"Desert Island Choice: LOTR vs Star Wars original trilogy" Topic

I think when I first saw LOTR in the theatres I was still sure SW was more valuable to my viewing time. I'm currently watching the LOTR on DVD and I've changed my mind.

Should I ever get stuck on a sinking ship and have room for one boxed set to take as I escape to the deserted island – either the Original Star Wars trilogy or the LOTR box set -I would save the LOTR ones now. Somehow the combination of the failure of the new trilogy, and a reminder of how bad Return of the Jedi could be, has left a sour taste in my mouth.

Am I alone (not on the island – but in holding this position)?

Don't hate on ROTJ. It's my favorite of the OT. The action sequence on Jabba's barge stands up to any other ever filmed IMO.

LOTR was quite good as well. The ending to ROTK was a bit ponderous to me however. I'd probably ditch both sets in favor of some figures, where I on a sinking boat.

Or maybe a book on how to make liquor from coconuts using only sand and driftwood….but that's just me.

LOTR. No contest. It is soaring and mythical.

Star Wars is silly fluff.

I would take LoTR I think. I have seen them both a bunch of times but with all the extra crap on the LotR discs I would probably be, at least mildly, entertained until Kirsten Dunst parachuted out of her burning plane onto my island.

I'd take neither-I don't think there's electricity, let alone a TV and a DVD player on a deserted tropical island.

-Mel

Star Wars then, at least the first 2 were nice. With LOTR I fell asleep half an hour into part 1 & never really woke up. Both are shallow, but at least Star Wars isn't epically boring.

LoTR. SW was great, the next one good, by the third film it was all over. I mean, three movies and you're already recycling plots? Puh-leeze.

LotR. RotJ was juvenile and stupid. C'mon…

THE TOP TEN REASONS TO DESPISE Return of the Jedi:

10.) The fearsome Jabba the Hut turns out to be… a giant slug. (On a desert planet, no less.)

9.) His pet is clearly a shaved muppet.

8.) His choice of execution is a giant, immobile stomach in the middle of a desert. (How could such a thing survive? Clearly it requires substantial food— yet, as it does not move, the creatures large enough to sustain it would eventually abandon its habitat— which, being desert, they wouldn't enter anyway.)

7.) The fearsome bounty hunter Bobba Fett— the pattern for the dreaded Imperial Stormtrooper— is killed by a blind man who accidentally knocks him into said giant stomach. Wow, was that a let down. (On the other hand, maybe that explains why Stormtroopers are such lousy soldiers. You pick a military man as your cloning basis, and he turns out to be Gomer Pyle.)

6.) Ewoks. Nothing more worth saying.

5. Catapults… long range artillery in the middle of a dense rain forest?!? Developed by a culture of hunter gatherers?

4. Apparently, not only can Imperial Stormtroopers not hit anything, their armor can't even protect them from sticks.

3. Oh, look. Another Death Star that must be destroyed. That's original.

2. Your friends are being slaughtered, might be tortured, by an evil megalomaniac who wants to enslave the galaxy and is willing to blow up entire planets, killing billions of people without batting an eyelash… and you're not supposed to be angry with him. No, no, that just wouldn't do. :-P

1. Ewoks. So horrible they have to be mentioned twice.

LoTR. Despite the damage Jackson did to it, the people he hired managed to save it. The first SW was great, too bad the writer didn't have a second movie in him.

Star Wars Trilogy. No contest. LotR was at best OK, but far less believable than SW. Both the Ewoks & Hobbit portrayals subtracted from their films.

It depends, are we talking about the extended DVD editions of LOTR and the 'Stalinized' versions of Star Wars?

No, actually it doesn't depend on this because Star Wars is one decent movie short of a trilogy (ROTJ is the beginning of the rot that spoiled the prequel trilogy) whilst LOTR is just fantabulous storytelling.

LOTR for me. Star Wars original trilogy, was great in it's time and still stands up well today, but the epic sweep of LOTR wins out.

LOTR

LoTR every time. Yes it's a compromise but Peter Jackson still pulls it off. The look is mostly excellent, the acting good and the spciacle magnificent

LOTR without a question. I will always love Star Wars (OT) because it introduced me to fantasy, but LOTR is truly an epic.

1800mm native girls.

I hate to sound picky but I`d just grab a good book. I like both trilogys and can watch and re-watch, but if I was alone on a deserted island Id prefer a book to stimulate the grey cells, also to be used as toilet paper, or to start a fire.

LotR – (extended versions if possible, but regular works).

LOTR, there is no dilemma.

LOTR

I'd go for the water-proof, sand-proof, solar-powered, easy-to-use satelite phone.

LOTR

LOTR for me, how anyone can describe it as boring is beyond me and there is not question of its contribution in re-vitalising cinema and setting a new standard for epic celluoid.

I wish people would stopped dissing Return Of The Jedi, yes I hate the Ewoks, but when I went to watch it the first time I loved it so much I watched it twice, I don't care if it's relaistic or not, it's not a depiction of history and as a young teenager I was sure entertained and until the event of CGI that Epic space battle was something that just hadn't been seen before.

Critisms about Imperial Storm Troopers not being able to hit anything, duh, could be made of god knows how many films – Nazi soldiers and like they hit anything in the first film? I don't expect them to hit anything in third one either. It suffers by comparison but it did the job and I still rate it above any of those in the recent triology. (Not hard)

LOTR

The only film trilogy I would want on a desert Island would be The Pyramid Trilogy starring Tania Russof. Unless Evangeline Lillee from Lost was on the Island in which case I would stick to LotR on the basis that it has much more texture than Star Wars, much though I love the SW original film.

