Rare as a Unicorn? The Different Flavors of Fan

[Hadeedak]

This is a question that probably gets bandied about a lot: "What kind of Star Wars fan are you?"

 

I'm sure most people (myself included) will proudly thump their chest and say they are Original Trilogy Fans. Been here since the beginning! And I'm sure they are. But I consider myself an "Original Trilogy Fan", and I wasn't even born in 1977. I saw the films for the first time in 1997 when they were re-released as the Special Editions. I was at that impressionable pre-teen age, so I fell madly in love. To me, that is Star Wars.

 

Every fan in my 25-30 age bracket probably had a similar experience. But I think about the "generation" (it isn't really, in the literal sense, but whatever) behind me, all the kids who were pre-teens when the prequels came out (rather than surly high schoolers, like myself) and I wonder is that Star Wars to them? Are those older movies kind of dated and weird, with their cheesy effects and '70's haircuts?

 

What got me thinking along these lines is I've noticed a character who's popped up a few times in pop culture lately: The Prequel Lover. We are supposed to hate them. They're a one-off character for our main character to fight with or just stare at, dumbfounded. They are usually young, and they think the prequel films are sooooo much superior to the classic trilogy, with no clear reasoning as to why. There was an episode of Psych that did this, and I've seen it pop up in a few other places, and in image macros as well. Does this person actually exist, or are they just a strawman? I've never met them. In my circle of friends, I'm the prequel apologist through-and-through; I've spent more time actively defending them than I'd like to admit, but I'd never think of them as better than those original films. I'd consider them.... tolerable?

 

I'm not trying to draw out this elusive breed of Star Wars fan in order to crush them or make fun of them or whatever, and I'd ask any other commentators to please refrain as well (we're all nerds here), I'm just curious to know if they are actually out there, and (perhaps) what their reasoning might be.

 

Alternatively, I throw that original question out there: "What kind of Star Wars fan are you?" What brought you to the 'Wars? Original theatrical run? VHS tapes with Mom and Dad? The Special Editions? Prequels? The Clone Wars? The novels, graphic or otherwise? This game?

 

MTFBWY

[StarSquirrel]

As someone in the age group "behind" you, I can say I definitely found a lot of the folks in my "age range" (lets say 20-25) tend to be less critical of the Prequel films though I wouldn't go so far as to say too many of them like the PT more than the OT (at least in my experience). I think, though, that remembering that Clone Wars was released in 02 and Revenge in 05, that this age group was between ~8-15 when those movies came out so many of them grew up at the tail end of the prequels

 

I personally grew up with Phantom Menace as my first movie (I had a VHS of it I'd watch sometimes up to three times a day), then saw the OT a few times on VHS then DVD (first movies we got with our DVD player) and then watched 2-3 in theaters. I personally would say the OT is better, but not by the massive divide that many of the older generations seem to think. I'll grant them the silliness of a lot of PT things and counter with ewoks, whiny Luke, and borderline incest... Both series have their merits and flaws. I too still hold to the OT being better, but I can definitely see why someone might like the PT a bit more. I personally was starved for more content between 2 and 3, and that's what got me into the EU (though most of my books were post-ROTJ thanks to my father's collection from the 80's and 90's.)

 

However, the idea of someone who says the OT sucks and the PT is the only true and awesome star wars, that is either a myth, or is relatively rare like the crazy "the PT didn't happen, its a joke, I hate Lucas for Jar Jar" etc... loons I see occasionally from the older generations as well.

Edited May 14, 2015 by StarSquirrel

[Profvarg]

I am also a generation behind and living in a post-communist country (Hungary), which affected the country's culture and film industry

I saw the OT first, but at first it didn't really grab me (~8-9 year old). Before I went to Phantom Menace I rewatched the OT and saw the brilliance in it . I saw Phantom Menace, and liked parts of it (generally the action parts: race and Qui-Gon/Kenobi v Maul fight), although Anakin was horrendous in it imho.

Then came the Clone Wars and I kinda hated it... mostly because Anakin, but watching Yoda fight was awesome.

