Retro Reviews & More

This post will be a spinoff of sorts of "Into the Fray". There is enough debate in the subject matter for it to be similar, but also different enough since the goal is not to declare a definitive winner. Akin to "Into the Fray," there are contenders, but dissimilarly there is not criteria to choose them. They simply are, and there are more than four. It could be measurable by another set of criteria, but which is best really depends on objective. Still, some common criteria are inevitable. Star Wars: The  Watch Order Debate Star Wars has a public history of nearly fifty years, with the novelization of the first film predating even it by around seven months. To date, there have been twelve films theatrically released, eleven of them live-action (plus another scheduled to release shortly). Since the single fully animated movie, The Clone Wars , was actually a big screen pilot for the small screen series of the same name, we are only looking at the live-action films. L...

STAR WARS Parallels Welcome to the final post of  Star Wars : Parallels. The previous three have been by episode, beginning with those in the first position of each trilogy, then the middle , and finally the third and final . I feel it appropriate to once again quote George Lucas regarding his approach to the prequel trilogy. "It's like poetry, it rhymes." Like it or not, that is a near perfect way to analyze moments that may seem repetitive but are in fact derivative of each other. Sometimes these moments align differently by position in each trilogy, and some may even occur within the same trilogy from time to time. This is the type that is today's subject. As always, some parallel and yet may contrast.  [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy,  ANH :  A New Hope ,  TESB :  The Empire Strikes Back ,  ROTJ :  Return of the Jedi ,  TPM :  The Phantom Menace ,  AOTC :  Attack of the Clones , ...

STAR WARS Parallels For the past two weeks, it's been all about "poetry and rhymes" (parallels) in the Star Wars saga, episode by episode of each trilogy. The first is appropriately about the first episode of each, and the second about the second , and this is the third about the final episode of each trilogy. Reminder once again and particularly in this positional sequence, these moments can contrast each other. [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy,  ANH :  A New Hope ,  TESB :  The Empire Strikes Back ,  ROTJ :  Return of the Jedi ,  TPM :  The Phantom Menace ,  AOTC :  Attack of the Clones ,  ROTS :  Revenge of the Sith ,  TFA :  The Force Awakens ,  TLJ :  The Last Jedi ,  TR OS :  The Rise of Skywalker ] Position III (Episodes VI, III, IX) Title:  Episode VI is subtitled  Return of the Jedi , Episode III is subtitled  Revenge of the Sith , an...

STAR WARS Parallels The subject last week was parallels among the first episode  of each Star Wars trilogy. The gist of the goal of this series is taking George Lucas' quote from behind the scenes of the first prequel, The Phantom Menace , "It's like poetry, it rhymes," and applying it liberally to all three trilogies. This is part two about the second episode of each trilogy and please recall, some things contrast. [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy,  ANH :  A New Hope ,  TESB :  The Empire Strikes Back ,  ROTJ :  Return of the Jedi ,  TPM :  The Phantom Menace ,  AOTC :  Attack of the Clones ,  ROTS :  Revenge of the Sith ,  TFA :  The Force Awakens ,  TLJ :  The Last Jedi ,  TR OS :  The Rise of Skywalker ] Position II (Episodes V, II, VIII) Title: Episode V is subtitled The Empire Strikes Back and Episode II is subtitled Attack of the Clones . Both conta...

STAR WARS Parallels "It's like poetry, it rhymes," is a famous, or infamous depending on your point of view, quote from Star Wars creator, George Lucas, during behind-the-scenes footage of The Phantom Menace . Regardless of your feelings towards that statement, it is indeed the approach he took with the prequel trilogy of films. The endeavor I am taking here is to attempt to draw some parallels between each of the trilogies. Mostly, this will be comparison by episodic position, but there will be others that are "out of position" later and some contrasts along the way, as well.  [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy,  ANH :  A New Hope ,  TESB :  The Empire Strikes Back ,  ROTJ :  Return of the Jedi ,  TPM :  The Phantom Menace ,  AOTC :  Attack of the Clones ,  ROTS :  Revenge of the Sith ,  TFA :  The Force Awakens ,  TLJ :  The Last Jedi ,  TR OS :  The Rise ...

STAR WARS Continuity Theories After reviewing all three trilogies (start here ), the timing is right for this post. To date, the Star Wars franchise includes eleven live action films, one animated film, and several  animated and live action  television series, each consisting of a number of seasons ranging from one to seven. These make up the canon Disney established shortly after acquiring of LucasFilm in 2012  and have created  since. With such a large volume spanning nearly five decades (and more to come), there are bound to be some instances of broken and questionable continuity. The six original George Lucas-era films have particularly been the source of much internal debate and shared what if's and could be's for anyone that would listen and the genesis of my proclivity to form film theories. Before I get into it, a couple of things to note: 1. If any explanation has been offered in media outside the films and series, I am not considering these because the main...

STAR WARS   A +/- Review of the Original Trilogy So...I have experienced a renewal in interest in Star Wars . Blame it on somewhat recently acquired access to be able to replay the best Star Wars video game ever made, Knights of the Old Republic , not to mention its sequel and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga . (We got a Nintendo Switch after I sold off my fairly extensive game libraries for my NES and SNES, the consoles, etc., and this may explain why my blog posts have become much less frequent :D) That latter game covers all three film trilogies with a completely different take on the material it shares with its predecessors, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens , which brings us to the subject of the day. Inspired to rewatch the films ( for the countless time for all but the sequel trilogy), I have also endeavored to review each trilogy at a time in the +/- format I previously used for Terminator : The Threequels . One thing that has always ...