So which is your favorite Star Wars movie Now?

[Wookie Boy]

I never saw any of the original trilogy in the theatre as a kid ( I am now 29). And I had not actually seen any of the films completely until I was 21 at a charity screening when a local theatre showed all 3 back to back to back (plus a drink and popcorn for $10 ). I saw both E1 and E2 at the midnight showing. It is obvious to me that A New Hope is by far the best movie. George does an excellent job with characterization and story in this movie. If not for the great job that George did on A New Hope, then you would not even care about the characters and there would be no other Star Wars movies. My favorites:

1. A New Hope
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Attack of The Clones
4. The Phantom Menace
5. Return of The Jedi

It is tough to say that Empire or AOTC is better than the other, but that is how I am leaning right now. TPM and Jedi are a toss up. I gave the nod to TPM because going into the Death Star again is just not all that imaginative and of course the Ewoks weren't all that cool. Plus the battle at the end of TPM is fantastic!

[bigbarada]

1. AOTC - what I always imagined a Star Wars film should be. However, I wouldn't recomend this as the first SW film for someone who has never seen any of them since the rest would be so visually disappointing. However, if I could only watch one SW film, this would be it. (29 - my age when I first saw it)

2. ESB - I never saw this one in theaters, but on video in 1986. By then the hype was dead and my interests had shifted to GI Joe toys. My first impression was "that was it?" After so many years of reading the story and hearing about how great it was, I was very let down by the actual film. Still, the Battle of Hoth kept it from being a complete disappointment. I rank it as #2 because it is the one movie from the OT that I can watch again and again without getting tired of it (especially with the excellent SE changes - enhanced Hoth battle, opened up Cloud City and the addition of Vader's Shuttle).(13)

3. ANH - The first time I saw this one was it's network TV debut on CBS in 1983. I was blown away. The only reason this one rates so low is it's recent tendency to act as a sleeping pill when I watch it now.(10)

4. TPM - The first SW film I watched on opening day. Totally blew me away in the theaters and I still enjoy watching it at least once a week. It ranks so low because of obvious, but minor IMO, editing flaws and wooden acting. The podrace is still as exciting as ever, though.(27)

5. ROTJ - The only SW film to completely let me down on just about every level. I watched this on the same day I saw ESB for the first time. I was so bored during my first viewing that I kept getting up to go to the bathroom or make a sandwich. The only redeeming factor was the final battle. However, this is the only OT film that I have actually seen in theaters. I caught the last showing of the SE version in 1997 after returning from Bosnia. I was even more bored with it that time, and the SE changes actually managed to lower my opinion of the movie. Again the only redeeming factor is the final battle.(13)

Anyways, that's my list. I tried not to write a novel; but I just have too much to say about SW films. There should be no right or wrong answers in this poll. It's all about personal preference. My brother ranks ROTJ as his favorite and ESB as the worst of the films, so be it. Who am I to say he is wrong for choosing what he likes?

Empirically speaking, yes, ANH has all the necessary elements to make it the best of the films; but that doesn't change the fact that it puts me to sleep everytime I watch it now. The Godfather is considered one of the greatest films of all time and I have watched it ONCE. Sure it was good, but I never want to have to sit through that movie again. So how good can it really be?

[Mandalorian Candidat]

I think I'm probably the last one to show up at the party, since I just saw AOTC on Sat. I've stayed away from the discussion of the movie until I saw it just because I didn't want to hear about any more damn spoilers.

I've now seen all 5 movies in their original order of release. I saw the OT starting when I was 7 all the way through ROTJ right before I turned 13.

I'm still mulling over how AOTC fits into the quality (or lack thereof) of the other movies so I'm going to do this a little differently. I felt that AOTC lacked so much in the first part of the movie, i.e., dialogue, wit, plot (to an extent), acting, so I have to split it up into two halves. I really didn't like it that much until the scene where Dooku questions OB1 on Geonosis, then it got really good really fast. Therefore, I'm going to rate the movies based on the two halves of AOTC...

