Oh also... maybe I Missed something, but what was the whole point of the battle on the Wookie planet?

Maybe I missed a bit of dialogue or something but it seems as if you could totally remove that entire scene from the movie and it wouldn't change a thing.

Why was there a battle on that planet and what significance do the wookies have?

Well, I wouldn't say AT ALL. Maybe not as strong as we'd like it to. But the links are definitely there.

True. A possible explanation could be that Obi-Wan would someday train Anakin's child (doesn't know it's a boy or girl, or twins yet) to defeat Palpatine and rebuild the Jedi Order. (He doesn't know Anakin survived the lava). Once he does discover that Vader is alive, he could have planned to train Luke to try to defeat him or bring him back from the Dark Side, which Anakin ultimately wanted ("I've got to save you." "You already have. You were right about me.") So by giving him the light saber, he sets that in motion. That's why something as simple as Obi-Wan picking up the light saber at the end of the duel in Ep. III is one of those things that DOES link the Trilogies. You know where that saber is going and what it's going to mean for the galaxy someday.

Again, yes. But remember that at the end of Ep. III Yoda is going to go teach Obi-Wan the "come back from the dead trick". So even though Obi-Wan was not Yoda's Padawan, he did still receive SOME training from Yoda.

So what Ben told Luke was true... from a certain point of view.

You have to remember that when Lucas filmed Ep. IV, he had no idea it was going to be the sensation it was, and that the other 2 (and later, 5) other episodes were ever going to be filmed. The movie was designed to stand alone if it had to, but then become part of a trilogy and eventually a six-part series. So any continuity errors that are specifically in ANH are due to that fact.

And as far as the Wookiee planet battle, in the ROTJ commentary, Lucas makes reference that the battle that eventually took place on Endor was, in the first draft of his saga, SUPPOSED to be on the Wookiee homeworld, but he eventually changed the Wookiees to Ewoks. The reason was that he wanted the technologically advanced, modern Empire to be ultimately defeated by the Rebels only with the help of a very primitive race of tree-dwelling beings. But when it was pointed out that the Wookiees are in space, and use technology like we've seen Chewie do, it wouldn't work. Plus the Ewoks make nice merchandise for the kiddies. So when it was time for the big battle in Ep. III, he wanted to go back to do that big Wookiee battle he had originally envisioned. Although you're right, there's no reason it HAS to be Kashyyyk, and the battle is never really resolved. Though we can guess that the Wookiees eventually lost.

Disturbing? They're MOVIES. I think you're being a bit harsh and overcritical. The three originals are the better stories, even though they aren't as flashy, well-produced, or have any better acting, but because WE grew up with them. So naturally we're going to look down on the new ones and try to find as many faults with them as possible. The faults are there, to be sure. But the new movies don't suck eggs like it seems to be "cool" to insist they do. There are plenty of people out there who just won't give them a fair shake because they aren't the originals.

I'm much happier with how many scenes in the new trilogy parallel scenes in the old. To me, those are the "links" I was looking for. The Dooku duel at the beginning is a major example of that. It's so very similar to the Luke/Vader duel in ROTJ but this time ends the way Palpatine intended, with the old apprentice being killed and replaced by the new one. It's what he's trying to do again but this time Luke doesn't give in and Vader ends up killing the Emperor. It's even more powerful after seeing ROTJ, because you realize that this time the Emperor got what he wanted. How is that not a link? How is that not giving a thought to the OT? Even the set was very similar.

That scene along with Dooku's scene with Obi-Wan in Ep. II are my two favorite scenes in the new Trilogy. Come to think of it, Dooku is my favorite prequel character. Not only is Christopher Lee one of the few who can actually act, but the character is very interesting. He's in on Palpatine's scheme, but not ALL the way in. He's merely holding Anakin's place as the Sith apprentice until Palpatine is ready to convert him. He is leading the Separatist Rebellion, even though he's REALLY just another pawn in Palpatine's plan to consolidate his rule as Emperor. He thinks the plan is to capture the Chancellor, then get captured by the Jedi himself, so they can pin the whole Separatist movement on General Grievous, then when the clones take him out and put down the Separatists he is there to help rule the galaxy. When he finds out too late what's really going on, the look on his face is priceless.

I really liked RoTS, and it's improving my view of the other two new movies. I think it is a fitting end to the saga.

-Mikey

Piggybacking on M.Chalupa's post....

