What has been your personal experience with Star Wars?

Take this thread to explain your history with Star Wars.

Here's mine:
I was born in the 90s so I didn't see the OT when they came out. I first saw AOTC and didn't consider it all that memorable. I then encountered the Battlefront game and it was awesome. I decided to watch all the movies just to get myself familiar with the story.

The first time I saw all the movies in a marathon. I just them in order 1-6. The PT were ok, I thought the action was cool. However, there was always something 'off' that I couldn't explain.

Then I saw the OT, and was completely frustrated with it. A lot of the things bugged me because it didn't fit artistically with PT. The stormtroopers were a joke and couldn't aim, which was frustrating after watching the clones be so effective as to wipe out all the jedi. The Ben-Vader duel was ridiculously bad and didn't fit in at all with what the prequels had showed. It was really disappointing as it was my first time seeing Vader in action and I wasn't impressed at all. The unjustified plot armor the main characters had also bugged me. Empire was a lot better and I liked the story and the style of the movie. Although seeing Luke progress in power so fast was frustrating as even Anakin (the choosen one) didn't progress that fast.
Return of the Jedi was really cool. Except for the Emperor being such an idiot, and what I couldn't forgive was the stormtroopers losing to the Ewoks. It seemed really off to me.

Some things I got from the films were:
1. Darth Vader isn't that powerful, he couldn't defeat Ben and then got whooped by a half-trained Luke.
2. The stormtroopers suck.
3. My image for Luke would be that after ROTJ he would take his skills and wouldn't progress too much more but would instead settle down and start a family. He would always remain as a semi-Jedi with average skills in a time of peace. Sort of how like Gohan got weaker in DBZ after he killed Cell.

Then EU said 1. wasn't true but Vader was instead an ultimate powerful Jedi killer and 3. was wrong and Luke not only became much stronger but eventually became the strongest Jedi ever. I got turned off from EU from the get-go and haven't got into it too much although I do plan to one day read the Thrawn Trilogy.

I then saw the Plinkett Reviews and realize what mediocre films the Prequel Trilogy were. At the same time the explanation of story telling elements and the art of making film made me appreciate the Original Trilogy much more.

Today I am a major fan of the OT fims, and sort of dislike the Prequels. My personal canon is only the films. I consider the EU as sort of a guideline as to what happened but only one of many possibilities. And I completely ignore the Clone Wars Tv series as being canon.

Your turn.

Welcome to the family. 😉

Yeah, you should have watched them in order
4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3

😂

Originally posted by JediRobin23
Yeah, you should have watched them in order
4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3

How about just explaining what you consider in your personal canon.

Like I said above I only take the films as absolute canon.
I take the EU as sort of a guideline of what could possibly have happened. Like sure Han and Leia could have gotten married and had kids and same for Luke. but I don't accept it as absolute truth.
As far as the TV series I just ignore those completely since its really dumb. For example, in one episode Obi Wan Kenobi was enslaved by some random civilization. Obi-freaking-Wan, one of the greatest Jedi ever, he who defeated Darth Vader, a slave. *facepalm*

Well, watching them from 1-6 has its advantages: it gets better as you move along. 😉

I think most people enjoyed ROTS, and agree its at the very least on par with ROTJ, so even for those who hate 1&2 at least its good/epic for the rest of the series 🙂

But I actually agree that you should watch 4,5,6 first.

If you like.

Originally posted by queeq
Well, watching them from 1-6 has its advantages: it gets better as you move along. 😉

For example, the PT:
Gives the impression that the clones are these effective and clinical soldiers. Able to easily wipe out an entire order of superpowered beings.

OT: The stormtroopers are a joke. They can't aim at all, and get killed very easily. They are only effective when they overwhelm their enemies by sheer numbers. And worst of all they lost to the Ewoks; a bunch of teddy bears. It just seems odd that the clones go from jedi-killers to being killed by teddy bears.

PT: Although there was a certain amount of plot armor in the PT, it was justified more or less. Mace, Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin survived the battles because they were the best Jedi. The other Jedi and characters being weaker didn't (except for Padme and Jar Jar these two had plot armor). You got a sense that the galaxy was really dangerous.

OT: The entire main cast has really thick plot armor and are able to survive despite just being regular human beings (Luke doesn't really become a Jedi untill Rotj). The stormtroopers are never able to hit them. It gets annoying after a while when you were used to seeing full trained Jedi go down like flies and yet these normal people survive everything.

PT: Gives the impression that to be a great Jedi, one must have trained their whole life to get to where they are. Power and skills increased slowly over many years. Even Anakin (being the Chosen One) slowly progressed, after all he wasn't all that powerful in AOTC after 10 years of Jedi training/

OT: Luke progresses like crazy after a few hours of lesson with Ben and a few weeks with Yoda he is now able to give Darth Vader some fight. Yet Vader is supposed to be this ultimate Jedi-destroying badass, it seems inconsistant. Then after a few more years he is able to defeate Vader. By Rotj his power has increased dramatically despite receiving no more training. In 6 years he progressed just as much or more than Anakin did in 10 years of formal Jedi training.

These are just some example that made me go WTF? when watching the original trilogy. Of course I know this isn't the OT's fault but instead Lucas' for not making the two trilogies consistent.

You know my brother saw them in order 1-6 and asked me the same thing about Luke.

He goes "One thing I dnt get. How the heck did Luke become a Jedi so damn quick?!"

