Concerted analysis of Star Wars: Old Trilogy vs. New Trilogy

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1

So, like, I’m kinda a Star Wars nut. I’ve watched every movie more than a few times in my years.

Well, I’ve got a hypothesis, but I want to ask a group a people a group of questions before I divulge the hypothesis. I fear knowledge of the hypothesis before the asking of the questions might affect the answers.

So if anyone bites, I appreciate it. I’m going to tally the results into basic categories, and do an amateur statistical analysis, then divulge the hypothesis, and whether the results aid my hypothesis or show it to be completely useless.

You’ll have to send the results to me in my ilovephilosophy.com messagebox, so that your answers don’t affect the answers of people who answer after you. When I explain the hypothesis, I’ll post all of the messages with usernames. That way everyone can check my math if they so choose, and make sure their votes were recorded accurately. [Florida, take note.]

At any rate, here goes:

THE BASICS

  1. Are you male or female?

  2. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies in the theaters?

  3. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies at your home?

  4. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies at someone else’s home?

  5. Are you a Star Wars nut? Yes or No.

SCENE COMPARISON QUESTIONS
Do not think of your favorite or least favorite scenes here. I just want your honest opinion or gut extinct when comparing the scenes in question.

  1. Which scene is better?
    The destruction of Death Star I.
    The destruction of Death Star II.

  2. Why is the scene you chose better? Explain it on any level.

  3. Which scene is better?
    Han Solo drawing his weapon, and firing at Darth Vader.
    Obi-Wan Kenobi slicing Darth Maul in half.

  4. Which set of scenes is better?
    The kissing scenes of Amidala and Anakin.
    The kissing scences of Han and Leia.

  5. Put these in descending order of relative coolness. Please note if you can’t remember all of the movie scenes listed.
    Queen Amidala’s ship going into hyperspace,
    Obi-wan Kenobi’s starfighter going into hyperpace,
    The Millennium Falcon going into hyperspace,
    Luke Skywalker’s X-wing going into hyperspace,
    The first scene showing Death Star II.

CHARACTER COMPARISON

  1. Who’s your favorite Star Wars character?

  2. What’s your favorite Star Wars weapon?

  3. What’s your favorite Star Wars ship or other vehicle?

  4. Put these characters in order of most interesting down to least interesting:
    Princess Leia
    Yoda
    Count Dooku
    Anakin Skywalker
    Boba Fett
    Senator Amidala
    Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
    Darth Vader
    Obi-Wan Kenobi
    The Emperor
    Jango Fett
    R2D2

  5. Is there a character that deserves to be somewhere within the best and least of the list above? Quick answer as to why.

PLOT AWARENESS

  1. Do you care about the fate of the Empire?

  2. Do you care about the fate of the Republic?

  3. Do you care about the fate of Darth Vader?

  4. Do you care about the fate of Anakin Skywalker?

  5. What group leads the resistance to the Republic?

  6. What group leads the resistance to the Empire?

  7. Do you know who is behind all of the evil in the new trilogy? What is her or his name?

  8. Do you know who is behind all of the evil in the old trilogy? What is her or his name?

  9. Which songs do you know well enough to hum at least a measure or two?
    a) Across the Stars
    b) Imperial March
    c) Scrolling Title Theme
    d) Battle of Endor Celebration
    e) Duel of the Fates

That’s all. Thanks for any biters.

2

THE BASICS

  1. Are you male or female? female biological classification

  2. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies in the theaters? twice. im a late fan. i hate the prequels.

  3. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies at your home? at least a hundred or more times

  4. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies at someone else’s home? never. my home. my tv.

  5. Are you a Star Wars nut? Yes or No. im not a food, im an appliance. im a fan.

SCENE COMPARISON QUESTIONS
Do not think of your favorite or least favorite scenes here. I just want your honest opinion or gut extinct when comparing the scenes in question.

  1. Which scene is better?
    The destruction of Death Star I.

  2. Why is the scene you chose better? Explain it on any level.
    young luke. x wing. obi wan’s voice. han’s reappearance. priceless.