Well what was Obi Wan supposed to say, "Your dad tried to kill me but i cut his legs off and took this. Here maybe you will be able to put it to better use." Remember Luke doesn't know his dad from squat...so OB had to paint a pretty picture of his dad. Its like an orphan finding out their dad is Hitler, you just dont spring that on somebody.

*Actually Yoda did train Ob-Wan...he trained him how to commune with the Force and the living Force..Remember at the end Yoda said that Qui Gon had spoken to him from the "netherworld"...Qui Gon trained Yoda on how to do this and Yoda trained Old Ben Kenobi.

About the battle on the wookie planet, what I meant was... where did that fit in in the story?

What exactly happened to cause there to be fighting on that planet? I know Mace Windu said something about "going to Kashyyk" and Yoda saying he has good relations with the wookies... but what in the story took place there?

Were they trying to wipe out the wookies for some reason orrr...?

The first is a minor detail, just like Obi told him that Vader killed Anakin. Obi knew that if he outlived Anakin then Anakin would have wanted Luke to have his saber and for Obi to train Luke.

Yoda did play a role in training all of the Jedi. There was a scene in one of the other movies that showed him training Younglings. Also, since he was the leader of the Jedi, he played a counselling role for all Jedi and provided some training throughout their lives.

Qui Jon's character probably wasn't written at the time of the OT and in the prequels it wouldn't make sense for Yoda, the leader of the Jedi, to be running around on missions training Obi Wan anyways. There was really no way to resolve that, and for the most part it's really isn't true to say that Yoda had no part in training Luke.

I've got a few questions I'm hoping people can answer.

When Anakin's got all his limbs cut off Obi Wan says 'You were the chosen one!' Is he the chosen one in the grand scheme of things, or just in this chapter of the eternal battle between the light and the dark sides of the Force?

I know the battle between the light and the dark has been going on for thousands of years (according to the How Stuff Works link someone else posted), and also that Yoda claims there are always two Sith, so when Anakin joins the Dark side he does indeed bring balance to the Force, as the prophesy said. So when Vader finally kills Palpatine and joins Obi Wan and the gang from beyond the grave, is that the end of the battle? Or are there two more Sith lords hanging out in the wings? Because wasn't Luke supposed to be Vader's apprentice, and thus join him on the dark side?

Well, I guess if you take the stories post-RotJ into account, Anakin is the Chosen One for this chapter of the battle. I suppose one could argue that he is the Chosen One in the grand scheme of things if you buy the argument that the Jedi Order needed reformation (which some argue Luke brought).

Anakin doesn't bring balance by joining the Sith. First, I think it is more accurate to understand "balance" as "order." Anakin was meant to bring "order" to the force, not "balance" as in a yin-yang kind of sense. Also, using the "2 Sith" analogy, Anakin CAUSED the imbalance by killing the Sith apprentice (Darth Tyranus). Since Anakin cannot be the Chosen One for an imbalance that doesn't exist until he causes it, that explanation cannot be true.

Darth Vader killing Darth Sidious restores order to the force by bringing the Jedi back to power over the Sith, but with a new understanding (Luke has been to the dark side, albeit temporarily in his battle with Darth Vader, and understands both sides of the force to a certain extent). As for more Sith Lords, well...apparently Darth Sidious knows how to clone himself and tries to come back a few times in different bodies, and Luke fights him off and a whole bunch of other stuff. (Luke also joins Darth Sidious for a short period of time as well.) So, the "balance" to the force isn't the destruction of the Sith, or the equal numbers of Sith and Jedi, but it is rather the more complete understanding among Jedi of the force. That's my take on it at least based on what I know of non-movie information.

Anakin is the prophecized 'Chosen One' whom the jedi believe will bring balance to the force. He brings balance by killing all of the light side jedi, save Yoda, Obi-Wan, and the few that were away on missions. I cannot find the actual text of the Prophecy, which leads me to believe that Lucas never wrote it. But as far as I know, there can be no end to the battle between the light and the dark.

I believe Sidious' intention was to have Luke kill his father, and take his place. No Sith ever believes that they are going to be killed and replaced. Maul didn't, Dooku didn't, and Anakin didn't. Up until the end, Anakin wanted to kill Sidious, and take Luke as his dark side apprentice.

He's the chosen one probably for the simple fact he ultimately kills Palpatine and then turns good again.

Vader ended all the BS, so.. he's the chosen one.. If he hadn't stepped in, Luke would've died and the empire would've went on, etc.

