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[elmono311]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN EPISODE III

So I was watching Episode III yet again while bored at work (I saw most of it today...) and it gave me the idea to do a topic like this. Feel free to do your own list. The order is from Episode I to Episode VI

STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE
DUEL OF THE FATES
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul. The music makes this part just awesome. This lightsaber fight still ranks one of the best in the saga despite Episodes II and III attempting to top it. It's also the fight that propels Obi-Wan from a mere Padawan to one of the greatest Jedi Knights.

STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES
THE CLONE WARS BEGIN
The moment Mace Windu appears at the arena on Geonosis and seeing all those lightsabers light up. Previously, no one had seen anything of this magnitude... so many Jedi in one place fighting. And then Yoda arriving in the nick of time with the clonetroopers and the following battle. Great stuff.

STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH
BATTLE OF CORUSCANT
Right after the main title crawl passes, the sound of war drums. Cut to the star destroyer and the camera following the two Jedi starfighters. Then the money shot. The fighters zip around the top of the destroyer and reveal the massive battle going on below. This is probably the greatest opening scene in a Star Wars movie.

ORDER 66
Starting with the moment Anakin/Vader marches into the Jedi Temple. This is one of the most moving scenes in Star Wars. The music going on during this scene makes it all the more traumatic and the Jedi younglings, all trusting Anakin, get killed by the very man they sought protection from.

BATTLE OF THE HEROES
The mother of all lightsaber fights, the one that put Vader into the suit we're all familiar with. Once again, the music makes it epic. Obi-Wan doesn't want to kill Anakin but knows he has to. And Obi-Wan expressing his disappointment towards Anakin after defeating him, then Anakin's "I hate you!" and his subsequent burning at the hands of the lava on Mustafar.

STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE
DARTH VADER'S "FIRST" APPEARANCE
Although Episode III shows the suited Darth Vader for the first time in chronological order, this will always remain the essential Vader entrance, especially since this is truly the first Star Wars movie. The star destroyer captures the corvette. After a quick battle on the smaller ship, Darth Vader shows up and the whole audience knows he's evil.

BATTLE OF YAVIN
The Special Edition actually improved this battle greatly. It is one of the greatest space battles ever, especially with the improvements from the Special Edition. The close ups  of the X-Wings and TIE Fighters and the feeling like you're really there. And nothing can duplicate the famous trench run. To this day, I still get tense watching that part. The music, the suspense... it gets me on the edge of my seat every time, even though I know what happens. To this day, however, I wonder why Chewbacca never got a medal...

STAR WARS: EPISODE V - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
BATTLE OF HOTH
I still get all wowed by the Imperial Walkers. They are some impressive looking vehicles and very menacing. The AT-TEs from Episodes II and III have nothing on the AT-ATs. They just look that awesome. The greatest looking shot in that scene was the one showing the AT-AT's manueverability. Stretching its rear leg out, it takes out a snowspeeder just for the hell of it before destroying the power generator. I'm so glad George Lucas created ILM.

"I AM YOUR FATHER"
Do I even have to explain this one? The line that shocked an entire planet. One of the greatest plot twists in the history of movies. Yeah, definately don't need to explain that one.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI
BATTLE OF ENDOR
Okay... the best space battle to be put together on the screen... ever. This entry does not include the sorry land battle with the stupid Ewoks. This is about the space battle and Luke's confrontation with the Emperor and Darth Vader. This shows how good the battle is when it used models and no computer generated special effects whatsoever. The fighters swerve all about, passing by massive capital ships. It's amazing how they could put that many ships in a movie using models and no CGI. Once again, the talents of ILM are unsurpassed. Then you have Luke fighting Vader and finally redeeming him. When Vader decides to throw the Emperor over the edge is just great. Greater now with Episode III, showing that Anakin was manipulated into joining the dark side.

If you haven't noticed, a lot of these moments are great because of the music going with it. I don't know where Star Wars would be without the talents of John Williams. There would be no Star Wars Theme, no Imperial March, no Duel of the Fates. Just imagine a world where the Yankees didn't have a theme song (Imperial March )

So, there you have it. Feel free to comment.

[Vengeance]

I'm a big fan of Han Solo taking out that bounty hunter at the cantina in the first one.

I also liked when he was frozen in carbon or something like that.

And the rancor scene when it died and the trainer dude is all upset was pretty funny.

I'm sure Princess Leia in the gold bikini ranks up there for some, too.

[LostArtofRolando]

My favorite part ever is in Return of the Jedi when Vader throws Palpatine off the ledge, thus finally fulfilling the prophecy that Anakin was supposed to fulfill.  He was supposed to be "the one" and end all the Sith stuff or whatever, and as we saw Obi-Wan yelling/crying at Ani after he chops his arms/legs off, you couldn't help but think that omen was all but gone.  But hell no, Vader took the Emperors ass and threw him down the shaft, thus proving the biggest hero of the entire Star Wars series was not Luke, but its most tragic villain/hero, Anakin.  BAM!

[elmono311]

Until Greedo shot first... oh, wait, you've never seen the original Original Trilogy...

[LostArtofRolando]

haha, yeah greedo shooting first doesnt work in my book, but I'm really not a huge stickler about it.  I wont argue that fact until the sun goes down or anything.

[elmono311]

At least they fixed it again in the DVDs so Han doesn't jerk to the side so much and the shots are much closer together...

[elmono311]

And now I have another Top 10 list

THE TOP 10 BADASSES IN STAR WARS

In order of the movies

Darth Maul (Episode I)
No-purpose villain with a huge cool factor. Able to take on two Jedi at once.