  3. Which scene is better?
    Han Solo drawing his weapon, and firing at Darth Vader.
    always amazing… who else has the guts? and oh the deflection is also always priceless…

  4. Which set of scenes is better?
    The kissing scences of Han and Leia.
    “i love you”… “i know” beats anakin’s soap opera lines anyday…

  5. Put these in descending order of relative coolness. Please note if you can’t remember all of the movie scenes listed.
    Luke Skywalker’s X-wing going into hyperspace, -->coolest
    The Millennium Falcon going into hyperspace,
    The first scene showing Death Star II.
    Obi-wan Kenobi’s starfighter going into hyperpace,
    Queen Amidala’s ship going into hyperspace, least cool.

CHARACTER COMPARISON

  1. Who’s your favorite Star Wars character?
    luke skywalker

  2. What’s your favorite Star Wars weapon?
    the force. :wink: okay. darth maul’s light saber

  3. What’s your favorite Star Wars ship or other vehicle?
    X wing and of course, the falcon. pod racers are useless.

  4. Put these characters in order of most interesting down to least interesting:
    Yoda THE philosopher
    Darth Vader
    Boba Fett
    Princess Leia
    R2D2
    Obi-Wan Kenobi
    Anakin Skywalker
    The Emperor
    Senator Amidala (jello compared to fiesty leia.)
    Supreme Chancellor Palpatine ( basically, the emperor yeah)
    Jango Fett (stupid character this one but at least, a cool costume)
    Count Dooku (dumb name. one dimensional character)

  5. Is there a character that deserves to be somewhere within the best and least of the list above? Quick answer as to why.
    come on! luke skywalker… han solo. lando. wedge antilles. moff tarkin. darth maul. darth sideous. qui gon.

PLOT AWARENESS

  1. Do you care about the fate of the Empire? yes

  2. Do you care about the fate of the Republic? yes

  3. Do you care about the fate of Darth Vader? yes

  4. Do you care about the fate of Anakin Skywalker? well we ALL know what happens to him…

  5. What group leads the resistance to the Republic? eh… the empire?

  6. What group leads the resistance to the Empire? the rebel alliance

  7. Do you know who is behind all of the evil in the new trilogy? What is her or his name? eek. darth sideous? palpatine?

  8. Do you know who is behind all of the evil in the old trilogy? What is her or his name? the emperor palpatine.

  9. Which songs do you know well enough to hum at least a measure or two?
    a) Across the Stars ?
    b) Imperial March bam bam babababam bam babababam
    c) Scrolling Title Theme . DA DAA dadada DAAA da dadada DAAA da dadada DA.
    d) Battle of Endor Celebration the one with the ewoks. ill never hum that.
    e) Duel of the Fates dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dadadum.

may the force be with you… i hate the prequels, can you tell?

3

Err. Thanks for the answers. You sort of… ruined… the validity of any answers hereafter by exposing your own opinions for someone to read before they answer.

It was my intention to get gut reactions by subjects without hearing or reading recent opinions on the subject matter: to cancel out or lessen the Popular Opinion Effect.

Thanks anyway. Answers have been logged.

4

Alright I’ve got 3 responses. I’ll need at least 20 before I can do any work. Please contribute.

It’ll be fun guys.
I swear.
I’ll bring the comb.

5

THE BASICS

  1. Are you male or female? [i]Lady[/] Sphinx, by definition…

  2. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies in the theaters? 2

  3. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies at your home? 15

  4. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies at someone else’s home? 0

  5. Are you a Star Wars nut? Yes

SCENE COMPARISON QUESTIONS
Do not think of your favorite or least favorite scenes here. I just want your honest opinion or gut extinct when comparing the scenes in question.

  1. Which scene is better?
    The destruction of Death Star I.
    The destruction of Death Star II.

  2. Why is the scene you chose better? Explain it on any level.
    Because the emperor dies. Duh. And it’s a closer call.

  3. Which scene is better?
    Han Solo drawing his weapon, and firing at Darth Vader.
    Obi-Wan Kenobi slicing Darth Maul in half.