Well, again, the Empire can't have anything to do with the prophecy. A Chosen One can't be chosen to fix something that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for him.

The only two "continuity" problems I had with it were a)The people at the end of EpIII were not old enough to be the people in Ep IV, and b)Although they explained why 3PO didn't know that Vader was his creator, they did not explain how R2 lost his ability to fly. And before somebody says "R2 could always fly it was just off camera", then why the heck didn't he fly on Tatooine at the Sarlac pit instead of just rolling off and plummeting into the sand?

I see the R2 problem but how are the EPIII characters not old enough to be the people in EPIV? Obi is supposed to be in his mid 30's-40's and there is about 20 or so years in between III and IV. The only characters that cross over are Obi and Vader.

You forgot Yoda, Owen and Beru Lars, and Chewbacca. All of them were seen in Episode 3.

As for the R2D2 flight problem, all machines require maintenance. The flight ability could have been added by Aniken (since it was his droid for a while) and later removed (or allowed to fall out of repair since noone knew about it), or simply could have fallen out of repair (and was discontinued in later R2 units). It has been mentioned in several post-movie books that astromechs had maneuvering thrusters (but not flight boosters).

To me obi looked to be about Ewan's real age (34), and Luke was supposed to be about 18 tops in EpIV, so that would make Obi around 52, wheras Obi in EpIV looked 65 easy. Beru and Owen were even worse as they both looked to be in their early 20's which would put them at late 30's insted of the mid 50's that they appeared in EpIV.

But that's OK, I go ahead and shoot for the Marvel No-Prize (God I'm old) and give the explination that because Tatooine is a harsh desert planet with two suns, it causes advanced skin aging due to the increased ultraviolet radiation.

I didn't mention Owen and Beru because they were on screen for all of 10 seconds. When it comes to ages, looks are decieving. Someone in their late 30's can easily look mid 20's. And really, isn't that trying a little hard to make a continuity problem?

There's no way anyone could notice anything about Yoda's and Chewie's ages.

Just saw it yesterday, I was truly amazed. I couldn't sleep last night because I couldn't get it out of my head. Although I think that has some to do with the closure this movie provided, and my sadness when I realized it was actually "over." Well, about the quote...

I thought Yoda was talking about the prophecy earlier in the film. And how maybe it could have been translated wrong. He was having a conversation with Windu about Anakin... I can't remember how it went exactly, but remember back to Ep1, when Obi really pushes Anakin on the jedi council. They are reluctant, but finally let him in to train.. It was hard to understand, because it was in yoda-speak...

The best way to explain the inconsistancies is that after the Empire destroyed the remaining Jedi the Empire destroyed all CG too.

Thus the dark times truly began.

I don't know if it's been asked already, but...
Spoiler: If the clones are designed to be less independant, or weak minded. When the clones turned on the jedi, couldn't the jedi have just waved their hand, and said "you are not going to kill me" and just prevent the whole extermination.

They were taken by surprise, besides, not even Yoda could mind trick 10,000 troops at once.

I was underwhelmed. I enjoyed the action, but the rest of the movie was just...bleh. Bottom line: Lucas can't write a script and he can't direct. He neither wrote nor directed ESB, he just wrote the story for it, and it's the best of them all. Padme and Anakin's interactions were painful. NO ONE talks like that. Ever. For any reason. Sure, they were better than Eps. I and II, but that's not really saying much. Christensen even managed to screw up being Vader in the damn suit. He didn't even have to do anything but look powerful and menacing! Instead, he looked like whiny Anakin Skywalker wearing a big black suit. The kid just doesn't have any presence.

The fight sequences were all very enjoyable, particularly the dual duels (heh) at the end. I also loved Obi Wan's speech to Anakin at the end as he lays "dying." Ewan McGregor's face, priceless.

Other than that, though, I just don't buy it. Anakin gets turned so easily. Palpatine doesn't even have to try. This is someone who was brought up from basically day one by the Jedi and he turns from it so very easily. Anakin's emotional and angsty and it doesn't make sense that the Jedi would've kept training him hoping he would change when he clearly had all of the wrong attributes needed to become a Jedi. Even so, he's spent his whole life hearing about why the Dark Side is bad and training (we can only assume honestly) to become a Jedi Master. I don't see any real justification for why he tosses all of that aside. Being scared for Padme is one thing, deciding that everything you've spent your whole life working for is a lie is quite another.

