ok, I have to admit I wasn't the biggest fan of eps 1-3 but on repeated viewing - SWMBO wanted to see them (lord of the rings and now Star Wars...result) I can see how things fit together a little more subtley than on first viewing.

so for example at the end of ep 3, yoda says to obi wan I have contacted QGJ and I want you to train to contact him....links nicely to obi wan saying to Darth "if you strike me down I'll become more powerful..." etc etc and then he is able to "speak" to Luke and Yoda on Degobah....

episode three of 1-3 stands up to repeated viewing more than the others I reckon..although they are complicated films....

I just think seeing them again and kinda "explaining" what is going on to someone who "has never seen star wars!" opens up a few new avenues within the story...

anyone else find this?

They were not that bad, I thought. It had some utterly cringeworthy bits (that whole "sand is coarse, not like you" bks) but then so do a lot of films that every seems to think are great.

That's the trouble with what eps 1-3 do, they just screw the story. And turn Vader into a pussy whipped moron.

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/

Plinkett says it all.

Flame suit on - I think 1 to 2 are OK, 3 was great - but they all could have been great. Take the understandable hype out of it and they're pretty good films.

1 has some good scenes, Darth Maul made for a great character and the fight scene between him and the 2 Jedi was great. Ok spoilt by the Jar Jar thing and an overly cute Anikin - which I have no doubt were done so, to make it appeal to 5 year-olds and not just 20 something fans of the original films to sell more toys and lunch boxes - but you could say the same about Return of the Jedi - the battle of Endor was meant to be between a tribe of Wookies and the Emperial Troops - but they made a last min switch to cute and cuddly Ewoks to give it more kid appeal.

2's OK, some big fights, some cracking light sabre fights, Anikin is wooden as hell.

3's pretty good - you get the big empire / wookie fight that was meant to happen in ROTJ, it pretty dark and leads directly into 4.

Would tend to agree, but even in the "for" camp, I felt that Darth Maul was massively underused.

Despite that, I'm still hoping to get to the cinema with my son to see episode 1 when its re-released.

By far and away the best recent bit of star wars to hit the screen has been Star Wars Lego - The Padawan Menace. Absolutely cracking little show, hope they make more.

Theres quite a few ways the newer films just dont work wuth the older ones. For example I do like the way Obi fails to admit what really happened to Lukes father, when Luke asks: "how did my father die"

Not that he could really say "well I chopped his arm and legs off and left him to burn to death in molten lava" Could he?

well i suppose its because Wilhuff Tarkin was an oversector governor 6th highest rank in the Empire obviously top was emperor, executor, grand vizier etc etc

vader was supreme commander of the imperial fleet and also at one point palpatine's lieutenant iirc