Third came and I loved it mostly because the action scenes: Yoda v Sidious, Anakin v Kenobi and Kenobi v Grievous... I had the fortune of reading the book version and with that I could understand what went through Anakin's mind

 

So all in all: OT is awesome, PT's last film is awesome, rest 2 are meh, but look cool

[DarthDymond]

Going by 5-year brackets I'm actually a 'generation' ahead of you. And actually does make sense to think of it that way because the Special Editions came out when I was in high school. I had grown up with Star Wars my whole life, literally can't remember the first time I saw them I must have been so young, but I had a bunch of the toys, Return of the Jedi bedsheets, the whole nine yards - apparently my parents' first date had been going to see Empire Strikes Back.

 

So I was already a big Star Wars fan by '97, and the idea of those movies coming to the big screen with updated effects was huge. My fellow SW nerds and I were extremely excited, by then we were already into reading what would eventually come to be known as the Expanded Universe - Dark Empire, Heir to the Empire, Jedi Academy, maybe the Tales of the Jedi by then too. When the Special Editions came out it was just amazing to be seeing the movies in a movie theater - the Han shoots first thing was a change we recognized and didn't like, and the new Jabba scene just looked bad, but other than that it was great - the whole CGI vs Practical Effects debate hadn't really kicked off.

 

I was still in high school when Episode I came out, and that was, just culturally, huge at the time. News stories, lines stretching around blocks, magazines, etc. - it was everywhere. And first seeing it at the time... it wasn't that bad. It was nowhere near as good as the Original Trilogy, but the good seemed like it outweighed the bad - in those days the spectacle of what they were able to do with CGI was still fresh, and the lightsaber fight at the end (the first time we'd seen that sort of duel) more than balanced out how annoying Jar-Jar was (but yeah, he and kid Anakin were definitely annoying right from the start if you first watched it outside a certain age bracket). I saw Episode II in college at a midnight showing, and I will never forget how the theater cheered when Yoda walked in at the end to fight Dooku - seeing the movie in the theater like that could really get you swept up in the moment in a way that watching it on TV doesn't.

 

But for both of those movies, once the excitement of seeing it the first time was over, the flaws really stood out in a way that they never did in the Original Trilogy. The Pod Race stopped looking amazing, but Jar-Jar stayed annoying; it wasn't so easy to just forget about the terrible picnic scene with Anakin and Padme, etc. The prequels not being as good as the originals started to develop into a 'the prequels suck' for a lot of fans.

 

I thought Episode III was really good, and I maintain that to this day, it'd put it about even with Return of the Jedi in ranking the films and only drop it to fourth best if you put a gun to my head and said 'no ties!'. So that rehabilitated the prequels a little bit. But there was a real sense of 'what could have been' if they'd just been made as well as the originals, instead of all the problems they had.

 

In the midst of all that I really fell in love with the Expanded Universe, especially the Tales of the Jedi comics and the Young Jedi Knight series when I was young, and obviously Heir to the Empire stood out as amazing right from the beginning (I was also too young to appreciate Jedi Academy's flaws when I read it because I actually like it). And that's what defines the "flavor" of fan I am today: I love the movies, but I am a Legends Fan even more.

 

It's not that I think Legends works are generally better than the movies (although there are a number that I'd rank above the prequels and some I might even put above RotJ), but I when think of Star Wars and what I love about it, it's the broadened universe of the movies plus the books, comics, etc. that comes to mind. I am a fan of the movies on their own / the New Canon, but I'd put that at about the level of how much I like Star Trek or some other IPs, whereas the Legends Universe stands head and shoulders above any other fandoms I'd consider myself a part of.

Edited May 16, 2015 by DarthDymond

[Henge_Wolf]

I was a baby in 1977, but I still remember being in the theatre for empire strikes back (and falling asleep after the AT-ATs, lol), and I remember seeing Return of the Jedi around age 6 quite clearly. I literally grew up watching those movies, playing with those toys (my first star wars figure was Walrus Man, my uncle gave him to me when I was like 2), and my brother and I even made up our own "Fourth Star Wars" complete with original characters that we used to pretend to be in a ship constructed out of cardboard boxes. When I was in high school/middle school, I had the biggest crush on Princess Leia, watched the VHS tapes weekly, and played the Star Wars roleplaying game when I could (it was never as popular with my friends as D&D, but I had the books).

