# Are You A Star Wars Fan?



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Star Wars movies, animation, books, games, toys, light sabers etc. Are you a Star Wars fan?

The movies certainly have a great and enormously popular movie sound track, which I do consider to be contemporary classical music in every sense.

What you say?


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Yes, I love Star Wars. The movies, the characters, the light sabers and everything.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

I agree about the soundtrack....I think it's possibly the best of those kinds of franchises as well.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I was eleven when the first Star Wars movie was released, I thought it was fantastic. It's the only movie I've seen twice at a theatre, three times if you include the re-release in the late 1990's. I'm 50 next month, I don't have the same fascination anymore, I've outgrown it. It's not likely I'll see the new movies when they're released next year and beyond.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I was about 18 when the first Star Wars was released. I saw it. I don't recall being all that impressed. Liked the original Star Trek TV series much better.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I watched Star Wars with my brother and sister when we were kids. I remember it was a lot of fun. They're well-made movies. I never became a super fan though.

I'm talking about the original trilogy, not the special editions or prequels, which are garbage.


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

"Who cares?" is the best answer for me, because that's honestly exactly how I feel about the franchise. It gets mixed up with agitation on days like May 4th where a joke that was clever at first but got old years ago is crammed into my face.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

I enjoy it well enough, even found some parts in the original trilogy very moving, but never got swept away by the fancrazed hype the way I did with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Still, though....

_Luke: No. You're coming with me. I won't leave you here, I've got to save you.
Darth Vader: You already...have._


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I recall when Star Wars first came out. I saw it in a large cinema downtown and I hated it. That has coloured my impression ever since. I just remember hours of blackness and space battles and it all seemed so pointless. I was bored :lol: I've never had enough pent-up masochism to give it another try.

[Oh, gosh! Not Lord of the Rings  I didn't like that, either, and all of the hype, the same as with Star Wars. Hype usually means there's nothing else worth being excited about, it seems to me  I thought the Hobbit was the best of the Tolkien offerings. Oh, well. I think I'd better just listen to some classical music ]


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Some go to extremes in their fandom. There was a guy in the Detroit area who changed his name to Luke Skywalker. A post from 1999 from this page:



> A "serial" burglar was recently brought to trial by none other than Luke Skywalker himself. Mr. Skywalker is the Wayne County Michigan assistant prosecutor. He prepared the trial and negotiated the guilty plea.
> 
> The 45-year-old lawyer, prior to 1977 was known as Gary Peters. After seeing the movie, he had his name legally changed to Luke Skywalker.


Another Reference to this Luke Skywalker guy.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Where is the option for "I was a big Star Wars fan?" I used to be so into it. So I have the knowledge of a solid fan, but the passion is retrospective.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

I enjoyed John Williams music when I was young (I still have that two record soundtrack in my LP collection), but I quickly graduated from that to Wagner. The first three films I watched... The prequels not so much. I think my appreciation for the franchise began to decline with the first appearance of Jar Jar Binks.


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

I'm a huge fan of Star Wars, and while I don't like the prequels, that's not what disappoints me about Lucasfilm as of the last 15 years. Around the late 90's Lucas decided to update the original films by redoing special effects, and adding things here and there, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The problem I had and still have is the fact that the altered films are the only versions you can get in a decent quality. Laserdisc scans from 1993 are the highest quality releases of the original theatrical editions you can get "officially". Alright I'm getting off that...back to the actual films

I really love the work John Williams did for the movies, and I have no problem with considering them quality pieces. Is is cheap because it was done for film? Do Max Steiner, Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrmann, and Dimitri Tiomkin deserve to be divided from the high art that is modern symphonic music? I find it ridiculous that film music has a cheap label thrown on it. There are certainly film works that I consider uninspired, but John Williams' music is far from uninspired.


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2015)

I paid to see SW six times at the cinema in 1977. In 1980, I enjoyed the battle on Hoth, but the soapy ending spoiled TESB and in 1983, the Ewoks spoiled ROTJ and the 'fight' between Luke and the Emperor was interminable (but I was anyway more interested in the girl I was watching it with...whom I married a year later!)

My sons enjoyed the revivals in the late 90s and the prequels - I enjoyed the visuals, but the stories were dull and the idea of seeing a villain in his youth didn't work - at least, not in the hands of Hayden Christensen.

As for the music, I can only recall a memorable fanfare from the first. The rest suited the movie I'm sure, doing what it needed to do - but no more.