  4. Which set of scenes is better?
    The kissing scenes of Amidala and Anakin.
    The kissing scences of Han and Leia.

  5. Put these in descending order of relative coolness. Please note if you can’t remember all of the movie scenes listed.

  1. Queen Amidala’s ship going into hyperspace,
  2. Obi-wan Kenobi’s starfighter going into hyperpace,
  3. The Millennium Falcon going into hyperspace,
  4. Luke Skywalker’s X-wing going into hyperspace,
  5. The first scene showing Death Star II.

CHARACTER COMPARISON

  1. Who’s your favorite Star Wars character? Mara Jade

  2. What’s your favorite Star Wars weapon? green lightsaber

  3. What’s your favorite Star Wars ship or other vehicle? Slave Trader 4

  4. Put these characters in order of most interesting down to least interesting:

  1. Princess Leia
  2. Yoda
  3. Count Dooku
  4. Anakin Skywalker
  5. Boba Fett
  6. Senator Amidala
  7. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
  8. Darth Vader
  9. Obi-Wan Kenobi
  10. The Emperor
  11. Jango Fett
  12. R2D2

  1. Is there a character that deserves to be somewhere within the best and least of the list above? Quick answer as to why.
    Luke Skywalker because he’s cute. :laughing:
    PLOT AWARENESS

  2. Do you care about the fate of the Empire? no

  3. Do you care about the fate of the Republic? yes

  4. Do you care about the fate of Darth Vader? yes…hopes he turns back into anakin skywalker

  5. Do you care about the fate of Anakin Skywalker? yes

  6. What group leads the resistance to the Republic? trade federation?

  7. What group leads the resistance to the Empire? rebel alliance

  8. Do you know who is behind all of the evil in the new trilogy? What is her or his name? palpatine

  9. Do you know who is behind all of the evil in the old trilogy? What is her or his name? palpatine

  10. Which songs do you know well enough to hum at least a measure or two?
    a) Across the Stars
    b) Imperial March
    c) Scrolling Title Theme
    d) Battle of Endor Celebration

6

And here I thought I wouldn’t get any more submissions… thanks. I only have 7 so far after 2 months. [insert shrug].

And you answered Mara Jade to one. You ARE a nut. The Thrawn trilogy was pretty good.

7

I don’t mean to offend, but Star Wars is populist, unoriginal rubbish.

8

No offense taken. Your opinion makes little sense. Good luck trying to find a light saber anywhere preceding Star Wars in film, and your personal definition of populist suits only yourself. If you apply the real definitions of populist, your opinion makes less sense.

It’s okay to not like something, but you might like to use your reason to attack it, and not any discombobulated emotions you might be harboring inside your head.

9

Umm…Swords? Star Wars is a space opera and a space opera in the '70s which makes it even more unoriginal. Let’s not forget that the Star Wars universe is plagiarised from Asimov, a fact Asimov endorsed in several interviews.
Populist, well, cinematic populist. A populist work is a work that is fairly low-brow and filled with cliches. Star Wars is the dictionary defination of artistic populism.

Uh, I reluctantly like Star Wars, so you’re accusing the wrong guy of ulterior motivations. Another thing I like, is the idea that Star Wars is enjoyable crud, and probably the most overrated film ever.

10

If light saber is to sword as unoriginal is to original… then what is original?

If a light saber reminds you of a sword.
And a sword reminds you of a stick.
And a stick reminds you of a bow.
And a bow reminds you of an arrow.
And an arrow reminds you of a missile.

Well, what is original?

11

Callinblough, and the six degrees of the lightsaber.

If you could do this with Kevin Bacon, I’d be impressed. :wink:

12

I was just following Metavoid’s lead. This thread is the most mundanedest of babble I’ve ever read. :confused:

13

I think you are being a bit cynical Metavoid, Star Wars is nothing like Asimov’s works, I can see the vague similarities but there it ends. And if you want to make those kind of objections, you can make the same ones against the Matrix.