There's also some serious timing problems going on in this movie. The pacing is such that the action appears to happen over the course of a few days or, at most, weeks. This is a fast movie and the events which occur could happen over a very short period of time. However, you get the natural clock of Padme, who goes from not showing to full term in the course of the movie. I'm sorry, but while I can make the movie be nine months long, it works much better as a few weeks and is presented as if it is a few weeks.

Additionally, the people who carry over just aren't old enough in this movie to be set up for the next. Badass flying all over the place Yoda gets crippled and dies in twenty years. Give me a break. That's a damn fast decay for someone who is 900+ years old. Ewan McGregor does not become Alec Guinness in twenty years. Owen and Beru clearly aren't old enough.

And as a final gripe. What the hell was Lucas thinking when he decided the "She's lost the will to live" thing was a good idea? How Ewan McGregor didn't laugh hysterically when he heard that I will never know. I can only assume those parts were filmed separately so that he had no chance to respond. It's perfectly reasonable for someone carrying two full term children to have complications in childbirth that lead to death. That would've been fine. However, if "she's lost her will to live," she better put a fucking blaster to her head and pull the trigger. What they showed was incoherent and inane.

Better than I and II, a far cry from IV, V and VI.

About Padme losing the will to live, wasn't that part of the prophesy? I might remember it wrong but I thought Palpatine knew she was going to die, he'd forseen it or something. Wasn't it out of anyone's control? An act of God or whatever their equivalent was. If the doctors and everyone else couldn't figure out why she was dying, they probably came to the conclusion that everything had turned to shit for her (with Anakin turning bad) and that she'd lost the will to live.

I totally agree with Frossbyte on every level, but I still enjoyed it. I was happy to just be entertained with the action. Ewan McGregor continues to be one of my favorite actors and he was easily the best performance of the movie.

I was pleasantly surprised and rather enjoyed the movie. The set design was so amazing I had fun just looking at it.

Ironically, I thought that with all the technology that was on display in the movie, Darth Vader's suit looked very out of place. From another era. I know they had to keep it the same, it just looked so....generic and out of place.

I absolutely agree with everything Frosstbyte had to say. I really tried to enjoy this movie. I had doubts. I was afraid when I saw the word "War!", followed by a poorly written exposition (here I'm comparing to the Original Trilogy, Phantom Menace, and my own writing). I left the theatre bitter and angry. There are continuity errors. I'm gonna mention some I noticed that haven't been mentioned.

In ROTJ, Leia has memories of her birth mother. I assumed she was a small child, aged 3-5, to have memories as far back as to remember her mother. A baby would not remember her own birth. Someone tell me if they remember theirs, because I do not.

Assuming the second Death Star was constructed immediatly after the destruction of the first, which I believe it was not, and that its completion was weeks away, then it took about 20 years to make the first one, and about 5 to make the second.

The action sequences were incredible. Very well shot. Great sabre battles, and alot of light sabres were used. More than any of the other films. The space flight looked brilliant. I wasn't that astounded by it, because it didn't feel dynamic enough. Not as dynamic as other dogfights, like, off the top of my head, the end of ID4. The picture quality was clear and vivid with all these digital projection systems that were advertised before the film. I was really impressed by that.

I liked that they explained that 3PO was gonna get his memory wiped. I was waiting for that. I liked the scene where Owen is in that very same stance looking up at the suns as when we first saw Luke. I liked the CG, and all the clone troopers. I still think it's funny that they're all the same actor. also, Grievous was awesome.

Acting was not up to par. Portman and McGregor are capable of way better. I think they needed better direction and more takes/coverage. Coverage... damn... some scenes consisted of only long and establishing shots with dialogue. Terrible composition. Cuts were often awkward, and I'm not referring to the serial-style wipes; those are traditional. Establishing shots seemed to come out of nowhere sometimes, to remind us that "this is still happening". Est shots also lasted too long on more than one occasion.

how was Anakin persuaded so easily... He's so weak... and Padme, she just looses the will to live because her husbands gone. YOU HAVE TWO CHILDREN! I just get upset with this kind of behavior. "Just because the person I love is gone, nothing else matters. I might as well die or give up everything I believe in, even though I'm now responsible for two beautiful new lives." I know people like this. Their weakness drives me nuts. I remember Padme being strong leader-girl. Guess not anymore. Padme wasn't supposed to die.

I'm getting too upset now... I'm gonna play some Rouge Leader, blow up a Death Star or two...

