__________________ There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no death; there is the Force.
by far the new trilogy, the prequels are superior films.i am 30 yeras old, i saw all of the original star wars films in the theatres,i loved them, played with the toys and to this day am a collectibles and star wars video game geek.the new films are just better in every way EXCEPT that the originals had nothing to live up to, they were new and refreshing for their time.revenge of the sith is the greatest of all star wars films because it sews everything up, and brings purpose to the whole idea that ANAKIN is the chosen one.by killing the emperor in episode 6 he proves this.so, new film trilogy is better to me.thank you!
The acting is a reason I hear for people picking the OT over the PT more than any other reason.
The OT had:
Harrison Ford: Mostly in ESB. He was absolutely great in this movie. In anh and RoJ he was only ok.
Alec Guinness: Great always.
James earl Jones: Great, great , great.
The PT had:
Ewan Mcgregor: A little weak in TPM IMO but absolutely great in the next two. The best Obi wan they could have picked and a great actor, period.
Liam Neeson: Are you kidding me? The only crime is killing him off. What a jedi should be and an exceptional acting performance.
Iam Mcdiarmid: Best in ROTS but he stole the whole movie. Another great actor.
Sammy Jackson: C'mon, its Sammy!
I challenge anyone who boasts the OT had better acting to put up or shut up. No contest, the PT wins going away.
Hands down the best is OT over the PT. OT had well developed characters, thanks to ESB. Without these great characters, Star Wars would be nothing. The PT had very little character development and mostly very weak characters. The only new characters that were good in the PT were Qui Gun Jinn, Dooku, Darth Maul and even then Lucas failed to develop them. The problem with the PT is Lucas had to much control over the movies. He should have given his story to a proper screen writer, got someone else to direct them, let the actors act, and ease off on all the crappy computer ILM effects. OT all the way!
Characterization is about as relative as acting skill or music. There really is no debating any of them, I suppose, because people have their own views of what makes all three of those things terrible...or great.
But in keeping with the spirit of this topic, I will give my opinions on the characterization of the OT and the PT.
IMO, as always, the characters in the original trilogy were cliche and stale. The entire storyline, boy meets girl, boy meets bad guy, boy must save princess was done over thousands of times. The PT storyline was much less done before...to the same degree anyway.
The PT still had the boy meets girl thing going on but none of the cheesy story of say, ANH. It was boy who was nothing but slave finds out he is all but a king and chooses that power over what is right thus destroying those around him, including himself.
Much more atune to what I find good storytelling.
Characterization.
What to say? We learn in ESB that Vader is obsessed with finding his boy and we learn what kind of villian he is by his ease at destroying Imperial officers without thinking twice. We learn he will torture the innocent (well solo was hardly innocent) for no good reason at all. We learn how evil he really is. Excellent characterization.
How about Anakin in the PT? While Hayden is not my favorite actor by far, his characterization in the PT was excellent, better than Vader's in the OT, again IMO. We learn he is a self centered, egotistical teen who is scared to lose those around him. We see his skill in the force grow between movies as does his fear. We see how much he loves his wife...or thinks he does. We see how easily he was turned because he wanted to be. We see how messed up he actually is and how he turns into that being in ESB.
Where is the lack of character development? Obi-wan and anakin both had oodles as did Palps. Maybe someone should show me the difference.
Viking, I can't believe that you listed Ian in the PT only. The guy played the Emperor in the OT as well... but I guess you don't care since it makes your argument weaker. Besides, the awfulness of Jake Lloyd and woodeness of Natalie Portman and Hayden drop the acting in the PT as a whole far below that of the OT.
As for characterisation, please forgive me for thinking that having Hayden run around with his light saber, going "I feel so angry! My master is holding me back, I am depressed. Now I am angry again! I'm so self-centered. I love you padme because you're so soft; I am sad for killing those sand people" isn't good characterisation.
It's supposed to be subtle, implied, shown to us. We shouldn't need to have a scene start with an announcement of "Anakin is now becoming resentful of his master" in giant bold letters.
We don't see that he loves Padme. He tells us, the audience, in the cheesiest way possible: "I don't like the sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating — not like you. You're soft and smooth."
How great would it have been if Vader told every officer he killed "I'm killing you because I'm evil and frustrated that I can't capture Skywalker and his friends". That's what would've happened if that scene took place in the PT. And then of course Vader would do ten cartwheels towards the exit while laughing manically.
Heya Seepgood.
You can't tell me that Ian's small bit in Jedi, which was admittingly good , overshadowed what he did in Rots or his characterization in the entire PT. No contest.
As for Hayden vs Vader, I think part of that problem is, your are watching a whiny kid in the PT who expects those around him to kiss his ass. You very well know Vader is not going to walk around saying, "I am angry", or, "I want to kill".
Why?
Because that is not his character....but it is Anakin's. Now if you do not like that, thats cool but it is still characterization. They are completely different characters who convey their emotions in completely different ways.
If cheesy dialogue bothers you, please close your ears in the real world because I hear plenty of it everyday.