 

Then the new movies came out and almost ruined the whole damned thing for me. I still insist there is no redeeming value in The Phantom Menace. I will admit that watching Obi-Wan fight Jango Fett is cool in Clone Wars because it's technology vs The Force, and they fight to a draw. Then Lucas went and ruined it by letting Jango die to Mace Windu like a chump. Likewise, Episode 3 had a few good moments, like when the Emperor turns into the hideous old man and screams "unlimited power!!!" as he force lightnings Windu off the balcony. But all in all, I would be hard pressed to put together 15 minutes of footage from all three new movies that I actually enjoyed.

 

And that's my bias, as well as my opinion. As far as the old movies go, there are bad parts (although Empire Strikes Back is damned near perfect to me), but I would have a hard time inversely distilling 15 minutes of bad from all three old movies. Again, just one old man's opinion.

[StarSquirrel]

Then Lucas went and ruined it by letting Jango die to Mace Windu like a chump.

 

I'll point out he did the same thing to Boba at the hands of Han, a full 19 years earlier

 

That actually pisses me off more than Jango. At least Jango's death was intentional and straightforward, Han killed Boba by damn near accident.

 

Also Episode 5's flaw is a tossup between near-incest and whiny-*** Luke (not claiming Anakin was any better) But I agree it was one of the best SW movies, though I like IV the most if I had to pick.

Edited May 18, 2015 by StarSquirrel

[Henge_Wolf]

I'll point out he did the same thing to Boba at the hands of Han, a full 19 years earlier

 

That actually pisses me off more than Jango. At least Jango's death was intentional and straightforward, Han killed Boba by damn near accident.

 

Also Episode 5's flaw is a tossup between near-incest and whiny-*** Luke (not claiming Anakin was any better) But I agree it was one of the best SW movies, though I like IV the most if I had to pick.

 

What does Lucas have against the Fetts? I was gonna put that in as one thing I didn't like (though the jury is out on whether Boba is officially dead or not) but I didn't want to write a book.

 

Also, I never really liked Luke as a kid. I liked Ben, I really liked Han, I liked Chewbacca, I liked Princess Leia. But Luke, there was always something just a little bit unlikable/unreachable about him, even as a kid. I mean by the third movie he's a ****** (and his training with Yoda in Empire is probably my favorite part of the whole trilogy) but a lot of times he is just a whiny brat, kind of like his dad.

[Frenesi]

I grew up somewhere between ep 1 and 2, so my start was OT + tPM. I'm from Russia, and either new trilogy euphoria never happened here, or I completely missed it. Personally I believe that original is overhiped.

 

Was it technological marvel? Yes, definitely. At the time I already knew that space battles and aliens were almost entirely made with models, and it blew my mind. For me this fact still covers the shabbiness of OT and turns it into awesomeness.

 

Was story awesome? Eh, no. It's copy-paste of almost every myth story out there, down to the smallest details. Hi Campbell. It was fairly interesting to follow, but not as ground breaking as people make it to be. And it had it's fair share of plot holes, understandable from myth position, but unacceptable if you take it too serious.

 

Combat? Meh. Again, I realize all the restrictions of the time, and respect what was done. But ground combat and saber duels still fall sooooo far behind PT.

 

What came with new trilogy? Awesome combat. Just *********** awesome. Another thing people tend to forget is that SW is action movie. And PT is brilliant when it remembers that fact itself. Alas, episode 2. You still had a ****** ending.

 

Awesome visuals. They don't look so great now, but again, for a time they were marvellous. Just remember all the planets and compare them to what we have in original.

 

Good story. Yes, it has plot holes, but so does original. Protagonist isn't that good, but he is more interesting then Luke ever was. Side characters are great (no, not Jar-Jar). Palpatine's conspiracy is beautiful to watch.

 

So, I ended up liking both of them, for different reasons. While re-releases of original trilogy are terrible, I will never undrestand the hate towards new one

[ejbsuperbat]

I think all the movies are good EXEPT for phantom menace and attack of the clones and in my opinion return of the jedi was not very good.

 

And I am sure like many people have said, I hate Luke Skywalker! He is always tantruming. What are his most famous quotes? "Nooooooo!", _"aaaaaaaaahhhh", and his only famous quote that is not screaming is "I am a jedi! Like my father before me!" Still not good. I think VADER is my favourite guy

 

I was born around the time of attack of the clones

Edited May 18, 2015 by ejbsuperbat

[Henge_Wolf]

I grew up somewhere between ep 1 and 2, so my start was OT + tPM. I'm from Russia, and either new trilogy euphoria never happened here, or I completely missed it. Personally I believe that original is overhiped.

