i.e. its success based upon the shitty state of the 1970's movie scene, a point upon which I do agree with you
eh, it's success is for a lot of reasons. not just that. i think people think the movie is the characters or the rebel vs. empire or the jedi vs. sith, i think it is bigger than that. i mean, the 70's movie scene in general was pretty dope, you had the rise of Spielberg,
Jaws setting the scene for the summer blockbuster (and John William kicking ass), you had
Apocalypse Now, which Lucas was working on at one point, and which influenced parts of his space trilogy. you had all those directors weighing in on
SW, plus all the wonderful actors, young Harrison Ford, all the brilliant craftspeople, effects, matte painters, model makers, the Henson crew, there is a long list of amazing people, all at or around peaks of their careers, all pooling together, this is where
Indiana Jones comes from, this where
E.T. comes from.
SW is definitely a lightning in the bottle product of it's time. JJ Abrams & Rian Johnson in the 2010s is not George Lucas hanging around Steven Speilberg and Francis Ford Coppola in the 70s. whoever is doing the CGI animation is not the California hacker geniuses who invented computer camera systems and founded ILM. there is a vast difference in talent there. to ignore this is silly. lightning in a bottle, a certain time and place, call it what you will. it will make the OT films forever special.
the point regarding Star Wars is the fact the actual lore of the universe & worlds the movies inhabit are seriously cool. It's just the entire packaging & exaggerated kiddie aspect I personally find totally revolting. There's a reason many people thought the Ewoks were shit-on-a-stick, i.e. even back in the 80's when Star Wars went from the cool seriousness of Empire Strikes Back to freaking teddy bears (merchandising pretending to be a movie) in Return of the Jedi, it was jarring.
eh the lore is ok, the characters and worlds are wonderful. the lore takes itself too seriously at times, but i do enjoy watching them spin a crazy space yarn.
ROTJ was definitely an attempt at a kiddy-friendly, audience-targeted movie. it was the first
SW movie for
SW fans (
Empire IMO had a broader audience in mind). they bring back the Death Star, they bring back Lando, go back to Tatooine, go back to Yoda. Ewoks, i have mixed feelings, cos i think that movie is fundamentally compromised, and things like Han Solo's belabored "Here we go again" and the shot where he steps on a twig while sneaking up from behind a guard, things like that are
Scooby Doo level of reality to me. Chewie taking the food, are you for real? by the time I get to Ewoks i just think of them playing drums on the stormtrooper heads and later those cool fantasy made for tv films. (Porgs tho, they are a true spawn of satan.)
Empire definitely got it right in that they demonstrate the varied environments have consequences. Dagobah was a very real set where Luke worked for months with live animals such as snakes and lizards, getting bit once while filming. Hoth is dangerous, if Luke stays out all night in the cold he may die, and this is reinforced as we see him knocked unconscious within 5 minutes of the film. 5 minutes into the sequel and the main hero is out cold! that's subversive. it's also thrilling. this is what is missing, genuine thrills. you don't expect that right out the gate. just as there are many things that make
SW good, there are many things that make the ST not so.