STAR WARS (1977)

[Alex]

I grew up watching Star Wars and collected the toys. Guess as a boy it was my big thing.

I was really jealous of another kid in my class who had Ti-Fighters (sp?). I thought they were so cool but I only had a few figures.

It's possible that I might have liked STAR WARS more than I recall? but it wouldn't have been for long.

Luke Skywalker has a cool name, and the light sabres were cool. hah, just remembered I had a light sabre as well. it lit up

might as well just come out as a STAR WARS uber fan right now eh? 

I had a lot of the figures (although nowhere near a full collection at the time), as well as a X-Wing,  Jabba's Throne Room and AT-AT. One of the guys I was friends with was an only child (and if I am entirely honest, something of a spoilt brat thinking back), and I was rather jealous of his collection of pretty much every Star Wars playset. Just after I got married I did pick up most of the rest of the Star Wars figures from the 80s, although a few of them (and I am looking at you here A-Wing pilot) were just more than I was willing to pay.

[zombie no.one]

yeah that must've become a more and more expensive hobby as time went on no doubt...

no idea what happened to any of my old figures. probably got their heads chewed off my my younger bro's

[ralfy]

That reminds me of this review of the second movie:

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200430-star-wars-why-the-empire-strikes-back-is-overrated

and even another article linked to that one, and from the same author:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20170522-did-star-wars-ever-need-sequels

[zelmo73]

That reminds me of this review of the second movie:

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200430-star-wars-why-the-empire-strikes-back-is-overrated

and even another article linked to that one, and from the same author:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20170522-did-star-wars-ever-need-sequels

This is how I feel about Ridley Scott's prequels to the Alien franchise, Prometheus (2012) and  Alien: Covenant (2017). What made the first Alien (1979)  movie so frightening was the mystery surrounding the xenomorph; where it came from and slowly discovering the frightening things that it could do. This quote from your second article serves as a pretty good parallel opinion of what I think of what the Alien franchise has become:

For that reason, A New Hope would be a lot more intriguing today if every other episode had been left to our imaginations – to playground games, to pub discussions, to self-published fan fiction. Instead, the episodes which did come along answered its questions, solved its mysteries, filled in its blanks and narrowed its mythical scope to the prosaic tussles within one dysfunctional family. The prequels demystified the iconic villain of A New Hope by showing him as a grumpy brat, while the most recent sequel, The Force Awakens, devalued its victory by showing us how ultimately pointless it was: not only did evil prevail, but two of the heroes (Han Solo and Princess Leia) had a son who grew up to be a genocidal, patricidal maniac.

[Allhallowsday]

The first three films are exactly what was expected: kid stuff; Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.  Lots of fun, but deep meanings and dark mysteries are the drivel of comic books.  Also lots of fun, but absurd to intellectualize.  STAR WARS has become a superb object lesson in bloated excess.   

[ralfy]

I wonder if delay has something to do with the phenomenon, i.e., the sequel came out three years later, which was a lot of time for viewers' imagination. On top of that, there was no 'net or lots of opportunities for rewatching the movie.

[zelmo73]

I wonder if delay has something to do with the phenomenon, i.e., the sequel came out three years later, which was a lot of time for viewers' imagination. On top of that, there was no 'net or lots of opportunities for rewatching the movie.

We were given time to appreciate and anticipate the original trilogy when they were first coming out. The toys were great for us kids, but our parents were the ones that were able to truly relish the cinematic aspects of the original films in the late '70s and early '80s. The prequels were clunky but also benefited from a lengthy 6-year movie theater release timeline. The final trilogy was essentially thrown together as a shameless Disney marketing campaign that favored wokeness and spinoffs galore over any type of substance, which is why we were subjected to no less than 5 Star Wars films in the span of 4 years. What artistic quality that wasn't killed by redundancy, shameless catering to the Woke Generation took care of the rest.

[pacman000]

I'd say a new movie every 2-3 years is about right. James Bond has been around for a long time, & that seems to be their average release schedule.