John Williams' skill - a valuable skill for sure - was in creating memorable tunes or themes, but I don't see that he was any better at writing incidental music than many of his peers.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Here in the UK, after a campaign in 2001, the Jedi "religion" made it onto the census. In 2011 176,632 people in England and Wales identify themselves as Jedi Knights, making it the most popular faith in the "Other Religions" category on the Census and the seventh most popular faith overall.









I remember seeing the original film when it came out and making a (long) list of the influences - aka borrowings - from other fantasy literature and myth. Far too derivative - Star Trek for me.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Perhaps I'm one of the few people never to have seen any Star Wars film. I'm completely indifferent to it - though clearly a lot of people enjoy these films hugely.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Episodes 4 and 5 (as they're now known) had such a big impact on the young me when they first appeared that they remain among my favourite films, though I stopped wanting to own a light-sabre about 30 years ago. The prequels mostly never rose above meh, but the last act of episode 3 made me feel 12 again, and for that I'm very grateful. And I'm looking forward to the next one - and bringing the kids.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I liked them a lot as a kid, even the much maligned Episode 1. I have yet to see Episode III.

I feel that if I'd watch them now I'd be bored, but who knows.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

ArtMusic said:


> Star Wars movies, animation, books, games, toys, light sabers etc. Are you a Star Wars fan?
> 
> The movies certainly have a great and enormously popular movie sound track, which I do consider to be contemporary classical music in every sense.
> 
> What you say?


I wish there'd been an option for 'Do you like Star Wars I, II and III but not the newer ones?' Loved the first ones, hate the subsequent ones.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

sospiro said:


> I wish there'd been an option for 'Do you like Star Wars I, II and III but not the newer ones?' Loved the first ones, hate the subsequent ones.


That should be IV-VI, and I agree completely.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

IV-V-I bleaaargh


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> That should be IV-VI, and I agree completely.


Grrr. They re-numbered them? So the subsequent ones are _pre_-quels?? Even worse!!


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I took my kids to see the first Star Wars movie. They loved it; I thought it sucked (including the music). 

Same thing happened with a piece of crap called "The Dark Hole". My son Alex adored that movie; now, at age 43, he claims he always hated that film.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Not a fan of Star Wars. I don't like Star Trek either, or Lord of the Rings while I'm at it. Maybe I just don't get into make believe worlds.

Star Wars always seemed to clunky to me, with with all that expositional dialogue. Show me, don't tell me.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Bulldog said:


> I took my kids to see the first Star Wars movie. They loved it; I thought it sucked (including the music).
> 
> Same thing happened with a piece of crap called "The Dark Hole". My son Alex adored that movie; now, at age 43, he claims he always hated that film.


Wisdom comes with age.

Oh, and wasn't it "The Black Hole."

Last movie I saw at a theater was Earnest Saves Christmas back in 1989, and I liked that a whole lot better than Star Wars (but have no plans to watch either again).


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I remember back when it first came out. Charles Champlin from the LA Times was bowled over by it. Even the judges were talking about it at the courthouse. Imagine spaceships in the future that actually got dirty and had rust. And the soundtrack featured a real orchestra. It was just good fun, recalling the Saturday matinees we saw as kids. Sure, the dialogue was clunky. But the visuals were amazing. And they didn't dwell on all that mushy stuff; it was flames and space ships blowing up. 

I remember how exciting it was to have a new series out when my daughter was young. But the prequels were a disappointment. I didn't even bother seeing the last two. "Kiss me like you did on Naboo." Seriously? 

Now I have grandchildren who will get to see the new one. It will be the third generation to see a new Star Wars series. I hope it's as amazing to them as the first one was to me.


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

I reckon it is both John Williams and editing that saved Star Wars (1977). I've heard several accounts of the original cut being an absolute mess. I found it hard to believe, until 1999 came along. 

By the time Empire Strikes Back came along, George was taking more of a supervisors approach to the film, as the first one nearly killed him. Gary Kurtz was also another force in keeping George from making as many bad decisions. George is good at seeing the big picture, but he's not so good at laying down the foundation. 

Return of the Jedi saw George pushing Gary Kurtz out of the picture. The thing that mostly saved Return of the Jedi from being as bad as the prequels; most of the team from the first two films returned. Special effects, and the Emperor's throne room scenes were what saved the film for me. 

