The Dark Side

[MyrddinsPrecint]

I loved episodes 4-6. I was the little kid who decided to save up to buy the $50 Millenium Falcon toy when my allowance was $1 a week. (I got it too, although I think my allowance was upped to $2 around the time my parents realized I was responsible with my money enough to save up for a ****ing Millenium Falcon)

I was disappointed by Episode 1. But I saw it more than once. I was devistated by Episode 2. I could barely bring myself to watch episode 3............ But Ep. 3 was actually bearable.

Hayden Christianson was just bad. Natalie Portman can be AMAZING (e.g. Closer) but here.... she had nothing to interact with. It was flat and unbelieveable.


In 4-6, there were plot inconsistancies, and wierdness, and.... whatever. But if there was a hole there, they just moved past it. In 1-3, they tried to fill in the holes.... which largely looked much more messy, and was much more confusing.

in 4-6, there was a story that was being told using special effects. but because there wasn't a whole lot of money available, the story was primary, and the special effects weren't always perfect. there was charm in that, there was something to respect in that. 1-3 was a series of "omg, wouldn't it be cool if this happened??" all strung together. so it made NO SENSE.

i thought that 6 wasn't the best of the originals, and that 3 was the best of the prequels.......... and they're close in quality.... i mean, 3 had all the problems of the prequels, the bad dialogue, the crap actors, the overreliance on CGI, and everything else.... but when it came down to it, it FELT like star wars. 1 and 2.... didn't.


I also strongly agree with Phaeton and Epee_Pox.

[oiuyt]

David Brin's take on it all (from 1999, after Ep 1, but before Ep 2 & 3 had come out). Interesting read from a very good SF author. I suggest reading both the page I've linked and the pair of articles linked from near the top of that page.

-B

[fencingfrog]

wow. am i the only one that really likes them for no reason at all, and ignores (most) of the wierd stuff?

i have noticed something strange, though. except battles against thousands of droids, the jedi never stab with lightsabres. only the sith use stabbing as a true form of lightsabre fighting. my friend said that we foilists and epeeists must then be part of the sith...but why don't the jedi stab people?? it works, palpatine and the other sith proved it!

[oiuyt]

my friend said that we foilists and epeeists must then be part of the sith...

Nope, not possible. As pointed out in the OP the bad guys have cooler weapons. Clearly we're not talking foil/epee here. :)

-B

[fencingfrog]

well, i would like to learn sabre, i have gone bad, i must be anakin. to the dark side i come!
and most sabre people dont stab much! wierd...

[Black Jeebus]

Umm... But... the bad guys are the ones that stab! Not to sound like a fanboy, but the reason they did that is because stabbing is more dangerous. The Jedi are all about stopping you without killing you, so they're fans of cutting things off, whereas the Sith like to kill so they're fans of doing damage the easiest way they can. And because its easier to parry a big ole' cut swinging at your head/body/whatever they tend to stab cause then even if the Jedi parrys a little the Sith might be able to push through and still inflict some damage!

(read that in the Insider magazine when they interviewed the guy that did most of the coreography...)

[Moses]

I'm sure that choreography guy said that to please the fanboys. Glowing blades look cooler swinging around in stead (sic) of forming straight lines.

Although, with your explanation, I respect the Sith more, now. They may kill you, but at least they don't leave you a hopeless cripple on Tatooine or however you spell it.

-Da Mose

[fencingfrog]

i sort of agee. i respect the jedi for sticking to so many morals and all, but the sith for being awesome fighters and a little more sensible if you ask me.
i learned the stabbing parry not working all right! ouch.

[tkexi991]

i sort of agee. i respect the jedi for sticking to so many morals and all, but the sith for being awesome fighters and a little more sensible if you ask me.
i learned the stabbing parry not working all right! ouch.

As for stabbing, that would make the Sith a lot like the french. Personally, there was way too much black/white view point on the Light side, and the Dark Side wanted to you kill kids which is just mean. At least Babylon 5 offered a compromise in their story - the Grey.

[Rapier_wit]

Hmm I'll have to go with the Dark Side on this one. You really can't beat Lord Maul's double-bladed lightsabre or Count Dooku's. The attack radius on them is a lot larger in diameter than the normal lightsabre.

Now as far as the costumes go, it depends. It really does, especially on the character. I definitely like the older Anakin's jedi robes versus Luke Skywalkers. But then I like Luke Skywalker's costume in Return of the Jedi. Who said good guys don't wear black?

[RITFencing]

A radius can't be larger in diameter, RW... a radius is simply half of a diameter.

Also, the double ended lightsaber has a smaller threat range in general since it's used two handed; that restricts the range of arm motion, and it's not like they can hold it by the ends.

[Rapier_wit]

Oh duh...sorry. Again this is why I suck at math and life in general. I can never remember these things and come out sounding like an idiot. Oh well, such is the drama of life, I guess. I know about the double-edged sabre, I was more referring to Count Dooku's weapon in that respect. The curved handle gives it a little more manueverability (if that's the right word) than the normal cylindrical-shaped handle.

Ah, RIT, I see you're still up to your old posting tricks, eh? I should've known that when I came back I'd see you post right after me!

[RITFencing]

Yep, good ol quickdraw RIT... when you have many thousands of lines of code under your belt, you end up typing these responses really quickly.

I remember looking at dooku's shotgunned ligthsaber and thinking "I used to do that to my french grips." I would totally post with that mother; give whiny little anakin somehting to really cry about.

[keropie]

Yeah, but the whole lightsaber duel takes on an entirely different feel when you start to consider the force. I mean, if you're fighting someone who has precognition to some degree as well as the ability to alter his surroundings (by shoving you backwards, choking you, tossing stuff at you, throwing lightning at you, etc.), things would change a lot. That's always the explanation I give people when they complain either that Star Wars saber duels aren't similar to fencing (duh!) or vice versa.

With that in mind though, a little extra reach is much less significant than either better ability to perceive the future or deceive the other.

I still think the right way to win is just use the Death Star's main gun on the planet they happen to be standing on Wonder how well the saber would block that ^^