It's been mentioned over and over....and over again that her memory is of her adoptive mother. And, yes, it still fits for her to be a sad woman...I'd be pretty damn sad too if the democratic republic my husband served turned into a ruthless dictatorship which we had to constantly fear.

The one shown in the end of Episode III is a prototype. It is NOT the Death Star of Episode IV. That said, even if it WERE, there is nothing at all to say the second one wasn't started before the Episode IV Death Star was destroyed.

I don't think the memories have anything to do with an adoptive mother, Leia remembers images and feelings. IMAGES and FEELINGS. These are things which are directly connected to the Force, Yoda even says so. Padme died in sadness, and in beauty, I believe Leia just had a momentary connection with her mother through the Force. And since it's such a tragic moment, it's stayed with her.

There's also the point that Leia's eyes are open when she's born and Luke's are closed (I can't confirm this but many people are saying it's so).

Well, when you build anything for the first time it is always going to take longer, than subsequent builds, to work out the kinks and whatnot (although the dumbass empire still put in a ship sized hole that led directly to the power generator :rolleyes: ). And although the DSII was "operational"(i.e. the big gun), structurally it was only about 1/2 complete.

are the sith to jedi, like honoured matres are to bene geserit? (pardon the Dune reference... )


- I saw this movie on Saturday on my sister-in-law's home theatre system very nice sound. I think that kids can take just about everything, excpet where Grievious dies, or where Anakin gets burned.

I found Padme's character to be disapointingly vapid. She lost her regalness, and losing her will to live, just as she gave brith to twins? Most women would take this as a reason to live, or to fight the good fight.

I saw it saturday....I'd honestly been happy with the last 45 minutes. Yes it was better than 1 an 2, but still doesnt live up to the originals for me.

That said, there were a few OMG thats just...ooooo thats...... moments (if that makes sense

1. Spoiler: The way Papaltine convinces Anakin to join him to SAVE Padme
2. Spoiler: The way it was Colby (was that his name) who executed Order 66 against Obi Wan, when he'd just handed him his light saber back
3. Spoiler: The way Papaltine urges Vader's anger on by telling him that he (vader) killed Padme himself

One thing I didnt really understand.....why did the senator order C3P0's mind erased, but NOT R2D2's?

I thought the final scenes where he's on the bridge with Palpy and Tarkin looked like they were lifted directly from ESB... it actually was a great re-creation of the Star Destroyer bridge set. Visually this movie was the most spectacular. Compare the opening space battle with the one at the end of ROTJ. Yeah obviously there was no CGI 20 years ago but fortunately we have it now. As long as it's used for space battles and not Jar-Jar.

-Mikey

As punishment for all the stupid one-liners he had in Ep. II.

No, my guess is because Anakin built 3PO, if he was going to be working for the Rebellion now they might want to be sure he was completely wiped before undertaking whatever work he was going to be doing. Also, probably to just remove all traces of Anakin from his memory. R2 on the other hand has proven his loyalty time and time again, remember this droid saves everyone's ass at least once per movie.

-Mikey

Aye, I noticed it when I went to see it. I only saw the coppertop though, I mentioned it to my mate that I went to see it with and he went to see it again the day after and looked out for it.

EDIT: Apparently it's a "D" battery

someone caught a screenshot of it, and "Duracell" can be seen...

http://johndiesattheend.com/anakinhand.jpg

I enjoyed it, thought it was pretty good.

Only two things really bugged me about it:

1. When Palpatine/Sidious tells Vader at the end that it was his fault Padme died, he shouts "Noooooooo". I just can't stop tinking about Emporer Zurg from Toy Story 2! It sounds just like him when he fall of the lift (sorry, elevator)

2. That R2-D2 and C3PO have been turned into Laurel and Hardy. There is absolutely no need for them to be in any of the prequels (not that i can think of anyway)

I just thought odf a third one: R2 can fly! WTF is that all about?!! :confused: He can't in Eps IV, V, VI, he can't even go up stairs!

I saw Revenge of the Sith twice. I am amazed at how easily Anakin is converted
to the dark side. It was by far the best of the 3 prequels. The animation advances since 1977 are great!
I would have loved to seen the Return of the Jedi with visual effects that we
have to day. I have always been fascinated how Lucas came up with the idea
of this different wild animals. There was a good story on Animal Planet how this
animals were created. :thumbsup:

I would have loved to have had Lucas use his original idea for Return of the Jedi, which was Endor was inhabited by Wookies, not Ewoks (notice that Ewok is Ie-Wook....).