If you don’t like sci-fi, fair enough, but to say that Star wars is some kind of populist rubbish, is like saying the Matrix is populist rubbish or the LOTRs is populist rubbish, etc., etc… The truth of the matter is it was such a big hit because it was so bloody good.

It’s like the charts, most of the time it’s full of rubbish, but occasionally something unconventionally good will hit the top spot.

14

So I was cruisin’… on the web. You know the deal. Click here, blue screen of death there, and I found something interesting. Apparently someone has beaten me to the punch on what I had in mind.

Well, not exactly. This link shows a site that did some analysis of Star Wars too. It includes comparisons with the other Hero’s Journey-type trilogies that have been around in the past few years: namely Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. It’s more cynical than what I have planned, but for any nuts out there, enjoy.

15

hey I know you want me to send it to you, but I figure that your poll is shot to hell now. And I want to put my two cents even though nobody buy you might read this.

THE BASICS

  1. Are you male or female? I’m male by chromosone.
  2. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies in the theaters? 4 times.
  3. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies at your home? WoW!!! two times a month since at least 1996, not counting the traditional Star Wars-a-thons that occur for my birthday and St. Patty’s day! roughly 225 times. So on average each installment 45 times.
  4. If you had to roughly guess, how many times have you seen the Star Wars movies at someone else’s home? Maybe, at best 70 - 80 times.
  5. Are you a Star Wars nut? Yes or No. oh yeah.

SCENE COMPARISON QUESTIONS
Do not think of your favorite or least favorite scenes here. I just want your honest opinion or gut extinct when comparing the scenes in question.

  1. Which scene is better?
    The destruction of Death Star I.
    The destruction of Death Star II.

The destruction of the first Death Star. Luke was still acting like a baby and you could only imagine how great that felt when Han came back to help him.

  1. Why is the scene you chose better? Explain it on any level.

ooops. I did that already. Mainly because that first victory was the momentum for the Alliances’ others.
3) Which scene is better?
Han Solo drawing his weapon, and firing at Darth Vader.
Obi-Wan Kenobi slicing Darth Maul in half.

agggh, Han Solo of course. Vader using the force to grab Solo’s weapon and acting like a diplomat was classic. And while that Maul vs Obi fight scene was one of the best in Star Wars, that death was sooooo cheap!
4) Which set of scenes is better?
The kissing scenes of Amidala and Anakin.
The kissing scences of Han and Leia.

Hmmmm. dunno. I’ll go for Amidala. (she is too fine!!!)
5) Put these in descending order of relative coolness. Please note if you can’t remember all of the movie scenes listed.

there you go :

Luke Skywalker’s X-wing going into hyperspace,
Queen Amidala’s ship going into hyperspace,
Obi-wan Kenobi’s starfighter going into hyperpace,
The Millennium Falcon going into hyperspace,
The first scene showing Death Star II.

CHARACTER COMPARISON

  1. Who’s your favorite Star Wars character? Damn, why are you making me choose. I’ll say friggin Yoda. Even though Vader is why I watch it.

  2. What’s your favorite Star Wars weapon? The Force.

  3. What’s your favorite Star Wars ship or other vehicle? X-wing

  4. Put these characters in order of most interesting down to least interesting:
    The Emperor
    Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
    Darth Vader
    Anakin Skywalker
    Yoda
    Boba Fett
    Senator Amidala
    Count Dooku
    Princess Leia
    Obi-Wan Kenobi
    R2D2
    Jango Fett

  5. Is there a character that deserves to be somewhere within the best and least of the list above? Quick answer as to why.

Jaba the Hutt.

PLOT AWARENESS

  1. Do you care about the fate of the Empire?
    Sort of. But if you ever read The Foundation Series, you know exactly what the Empire would have turned into.

  2. Do you care about the fate of the Republic?
    Yeah, in a way. After the destruction of the second Death Star, the new Republic has to put together an entire Galaxy under one rule. Reminds me alot of the United States in the late 18th century.

  3. Do you care about the fate of Darth Vader? But of course. He shouldn’t have died.

  4. Do you care about the fate of Anakin Skywalker? I know his fate.

  5. What group leads the resistance to the Republic? The old or new, remember there are books out there. The Sith I presume.

