I am a great fan of the movies (not so much the Expanded Universe) and was wondering if anyone else is. It's my favorite SF/Fantasy "world" after Middle-earth, and I think George Lucas does a great job of blending the 1930s serial spirit with mythic ideas. I'll stop going on before I start fanboying though.

Tying this back in with Tolkien, I think that this is a good read about Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings.

Yeah i love Star Wars aswell (well, the first 3 anyway, that is to say the first ones that were made, A new hope, Empire and ROTJ).
There are quite a few similarities between the two, Dark lords, mystic old men,knights/warriors and unfulfilled destiny.:0)

I definitely understand about the OT > PT. I'm not a PT-basher by any rate, but I think they have a much different feel to me. Probably because of the added emphasis on the world(s), as opposed to the myth. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the SW galaxy fleshed out more, but for movie-watching enjoyment I prefer the originals.

Fortunately though I don't have to choose between one and the other.

The thing I like best about the Star Wars films is the Political content. Lucas may have lost the ability to direct humans . But in both the the original trilogy and the prequels, he describes all too accurately how the Republic becomes an Empire, right down to showing how fascists use Agent Provocateur (false flag) operations to attain their goals.

I could go into more detail, but I fiound the following You tube video that explains it all very well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0fDUoudO7w

I too am a fan of Star Wars, and I'll tell you something more I prefer to watch it in it's original form. I finally have the non-edited version on DVD so I can watch it non-agitated. I would have liked it to have been digitally remastered and even to have it for blue-ray, but I'll take what I can get; my VHS at some point is going to fail.

I agree with Gandalfs Beard points and I am so glad he posted them. It would be great if more people in the world would be willing to open their eyes and minds.

That made for interesting viewing. Thank you for the link, GB. I was struck by this sentence in the video description:



I thought that summed up the differences between original and prequel films rather nicely, though of course it is more complicated than just that. I'm not entirely certain what his political point about the real world was, but if the video was trying to say that all conspiracy theorists should be taken seriously than I disagree. In some cases though the video probably has a point.

Beorn - I would really like to have a DVD of the original versions. I have TESB and ROTJ on VHS in the original, but the ANH VHS is the Special Edition. And I have the doubly-changed DVDs.

Yes, well I am the first to acknowledge that some conspiracies are kookier than others (Satanic/Alien Conspiracies, but they are still entertaining ). But the key is that one should be both open-minded, yet skeptical. Some people are only skeptical towards one side, yet true believers when it comes to their own position. A real skeptic demands evidence from his/her own side too.

I'm not going to delve deeper than that because I don't want to open a can of worms . Mainly I just wanted to point out that Lucas clearly had Politics on his mind when he developed the story.

Indeed, the original trilogy was very political too, but it's main focus was Myth and Philosophy (mostly Eastern philosophy, but Universal Myth ala Joseph Campbell).

Gaah. I have more to say about the Mythology and Philosophy of Star Wars but I have to go now.

GB

I don't want to go too far off-topic , but I definitely agree with the above sentiment.

A while ago I read The Making of Star Wars which talked a bit about how the Vietnam War inspired the original trilogy: a failing/failed democracy taking on a small group of rebels hiding out in the jungle ... sounds familiar. I think that Lucas toned down the obvious allegory a bit though, but it was still interesting.

I look forward to reading your further thoughts.

ABSOLUTELY.