 

Was it technological marvel? Yes, definitely. At the time I already knew that space battles and aliens were almost entirely made with models, and it blew my mind. For me this fact still covers the shabbiness of OT and turns it into awesomeness.

 

Was story awesome? Eh, no. It's copy-paste of almost every myth story out there, down to the smallest details. Hi Campbell. It was fairly interesting to follow, but not as ground breaking as people make it to be. And it had it's fair share of plot holes, understandable from myth position, but unacceptable if you take it too serious.

 

Combat? Meh. Again, I realize all the restrictions of the time, and respect what was done. But ground combat and saber duels still fall sooooo far behind PT.

 

What came with new trilogy? Awesome combat. Just *********** awesome. Another thing people tend to forget is that SW is action movie. And PT is brilliant when it remembers that fact itself. Alas, episode 2. You still had a ****** ending.

 

Awesome visuals. They don't look so great now, but again, for a time they were marvellous. Just remember all the planets and compare them to what we have in original.

 

Good story. Yes, it has plot holes, but so does original. Protagonist isn't that good, but he is more interesting then Luke ever was. Side characters are great (no, not Jar-Jar). Palpatine's conspiracy is beautiful to watch.

 

So, I ended up liking both of them, for different reasons. While re-releases of original trilogy are terrible, I will never undrestand the hate towards new one

 

I actually LIKE that he talked with Joseph Campbell (one of my favorite authors/philosophers btw) and made a movie based on world mythology. I consider that a plus. As for combat, other than my examples above I really didn't see much that mattered as much as, say, Ben fighting Vader in episode IV, or Luke fighting Vader in episodes V-VI. All flash, no substance in the newer movies. But again, this is just my opinion.

[DarthDymond]

I think all the movies are good EXEPT for phantom menace and attack of the clones and in my opinion return of the jedi was not very good.

So, all of the movies except for half of them?

[NeuroniaSW]

I'm old enough to remember reading the Montreal Gazette talking about The Empire Strikes Back and having a huge article going on about how someone was someone else's father! Then we started talking about it in the weeks going into release. Vader was for sure C3PO's father, since they both appeared robotic. It made so much sense!

 

When the reveal happened, we were all agog. I saw TESB in an old theatre in Montreal, with my parents. Was a lot of fun. They didn't quite "get" it but they had fun and we talked about it on the way home (Ottawa) and such. I enjoyed the new movies too, mind you. I liked Attack of the Clones most of all, just because of the clone-making planet which seemed a bit wonderful. The pod races were cool too. Sadly, I didn't enjoy the last movie too much just because of Vader's reaction when he learns about Padme's death...it seemed really forced.

 

I like to think the stuff in this game is canon too, it just happened a LONG time bfore the movies, so it's okay that all this weird cool stuff is going on. I'm not sure where I am with the books. I really disliked the Dathomir witches but I liked the Thrawn/Mara Jade stuff a lot. Well, I admittedly liked Mara Jade more than Thrawn.

[StarSquirrel]

Well, I admittedly liked Mara Jade more than Thrawn.

 

You are not alone!

[Silenceo]

Well, I admittedly liked Mara Jade more than Thrawn.

 

You are not alone!

 

 

Can't say I am surprised Star.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Silenceo

[ejbsuperbat]

like to think the stuff in this game is canon too, it just happened a LONG time bfore the movies, so it's okay that all this weird cool stuff is going on.

 

I think they also drop some quotes that explain the future like I saw someone who had a remarkable resembellence to Han Solo in carbonite and I could have sworn I saw the DEATH STAR plans in the emperor's station. Also, the emperor does not die till 70BBY so (yes, he has or will live 5,000 years) that could be considered canon,

[PadsterPwns]

I've always held both trilogies as equals tbh, mainly because while the story of the originals was good I preferred the scheming plot of the prequels. Also, I prefer the Clone wars era in general, more jedi and more aliens. However both have their merits with the OT having slightly better overall dialogue and a slightly better story (although I think this is mainly because of the simplicity of it) whereas the PT has better action and choreography and expands the characters to make them more interesting. I don't really know what to say about both main protagonists because when I think about it, it seems being whiny runs in the Skywalker family. Same goes for casting as the prequels have some great actors and some (to put it kindly) sub-par actors, but the OT had largely okay actors apart from Ford, Chewie, Vader and the Emperor who made the OT for me.

