The film series began with Star Wars, released on May 25, 1977. This was followed by
two sequels: The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25, 1983. The opening crawl of the sequels disclosed that they were numbered as “Episode V” and “Episode VI” respectively, though the films were generally advertised solely under their subtitles. Though the first film in the series was simply titled Star Wars, it later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels.
In 1997, to correspond with the 20th anniversary of the release of Star Wars, Lucas released “Special Editions” of the three films to theaters. The re-releases featured alterations to the original films, primarily motivated by the improvement of CGI and other special effects technologies, which allowed visuals that were not possible to achieve at the time of the original filmmaking. Lucas continued to make changes to the original trilogy for subsequent releases, such as the first ever DVD release of the trilogy on September 21, 2004.
More than two decades after the release of the original Star Wars, the series continued with the long-awaited prequel trilogy, consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005.
The six films together were nominated for a total of 25 Academy Awards, of which they won ten. Three of these were Special Achievement Awards.
When did the Star Wars film series Jump the Shark ?
13 votes so far...
Loading ...See Also : Star Wars Holiday Special
I’ll take the obvious, but right choice – “The Phantom Menace”.
Yes, by the time of “Return of the Jedi”, the gang looked a bit old, and Han Solo looks like he’d have been more comfortable sucking Strepsils than shooting Stormtroopers, but the first trilogy had real magic about it, and, in Darth Vader, one of the greatest screen villains ever. concede that ROTJ had Ewoks, but they were easily countered by Vader’s self-sacrifice to save Luke.
The prequel trilogy spent too much time telling, not showing. All that shite about the “livng force” and the “unifying force” – what happended to the Force and the Dark Side? And I still remember the shudder that ran down my spine when reading the opening text to learn the Jedi were going to sort out a TAX dispute. Seriously? It’s like beginning the second Matrix film with Neo being summoned to sort out someone’s dodgy TV reception.
Yes, Maul, Tyrannus and General Grievous were all great villains, but, amidst the effects Lucas forgot all about STORY.
Like most, I really wanted to see the origin of Vader, but, by the time “Revenge of the Sith” rolled around, I really wish Lucas hadn’t bothered.
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Phantom Menace for me. The politics *YAWN*, Jar Jar Binks and the fact Vader is being called ‘Annie’.
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Did anyone see the TV Christmas special? Spending Christmas with Chewie and his family!! That made The Phantom Menace look like Citizen Kane!!
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Has to be The Phantom Menace. The new trilogy on the whole just wasnt good enough for me. I expected so much from The Phantom Menace and as it failed to deliver it lowered my expectations for the rest.
Darth Maul was only realy used for the final battle and even then the fight was over too soon.
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No it definitely jumped! In six movies you’ve got two truly great movies (Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back), two average (Jedi and III), one below average (II) and one pretty awful movie in the shape of the Phantom Menace. I do concede that the darth maul character helped save it but even he could only do so much
So 2 from 6 – if you were an English Premiership football manager you would get fired for that record. Lets be fair and say it was two victories, two draws, one defeat and one mauling. Ok you’d maybe stay but only if you weren’t at Chelsea…
I also think the star wars trilogy was given some hard competition when LOTR came along and didn’t come away looking the better for it.
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Never jumped.
The new trilogy wasnt as good as the first? Ofcourse not. How the hell could Lucas best Episodes 4,5 and 6??
Still great films for me. Never jumped!!!
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I think Episodes 1 – 3 were all pretty average to be fair. I remember being very excited about seeing Episode 1 in the cinema but wow, what a let down that was.
The only scene worth mentioning was probably the end fight and even that was pretty lame by Star Wars standards. Yea Darth Maul had a double ended light saber and a red & black face. Whatever.
And yea Jar Jar Binks. Jesus.
Probably the most annoying character ever created.
Yea Episode 1 has alot to answer for. Kinda ruined the rest for me .
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I want to say Episode 1 but although this was the weakest of the films. It didnt ruin the series for me.
The films are timeless classics. Every child knows the Star Wars films, the characters and the awesome theme tune!!
Although the original trilogy easily beats the newer one i realy enjoyed watching them all on the big screen. I probably remember watching these in the cinema more than any other movies.
Never Jumped. Use the force.
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You’d expect me to say the series jumped the moment the annoying little brat ran into the screen during The Phantom Menace. Of course it lept to new levels after Jar Jar Binks jived onto the scene.
However I’m going to be a little controversial and say the series jumped after The Empire Strikes Back. My younger self would never have agreed…but come on we’re supposed to believe that the Ewoks defeated “an entire legion” of the Emperors best Storm Troopers?! In my mind the only things that saved episode four from jumping was Lucas couldn’t get his hands on enough special effects and actually had to develop a story. Something he clearly wasn’t bothered about during the newer movies.
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