First half
1) ESB
2) ANH
3) TPM
4) ROTJ
5) AOTC

Second half
1) ESB
2) ANH
3) AOTC (I would say just a tad lower than ANH)
4) TPM
5) ROTJ

I will say that my opinion may change after I see the movie again. There was a lot to take in for seeing it the first time and my views of the movies have changed over time. I think once the final chapter is released, we'll see the bigger picture and maybe appreciate some of the "slower" parts of the movies more.

[ces]

This is a hard vote. For me AOTC and ESB are pretty much tied. They are both incredible movies. I think the pacing of Empire is a little better, and I loved the cliffhanger ending. I remember after seeing it how hard it was to wait those next three years for ROTJ. AOTC was so much more exciting. Much better battle scenes and MORE YODA! In the end I place ESB just above clones because it left me really wanting to see the next installment.

My list
1) ESB
2) AOTC
3) ANH
4) ROTJ
5) TPM

P.S. I think all of the Star Wars films are great. I saw ANH in 1977 when I was 5. (The sad thing is now I am horrified when somebody brings a 5-year-old to the movies and sits them next to me.)

[underdog25]

I will probably be the only one to admit that I voted for TPM over everyother movie. I am 28 now and have seen all of the movies when they first came out. I can remember sitting in the front row of a crowded movie theater to watch ANH and how my neck hurt from looking up at the screen. We waited all afternoon to get into the movie theater to see ESB. I had to see ROTJ in LA (the state) because in central PA they didn't show it because of some big reason which eludes me at this time. TPM was in KS. We waited all day in line and were #2:-) AOTC was in MD. All were great and very tough to decide. I looked at it two ways. The first is from a 4 to 6 year old point of view and which movie was the most eye catching from that point of view. From that point of view the old 3 are just old movies. TPM is the most current and had alot of great scenes, from the 4 to 6 year old point of view. How funny was Jar Jar? How cool was the pod race? How about the final battle? Darth Maul? Very cool picture. I am sure that AOTC will over take my choice but not until I see it a few hundred time:-)

[Wonderboy]

Dak Powers: Yup, I rank TPM well over Return of the Jedi. TPM might of had JarJar, but at least there were no wookies doing the Tarzan yell...need I say more???

[bigbarada]

Kudos to underdog25 for having the guts to say that TPM is his favorite. Good to see that some people are voting for how they feel and not how they think they should vote. I know I ranked TPM as #4; but I completely respect your opinion and don't let anyone tell you that you're wrong for it.

ROTJ suffered from a lack of imagination IMO. Like TPM, it was essentially a remake of ANH; but TPM managed to pull it off while ROTJ fumbled in parts. Again, just my opinion.

[drewsj1]

1. Empire
2. Jedi
3. New Hope
4. Clones
5. Menace

AOTC was good, but nothing compares to Empire

[bigbarada]

It seems that someone is stuffing the ballot box to put the OT on top. ANH just gained like 40 votes in the last few minutes.

[Amanamike]

It's disturbing and disheartening to see such low numbers for ANH. Empirically speaking, ANH is a much stronger film than the others when you look at it's positive attributes across the board. Plot, character development, pacing, dialogue, humor, direction, fx, art direction, sound... There may be specific examples in the other films that may be better, but in terms of "scoring" the film on the whole, ANH far and away is a more solid effort. And besides, it is ANH that is the cause for the rest of the films and the cause for fans in the first place. Without ANH, none of the others would have been made. It can't possibly be so bad as to score just above TPM. That's just crazy. Well, Bush got elected too, so there's no accounting for rational thought.

I totally agree with Stillakid. This is the only movie that could stand alone with out needing sequels. For its time it far outpaced any other movie to come out around it. Star Wars nowadays has much stiffer competition with great Special efects in alot of movies. If A New Hope was the only Star Wars movie to ever come out it could have held up its own story and never need any other movies. Empire Strikes Back even could not do that. If the first movie was ESB we would have all been sitting there going, "WTF??" We woulda been lost. This is the base from which all the rest came to us and in sense we need to put this movie in different class all its own. And I noticed most people still rank Return Of the Jedi last. I can understand this but It did have what I consider the best space battle of all time. I hope the next movie Ep3 can do something to out do that. That would be the icing on the cake!!!! But one thing, we are all very lucky to have all these movies to choose from. Thanks George!!!