With Revenge Of the Sith coming out soon, I was looking back at Star Wars. I saw Star Wars sometime during a weekend sometime in 1999 and I was very strongly affected by the story - and I'll tell you why in a while. The newest episodes have lost the basic something that the original had (Terminator is the only sequel I have liked as much as the original - Matrix was the biggest disappointment)
The Force : It was pure magic - nobody really explained it. That was what was so cool about the force. Midichlorians was a stupid mistake by Lucas. For me the most memorable quote about the force is this -
Luke: I don't... I don't believe it. Yoda: That is why you fail.The story essentially deals with the Greyness of the world - the two sides of Anniken Skywalker - The Jedi and Darth Vader. All good movies deal with a bad guy going good - but this one deals with the opposite and still manages to make it click. Memorable quote #2 -
Luke: He told me enough. He told me you killed him. Darth Vader: No. I am your father. Luke: No. That's not true. That's impossible. Darth Vader: Search your feelings you know it to be true. Luke: Nooooo. Nooooo.The inevitability of the Good vs Evil battle breaks down here - Paradoxes are what makes us think, everything else is in pretty much black and white. (think about an anti-slavery terrorist). The entire movie was about the struggle of Good against Evil - an inner turmoil that is fought out without light sabers or cool sound effects.
Penny Arcade was right when it put this down - Not Your Father's Trilogy. The later versions don't have the sarcasm, humor or conflict that the first one had.