In the prequel trilogy, however, there are lots of parliamentary machinations, tussles between the Jedi Council and the Chancellor, Anakin's lust for power, and Darth Sidious' grand strategy for converting the Republic into an Empire.

Yes, and this is part of the reason why I like The Phantom Menace. The film is much more interesting when you realize that the whole situation is a phony conflict that Palpatine drummed up to get into the top office. Palpatine's a pretty smooth operator, too - Amidala escaping screwed up his original plan, but he maneuvered and managed to get her to declare the Vote of No Confidence regardless of that.

I agree 100%...and some of the ham-fisted political points in the prequel trilogy seem really trite and forced, especially as they are usually coming out of the mouths of Jar-Jar or the horrible performances of Natalie Portman. Pr

While there wasn't much in the way of politics in the original movies there was at least one line that gives the eternal justification for authoritarian leviathans. Darth Vader urging Luke to join him so that they can bring order to the galaxy. Every single authoritarian state* justifies it's exclusionary hold on power by arguing that only its system will keep the people safe**.

Unfortunately for the prequels, there were several scenes better highlighting tensions between the Jedi and politicians and the the reformists and Palpatine that would have nicely demonstrated both the problems of bureaucracy versus legislature and the tendency of executive figures to disappoint the honest members of the legislature (please no references to Bush or Obama, it gets old).

That said, I still have to note that this doesn't really have much to do with the site or foreign policy (though if Drezner wrote on the potential influence of extraterrestrials and interstellar states on foreign policy that would be an interesting read).

*Democracies as well, but democracies also have legitimacy from the fact that the people (or at least the people who bothered to vote) chose their government.
** Of course there's also 'only people of this ethnic/racial/religious/ideological group deserve to rule' but a desire for safety probably marks the strongest authoritarian states while ones that are consistently insecure after authoritarianism are probably the weakest.

Dan,

The graphic you linked is incorrect about the Empire's tactical options at Hoth. The planet was protected by a shield, so they could not shoot from space. They had to send the "robo-dogs" to destroy the shield generator. Why they had legged instead of wheeled or tracked vehicles, I still don't know...

Even more could be said about Empire, it's clearly the crown jewel of the franchise in that it's the movie that improves the most with time (though the original may be the most fun, the -first- time you see it).

The other really clever thing about Empire is the subtlety of its plotting and its dualities. The movie opens with Han saving Luke from freezing; it concludes with Luke -failing- to save Han from freezing. The two subplots in the middle of the movie that could derail its unity are ingeniously tied together (Luke explores a mysterious cave that is not all it appears to be ... Han and the Falcon crew explore a mysterious cave that is not all it appears to be). Luke's battle within the cave, meanwhile, foreshadows the climactic revelation by Vader at the dramatic climax.

There's clever stuff in there that you can miss one, two, three times through the film. Unfortunately the later movies, while well-intentioned and more explicitly political, are about as subtle as,"MESSY, INEFFICIENT DEMOCRACY GOOD. POWERFUL, EFFICIENT TOTALITARIAN SOLUTIONS BAD. BAAAD!"

I will however give Lucas some credit for that one climactic line, "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." As a dialogue piece of course it's clunky as hell. Recited by Ewan McGregor in 2005, however ... It had a certain resonance, and people in the audience laughed and a few clapped when I first saw the film. It was something that needed to be said at the time, so I will give appropriate kudos to Lucas for putting it in there. Overall, though? Empire all the way.

I'm not a big fan of the _Star Wars_ movies, and I haven't been since adolescence -- look, folks, it ain't Fellini. But if you are a big fan, that's cool, whatever.

But I hate hate hate the nerd boys who are continuing to whine about Lucas' digital modification to the original films. We spend forever complaining that artists "sell out" their ideas or vision for commercial success. Well, Lucas has to be pretty damn sure now that if he makes any tiny change, millions of unsexed fangeeks will moan endlessly and boycott the film and it will lose him money in sales, plus whatever the digital wizardry costs. But he goes ahead and does it anyway because he thinks it's more true to his artistic sensibility -- which, again, ain't Fellini's -- and that's more important than the bottom line. Dammit, we should give him an award for that instead of bitching.

I remember thinking less of The Empire Strikes Back when it came out in 1980, because of the Yoda character. What I held against him was that he sounded exactly like the Muppet Fozzy Bear (because he was voiced by the same guy, Frank Oz), which just sounded weird to me. I kept expecting him to hit Luke with a really terrible joke during the Jedi training sequence.

I should also say a word on behalf of the original Star Wars, which gets knocked down by modern filmgoers raised on films that used it as their inspiration. Sure, Star Wars has some wooden dialog, and suffered some in remastering (e.g. the whole Han Solo fired first thing). But at the time it came out, it was an experience, one of the very few movies that changed the entire industry almost immediately. When the Falcon went to light speed for the first time, I remember a whole theater gasping like a crowd seeing a spectacular finale on the fourth of July.

After his scientific accomplishments, he llater moved to Tattooine, where his name was slightly altered and he acquired the surname, "The Hut."

I first watched Star Wars in 2006- having turned 21 only a few months prior to that. Sky, for some reason would 'showcase' the entire series in an eternal loop. Mind you, I have only seen the trailers of the first two episodes and was sufficiently disgusted by them.

That's when Revenge of the Sith happened. It was quite a shock for me because even with Hayden's questionable acting skills - the movie proved to be truly engaging. So much so, that I finished watching the entire series on the same day (III, IV,V, VI - then I & II).

I guess, the time and age of the viewer would matter a lot when discussing about the relative greatness of any movie/series which has spanned almost thirty years.

If someone says that the 'new' ones are utterly stupid when compared to the original awesome trilogy - I would also have to point out that Return of the Jedi is probably the worst conclusion ever to have followed such an amazing 2nd part. In fact, other than the novelty of it all , the first Star Wars movie itself is not something that stays with you forever.

Both Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith hold much interest to me and as such they signify the best of both eras- having seen them as isolated individual movies, not bound to any order (I concede- if I had watched Menace and Clones first before Sith - I doubt I would have enjoyed it so much). To know that Vader is actually Luke's father (though our present generation could have/probably did see that coming) is a first -rate twist if there ever was any. Similarly, when Obi-Wan says, "You were the chosen one! It was said that you'd destroy the Sith - not join them! Bring balance to the Force - not leave it in Darkness!"- you cannot help but feel let-down by the futility of it all. You forget all the bad acting, poor character-development, ugly CGI- everything. You only remember how easy it is to embrace the darkness inside you- if you only just stray a little. Who knows whether all the infamous totalitarians of the world probably had a similar goal- trying to save their loved ones only to end up killing thousands.

You are wrong. They do hate our freedom, esp. our religious freedom, and the freedom women have. Google women in the middle east and see the freedoms we enjoy that they do not. You can go to jail for being raped. You must dress in the customary garb Women are not thought of as equal. It is not our foreign policy they hate, it is our customs and religion, and the power and riches we have. We do not force dictatorships on other country's..

"Is rio orange war always forfait mobile illimite inevitable ?"
MaximB