More than I realized. As a kid, my favorite of the original trilogy was ROTJ. It had everything - an opening where the heroes got vengeance on a big slug, there was a dramatic-looking Death Star, speeder bikes, and force lightning.
My father told me (years later), how much some folks hated it for some of the same things. Rehashing the Death Star, Han accidentally killing Boba Fett (this hyped up bounty hunter that in the previous movie was clever and even mouthed off to Vader himself), Ewoks being cuddly teddy bears with janky traps, Leia being yet another Skywalker out of nowhere…basically, a lot of the same goofy shit people railed on George for in the prequels (myself included: since these conversations with my dad came up because I was a teenager complaining about Jar Jar, Yoda ping ponging around, etc.).
Later I saw that plenty of folks complained about ESB being moodier, the “No, I am your father” being a twist out of nowhere and dramatically undermining Obi-Wan’s character by his being dishonest. Some of the same “canon-breaking” retcons that we all complain about today.
Granted…I still love ROTJ despite its flaws, and while I never enjoyed the prequels as much as a lot of folks, I find them endearing in an odd kind of way. The Sequel Trilogy less so, but there’s a few bright spots.
Basically, I wonder what the reception of the movies would have been if we had the internet then, and especially if we had engagement-based algorithms driving things, which does such a great job of amplifying hate.
Hate might be too strong of a word but I remember how 12-year-old-me found them hard to watch because their special effects looked dated in comparison to the prequels’.
Star Wars is a long cycle of really really really cool concepts and really really really shit execution of putting those concepts on screen. People have disliked pretty much every iteration of SW for some reason or another, and it’s usually defensible. Boils down to suspension of disbelief and ‘to each their own’
I grew up kinda between the originals and prequels, and often found the originals were paced too slow and the whole ewok thing stood out as stupid as fuck even to my 8-ish year old brain; but there was more to like than dislike, so I was fan overall.
Then the prequels come out. Jar Jar used to be what killed it for me, but then the ‘darth’ Jar Jar fan theory came out, and if you watch his character through that lens it’s not quite as bad. I’m 100% sold on that being the original intent with Jar Jar, but then they backed off after so many people fucking hated him in Ep1, and just left him alone as a bumbling idiot and nothing more.
Then the sequels came out and the writing was absolute shit. SW followed that trend for a while, kinda felt like the franchise was dead in the water, existing only as a cash grab… until Rogue One came out, and then Andor, which are both fucking masterpieces.
He was good at overarching plots which is why the prequels are solid in that regard, they got planned in advance. He falters when it comes to smaller plot moments that drive the characters and the audience to follow the overarching plot, the stunted dialog etc.
There’s quite a lot of reviews and comments from the time hating ESB (a muppet as a spiritual guide? Contrived twist!) and RotJ (too cheesy! Just an excuse to sell toys!).
Who ever hated the original films?
More than I realized. As a kid, my favorite of the original trilogy was ROTJ. It had everything - an opening where the heroes got vengeance on a big slug, there was a dramatic-looking Death Star, speeder bikes, and force lightning.
My father told me (years later), how much some folks hated it for some of the same things. Rehashing the Death Star, Han accidentally killing Boba Fett (this hyped up bounty hunter that in the previous movie was clever and even mouthed off to Vader himself), Ewoks being cuddly teddy bears with janky traps, Leia being yet another Skywalker out of nowhere…basically, a lot of the same goofy shit people railed on George for in the prequels (myself included: since these conversations with my dad came up because I was a teenager complaining about Jar Jar, Yoda ping ponging around, etc.).
Later I saw that plenty of folks complained about ESB being moodier, the “No, I am your father” being a twist out of nowhere and dramatically undermining Obi-Wan’s character by his being dishonest. Some of the same “canon-breaking” retcons that we all complain about today.
Granted…I still love ROTJ despite its flaws, and while I never enjoyed the prequels as much as a lot of folks, I find them endearing in an odd kind of way. The Sequel Trilogy less so, but there’s a few bright spots.
Basically, I wonder what the reception of the movies would have been if we had the internet then, and especially if we had engagement-based algorithms driving things, which does such a great job of amplifying hate.
The amount of slop disney puts out and the fans peddle and push into every damn game and internet space is making me slowly dislike them too.
Star wars is inescapable and it is exhausting.
Hate might be too strong of a word but I remember how 12-year-old-me found them hard to watch because their special effects looked dated in comparison to the prequels’.
I personally find the effects from the original trilogy easier to still watch today than the effects in the prequels.
Star Wars is a long cycle of really really really cool concepts and really really really shit execution of putting those concepts on screen. People have disliked pretty much every iteration of SW for some reason or another, and it’s usually defensible. Boils down to suspension of disbelief and ‘to each their own’
I grew up kinda between the originals and prequels, and often found the originals were paced too slow and the whole ewok thing stood out as stupid as fuck even to my 8-ish year old brain; but there was more to like than dislike, so I was fan overall.
Then the prequels come out. Jar Jar used to be what killed it for me, but then the ‘darth’ Jar Jar fan theory came out, and if you watch his character through that lens it’s not quite as bad. I’m 100% sold on that being the original intent with Jar Jar, but then they backed off after so many people fucking hated him in Ep1, and just left him alone as a bumbling idiot and nothing more.
Then the sequels came out and the writing was absolute shit. SW followed that trend for a while, kinda felt like the franchise was dead in the water, existing only as a cash grab… until Rogue One came out, and then Andor, which are both fucking masterpieces.
George Lucas is a genius merchandiser and fun-maker, and things like “cohesion” and “plot” are left for everyone else to figure out.
He was good at overarching plots which is why the prequels are solid in that regard, they got planned in advance. He falters when it comes to smaller plot moments that drive the characters and the audience to follow the overarching plot, the stunted dialog etc.
“Jaws was never my scene and i don’t like star wars”
~ Freddie Mercury
Freddie was more of a Flash Gordon guy.
Damn, what a soundtrack!
There’s quite a lot of reviews and comments from the time hating ESB (a muppet as a spiritual guide? Contrived twist!) and RotJ (too cheesy! Just an excuse to sell toys!).
I don’t hate them, but I don’t think they are all that great tbh.
I don’t like them, even though I’ve tried to like them by watching them multiple times.
Having said that, I honestly think rouge one is a solid movie, and ironically that’s the least star wars movie from all the series.