Earlier this week, I ranked the prequels from worst to best. Today, on Star Wars Day itself, I am ranking the original trilogy. It is hard for me to not consider each of these movies superior to the prequels in almost every way. In fact, in our most recent episode of the Geekopolis Podcast, my brother Leonard and I discuss why we feel that way. I think a lot of it has to do with the generation I come from. It is almost impossible for me to take a step back and objectively look at all the Star Wars movies and find a way to say that any of the prequels are better than any of the originals.
That being said, not all the original films are equally good. I think two of them are really strong films, and a case could be made for either being the best of the Star Wars films, and one of them is still pretty good, but it’s not nearly as strong. All three of them have their classic moments. All three of them are lots of fun. All three of them are movies that I can watch again and again. Following is how I ranked each one.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Before we get all crazy offended and stuff, just know that I love all three of these movies, but I can still recognize some areas where they struggle a little bit. Return of the Jedi was a fun movie, a good movie, but I don’t think I would call it a great movie. When I was a kid, this one was my favorite, but as I have gotten older, I have recognized it was not as good as the other two.
You’ll notice that I selected a picture with Ewoks in it to represent the film. There’s a reason for that. Star Wars by this point had revolutionized merchandise marketing attached to movies. It practically created the industry. The Ewoks are a good representation of how far that had come since Star Wars. There wasn’t anything in the first two films where they said, “Let’s put this in so we can make a toy version of it.” The Ewoks in ROTJ were put in the film just to make and sell toys. They were marketing the film to kids, encouraging them to go out and by the violent little teddy bears that are the Ewoks. Fun rumor is that originally the film was going to be called Revenge of the Jedi and the Ewoks were going to be Wookies, before the toy manufacturers got to them. Makes sense, Ewok, Wookie, it’s like the same word, in reverse. We got both the title and the Wookie planet in Episode III.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Maybe consider a 1A and 1B type of a situation. It is hard for me to say which film should be number one, and which should be number two. Up until recently, I had always maintained that Empire Strikes Back was one of the few sequels that was actually better than the original movie, but I don’t think that’s true anymore. A lot of fans point to this film as the one that is the least George Lucas-y- which it is, but is that really a positive? I mean without George, we wouldn’t have any Star Wars. I know he kind of blew it with the prequels and special editions, but he still gave us Star Wars. In any case, the story and directing in this film is top-notch, and it is enjoyable and interesting from start to finish.
This film also has the biggest reveal and maybe the biggest moment of the whole Star Wars saga, or it would have been if the prequels didn’t exist. This is the movie that sparks the debate on how one should watch the Star Wars films. When it originally came out, the reveal of Darth Vader being Luke’s father was huge. It was a closely guarded secret, and was a huge surprise and shock when it was revealed in the film. No one saw it coming. Now, if you watch each of the movies in episodic order for the first time, that scene loses all its power. That’s why I support the idea of watching it in machete order- Episode IV, this one, then Episodes I-III, then VI, and now I guess VII, if you are watching them for the first time. Other wise, the prequel trilogy acts as one giant spoiler for what was the biggest reveal in Star Wars history.
Star Wars
There was a time when this film was not called A New Hope. It was simply Star Wars. I still feel like that is how it should be. This is a movie that has grown on me with time. This is a perfect retelling of the hero’s journey, and Luke is really a great hero. He is the every man kind of a character. Wanting so much more than what he has, wanting to make a real difference, but being stuck on the farm. Until he isn’t. Until he is thrust into a position where he does make a difference. An unknown farm boy who ends up destroying the most powerful weapon in the galaxy his first time out in a star fighter. It seems far-fetched, but as the story unfolds, you believe all of it. That is the mark of a good story.
This was probably the one that George Lucas was the most involved with, but this was just out of film school George Lucas, the one who had just done American Graffiti, the one who was still a starving artist, with something to prove. This is the film I look at and realize George Lucas was a great filmmaker. It will be hard, in my mind at least, to eve top this film, no matter how many Star Wars movies Disney produces.
As promised, this is how I would rank all six:
6. Episode II
5. Episode I
4. Episode III
3. Episode VI
2. Episode V
- Episode IV
What do think about my rankings? How would you rank each of the Star Wars films? Obviously, I have not seen Episode VII, so I don’t know how it will rank in the list. I am hoping it will be top three, but we will see. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or you can send me feedback directly at [email protected].
