The live action Series has me so bloody excited, like the aging Star Wars geek I am!

The last three Stars Wars film had some amazing stuff in them, great moments but lacked some of the grace and charm of the orginal three.

Oddly enough, this makes me appreciate the orginal movies even more, and the performances in them...Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and in particular Harrison Ford.

Harrison Ford is the real hero of those movies, and its the abscence of that spark that I think hurts the later movies. Han Solo is an all-time great movie character...unfairly, Ford then created another one in Indiana Jones!

For me, only Christopher Lee grabbed my attnetion in terms of an actiong perofrmance in the new movies...we see all too little of him though.

Oh dear, oh dear oh dear benoit....

First you need to get rid of your parents then get the DVDs. Even though the first three episodes were made last, it's the three earlier made films you should watch first - Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi..

And don't come back until you do!

What is scary is that I am old enough to have seen them first time around. Yup, I was a just a little sprog standing in line outside the cinema with my family and hundreds of other people, with the line going around the block.

And I recently found my original Millennium Falcon and a Chewbacca action figure from 1978 in the loft!

-- Edited by Man In Black at 11:43, 2007-05-16

Yeah I saw them in the 70's too...such an old codger I am! What a thrill it was to see Star Wars the first time.

I also had loads of figures and toys! X-wing fighter, Snow Speeder...my fave figure was Boba Fett!

Watashi wa 'otaku' desho...

Again the new movies made some mistakes...Jar Jar of course, and the kid in the first one was irritating. They cast some good actors in lead roles...Mcgregor, Portman, Neeson, but none seemed on their best form, certainly there was never that Han/Leia, Han/Luke chemistry.

That said there are some amazing lightsabre duels, the podrace rocks, and Yoda v Dooku is geek heaven!

I have to admit. I have all the originals on VHS and all the new ones on DVD. Hell I even have an Obi Wan Light Sabre nestled inbetween my Kendo Stick and 7 foot Kitana :)

Ahhh the the days when.... Oh and Beniot its a probable banning offence y'know not having seen the Star Wars films..

oh..Well ill have to watch the films in the near future then Dark M! Its odd because i know most of the characters from the movies, iv even had some of the figures and things but iv never seen the films.Itll soon change though,if i can get the movies soon, ill watch for certain.But i am quite ashamed of myself for not seeing them sooner!

-- Edited by Benoit101 at 14:47, 2007-05-17

Didn't know there was one....

Cool, I am hopefully going to Disneyland Paris later this year so I'll have to look for them in the gift shops.

I was a HUGE fan of the first 3 released, Episode I was quite refreshing when it first came out but I was a little let down when they released episode II as i thought it was quite crap, and never actually watched episode III yet

Here is another pic i found similar to Darths above.

Ho hum... Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars! ( Big yawn ).

Don't get me wrong here, but the whole Stars Wars thing is leaving me a bit cold nowadays. I too have great memories of going to see the first movie at the cinema when it first came out, and it cannot be described as being anything less than truely groundbreaking. But come on guys...! When it comes to characterisation and plot line, I've seen deeper car-park puddles. Bucking the usual trend of trashy sequels, it has to be said that Empire Strikes Back is, without question, a great movie... a truely awesome piece of film-making... and the only one of the movies in the whole saga where they actually pulled off the whole " Saturday Morning Serial " thing by daring to have, of all things, a cliffhanger ending ( gasp ). Pity that great ending was wasted by following it up with Return Of The Jedi, a movie whose only redeeming feature is a brass bikini!!! It's not so much a sequel, as a second-rate remake of Star Wars with added Ewoks ( Oh, how I hate those furry little bar sterwards!!! )....

.... then a gap of about twenty years ( presumably to allow the movie going public to forget just how disappointing ROTJ really was )....

.... and then the prequels ( and joy of joys, Jah Jah Binks!!! ). It was inevitable from the point at which the Beard ( aka George Lucas ) realised just how big a cash-cow he'd created that they would be made, and they could have been good.... I mean really, really good, despite my dislike of all things prequel-esque. But, the Beard decided ( in His most infinite wisdom ) to direct not one, not two, but all of the damned things. It must be remembered that, prior to The Phantom Menace, the last film that Georgie boy actually directed was Star Wars, tweny-ish years previously.Plus, he had only directed two movies ( three if you count the original THX-1138 he made in college ) before that... George Lucas is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a highly experienced and skilled director. And, by the mother of great babbling god!, doesn't it show!!! Whilst all three movies are quite watchable, and there are some ( stress some ) classic moments, Lucas' lack of ability fails to elicit more than third rate performances from some top notch actors, gives key dramatic scenes to people who couldn't act their way out of a paper bag ( stand up Ms. Portman, and slap the lil' brat from the first movie on your way out ), concentrates far too much on ( supposedly ) state-of-the-art special effects ( just remember they were using colour separation overlay when they made Rentaghost!!! ), and almost completely ignores the most important thing, ie a coherent, and engaging plotline. George Lucas should be tried for crimes against humanity ( and decent film-making ), not being given the oppertunity to make a multi-million dollar T.V. show. Remember, this is the man that gave us Jah Jah Binks, and those oh-so-adorable Ewoks. I can only but hope that there's some version of the Special Editions where Jah Jah and the teddy bears from hell are being fed, one by one, into the Sarlac Pit... one thousand years of bing digested alive is far, far to good for them....

Update on Kenny Baker...

Star Wars actor Kenny Baker is "a lot better" after being admitted to hospital last week with chest problems, his son has said.

But the 73-year-old actor, who played loveable robot R2-D2 in the Star Wars films, remains in hospital in Wythenshawe, Manchester.

The 3ft 8in actor was taken ill while flying back to the UK from Chicago.

"He was very seriously ill when he flew in on Tuesday but he's out of bed now," Kevin Baker told BBC News.

"He's well aware of all the support he's received and thanks everyone for their kind regards."

Pneumonia

According to his son, Kenny Baker suffered a bout of pneumonia last year which doctors think may be behind his current illness.

"The doctors said they'd done pretty much all they could do," he said. "I was told he could very easily pass away in his sleep."

Kevin Baker said his father was still getting tired very quickly and was using a nebuliser to assist his breathing.

Born in Birmingham in 1934, Kenny Baker's other films include Flash Gordon, Time Bandits and The Elephant Man.