 

The biggest annoyance for me is that it seems most people who hate the prequels either treat the RLM review as a holy book and spam you with "watch it he's a genius, the prequels suck, send me a pizza roll" or put no reasoning as to why they suck. Again, not saying that this applies to everyone who dislikes the prequels as they often have very good reasons for this.

[MilwaHafnium]

I am one of the young bunnies to Star Wars (at the moment I'm close to be 17), and I probably surprise a lot of other fans of my age, because I don't very much like the prequels. Yes, I started with them, I really liked them, but then saw the original trilogy. I saw clone wars too, read some of the EU books, played KOTOR I and I'm playing SWTOR passionately.

I must say, that for me, the best of SW would be KOTOR and SWTOR in the line with Original Trilogy. That followed with Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy and dualogy, (not sure about the spelling, English is not my native language) because I had this hige crush on Mara Jade and was absolutely fascinated by Thrawn, and that followed with prequels and clone wars and Rebels. And I'm saying it as a girl, if that makes any difference.

People of my age that I know actually prefer the prequels and maybe a little from EU. But then I know a girl a bit older than me, who counts as SW only all the movies and likes OT. And my best friends likes only the games, not the movies.

Edited May 19, 2015 by MilwaHafnium

[-DesertFox-]

You are not alone!

 

Most definately not!

 

[raandomname]

Im mostly an EU fan. I first saw the OT on VHS with my Dad and then the PT gradually came out during my childhood. In my opinion both the OT and PT have great elements and grave flaws, perhps I am actually one of the very few who slightly prefer the PT.

However, what really got me into Star Wars was the EU. I was lucky enough to start with the Thrawn Trilogy by pure coincidence and I also read loads of the comics, because they had many of them in the libary near where my Grandma lived. I gradually was sucked in more and more into the EU and it really was what made me a massive Star Wars fan.

Finally, I hate Clone Wars and Rebels.

[Babudabu]

I was, like, 5 when the digital remastered OT came out and I remember having it on VHS and watching it forwards, backwards and forwards again on a near daily basis. I also love the prequels, maybe more? My top favorite Starwars movies are RotJ and RotS in no order.

 

The OT had an overall better cast and a much, much better script. The story was an interesting take on the traditional hero's epic. The actors, I felt portrayed their characters naturally. Whereas some of the acting in the PT felt forced IMO.

The story in the PT was more appealing to me especially in RotS. Where the PT really shined for me was in the cinematography, the fight scenes, the costume design and the Galaxy. The PT showed me worlds and fed my imagination in ways the OT didn't. True, Anakin sucked in The Phantom menace and in the Attack of the Clones but his descent to the dark side was pretty good. The chemistry between Anakin and Obi-Wan did a really good job of setting up that last light saber duel, which is still one of the best any-kind of fight in any movie I've seen IMO.

[gothshark]

This is a question that probably gets bandied about a lot: "What kind of Star Wars fan are you?"

 

I'm 43 going on 44. I was 6 years old when I saw it for the first time, and seeing the Star Wars Holiday special on TV, I was captivated by Sci-Fi at that point. I collected Star Wars figures, and read the comic books as they came out. I read a few of the novels, but strangely I was put off by them, and gained a dislike for fan fiction because of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which is funny since I actually like Alan Dean Foster's work generally.

 

So yah, I count as an old school fan. ie Han Shot first yadda, yadda, ect.

 

Honestly, except that one bit, and how fake Jabba looks, I like the remastered versions, and even enjoyed the Prequels. Jar-Jar wasn't the worst thing in them, and even though he failed, I got what he was trying to do with Midiclorians. (joke: I personally think it should have been a number that could be read using a special eye piece, and Qui-Gon Jinn would look at Anakin and say "It's over 9000!", bada bing, bada boom.)

 

So yes, I'm an old school fan, but I dislike fan fiction and the books, but love the games and comic books.

 

___

 

Edit:

I don't count in Game RP, or RP backgrounds as fan fiction, they are just apart of the immersion of the game.

Edited May 20, 2015 by gothshark