The prequels fail, because George didn't have those people to tell him that something was a bad idea. He was surrounded by people who only wanted to please him, and many thought that the films would be as good as the first trilogy, regardless of the doubt during filming. I guess you could argue that the prequels didn't fail, because they made a lot of money, and some critics praised them.


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

No. I preferred Battlestar Galactica on TV. In fairness, while I'm not a John Williams fan I do credit his score with rescuing movies from the pop/rock music soundtracks that that were defiling so many movies in the 1970s.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

geralmar said:


> In fairness, while I'm not a John Williams fan I do credit his score with rescuing movies from the pop/rock music soundtracks that that were defiling so many movies in the 1970s.


Hear, hear! Those things were awful.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Manxfeeder said:


> geralmar said:
> 
> 
> > In fairness, while I'm not a John Williams fan I do credit his score with rescuing movies from the pop/rock music soundtracks that that were defiling so many movies in the 1970s.
> ...


I dunno, those scores may have disappeared, but the 80s brought along with it all of those extremely forgettable synthesizer scores...


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

Mahlerian said:


> I dunno, those scores may have disappeared, but the 80s brought along with it all of those extremely forgettable synthesizer scores...


I was thinking the same thing. Everybody was trying to rip off the Beverly Hills Cop theme in their movies. Even if the movie is good, the soundtrack cheapens it. John Carpenter used it to great effect, as he was working pretty cheap in the early days. It's no excuse for multimillion dollar movies to adapt that sound. If you can't afford an orchestra, you could always use production music which is pretty cheap, and well made.


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## bestellen (May 28, 2015)

Voted. At best I may have some enjoyment of the movies etc.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

SalieriIsInnocent said:


> I reckon it is both John Williams and editing that saved Star Wars (1977). I've heard several accounts of the original cut being an absolute mess. I found it hard to believe, until 1999 came along.
> 
> By the time Empire Strikes Back came along, George was taking more of a supervisors approach to the film, as the first one nearly killed him. Gary Kurtz was also another force in keeping George from making as many bad decisions. George is good at seeing the big picture, but he's not so good at laying down the foundation.
> 
> ...


I agree about ROTJ and the throne room; the prequels are much maligned but the main thing I see that's wrong is that Lucas wrote the scripts even though he admits to not being a good writer.....so there are lines like "Anakin, you're breaking my heart!" That and I didn't understand attack of the clones at all when I first saw it. Plus Haydn christensen's 'acting'.

The first Star Wars movie I saw was episode 3 when I was in 8th grade or something and I actually thought it was amazing and dramatic.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

Growing up in mid '90, I am not very convinced about Star War phenomenon. Perhaps it was not very engaging when we just watched the movie from tape rather than seeing it in the cinema. I like the storyline but I failed to attached to each character and feel that it just one of ordinary sci-fi movie. I like Darth Vader also. It was quite outdated design, but memorable I must say.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Star Wars with the new series of films coming out soon reminds me of Wagner's epic _Ring_ cycle. Big, good versus evil drama and lots of wizardry.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

http://www.odysseum.de/portfolio/star-wars-identities/

Big exhibition in Cologne, Germany. Untill 17th of November.

Not a big fan myself but the enthousiasm of my son and his mate is infectious. A nice day out in autumn-holiday.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Wish I was there.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Never bought into the Star Wars craze. The Lord of The Rings films were somewhat enjoyable but I never got into them in an extreme way. I guess I am not really a fan of these franchise things—they simply don't excite me. I do enjoy the Mad Max films though.


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## georgedelorean (Aug 18, 2017)

Have been since I was a toddler. All time favorite remains The Empire Strikes Back.


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## satoru (May 29, 2014)

Me: I Am Your Father.
Kids(keeping eyes on their iPhone): Yeah, yeah, we know. How many times are you going to repeat that line?
Me: You supposed to say "No~~~"
Kids: But you are our father, dad.
Me: Yeah, I guess so ...


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

I'm a fan of John Williams and felt that he did a number of terrific SW scores.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

I hate Star Wars, not even _Empire_ is that good. They may be iconic pop culture films but none of them have aged well 

That's my two cents :tiphat:


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## Guest (Aug 28, 2017)

MacLeod said:


> I paid to see SW six times at the cinema in 1977.


Slight error of recollection. It wasn't released in the UK until 1978!

The latest two - _Revenge of the Reawakened JediSith _(whatever), and _Rogue One _- were enjoyable, and I'll probably watch the next, but I wouldn't be heartbroken if they stopped making them.


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