Here's a Best of List, considering that folks like Best of Lists:
Best light saber duel. Obi Wan v. Darth in Episode 4 (ANH). Nothing quite beats the first time you see those sabres in action for the emotional aspect, not to mention seeing Obi Wan disappear and join the mystical Force.
Honorable mentions. Anikin v. Obi Wan in RoTS. The Yoda fight with Count Dooku (AoTC). The green guy fights well, he does.
Best space battle. Battle over Endor Moon - just enough action to keep you riveted, but not so much stuff going on that you can feel the seizures coming on as in Episode III.
Best character. Emperor/Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious. Destroy the Jedi, All of them. He actually took pride in killing the Jedi.
Best Jedi. Yoda. Green guy by a leap and a bound over Obi Wan, who somehow never thought that Anikin would turn. Mace Windu could have saved the galaxy had he been able to foresee Anikin chopping his hand off along with his light sabre, but that wouldn't have allowed the story to continue into the original storyline unless there was another to take the place of Darth Sidious.
Worst.character.ever. Jar Jar Binks. Not even close. Well, Ewoks were close, but their cute factor and resemblance to the Chewbacca gives them a pass.
Best battle scene. Anikin and Obi Wan over the lava pits. Amazing. You can feel the hatred seething and boiling through Ani. Perfect backdrop.
Honorable mentions. Hoth battle with speeders (ESB) and the massive Jedi battles on Geonosis (AoTC). The former for innovative stop motion and effects, and the latter for the incredible CGI imagery of huge armies battling, not to mention the light sabre fighting.
2 comments:
Lawhawk,
Love this post, but I disagree in a couple of spots:
Best Lightsaber Duel: Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul (TPM). After Qui-Gon has been slain by Maul, the portion of the duel when Obi-Wan comes at Maul solo, however short it may be, trumps all the other saber fights. I understand the nostalgia for the ANH duel, but it is just terribly slow and almost boring by comparison. Luke vs Vader in ESB is also a favorite of mine.
Best Space Battle: I agree with you here. The ROTJ battle is supreme. Tie Interceptors. Death Star vs. Mon Cal cruisers. Admiral Ackbar...
Wow, I need to watch ROTJ this weekend....
Best Character: Vader, who is as excellent in ESB as the Emperor is in RoTS.
Best Jedi: Again, no argument. Yoda rules.
Worst Chartacter Ever: Yes, it's Jar Jar. Compared to him, the Ewoks achieve a Boba Fett level of coolness.
Best Battle Sequence: Hoth. AoTC is cool, but I still remember how awestruck I was as an 8-year-old when I first saw the AT-ATs.
Let me add one more category to the list:
Most Awful "Special Edition" Change: Greedo shooting first. Ugh. I cringe every time I see that. The revised music sequence in Jabba's Palace in RoTJ is a very close second.
I'm kind of sad that there won't be any more SW films, but I have high hopes for the TV show that carries the story on between RoTS and ANH.
That's the great thing about movie buffs. You can find all kinds of things to agree or disagree about. The Hoth battle was an amazing sequence. Consider all the technical aspects involved - stop motion, CGI, live action, blue screen, green screen, and matte paintings for backgrounds and you can't help but be awestruck at the sophisticated results.
I agree that the worst change was the Greedo/Han Solo exchange. He screwed it up in the Special Edition and only made it worse with the DVD release. I've actually tracked down an original VHS tape of ANH in order to see and keep the original version. The original version made Han a dangerous cat who you didn't want to mess with.
Having now seen how Greedo actually grew up with Ani, you can almost understand how and why Han was tortured by Darth in ESB. Han had no idea why he was tortured, but Darth had his reasons - he 'knew' that Greedo was killed by Han. By switching the sequence around of who shot who first, you lose part of the texture of the whole idea that Darth/Ani sought to use the Dark Side in order to extend life. And again he ran into a situation where people he knew died because he wasn't around to help.
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