STAR WARS MARATHON (1977 - 2019) Conclusion

Well, I certainly didn't expect my marathon to last four years, but whatcha gonna do? Given that Disney has now re-labeled the episodic films "the Skywalker Saga", I figured I'd restrict my rankings and thoughts to them and maybe review Rogue One and Solo and other future projects separately.

So, the three trilogies: the originals are more or less perfect. That is to say, they're not unflawed, but as far as being and entertaining and solid goes, you can't get much better with A New Hope introducing us to this universe, Empire Strikes Back upping the stakes and expanding the lore and then Return of the Jedi neatly resolving all plot lines. There is some valid criticism of Return repeating Hope in some aspects, most notably the Death Star, but I think the character development and the Emperor more than make up for it. It's still a damn great film.

The prequels suffer from various eccentric production choices and lack of coherent direction from George Lucas, but the story it's trying to tell is still respectably epic in size, and as far as the lore goes, I genuinely believe the prequels did the best job in expanding the universe of Star Wars, with a lot of help from its spinoff The Clone Wars.

Finally, the sequels are far too slavish to the originals, and having Rian Johnson's vision intercede in the middle of the trilogy gives it a slightly disjointed feel, but this trilogy perfects the spectacle and emotional aspect of the series, as well as making the Force truly feel mythical.

BEST TO WORST STAR WARS FILMS

1) Return Of The Jedi
2) Empire Strikes Back
3) Revenge Of The Sith
4) A New Hope
5) The Force Awakens
7) The Last Jedi
8) The Rise Of Skywalker
9) The Phantom Menace
10) Attack Of The Clones

BEST TO WORST JEDI

1) Qui-Gon Jinn
2) Obi-Wan Kenobi
3) Yoda
4) Luke Skywalker
5) Mace Windu
6) Ben Solo
7) Anakin Skywalker
8) Rey Skywalker

BEST TO WORST SITH

1) Darth Tyranus
2) Darth Vader
3) Darth Sidious
4) Darth Maul

BEST TO WORST DIRECTOR

1) Irvin Kershner
2) George Lucas
3) Richard Marquand
4) Rian Johnson
5) JJ Abrams

BEST TO WORST DROIDS

1) General Grievous(I get that the fandom refers to him as a cyborg all the time, but Revenge explicitly calls him a droid general, and that was Lucas' concept as well)
2) C-3PO
3) BB-8
4) R2-D2
5) B1 Battle Droids
6) Droidekas
7) Mouse Droids
8) Jabba's torturer droid
9) D-O
10) B2 Super Battle Droids
11) Gonk Droid
12) That sweary protocol droid from Empire Strikes Back
13) TC-14

BEST TO WORST LIGHTSABER DUEL

1) Anakin vs Obi-Wan, from Revenge Of The Sith
2) Vader vs Luke, from Return Of The Jedi
3) Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul, from The Phantom Menace
4) Vader vs Luke, from Empire Strikes Back
5) Yoda vs Palpatine, from Revenge Of The Sith
6) Obi-Wan vs General Grievous, from Revenge Of The Sith
7) Luke vs Kylo, from The Last Jedi
8) Obi-Wan vs Vader, from A New Hope
9) Obi-Wan and Anakin vs Dooku, from Revenge Of The Sith
10) Obi-Wan, Anakin and Yoda vs Dooku, from Attack Of The Clones
11) Rey and Finn vs Kylo, from The Force Awakens
12) Rey vs Kylo, from The Rise Of Skywalker