I'd copy both onto Dual layer DVD's and have a player that can handle it – then I get all 6 films ;-)

LOTR. For one thing, there is so much intricate detail in the sets and costumes, you could amuse yourself for years re-watching and just looking at the details.

Also, Liv Tyler and Miranda Otto are both considerably cuter than Carrie Fisher (if you are going to be stuck on a desert island, you need to consider these things, you know).

The count at this point:

LotR: 18

SW: 2

Abstain: 5

Talk about a drubbing…

I wonder what aecurtis (np) would have to say about this…

I would prefer the LoTRs book. After all, on a deserted island it isn't as though I would have a TV to watch it on.

LOTR. But better the books than the movie.

LOTR.

Star Wars all the way — except I'd want the original original trilogy and not the revised mess.

LOTR.

I'll raise the ante on the ewok thing – whoever put them on the silver screen deserves death. Period.

Ewoks made millions in spin off merchandise.

So I blame everyone who owned starwars men as children for Ewoks.

These days I think a crack addict could tell a better story than Lucas on his best day. I used to love the SW trilogy but now when I watch it I find its all drivel.

I find LOTR drivel too. Its too damm long.

So many better movies out there.

god that is a hard question. I too would have to go with LOTR, but that is a very hard choice. However, given that you are fleeing to a uninhabited desert island i would probably have to go with the third option of Porn, way more useful than both LOTR or SW.

Parzival,

Thanks for summing it up so well.

Pat

If I can get the extended versions, then I would go with LOTR. If possible, I would also like to take my paints and all of my unpainted miniatures. That way when they find me in about 5-10 years, I would finally be caught up.

Parzival, that was a hoot and so true! I would take the extended version of LOTR.

BTW you all gotta check out the Star Wars Gangsta Rap Special Edition: link

Of the two trilogies it would be LotR for me. Better looking actresses to think about on a deserted island and if I went crazy I could spend my time writing and speaking to myself in Elvish and calling my soccer ball friend My Precious ;-)

Empire Strikes Back was for me the last good Star Wars movie. Aside from the space battle, RotJ was Ewokstupid. And Leia turns out to be Luke's sister, serious yuck factor.

Gotta go with LOTR. Love SW for what it was, but much prefer the Jackson trilogy.

Parzival, very erudite destruction of ROTJ, I applaud.

I can't believe there would even be any question about which to take to your (generator-equipped) island. LOTR is a master work compared to SW. If you take ONLY the first movie where Luke and friends win the day, it is a good film; from there on it went further down into silliness and a waste of time. I am good for a one-time viewing of the new trilogy, that's all: been there already, and won't return. LOTR, otoh, has enough substance to bring me back again and again.

To all from Nemopholist\

I enjoyed all the Star-Wars movies. I even enjoyed JarJar— the only character I've hated more than Barney.

I understand your antipathy to Return of the Jedi, but heck— Carrie fisher in a harem outfit— yum.

I was a bit dissappointed in the more modern triology. I couldn't believe that self-absorbed narcissistic little snot turns into Darth Vader, but what the heck— it's the future— maybe he had a complete sensativity bypass and a complete testicle replacement— I liked the clones. No nonsense, no stupid sword tricks,- just pure professional business. I also liked that the second trilogy put the problem right square where it lay— the Jedi— the Jedi ARE the problem.

Finally, while Return of the Jedi had some shortcomings, Darth Vader wins in the end so what't to complain about.

"I couldn't believe that self-absorbed narcissistic little snot turns into Darth Vader"

Amen to that. We were scared… of that twerp?!?

So much for Darth Vader being a great villain. Despite the horrible flaws in RotJ, Darth Vader remained a compelling, mysterious and intimidating figure on the screen. That he was Luke's father just made the back story all that more impressive. The Jedi gone bad, perhaps a great general turned evil… the possibilities were deep.

But I, II & III diminished him into a confused murderous thug— barely more than a juvenile deliquent with a higher body count. The Dark Lord of the Sith is just the Emperor's legbreaker. Even the title doesn't mean anything— it's just so much frippery, tossed off on a whim by the Emperor. The only thing he had over Darth Maul was that he survived. Blech. Count Dooku was far more interesting and compelling than Vader. But if Lucas told his back story, he'd probably turn out to be a minor pickpocket whose sole motivation to be a Sith is to find a good tailor.

I wish I'd never seen I, II, or III. Star Wars is so good… as is TESB… and then it all just falls apart.

I enjoyed both LOTR and SW.

SW universe is pretty huge and has a lot of possibilities, I knew it playing a lot as a RPG and loved it.

But the last trilogy of SW diminishes a lot the impact of the previous SW movies so I choose LOTR to save, the extended versions.

Gotta go with Lord of the Rings (extended versions of course, because: 1)It's more consistently entertaing. 2)It's a lot longer and more in depth. 3) I've already had 20+ years to watch the Star Wars Movies.

I think the LotR trilogy filled the niche that the new Star Wars trilogy failed to.

Has to be Star Wars.

To Parzifal from Nemopholist.

I agree whole heartedly.

As for my favorite character from Star Wars (and I saw Star Wars IV 18 times in the movie theater… it was from "The Empire Strikes Back!"

General Veers.

The man who commanded the walkers on the assault on Hoth.

No histrionics- business like, efficient, yessir-nosir, no mysticism, no hokey-pokey "jus me and my tanks.. ooops— walkers.."

Gotta like a guy like him.

LoTR after roughly a nano second of consideration.

Why?

Better plot, better cinematography, awe inspiring visuals, attention to detail, believable characters need I go on?

Oh and Hobbits or Ewoks? Perleeeeease!

Jackson's first film was good…but then everything went down hill…his Return of the King was just plain awful – rushed, contrived, nonesensical and full of plot holes.

and neon scrubbing bubbles…