This is more an Episode I thing, but speaking of "didja notice" things...

The music at the end of Episode I at the victory parade is the Emperor's music, but much more upbeat tempo and in a major key. Listen to the part the children's chorus sings. I think this is pretty neat since even though Darth Sidious' plan was foiled, was it really? As he says several times, everything has happened according to his plan. Even when he says he hasn't forseen something, he's lying to whoever he's talking to.

-Mikey

1. that's because Toy Story 2 had a spoof of star wars (Zurg is Buzz Lightyear's father, ie Vader is Luke's father.)

2. there is a need for them. it ties them into the later movies and explains the relationships among the other characters. It also interjects irony into the first movies (Luke buys droids that he would have inherited if he was in a normal family). Also, in Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Vader knows all of the access codes. The prequels help explain that mystery as well.


And R2's flight has been, and still is...a mystery. the logical explaination is technology. And R2-D2 could climb stairs...we just never saw him do it (there were stairs on Tatooine, the Ewok village, Bespin, and Hoth. Not to mention the inherant problems on Dagobah.

To address the Yoda thing: I think the idea is that Yoda was just staying alive as long as he had to in order to do his part in restoring balance to the force. Just because he always rode around on Luke's back doesn't mean he was crippled.

I agree with most of the other points you made though. As I've heard from others, Episode II should have been I, and III should have been extended and split over II and III.

As some good points though, the melee battles in the latest movies are 10x better than any of the ones in the original trilogy, aside from the final one in ROTJ which looks badass despite lack of acrobatics. Besides, having Spoiler: Yoda fight Palpatine and Obi Wan fight Vader simultaneously practically gave me a hardon in the theatre. Also, most of the casting was well done aside from Anakin, and possibly Padme. Ewan McGregor and Samuel Jackson rock these movies.

Yeah, I know it was a spoof of Star Wars. But thats just it, it was a spoof. Ep III is supposed to be 'serious', so why does he shout "Nooooo" while shaking his fist in the air? It's so cheesy. And funny. It just completely strips the scene of any drama and emotion for me.

Because he was just told he killed the one person he had annihalated the Jedi and destroyed the Republic to keep alive?

Hell, short of spelling no f-u-c-k, it's the best way to put it ;)

He also half-destroyed the room while shaking his fists....

as a friend of mine mentioned a dialogue he witnessed someone arguing with themselves about this very issue. He came up with arguing by himself with,"Oh but they have 2 suns... that's why they are more aged."

That and the harsh conditions of a desert planet. If you recall Watto, he looked a lot worse in the 10 years between episodes 1 and 2. Granted, he had gone from sem-rich to dirt poor, but the conditions helped too.

My quick thoughts on the ranking of the latest trilogy:

TPM: Jar Jar Binks has a lot to say--it's the worst.
AOTC: Jar Jar has less, it's better.
ROTS: Jar Jar has no speaking role, it's the best of the three.

I left the theater thinking that ROTS may be the best of all six, but I'm going to reserve final judgment until I see THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK again, probably when this is released as a six-pack.

My ratings (pure opinion, of course) :

1. RoTS (episode 3)
2. RoTJ (episode 6)
3. aNH (episode 4)
4. ESB (episode 5)
5. AotC (episode 2)
6. tPM (episode 1)

Without the benefit of seeing #3 a second time, I'll go:

1. ESB
2. RoTS
3. ANH
4. RoTJ
5. AotC
6. tPM

So we agree on the bottom feeders, I'm just higher on ESB than you are.

Any particular reason you ranked ESB higher?

Yes, of the first five released, it had the best character development, the showdown between Luke and Darth, the introduction of Yoda, and good action sequences to boot.

But it doesn't have....

"It's a trap!"

Good reasons...I prefered RoTJ because Boba Fett actually saw action (even though he falls into the Sarlaac pitt), Luke actually fought well and not just against Vader, R2-D2 did something besides roll around and whistle smart comments (that we never actually hear) to C3P0, and the Executor...great ship.

Holy crap! He's right!

