Some Idle Thoughts on the Original Star Wars Trilogy

I’ve been saying for months now that I planned on watching the original trilogy of Star Wars…and I’ve finally done it! I’m ridiculously proud of myself for finally watching such an iconic, classic piece of storytelling.

And look, I’ll be honest with you guys, it wasn’t my favourite thing ever. None of the movies are going to make my top ten. But it was pretty satisfying. The storytelling of the trilogy is solid and I can see why its used as a classic example of a lot of tropes. Star Wars basically embodies the coming-of-age story.

Anyway, I thought I’d do a casual, conversational post in which I list, in bullet point form, the good, the bad, and the I-really-just-didn’t-understand-please-someone-explain, of the original trilogy.

A New Hope

• For the interest of all, I had already seen Rogue One some time before seeing A New Hope. Rogue One is really good, but there are some things here that don’t quite line up.
• Why is Luke (a pretty-much grown man) playing with toys when he should be doing actual work? I mean, surely he has actual work to do?
• “He TRICKED me into going this way!”
• Where does the food on Tatooine come from? There’s nothing but sand there, it seems. Do they have to import it? If so, what do they trade for? I don’t know, but I’m curious.
• Every planet has one–just one–habitat. That really bugs me.
• Luke’s accent, his aunty’s habits of speech, and the general landscape are taking me back to my Little House on the Prairie TV show childhood.
• You Americans probably don’t know this, but everything in this movie is so American.
• Obi-Wan died even quicker than I thought he did.
• Darth Vadar doesn’t sound the way I thought he would (for your information, I watched a clip of Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens, and that’s how I imagined Vadar sounding).
• James Earl Jones is awesome though. Despite the fact that I was expecting a more mechanical sound to Vadar’s voice, I can’t really imagine him sounding like anything else now.
• Its Han Solo, not Hans Solo or Hansolo.
• 
• It’s also Han (to rhyme with can) not Hahn (to rhyme with darn). The Hahn pronounciation is the product of the Australian accent, I think (it’s also an Aussie beer…*shrugs*)
• Chewbacca and Han are exactly like my dog and me. (Hugo: *arroo roo arroof!* Me: Yeah, good point.)

The Empire Strikes Back

• I mean, I already knew that Vadar was Luke’s father and all that, but that scene was pretty disappointing.
• “Hey guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?”
• Ah, look, Kermit the Frog it is!
• Seriously though, Yoda sounds like Kermit

• 

  What the heck does that mean, Yoda?

• “Sir, it is very possible this asteroid is not stable”.
• I did notice the general quality of the movie has gone up since the first one. I’ve heard A New Hope was made on a very tight budget, so that probably explains it.
• “The first one looked like a child’s dress up party. The second one looked like an adult’s dress up party. The third one looked like a comic con.” << My brother.
• “I know”
• Luke’s character is still very immature and he’s still way too hotheaded for my liking. Him rushing off into danger and falling right into Darth Vader’s trap really annoyed me, because it seems so obvious. And yet, Luke is so ridiculously eager to prove himself a hero that he goes against Yoda’s advice and does it anyway. Characters like this always get on my nerves because they just don’t seem to have any brain.
• That whole carbonite scene actually disturbed me.
• A finally, a lightsaber duel! This is the kind of quality entertainment I’m here for. Why did I have to wait so long?
• 
• Pretty depressing ending.
• This was my least favourite movie and seemed to go on and on and on. I was bored for a good majority.

The Return of the Jedi

• Back to Yoda.
• Wait, Yoda’s wearing a dressing gown.
• So far, this film series has committed a deed done by none other. George Lucas has killed, not one, but two mentors.
• Look, I’m going to be controversial here. I really don’t think Luke and Leia should have been siblings. It came across to me as a cheap move executed in order to a) remove the love triangle and b) tie up the dangling thread about the missing sister. But really, I don’t see any need for it at all and kinda doesn’t make sense. You can fight me on this if you’d like, but I doubt I’ll change my mind.
• “It’s against my programming to impersonate a deity”
• I cannot express my loathing for that metal bikini. No wonder Leia strangled Jabba, that’s what I’d do too.
• “Wonderful. We are now part of the tribe.” “Just what I always wanted.”
• I really like the scene where Luke walks into Jabba the Hutt’s lair with his hood up and speaking like a mysterious mentor in a fantasy novel.
• 
• “There’s nothing to see, I used to live here, you know.” “You’re going to die here, you know. Convenient.”
• Actually, Luke’s mostly black outfits in this movie are much better than the baggy white dress he was wearing in the other two. I highly approve of heroes that wear black.
• Darth Vader is the coolest villain though. And they did a good job on his redemption arc.

In Conclusion,

I didn’t hate Star Wars. But is it up there with The Lord of the Rings? Not in my opinion. I’m also not really sure how it got catapulted to the cult-following movie franchise it is now. But there’s no denying that they are a good movie. It hits all the right plot beats and it flows well, even if the ending feels a little bit rushed and out of placed.

I’m not joining the Star Wars fanatics any time soon (but I really need to see Rogue One again, because its going to make so much more sense now). But I did genuinely enjoy watching these, and I love being able to understand all the references now.

How about you guys? Have you seen Star Wars? Who’s your favourite character? Do you recommend seeing the prequels and/or sequels? And is there anyone who enjoyed Rogue One more than the original trilogy?