May the 4th Be With You!

Alrighty, folks. This year, May 4th landed on a Saturday and it was just too serendipitous to pass up, even if it means disrupting the pattern of articles and reviews that I’ve established. And today I have an excuse to nerd out and I am mostly certainly going to make use of my platform to do so to the fullest extent.

First and foremost… rating the Star Wars live-action films and series’!

#1: Revenge of the Sith

The Obi-wan and Anakin dynamic was at its most powerful here, and is downright one of my favorite character dynamics of all times. Is the romance with Padme annoying? Sure. But the final fight scene, Anakin’s transformation, Order 66, and the powerful betrayal… it makes it all worth it.

#2: Rogue One

I love heroic sacrifices. I also love Star Wars humor. They came together in a poignant, well-done movie with a sweet enemies-to-friends relationship, a sarcastic droid, and a rousing theme of hope and selflessness.

#3: The Mandalorian

The accidental parent is another trope I love. Coupled with a pessimistic bounty hunter and some fun digging into Star Wars lore, it makes this series one of my favorites. He was cooler when the helmet stayed on… but oh well.

#4: Attack of the Clones

More Anakin and Obi-wan. It’s pretty hard to beat a mentor-student relationship like that. Also, Jango Fett. I don’t care a bit about Padme, but Obi-wan’s dry humor… *chef’s kiss.*

#5: The Original Trilogy

I know, I know, I’m breaking the pattern. But after my first favorite three, I kinda end up grouping things. I’d say, out of the original trilogy, the first is my favorite, and then the next two, which kinda go together, so I’m categorizing them as one. I like Han and Chewie better in these. The later stuff ruined them.

#6: Everything Else

I haven’t seen Andor, Kenobi, The Last Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker. Quite frankly, I don’t want to… well, maybe Kenobi, but not the rest. I’ve heard the basic plots of them, and in my opinion, Rey has no place in the Star Wars films, and having her somehow be Palpatine’s granddaughter, and somehow Palpatine isn’t dead… that’s just stupid. She’s just instantly super-powerful. I also disliked how they unraveled Han’s arc and returned him to a deadbeat after he’d come around and married Leia. Sure, Poe’s character is a little interesting, but overall it’s not good storytelling and doesn’t keep me interested. It’s the writers saying, ‘ooh, look what we can do. Never saw that coming, huh?’ Because we didn’t. Because it wasn’t foreshadowed. Because Palpatine was DEAD AS A DOORNAIL. And it gets all political, and Kylo Ren is weird and kinda gross and Luke’s all grumpy and old… But keep in mind, I haven’t seen all of it. Maybe I’m wrong. But I didn’t like any of the characters in The Force Awakens enough for there to be a chance of the new trilogy surpassing the old stuff.

Anyway… as for the first of the prequels, I like Obi-wan and Qui-gon, but it was a loooong film and I’m not a fan of Jar-Jar. Regardless, The Phantom Menace was still better than the new trilogy. Ugh. Also, I’ll put Solo and Boba Fett here. Solo was okay, but not fantastic. I don’t know what was going on with Fett, where we’ve got a Rancor imitating King Kong in the last episode… *sigh.* Mandalorians are cool, but what with that and the gross lizard, like, worming into Fett’s brain, the series just didn’t work for me. Are the soundtracks cool for ALL of the films? Sure. But after Rogue One, the storytelling just went way downhill. Solo was… meh. Also politicized. But yeah, the soundtracks are pretty cool, and there’s some fun remixes on YouTube. I’m also a musician, so I can nerd out about that briefly here as well. It fits under the category of ‘entertainment,’ right?

#7: The new garbage — The Acolyte and everything else woke.

A final note — I haven’t seen all of the animated shows. I watched a few seasons of Rebels and lost interest, and frankly, it got a little dark and anti-God. Then sadly Disney went massively overboard and we canceled our subscription. So… I will not dive into those Clone Wars or Bad Batch as I do not count myself qualified to rate them.

Now, I know there are no end of posts and articles about the Star Wars characters and what we can learn from them as storytellers. So I won’t speak very long on that. All I’ll say is that the original trilogy had a great structure, and did a good job of making the villain personal to the hero. Your hero can’t just be fighting against some big, nameless force. We won’t care too much about that. But when he has a personal enemy… when that enemy is his father, then we care. It also did a good job with character dynamics between Han and Luke, and the development of Luke as a hero.

And as for Anakin’s character and storyline, it was tragic, but good. And ultimately, at the end, he redeems himself. I thought that the prequel trilogy overall was the best at emotional appeal and the best at the mentor-apprentice relationship. Also there was more worldbuilding, which I appreciated.

Rogue One also had fantastic emotional appeal and connected you to the characters very quickly. It also had the most powerful theme out of any of the films, and it’s one that we as Christians can particularly resonate with.

Also, Grogu eating frogs is cute in a semi-gross way. And I highly enjoy seeing a tough, dry, closed-up character getting nettled and pushed and prodded to reveal his softer side. Besides, Mandalorians are just cool.

You’re more than welcome to argue with me, by the way. A nerd loves talking about the things she nerds out about. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the films, and I promise you, I’m not so attached that things will get ugly. My friends and I often talk Star Wars.

One of the final things I love about this franchise is the humor — and the potential for it. There’s some pretty hilarious YouTube parodies, such as a stormtroopers/cops mashup, bad lip readings, and stormtrooper training school. It’s just fun when a franchise can be so wide and detailed like that.

I also must say, I don’t think the Star Wars franchise will get any better from here. They’ve got a way woke director now, and frankly, the old films are always better.

So… that’s my little diatribe. Happy May 4th, ya’ll.

P.S. My lovely friend and fellow blogger Lori invited me to chat on her blog, WarriorCo. Check it out!

Image by nalik25390 from Pixabay