I've actually just seen the movie like 3 days ago.
First reaction was meh...when you know what is gonna happen, its less exciting. George Lucas shoulda done em in the right order. Also, not a lot of people seem to think this, but Hayden Christensen's acting sucks major balls. I honestly think they chose him to act as Anakin because of his looks. The scenes with Padme?? wtf? I remember someone saying that his reaction to the pregnancy was good? A high school theater club actor could do better than him. I'm just glad we won't see his facial expressions anymore (because of that mask) even if Lucas does decide to remake the OT .
OK. I'll stop hating now, I'm being very negative. The rest of the acting was decent, and I was so happy that Jar Jar was gone...he's half the reason of the suckiness of the NT.
The graphics, of course, were superbly done. Although we do wonder some stuff...
This has been discussed about General Grievous before, but if you turn it around..When Grievous shatters the window of the space ship, wouldn't the humans die? First of all, the emptiness of space shoulda collapsed them with pressure..or something. And if not, the temperature of the room would have gone down to around -200 degrees Celcius (outer space is right by the absolute zero, right?) even before those metal panes automatically closed.
I thought general Grievous was pretty cool, although when he claims Dooku had taught him in the "Jedi Arts", all he does is spin 4 light sabers simultaneously really fast...I mean, Black and Decker could've taught him that.
I hate being the little nitpicker, but I can't help it, so here's more : when Anakin and Obi Wan are fighting on Volcano planet, they do their little stunts and find themselves battling on platforms and such 2 feet above the surface.. Wouldn't the temperature rise up to several hundred degrees?
And if you give me that "that's too high above to harm them" or "they're Jedi's" kinda stuff, well then Anakin wouldn't be catchin on fire when he's tanning next to the lava afterwards...
just my 2 cents.

Strictly speaking, it does... Leia says it to Luke on Bespin as she's being pulled around the corner by an Imperial officer (played by Jeremy Bulloch, who as we all know is also the guy in the Boba Fett suit). And Jar Jar does have ONE line in RotS... "Excuse me", not thankfully that "exqueeze me" horseshit.

Personally, I think ESB is the best of the OT also, but maybe it's because I'm such a fan of the Empire. Vader is at his badass best in this movie. He kills two of his own officers, takes his kid to the woodshed and cuts his hand off, and keeps screwing Lando left and right.

My favorite all-time character list:

1. Darth Vader - The supreme badass in the OT. When you view the saga as a whole, knowing his whole back story, you truly understand why he's so pissed off all the time and you feel his rage more when he finally kills the Emperor. The duel with Ben on the Death Star really needs re-done now, after watching the prequels it just seems like a letdown.

2. R2-D2 - After seeing the new trilogy, it occurs to me that R2 saves everyone's ass at least once per movie. He fixes hyperdrives, operates heavy machinery, is a great co-pilot, knows exactly what's going on when the humans are clueless and is all around a neat little droid.

3. Han Solo - Was once ranked higher, but the more I watch RotJ, he pusses out in the last film. He's at his wise-ass best in ESB too.

4. Count Dooku - I mentioned in another thread (or even this one I think) that I think he turned in the best performance in the prequels acting-wise, but also he has an interesting character in that he thinks he's in on the Emperor's grand plan but he really isn't. Doesn't find out until too late. Tells Obi-Wan the truth about Darth Sidious because he knows he will not be believed.

5. Obi-Wan - The true hero of the trilogy. The one Jedi Knight who plays by the rules and does it right. Another good performance. He tells Luke in RotJ "I thought I could train [Anakin] as well as Master Yoda. I was wrong." in the book, he continues with something along the lines of "My failure has had disastrous consequences for the galaxy." Hey, he owns his mistakes.

Honorable Mention: Darth Maul, Boba and Jango Fett, Wedge, Emperor/Sidious/Palpatine

Least favorite: Anakin (Ep 1), C3PO (more and more annoying every movie, especially Ep 2), Mace Windu (I love Samuel L. Jackson, but he thoroughly sucked in all three prequels)

-Mikey

I thought he kicked ass in RotS!

he did...until Anakin cut his hand off (that seemed to be pretty popular in RoTS...Dooku lost both of his, Windu lost his, Anakin lost both of his....some clone troopers and droids lost theirs...Greivious lost two of his...there might be more, but that's allI remember).

There's a site dedicated to all the severed hands and arms of Star Wars. Why did Ep. 1 suck? Nobody got their hand cut off. Why was Ep 3 so good? More hands cut off than any other episode.

-Mikey

Plus, he doesn't taste very good. :D At least he didn't in the original original trilogy.

yeah, but Maul got his lower body cut off...that's gotta count for something...