Some STAR WARS Day Musings

Every May 4th, my former neighbors would put these inflatables in their yard

A few weeks ago, I posted on Facebook that, “Of the nine STAR WARS movies, I think only four of them are good. I’ll reveal which ones sometime soon.”

Since it’s May the 4th (as in “May the fourth be with you”), which has been branded as STAR WARS Day, it’s as good as time as any to reveal those four films from the franchise, but I have to say that my answers are pretty boring.

Firstly, I’m talking about the nine entries (or Episodes as their called in each movie’s opening crawl) that make up the Skywalker Saga. I’m not counting expanded universe offshoots such as the Ewok TV movies, the animated THE CLONE WARS, ROGUE ONE, SOLO, or The STAR WARS Holiday Special for that matter. I’m clarifying this because some folks brought up a few of these titles in the thread under my Facebook post.

So here’s my boring answer: the four films in the series that I think are the only really worthwhile Episodes are: STAR WARS *, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, RETURN OF THE JEDI, and THE FORCE AWAKENS. Basically the ones that have Han Solo in them (you could say he also appears in THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, but that’s just a cameo). 

Pretty obvious, huh? I’m discounting the prequels as I hated them (as many fans do), and the last two (THE LAST JEDI, RISE) because while they were passably entertaining, they will doubtfully be considered as classics in the decades to come.

*As I’ve written before on this blog, I can never think of the original 1977 series starter by the revised title it was given four years after it’s release. You can read about why, in this post: It’ll Always Be STAR WARS, Not A NEW HOPE To Me (December 13, 2016).

Unsurprisingly, my choices come from growing up with the original trilogy, and favoring the later day comeback (THE FORCE AWAKENS) that most captures the spirit of the original trilogy.

Happy STAR WARS Day people! I’ll leave now with this question: when Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and R2-D2 made an appearance on The Muppet Show (February 1980 – just a few months before THE EMPIRE STRIKE BACK’s release), was that canon?

More later...