[haloboy100]

The thing is, 4-6 were the story of a small group of friends and the major roles they played in the downfall of the Empire.

Thats what makes them so different from any sci-fi. Almost all sci-fis nowadays focus on things on a galactic scale, which always involves to factions or species going at war with each other. (Freespace 2 exclusively did this, which is why all player-made campaigns with back stories for Alpha one fail.)

[General Battuta]

Really? Space opera is a big part of SF, but by no means the only part...there's cyberpunk and so on.

If you're referring specifically to film SF, most of it hasn't been space opera recently. Consider stuff like 'Cloverfield', 'I Am Legend', 'Serenity', the awful 'Jumper'...not much space opera in there.

[Woolie Wool]

The thing is, 4-6 were the story of a small group of friends and the major roles they played in the downfall of the Empire.

Thats what makes them so different from any sci-fi. Almost all sci-fis nowadays focus on things on a galactic scale, which always involves to factions or species going at war with each other. (Freespace 2 exclusively did this, which is why all player-made campaigns with back stories for Alpha one fail.)

Play Blue Planet or Wing Commander Saga.

[Hellstryker]

**** blue planet, the feel was all wrong when it came to anything personal... play derelict

[Jeff Vader]

**** Blue Planet and Derelict. They had actual plots. Play The Second Great War Part 2.

[Hellstryker]

**** Blue Planet and Derelict. They had actual plots. Play The Second Great War Part 2.

[Jeff Vader]

**** Blue Planet and Derelict. They had actual plots. Play The Second Great War Part 2.

[Nuclear1]

The thing is, 4-6 were the story of a small group of friends and the major roles they played in the downfall of the Empire.

Thats what makes them so different from any sci-fi. Almost all sci-fis nowadays focus on things on a galactic scale, which always involves to factions or species going at war with each other. (Freespace 2 exclusively did this, which is why all player-made campaigns with back stories for Alpha one fail.)

You never played Transcend, did you?

[Roanoke]

I thought George Lucas tired to get through too much in Ep3. To have Anakin became Vadar (suit, robotics 'n' all), Palpatine to become the Emporer(sp?), Luke and Leia to be born and the Clone Wars to be concluded was too much.
I always figured Palpatine and Vadar become corrupt and twisted over years of exposure to the dark side and the wiping out of the Jedi. To have it happen within the space of a few minutes seemed ridiculous.

[haloboy100]

agreed

[WMCoolmon]

In fact, special kudos to whoever wrote the "Revenge of the Sith" book version. It actually manages to make Anakin seem have somewhat more reason to go dark and glowy-eyed than in the movies. Granted, the basic premise of going dark in order to protect your beloved from predicted death isn't the most convincing course of action for a cunning warrior. In the movies, he was kinda just manipulated around by Palpatine like he was a puppet by the string, and Hayden Christensen's acting (and the dialogue written for him) didn't really shed light to what the character's motives actually were. Also, in the books you can interpret him going to dark in many ways - his feelings clouding his judgement, or just being an arrogant prick who thought he could control the dark side and use it as a necessary evil to beat a bigger evil (no dice there obviously); in the movies it looks more like a combination of paranoid schizophrenia and a jealous hissy-fit. I mean... "I'll go dark to save Padme - woohoo, I feel great, Padme won't you follow me? Oh well I'll just throttle you here and now then instead!" Cunning warrior indeed...

I think you're analyzing it too logically; Anakin certainly wasn't, the best that could be applied there would be rationalization.

Sure, Anakin is a cunning warrior, but he's also young and had a pretty crappy life. First he was a slave - not gonna get much chance for interpersonal relations there - and then he was inducted into the stoical Jedi order. Then his mom gets raped and killed by a group of Tusken Raiders. He had extraordinary Force powers and was definitely on the quick track, which probably isolated him from a lot of his classmates. He was also inducted into the order at a relatively late age, which would be cause for further 'special treatment' - both negative and positive.

So he's not going to have a support base that he can easily talk things over with. Padme and Obi-wan; that's about it. Padme doesn't have any context for Force stuff, and Obi-wan's pretty straight arrow and is clueless to help Anakin with any of his experiences.

So, I think it's perfectly believable that Anakin decided that he had to have that power to save the one he loved, and once he killed Mace Windu, he was pretty much screwed over. He could either try and face the Sith lord who'd massacred most of the Jedi council already, or he could go along with Palpatine and hope for the best. That is, I admit, a bit of a stretch and I think that's the weakest point of Episode 3, because somehow Anakin goes from trying to save people to killing children who don't pose any threat to anyone.

But as far as strangling Padme goes, I think that had more to do with self-hatred and fear than any kind of thought that it would make things better. If you want to get psychological - Anakin needs to exert his power over Padme in order to justify everything he's done. He needs Padme to accept him, because if she doesn't, it means that everything he did was pointless and evil (Which, of course, it was anyway).

And Padme, unfortunately for her, is the person that Anakin is most free to express his emotions around. For all we know, he really wants to strangle Palpatine and just takes it out on Padme because he can and it'll mean something to him.

But I find it believable. There's all kinds of domestic violence that's utterly irrational. I'd imagine that a bit of premeditated homicide and the toppling of an entire government has the tendency to make some people behave a bit oddly from stress.

[WMCoolmon]

I think all that's why Lucas predicted that people wouldn't like Episode 3 as much. Episodes 4, 5, and 6 were pretty transparent - oh no, it's Darth Vader, we're all going to die; oh god no, Darth Vader is a horrible person, he can't be my father; ****, this is my son, I need to wax this mother****er.

With Episode 3, it's more like - come on. How can you possibly think that leaving six messages on your ex's answering machine, in the middle of the night, while crying like a baby, is going to do any good at all?

[IPAndrews]

Best summing up of the Star Wars Saga in the history of mankind. 

[Corsair]

Then there's the X-Wing series, which would have made better movies than 1-3

[redsniper]

yeah, that ought to be the new TV series, not some lame Clone Wars interquel drivel.

[NGTM-1R]

Then there's the X-Wing series, which would have made better movies than 1-3

THRAWN TRILOGY

X-Wing would have lost way too much in cinematic format.

[haloboy100]

As with all books converted to movies.

[Mefustae]

Then there's the X-Wing series, which would have made better movies than 1-3

THRAWN TRILOGY

X-Wing would have lost way too much in cinematic format.

Pfft. Republic Commando movie ftw! 'Black Hawk Down' on Coruscant. Or perhaps a television- or mini-series. Think 'The Unit' set in the Star Wars universe.

Screw the grand, sweeping space opera. I want to see gritty details. I want to see the underbelly of the Galaxy Far Far Away.

[haloboy100]

I'd like to see a totally war-focused star wars movie. Imagine 300 in star wars.

[S-99]

I'd like to see a totally war-focused star wars movie. Imagine 300 in star wars.