Star Wars! Nothing but Star Wars! Gimmie those Star Wars! Don't let them end!
I'm going to do something slightly different with the last list in this entry, which is something that you'll see me do with my final list in the series...
Top 11 Star Wars Characters
11. Watto
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi
9. Chewbacca
8. The Sith (tie between Palpatine/Sidious, Dooku/Tyrannus, and Maul)
7. C-3PO and R2-D2
6. Qui-Gon Jinn
5. General Grievous
4. Jar Jar Binks
3. Sebulba
2. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader
1. Yoda
Top 11 Star Wars Vehicles
11. BTL Y-Wing Starfighter
10. Eta-2 Actis-class Jedi Interceptor
9. Lamda-Class T-4a Imperial Shuttle
8. Anakin Skywalker's Radon-Ulzer Custom
7. Trade Federation Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid, Mark I Vulture-Class
6. Imperial All-Terrain Armored Transport
5. Darth Vader's Twin Ion Engine Advanced
4. Mars Guo's Collor Pondrat Plug-2 Behemoth
3. Gasgano's Ord Pedrovia Custom
2. Imperial All-Terrain Scout Transport
1. Sebulba's Collor Pondrat Plug-F Mammoth Split-X
Top 11 Star Wars Planets
11. Alderaan
10. Geonosis
9. Hoth
8. Malastare
7. Kamino
6. Coruscant
5. Sancuary Moon of Endor
4. Mustafar
3. Dagobah
2. Naboo
1. Tatooine
Weapon of Choice
Curved-Hilt Lightsaber
Favorite Special Effect (not counting characters)
Seismic Charges
Top 11 Star Wars Musical Compositions (and where they were first heard)
11. Princess Leia's Theme (IV)
10. Parade of the Ewoks (VI); Jar Jar/Otoh Gungah (I) (Tie)
9. Anakin's Theme (I)
8. Emperor's Throne Room (VI)
7. Victory Celebration (VI SE)
6. Yoda's Theme (V)
5. The Asteroid Field (V)
4. Duel of the Fates (I)
3. Across the Stars (II)
2. Throne Room (and any rendition of the Force Theme) (IV)
1. Battle of the Heroes (III)
And Now...The Star Wars Saga, in order of Least Favorite to Most Favorite...And WHY!
(Note that I love all these films, and I don't think there is a "bad" one)
6. Episode IV: A New Hope
It was the first one, the 1977 classic that launched an Empire. And yet...it's innovativeness is its downfall, since the other five had the herculean task of topping it and they succeeded all too well. Even with the Special Edition, New Hope looks reined-in and claustrophobic compared to the others (especially I-III). Still love the movie, but if you twisted my arm to pick a least favorite, this is probably it.
5. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Clones feels different than the others. It's more subdued, more dreamlike, and more of a mystery. Which is awesome, I love it. And I find new things to love each time I watch it. But it's still relatively low on the list.
4. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
I have many more actual problems with this one than I do with Clones (which I'll go into later), but what keeps it above is the fact that despite VII-IX, this was the grand finale and it feels like it. The character arcs are (mostly) wrapped up nicely, and the final confrontation between Luke, Vader, and Palpatine is among the Saga's most legendary.
3. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Okay, so if I had to be honest, whether I like Jedi or Sith better depends on what mood I'm in, since what I like and dislike about them are more-or-less balanced, but I usually list Sith over Jedi because of Battle of the Heroes (the sequence and the music) and General Grievous.
2. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
I keep thinking this one should move down, because there are a lot of sequences in the previous two films that I like more than a lot of the sequences in this one. Still, there are two reasons why Empire will likely cling on to second place. The first is Yoda and all the scenes on Dagobah. They make this movie and before I-III this was our primary fix for Yoda-y goodness. The second is that this is the film that contained what can only be described as The Moment. The shocker. The big twist. It changed everything for millions of fans and, even when you see it coming, you really don't see it coming.
And my Number 1 All-Time Favorite Star Wars Movie Is....
1. Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Yeah, I know I've mentioned this before, and even if you didn't read any of my other stuff you were figuring this out through process of elimination. The Phantom Menace is my perfect Star Wars film. It's certainly the best paced of all of them, since there's not a single moment I'm not on the edge of my seat (all the others have at least one, even if it's for a second). It introduced half of my favorite characters, and includes all but 2 1/3 of the rest (refer to the list above to know what I mean). It will always remain some of the most fun I had watching any movie.
So tomorrow will go back to just lists, but the grand finale will look a lot like what you just read.
I think all the films are pretty good with pacing- Attack drags a lot, but the rest do know how to keep up a good timing.
ReplyDeleteAnd one of these days I'll actually get around to finishing that essay one why I think Empire is the best...one of these days...
The Phantom Menace introduced me to Star Wars, so it will always be special to me. Later this month I'll talk about how Return of the Jedi is my favorite Star Wars film.
ReplyDeleteMmhm, it has a lot of nostalgic value to me as well (first I saw in theatres, and that was when I was 9, so yeah, major impact). Star Wars was my first, but my childhood memories from that point are mostly of podracers and Maul and the battle droids, oh my goodness the battle droids. I wanted that LEGO MTT set soooo bad.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough it was a diminishing returns as the prequels went on for me- I liked Attack for the humor (and a very good memory of the parents surprising me and taking me after school to see it) but not much else and Revenge didn't make much of an effect on me. Funny how that happens.
Never happened for me. I mean none of them had quite the impact that Phantom had, but there was always the feeling. There's nothing like seeing a Star Wars movie in a theatre.
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