As for the storm troopers, they are actually different to the clone troopers we see in the PT. Storm troopers are obviously not all clones. They have different voices and even in the edited versions they dnt sound like Boba/Jango Fett.

But yeah, Lucas didn't excel at making it work as a seamless saga.

Originally posted by queeq
But yeah, Lucas didn't excel at making it work as a seamless saga.

Then again, they were true geniuses 😛

Some say the same about Lucas.

Originally posted by Charlie512 True, but the two trilogies don't really mesh together. Watching the prequels give you a certain impression of how things are in the GFFA and yet when I then saw the OT, a lot of things seemed off.

For example, the PT:
Gives the impression that the clones are these effective and clinical soldiers. Able to easily wipe out an entire order of superpowered beings.

OT: The stormtroopers are a joke. They can't aim at all, and get killed very easily. They are only effective when they overwhelm their enemies by sheer numbers. And worst of all they lost to the Ewoks; a bunch of teddy bears. It just seems odd that the clones go from jedi-killers to being killed by teddy bears.

They either stopped using clones on the whole, or used a different less effective template after the demise of Jango Fett.
(This would be supported by the accents being different from PT to OT, and the different skill levels....that guy who bumps his head in ANH is likely still a Jango clone or a clone of a clone of Jango.) The accelerated aging that was part of the clones' development process also didn't scream 'long life' for each clone, either.
In their defense they did kill a whole bunch of those teddy bears, just as the TF droids did with the Gungans in TPM.

PT: Although there was a certain amount of plot armor in the PT, it was justified more or less. Mace, Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin survived the battles because they were the best Jedi. The other Jedi and characters being weaker didn't (except for Padme and Jar Jar these two had plot armor). You got a sense that the galaxy was really dangerous.

OT: The entire main cast has really thick plot armor and are able to survive despite just being regular human beings (Luke doesn't really become a Jedi untill Rotj). The stormtroopers are never able to hit them. It gets annoying after a while when you were used to seeing full trained Jedi go down like flies and yet these normal people survive everything.

Luke was midichloreaned up to the nines though.
And all he ultimately had to do to bring Anakin into bringing balance was get to that throne room, hold his own against his mechanical, slow father then start getting murdered by the Emporer... Anakin would take care of the rest.

PT: Gives the impression that to be a great Jedi, one must have trained their whole life to get to where they are. Power and skills increased slowly over many years. Even Anakin (being the Chosen One) slowly progressed, after all he wasn't all that powerful in AOTC after 10 years of Jedi training/

OT: Luke progresses like crazy after a few hours of lesson with Ben and a few weeks with Yoda he is now able to give Darth Vader some fight. Yet Vader is supposed to be this ultimate Jedi-destroying badass, it seems inconsistant. Then after a few more years he is able to defeate Vader. By Rotj his power has increased dramatically despite receiving no more training. In 6 years he progressed just as much or more than Anakin did in 10 years of formal Jedi training.

These are just some example that made me go WTF? when watching the original trilogy. Of course I know this isn't the OT's fault but instead Lucas' for not making the two trilogies consistent.

Actually, its more 3 and a half years.
(ANH year zero, ESB +3 years, ROTJ +6 months)
I guess his blood/midichlorean count was high = Rapid progress..
Also being trained is one thing, spending time actualising what you have learned is another..and Luke will have done that between ESB and ROTJ.
Leia logically would develop quickly too, and we see little glimpses of that in the last two movies.

Yup. Luke couldn't force pull anything in ANH and he did manage rather easily in ESB.

And he commuicated telepathically with Leia...six months later he was choking out Gammorean guards n stuff.

Heres a question:

Did Yoda deliberately not teach that 'easy-diffusion-of-lightning-with-a-lightsabre' trick to Luke, knowing Anakin would be prompted into attacking Palpatine and restoring balance?

Or was he just being a space-putz?

Originally posted by Sadako of Girth
And he commuicated telepathically with Leia...six months later he was choking out Gammorean guards n stuff.

Heres a question:

Did Yoda deliberately not teach that 'easy-diffusion-of-lightning-with-a-lightsabre' trick to Luke, knowing Anakin would be prompted into attacking Palpatine and restoring balance?

I doubt it. Yoda's words suggest he thinks theres no hope for Anakin "Once you turn to the dark side forever will it dominate your destiny"

As for Luke I always just assumed because he started his training as an adult he was bound to learn faster. Plus being the Chosen one's son he was probably a fast learner, but probably took his training more seriously than his father.

Oh and as far as we know Anakin never had one on one coaching from Yoda himself.

So theres many possible reasons.

Even Anakin didn't know the trick while OB1 did.... must be a genetic thing. 😉

Ha. Indeed, Queeq.

Valid points.. To address 'em a bit, Darth:

Not even Yoda had all the answers.
He couldn't see or wouldn't see the truth that Anakin like any of us fluctuate between light and dark.
He couldn't see it as a shades of grey thing.
(Just as neither did Sidious.)

They were just facilitators for balance, ultimately, as major players in the light and dark sides of the force.
I guess they didn't have to be conscious of the whole picture, just playing their respective parts based off of their own motivations would all amount to that 'balance' hill of beans in the end.....

Yes I can see why folk would think that. but when you rewatch, you'll see that it pointed out was advantageous to train Jedi from an early age in both PT and OT. (Remember Yoda protesting saying that Luke was too old to begin the training?) So yeah I think you were more on-the-money with the 'son-of-the-chosen-one' thing.

Hill of beans... hehehe