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

I am 26 and I don't understand the hate for ROTJ. I love all star wars films equally, I see all episodes as 1 saga.

 

TPM has next to nothing in terms of over-arching plot for the saga

You've got to be kidding me. Or yourself.

 

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.

Well I have to disagree there a little. If Anakin would have known the "secret" of the ghost thing he still would have needed a way to save Padme since the force ghost aparently can only be achieved by very skilled jedi.

 

*yawn* Oh, here we go again.

It's a bit pointless to name one age group more likely to prefer something more than the other. I like ROTJ, but only the second half. As I got older, I started to see its flaws more, though I think its emotional pay off is only matched by few other movies in the saga. I like ESB, but I don't adore it like some people do. My taste for ROTJ lessened as I started to see the flaws behind some of the story-telling, though it still has its place in my heart as my favorite episode with Luke Skywalker in it. Both ROTJ and ESB are last on my list of favorites, actually, and that has little to do with the quality of the movie. I simply don't enjoy them as much as I did.

People are just going to prefer different movies no matter their age, generation, or experience.

 

Name ONE important saga plotpoint in ESB that you wouldn't get without the other episodes. Basically it's just a chase across the galaxy.

In order of importance to the saga plot, I'd rank the episodes like this:

ROTJ
ROTS
TPM
ANH
AOTC
ESB

But this bickering is pointless. They're all great movies.

 

I used to think I liked ROTJ more than ESB but now I'm not sure. I just watched ROTJ a few days ago and ESB about a week ago. I feel that the end of ROTJ, with the battle between Luke and Vader and Vader killing Palpatine and becoming Anakin again and then dying and all that, is the best part of all the Star Wars movies and that alone is why I love ROTJ so much. But I found myself sort of unimpressed with the Jabba stuff, and the Ewok stuff went reallllly slow and got in the way of the Vader/Luke battle and the Rebels blowing up the Death Star. I also thought the Rebels blowing up the Death Star happened too quickly once the shields went down. ESB is a more consistent movie, it really is perfect. However, no other Star Wars movie has the emotional effect that ROTJ does. ROTJ would easily be the best with some better editing. It was ten minutes longer than ANH, so surely the Ewok stuff could have been trimmed down. And the corny celebration ending, I didn't like it. Although I did like seeing the ghosts of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda. So now I think ESB is better than Jedi, but for me, ROTJ has the best part of all the Star Wars movies.

 

>> Disagree again- he is fairly decisive and quick to take action, and he's hardly willing to be a pawn- he may be used as one by others, but it is not a willful thing on his part (until he becomes Vader, at least). <<

You missed my point. He doesn't have to be willing, he is still pyschologically pre-disposed toward slavery and/or indentured servitude.

 

Old habits die hard. Plus he's always served SOMEBODY. A slave serving his owner, a Jedi serving the Order, a Sith serving his master...

 

<--- 31, but "Empire" has always been my favorite. I felt it had the most character growth, best story, musical score and cinematography, plus I like the snow, cold weather, blacks, greys and dark tones.

 

Actually, I've done a 180 in the other direction. I used to think of ESB as the better of those two films, but now I tend to like ROTJ a little more. Having said that, the two films are really quite seamless; it's almost like saying you prefer your right foot over your left foot.

 

The2ndQuest: I see nothing in your list that I can't infer from ROTJ, but I think this line illustrates the core of our dispute:

"I am your father"

This is established in ROTS now. The chronological Star Wars saga shifts around the introduction of concepts, placing the emphasis on set-up in the PT, and pay-off in the OT. It makes you redefine the movies you've taken for granted, which was my initial point.

 

But the revelation is still significant from Luke's perspective

I certainly agree there. I'm not trying to downplay ESB's importance in any way, just trying to illustrate that it's function in the saga is different from it's function in the OT.

Actually I think it only got better, it lost some impact but gained a lot of resonance.

 

My experience is that everyone I know loves Empire. This is been the case when I was a teenager and now at 25 year with friends who are younger and older than me.

 

My favorite has always been Return of the Jedi though Empire is at times a VERY close second.

 

I usually don't really rate which one I like better between RotJ and ESB, all I know is that they're my 2 favourites out of all 6. However, when I was a lot younger my favourite was RotJ. I wouldn't exactly go with the age groups you've said, as I'm not in the late 20's/early 30's age group(19), but I will say that as I got a bit older I started leaning a bit more towards ESB. Now though, I pretty much just consider them the 2 best in no particular order. Each has it's plus side for me: ESB has the best Vader lines, and as a whole movie is somewhat better, while RotJ has the best in space battle scene, and also has my single favourite scene in the entire saga, which is the final battle between Luke and Vader with the absolutely amazing choir in the background, so nowadays watching either one is equally entertaining.

I think ANH is actually a better representation of a movie that people like as they get older. When your young, unless you were a kid in the 70's when it came out, it's very slow and occaisonally downright boring. Once you get a little older though, that seems to change with a lot of people, as they suddenly appreciate how good of a movie it is, and that a movie doesn't have to have constant action in order to be entertaining.

 

I agree with that. I always liked ANH when I was young especially the Death Star bits. Now I can watch and appreciate the brilliant filmmaking of George back in 75. Star Wars had more SciFi elements to it with the droids on Tatoonie. It really felt like a realy alien world without gimmicks. The Tatoonie in the PT is ok, but now he's carried away with showing CGI creatures, it doesn't feel as real - like you could visit the planet anymore.

 

while most star wars fans will tell you that ESB is their favorite, a random person who has seen the movies but isnt a huge fan will say they like ROTJ.

I like ESB because the Dagobah scenes and the emotion of the duel. The best scenes in all of star wars films could be the vader emperor luke ones though.

ESB is much better though, as far as i am concerned

 

I agree completely. I dont know why everyone picks on ROTJ, and says that ANH and ESB are so much better than it, I rekon ROTJ is the best of the OT. I mean sure, the ewoks are kinda childish, but every SW movie has its slight flaws or faults if you want to call them that. But ROTJ has some of the best scenes in the whole SW saga IMHO( The Space Battle, The final duel, The Emporer, The unmasking of vader, etc.) But at the end of the day its what you like, not what other people think. I personally dont even rank the SW movies any more, I simply cant, because each movie different things that I love about them.

 

TESB is great but its not better then ROTJ.

 

Is this thread supposed to be some huge revelation for SW fans?

The way it's titled, I thought it was saying, "Once you get older, you'll love RotJ more than ESB".