as a child.

I actually saw ESB for the first time, on a projector type reel (that looked like home movies from the 50's) and listened to the sound with a casette tape you played along with it...Didnt see ANH until i was liek 8 and got a VCR/

I ranked them ROTJ, ESB, ANH based on action and Lukes powers. and probablly just seeign them in that order

As i grew older, around when they special editions were released, I began to like ANH a lot more than i ever did as a kid, but truly realized that ESB is the best of the three films...

it has all the drama, character development, not to mention the first time actual force powers are used (beyond mind control)
and it ends so desperate and dark, screaming at you to watch ROTJ and see how it ends...

So as a 25 year old, i say that ESB is the best of the three films...but my favorite is still return of the jedi and hears why...

YES, the jabba scene may go on a long while... BUT

when Luke does that back flip and catches the "green" lightsaber, and single handedly takes out Jabbas whole enterprise (a vile ganster who has been mentioned but not seen in the other two movies) was INCREDIBLE

it is the FIRST time, you see a Jedi, using his lightsaber agaisnt average foes...before the prequel trilogies, there was never footage of a Jedi using his blade in a non duel battle....(save a quick slice by Kenobi in the cantina or luke vs the snow monster)

and for me, at a time when lightsabers werent a dime a dozen, and Luke grabs his new Green Blade and starts housing all the guards...its a sceene that will FOREVER be in my head. No matter how old i get, ill never forget the first time i saw a jedi in action

 

I'm 22 and ESB has been my favorite since I was about 15 I guess... Before that it was ROTJ though so you are right, I must have just grown up fast

 

ESB rules them all, but in RoTJ, Jabba's scene, space battle and the Vader/Luke fight is awesome.

 

Im a teen but i loved ESB all my life since i saw them. i thoughht ROTJ was good but ESB was always kool

 

I i've seen all six (duh) and i think ROTJ is the best in the OT and ROTS for the PT.

 

I'm 26 and rewatched the OT before ROTS came out.

Now I wouldn't put ROTJ above ESB. I don't think ANH or ROTJ ever will.

However, for the first time in my life I put ROTJ above ANH.

I think for a few reasons:

1. the duel. screw the PT duels. this is the duel of the saga. lots of character stuff happening. Luke going apesh**t. Vader's redemption.

2. the speeder chase. really cool. especially for the technology at the time.

3. Still the best space battle of the saga.

4. escape from Jabba. real good serial stuff. this is the stuff the PT was lacking for me.

It's funny, but even with the limited tech in 1983, ROTJ still has the best vehicle chase and the best space battle.


Now about the Ewoks. Well I grew up with them. I was 5 when I saw the movie so they don't bother as much as they do other people. Don't get me wrong, as I've gotten older, I think it would've been cooler if they were Wookies and they weren't able to defeat stormtroopers and AT-ST's so easily. But oh well.

 

I thouroughly enjoy and adore all of the original trilogy movies, but I like ESB a tad more. I felt that ROTJ had too much of the action flick element in it, but I still think the movie rocks. I guess I have sophisticated taste for a 14 year old......

 

Actually, even as an 11 year old I preferred Empire over Jedi. I loved them all equally on their own merits, but Empire was my favorite.

 

>> I'd disagree- TPM has next to nothing in terms of over-arching plot for the saga (with only Palpatine's chancellory and the discovery of Anakin being the only two events of any significance- contrats that to ESB where we have Luke training as a Jedi, disocvering Ben's ghost and Yoda, Luke finding out Vader is his father, introducing Lando and the Falcon's backstory, Han and Leia, etc). Heck, by Lucas's own admission, TPM and AOTC's contents were only 20% relevant to the saga, with the rest being filler.

(though I think he overestinates TPM's relevancy to the saga since it has next to none). <<

I'd disagree further-TPM introduces Anakin's love interest, Luke Leia's mother, it also features the death of the only Jedi Knight who could have kept Anakin from turning evil thereby creating the future dynamic, and it establishes Anakin's status as a slave which further leads to his eventual turn.


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Not me..I'm 33 now, and ESB was instantly my favorite. I loved the fact that it was the first movie I ever saw that the bad guys "won"..I was totally amazed by Yoda..there was more Han Solo and Vader, who were my favorites..ROTJ had sections that were great, but didn't compare to either ANH or ESB to me, even back then.

 

Which, like many of the character introductions in TPM, is fully negated by th span of time between TPM and AOTC to the point where the characters are so radically different that they are all reintroduced in AOTC anyways, thereby rendering TPM's introductions redundant and irrelevant.

>>it also features the death of the only Jedi Knight who could have kept Anakin from turning evil thereby creating the future dynamic<<

>> Though I'll grant Qui-Gon is important in the saga to a small degree since he sets up the Jedi ghost ability in the background of the main plot of the prequels, it's a small detail practically addressed after the fact in ROTS. <<

He was also the only Jedi who believed in the "Living Force," meaning the transcending of death, which, if he'd lived, he might have taught Anakin. If Nakin had known that secret, kept from him by Yopda apparently, he would not have felt the need to conquer death through the Dark Side. Qui-Gon is also the only Jedi who stood up to the Jedi order, thereby making me a different kind of role model for young Anakin and showing him that he could disagree without becoming evil.

>>I disagree that Qui-Gon was the only Jedi that could have hept Anakin from turning- as Obi-wan holds that role too (which is why Palpatine had to get them apart by having Obi go after Grievous).
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Eventually, because Anakin saw Obi-Wan as a brother, he would have made his own mind up and turned. Qui-Gon was a father figure, something he'd never had.

>>I fail to see how his former slave status plays any significant part in his turn- his nightmares and death of his mother, combined with the love story established in AOTC are what causes his turn. <<

A large part of Anakin's psychology comes from his days as a slave. His inability to form decisions, his willingness to be a pawn for Jedi and Sith, his lackey status in the Empire.
HIs sense of injustice and desire to control and change these things through whatever means necessary-it's obvious.


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Pardon the typos, I'm at work.

 

I'm 15 and had a similar experience. I first saw the trilogy when I was 7. RotJ was my favorite. When I was around 12ish I changed my mind and now love ESB.

Warrior_of_Mandalore Strikes Again!