  6. What group leads the resistance to the Empire? The Rebol Alliance.

  7. Do you know who is behind all of the evil in the new trilogy? What is her or his name? Senator Palpatine, the Sith.

  8. Do you know who is behind all of the evil in the old trilogy? What is her or his name? Definilty the Empire and the Sith.

  9. Which songs do you know well enough to hum at least a measure or two?
    a) Across the Stars
    b) Imperial March
    c) Scrolling Title Theme
    d) Battle of Endor Celebration
    e) Duel of the Fates
    I have all the soundtracks, and I can humm you all the scores. I’m a sad freak. My fav’s are b and e.

Hey Callinblough, if you want you could try putting this same questionare at XXI Affiliates, there are a few Star Wars freaks there too. Or I could put it up, but I don’t like plagerizing. Put it under the NCC-1701D board.

16

I wasn’t an integrity violator, so I didn’t read the other answers before I did mine, so I just finished reading Jedi Pocky’s post.

LOL

:smiley:

Master Pocky, you are one of a kind. By far!!! You must admire a woman that could talk Star Wars with you.

i agree, the Pod Racers are cool for a video game, but otherwise it took up way too much time in that movie.

and I must say, I laughed my ass off when I read:

im not a food, im an appliance.

17

No problem Smooth. I’m going to retool this a little. Actually it’s been useful. What I’ve noticed is that people know the plot details inside and out of the old trilogy, but they’re hard-pressed to remember the new ones. I think it’s because old G.L. has lost his script-writing touch, and has turned to… well, crap. It’s not the dialogue alone. The dialogue can work. The problem is what he’s having the characters say and do. It doesn’t play nearly as well as the old trilogy, and that’s why I made this survey. I wanted to confirm that people are walking away from the new ones without having a clue as to what’s going on in the plot. I don’t blame them. I blame Lucas. Attack of the Clones was the best material, but worst script of them all.

But that doesn’t stop me from having hope for the last one…

Most people don’t even know who Darth Sidious is, regardless of how often he crops up in The Phantom Menace, and his brief appearance in Attack of the Clones. Oh they remember him when they’re reminded of him in a conversation, but he didn’t make enough of an impact to be milling about with most impressive of Star Wars qualitie in the memory. The reader’s emotional reaction to reading the words, “Death Star,” are usually more pronounced than when reading the words, “Darth Sidious.” This is supposed to be one of the central characters to the plot of the Republic changing into an Empire. But nobody remembers him. I see that as a miserable failure on Lucas’ part, and it had nothing to do with acting, or the over-reliance on computer graphics. Bad writing and bad editing. No doubt.

And people can’t identify the Separatists. They get close and mention members of the Separatists, but they don’t know the organization like they know the Rebel Alliance. The scenes were there, but they just didn’t resonate.

I look at these two things, and many others, as being clear indicators as to the specific points as to why the old trilogy is better than the new trilogy. But this only mentions a deficiency in tone and intensity. If you look further at the scenes themselves, and compare their counterpart in the old trilogy, you’ll find the acting much better in all scenes in the old trilogy. There are blank expressions abound in the new trilogy and no urgency in their voices, when they are immersed in situations that should be begging for urgency. In the old trilogy, you can even figure out what Chewbacca was thinking when he’s sitting alone in a detention cell.

Okay, sip your ice water. I’m not on the job full time. But I am a Star Wars nut, which means that anytime it pops up into me head, I think about it. I was initiated too young to separate it from my thoughts now. Blame me not!

18

I was actually a Trekkie first. And even though I saw bits and peices of Star Wars, I didn’t really know what was going on. I had seen spaceballs countless times and new certain things about Star Wars. Then for some reason or another I decided I wanted to be a Jedi. I was 14 or 15 then I watched the movies as if it was the first time I was introduced to it.

I tell you what. I was freaking shocked when I found out Leia and Luke were siblings. It didn’t resonate when Yoda said, “There is another…Sky…Walk…er…”