As girdeux said, I think the eras don't compare, but in the opposite. The era of the old republic was ravaged by war, and there were by far many more sith in that era. Their power struggle made the lust for new knowledge much greater, and by this I think those were much more powerful than in the movies. Take the Emperor of the sith empire for example. He consumed hundreds of sith lords and an entire planets life and force (millions if inhabitants) to make himself immortal and more powerful. And Revan, who had knowledge to mix the light and the dark side of the force, were almost a match for the Emperor. Compare the Emperor with Darth Sidious (Palpatine), I think the Old Republic emperor were much more powerful, cause a lot of the old eras knowledge of the force were lost in the time between the eras. and to UpsetLobster: Starkiller in The Force Unleashed was in between 3rd and the 4th movie. He was Darth Vaders apprentice, and it did happen. Yes, he was powerful, very, but not all powerful. I do agree that pulling a starship out of the sky is pretty awesome, probably the most awesome in the series, but I think that many had the power to do it, but it weren't thought of in the makings of the other movies, games and books, so they didn't do it.