Jango Fett (Episode II)
Boba Fett's "daddy." Much cooler than Boba in Episode V and managed to take on Obi-Wan Kenobi and live... although died at the hands of Mace Windu.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Episode III)
Obi-Wan in Episode III was the coolest, with Episode II Obi-Wan coming in a close second. He showed how powerful a Jedi he is by jumping into the middle of a large droid army to confront Grievous.

R2-D2 (Episode III)
This little guy was a tough son of a gun in Episode III, frying those two Super Battle Droids and mouthing off to another, resulting in him getting kicked. None of the heroes of Star Wars would be alive if it weren't for Artoo.

Yoda (Episode III)
Throwing the lightsaber in the clonetrooper's chest? Too cool. Knocking the Royal Guards out with a wave of his hand? Too cool. Yoda/Emperor fight? Too cool. Yeah, this was definately Yoda's movie to be a badass.

General Grievous (Episode III)
Love the voice, love the menacing walk (despite it looking somewhat like a bird). He may have looked like a coward but he held his own against Obi-Wan until he was blasted by him. What's with the badasses of the prequels getting killed in the same movie they first appear in?

Darth Vader (Episode V)
The suit. The voice. The badass. No commentary needed here.

Han Solo (Episode IV)
Han was much cooler in Episode IV than in the later two movies as he eventually gets softened up by Leia. Only Han would run into a room full of stormtroopers. And we will always remember Han shooting first.

Boba Fett (Episode V)
Just like his "pops," he just looks like a badass. He has few lines and is one of the few people who can stand up to Darth Vader without getting killed. Too bad the character is ruined in Episode VI, getting beaten by a blind man and sent screaming to his "death."

Chewbacca (Episodes VI)
Between movies, it looks like he got a new hair do. Looks pretty spiffy. Plus he evicted the driver out of the AT-ST and took it as his own without a shot fired (of course, he had the help of Ewoks...).

[Supermercado]

I pretty much agree with both lists on the whole. A few comments, though, I suppose.

- The podrace scene is still pretty cool, I think. It's way too long (it's like 15 freaking minutes), but some of the CG is damn spiffy and those things are wicked fast.

- Duel of the Fates is definitely awesome. Every time I see it, though, I wish Maul had been more than just a sacrificial lamb.

- I'm so out of touch with AOTC, I can't really comment on the stuff in there. I think I've only seen that once or twice, with alll of the times being in the theater.

- I think it's kind of cornily (is that even a word? heh) named, but the Order 66 sequence put a knot in my stomach just watching it. It wasn't even so much what was happening on the screen, but it really had me thinking about what was about to happen with Anakin turning and the Jedi being systematically exterminated. They showed some of it, sure, but just thinking about how many more thousands of Jedi were being simultaneously killed... deep.

- The final battle in ROTS. Sweet. Definitely the best lightsaber fight in all 6 movies. Made even better by the back-and-forth between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Best part... when Anakin is lying there on the slope and Obi-Wan yells "You were the chosen one!" Best acting by Ewan McGregor in any of the prequels, and one of the most powerful moments in all 6 films. That was quite possibly my single favorite moment in ROTS.

- Vader's appearance on the Tantive IV is amazing. There's really not much else to say about that.

- The Battle of Yavin is awesome, too. And I agree, SE made it better. And I don't know if it ever really occurred to me before, but the other day when I watched it, I was wondering why Chewie didn't get a medal. Kind of a raw deal, if you ask me.

- I am your father. Seriously. That came out of friggin' nowhere. How can Darth freaking Vader be Luke's father? That's such a mindfuck.

- I really don't mind the Ewoks like a lot of people do. Sure, they're pretty corny and cutesy, but they're not too terribly awful. But yeah, the whole battle is really about the space battle and the scene in the throne room. You always wondered what it was that possessed Vader to kill the emperor and save Luke. There was never any real reason for it. Sure, it's all fine and dandy that he did it, but why? ROTS fleshing out Anakin's fall to the dark side was so satisfying.


As for the badass list, I agree on all fronts except for Grevious. I guess in the sense of being a badass, he qualifies, but I don't like him very much, so I don't know that he'd make my badass list. I'd be more inclined to include someone like Wedge. And before AOTC, if someone included Yoda in their list, I'd have given them a serious "Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot." look. Kind of weak to include him, but you almost have to include Luke as a badass. Sure, he's whiny and geeky, but he did get the final shot on the Death Star, lead the battle of Hoth, become a powerful Jedi, technically defeated Darth Vader, and ultimately turned Anakin back to the light. I guess he gets to be the hero in all that stuff because the OT is his story even though the whole of Star Wars is without a doubt Anakin's story.

[elmono311]

Grievous: Where else would you get a droid that can fight a Jedi in a lightsaber duel? Granted he was actually a cyborg mostly, though (BTW, the coughing came from the Clone Wars cartoons when Mace Windu Force crushed Grievous' chest panel.)

[LostArtofRolando]

I missed all of the Clone Wars cartoons unfortunately, due to school and work, i WISH i had seen all of em, because I love Samurai Jack and Dexter's lab, and whatever other stuff the guy who did CLone Wars had been involved in.

[elmono311]

I watched the first few and then stopped because my computer kept crashing on one episode. And now Star Wars.com requires you to have a Hyperspace membership to even watch them online anymore which is totally bogus since they were available free before. They probably want everybody to buy the DVDs...

[LostArtofRolando]

yeah, as if Lucas and co. don't have enough money already...