What makes A Star Wars Film?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

So here is an idea. What, in your opinion, makes a Star Wars film, and how does each of the 9 films in the series pass or fail that abstract condition?

[Beelzquill]

So glad you asked that question, hardly anyone wants to talk about star wars here.

My Criteria: Has the words "Star" and "Wars" in the title.
Now lets see if they pass or fail

"Star Wars: A New Hope" Passed
"Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" Passed
"Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" Passed
"Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" Passed
"Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" Passed
"Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" Passed
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Passed
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Passed
"Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker" Passed

So in total these nine movies pass my abstract condition.

[Captain Crimson]

Diversity, representation, dinosaurs, droids, anti-war...

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Diversity, representation, dinosaurs, droids, anti-war...

That's a pretty succinct bite, coming from you.

Actually though I was mostly just curious how Episode 2 fails so royally. And despite the gab abvove at excessive fandom speculation issues, I feel an actual broad range of people have a pretty consistent range of regard for each movie between the 3 trilogies. Not only that, but the distinct conditions each trilogy was made in is also a key juncture of regard for swaths of fans.

That kind of dimensionality I think serves as a great avenue for Star Wars speculation as it begs for an overall distinct yet understandably interdependent regard for each movie. I mean instead of just talking about how one movie or one specific trilogy sucks, give it a balance maybe.

[Nealithi]

So glad you asked that question, hardly anyone wants to talk about star wars here.

My Criteria: Has the words "Star" and "Wars" in the title.
Now lets see if they pass or fail

"Star Wars: A New Hope" Passed
"Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" Passed
"Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" Passed
"Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" Passed
"Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" Passed
"Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" Passed
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Passed
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Passed
"Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker" Passed

So in total these nine movies pass my abstract condition.

I have three titles I wish to ask if they fit the premise.
Rogue One, a Star Wars story
Solo, a Star Wars story
Star Wars Christmas Special

As all three here have Star Wars in the title.

[Captain Crimson]

That's a pretty succinct bite, coming from you.

I was just joking about that HR whiteboard a year ago, which said some of those. I don't mind anti-war, I think B5 did a good job with that while still keeping it action-packed, as we see in RO, but at the same time, some of those were just weird, clearly written by people with only passing knowledge of SW.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

That's a pretty succinct bite, coming from you.

I was just joking about that HR whiteboard a year ago, which said some of those. I don't mind anti-war, I think B5 did a good job with that while still keeping it action-packed, as we see in RO, but at the same time, some of those were just weird, clearly written by people with only passing knowledge of SW.

A difference between Star Trek and Star Wars is that Star Trek tries to make the weirdness expected in the encounter while Star Wars tries to put normalized stuff in the weirdest setting possible. Like, Data is recognized as an ambitious design in concept while C-3PO has no real psychological marker that distinguishes his persona from a human.

Likewise though, the approaches evolve. Eventually Data is no different in psychological operation from a human, while robots in Solo are protesting for their representation.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

So glad you asked that question, hardly anyone wants to talk about star wars here.

My Criteria: Has the words "Star" and "Wars" in the title.
Now lets see if they pass or fail

"Star Wars: A New Hope" Passed
"Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" Passed
"Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" Passed
"Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" Passed
"Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" Passed
"Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" Passed
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Passed
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Passed
"Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker" Passed

So in total these nine movies pass my abstract condition.

I have three titles I wish to ask if they fit the premise.
Rogue One, a Star Wars story
Solo, a Star Wars story
Star Wars Christmas Special

As all three here have Star Wars in the title.

Actually I left them out on purpose, but far from me to deter.

[Captain Crimson]

That's a pretty succinct bite, coming from you.

I was just joking about that HR whiteboard a year ago, which said some of those. I don't mind anti-war, I think B5 did a good job with that while still keeping it action-packed, as we see in RO, but at the same time, some of those were just weird, clearly written by people with only passing knowledge of SW.

A difference between Star Trek and Star Wars is that Star Trek tries to make the weirdness expected in the encounter while Star Wars tries to put normalized stuff in the weirdest setting possible. Like, Data is recognized as an ambitious design in concept while C-3PO has no real psychological marker that distinguishes his persona from a human.

My view may actually be unique, being that I'm hip-deep into EU lore, remember.

I'm going to say that it's the sourcebooks. I think more than partly, it's one of the admittedly myriad reasons the DSWST had such a mixed reception. The PT may be getting something of a reevaluation, so there's a more nuanced discussion going on now, where no, they aren't underrated masterpieces, but they'd hardly raped our childhoods, as some obnoxious fans said back in the day. More and more people are at least seeing the underlying intent Mr. Lucas had, which I appreciate.

But relevant to the EU how? Back in the day, I remember Mr. Chee talking about this on the forums, but the sourcebooks were actually C Canon. They were meant to bridge the continuity of G Canon, or the six films. That said, it was well-known Mr. Lucas was was actually reading the sourcebooks when he was making the PT, which is wild, that for all Mr. Filoni has the EU was never part of Mr. Lucas's universe (after being promoted as an EU lore master, no less), even on TCW's production, if you look at the featurettes up on YouTube, you see Mr. Lucas has one of those sourcebooks handy nearby him.

For a sloppy writer with great imaginative vision like Mr. Lucas, those sourcebooks are a must and are my impression as to why the writing, if it's pure George Lucas, had improved past the original movies, as Mr. Chuck claims. It's why I've been so disappointed with DSWC's lack of continuity. I mean, it's very plain they don't care, but with them still borrowing and cherry-picking ideas from SWL here and there then why not actually use one of the sourcebooks? My favorite is Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force. It really does in depth with the lore of the Jedi, the Sith, and the Force.

[Nealithi]

Actually I left them out on purpose, but far from me to deter.

It was more a question based on just putting Star Wars in the name.
Personally I have never seen the Christmas Special but have heard stories about legendary badness. So being able to put it on the list has shock value.
That said I felt Rogue One was a good movie set in the Star Wars setting and it proved you did not have to have the main cast to tell the tales. IE a DS9 or Voyager like spinoff.
I thought Solo was well done but wrong. And this is just my personal opinion. As a Star Wars movie it was fine. But it should not have been about Han and Chewie. Make it anyone but the main cast and it would have gone over much better.

Of the base nine mentioned previously. I think 1-7 fit. I think 7 let things slide a bit at the end and Han's death was too telegraphed to feel anything other than disappointing. But the overall feel of the movie fit the general themes of Star Wars. Even if it had JJ Abrams lack of understanding how big space is. . .

That said I felt 8 broke too many rules and put me off the franchise in a big way. I have not seen the Mandalorian, movie 9, or been back to SWtOR since. Rumors I have read here about Disney may be considering retconning their sequels out of existence and trying again. I have mixed feelings about. There are people that love these movies. You won't get Harrison Ford back again. Carrie Fisher died. You can't just wipe them for nothing. But they as a company need to do better. This is Lucas Arts and Disney. They know how to make a movie. How did these three get so divisive? Like why did Kelley Marie Tran deserve death threats?