Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

The Emperor is mentioned in passing but never actually makes an appearance in IV, and his appearance(s) in V are all holographic. Yoda isn't even mentioned in IV, except possibly as an off-hand reference by Obi-wan to his master without saying his name.

Obi-wan appears in all 6, though only as a ghost in the last 2. Anakin/Darth Vader is a major character in all 6. R2D2 and C3PO at least make token appearances in all 6. Other than those 4, almost no one appears in both trilogies, and all of those but Yoda and Palpatine have only a brief appearance in III for their total coverage in the prequel trilogy - Luke and Leia as babies, Tarkin as background in a star destroyer bridge scene near the end, and Chewbacca might have been among the wookies with Yoda on Kashyyyk. Oh, I almost forgot, Jabba makes an appearance officiating at the pod race in I, and Boba Fett has a very minor role as a kid in II.

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

And now compare Yoda's lightsabre duel in epII with Kermit the Frog's swordfighting sequence in "Muppet Treasure Island."

And now ask yourself "Which was the better film?"

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

I had to struggle to keep from laughing out loud watching the Yoda saber duels. And not in a good "that's humourous" way. It's an "Oh this is so bad it's funny" way. It's just ridiculous. It almost ruined ep II for me. It didn't seem so bad in EpIII, but maybe that's because I had finally succeeded in beating down the little voice in my head screaming about how bad all three of these movies sucked.

By the the one hour mark of epIII I had finally choked off the little voice and resigned myself to just ignoring the pathetic dialog and contrived or nonexsistant story and end up just watching all the pretty pictures. In the end it was like fireworks. Lot's of ooo and ahhhh, but when it was over I was left with nothing but a ringing in my ears.

EDIT: And yes, Muppet Tresure Island was way better. But that's because it was based on a classic piece of literature. That is something Star Wars has never been mistaken for.

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

Ohhh yes. Star Wars is very likely based on Frank Herbert's Dune books. The first Dune motion picture was planned for release earlier than SW: A New Hope, but eventually was released later. Otherwise, SW would probably never have been so big and we'd have a large Dune mod for SEIV and perhaps a small, rarely used SW mod.

At least seventeen close similarities were noticed between SW and Dune by Frank Herbert himself IIRC.

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

Star Wars may have similarites to Dune, in the same way that all stories share many common plot themes and character types. Especially two stories that are both from teh same genera of sci0fi the way Dune and SW are. Star Wars is no more like Dune in that respect then Dune was like whatever stories that came before it that inspired Herbert though.

That's not at all the same thing as Muppet Tresure Island being based on Tresure Island. That's a case where the muppet movie is a complete retelling of the story. It's the same story begining to end, just with some minor adjustments and character tweaks.

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

I agree and disagree. I think the two films are sufficiently different to say that SW owes little or nothing to Dune. On the other hand, it's quite conceivable that the whole "young man of noble birth on a desert world destined to restore a usurped power" is perhaps, umm, shall we say 'inspired' by Dune.

I would disagree here. Dune is scifi. SW is sinbad-genre swashbuckling dressed up as scifi. Or, to quote the great Tim Bisley, Star Wars (or at least, EP1) is nothing but a "jumped-up firework display of a toy advert".

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

Perhaps. My point wasn't that he couldn't have used Dune as one of many inspirations. To the contrary I was trying to point out that all stories are derivative to a degree. You could say Dune and Star Wars were both inspired by the King Arthur legend or the story of Moses. There are many other stories I'm sure that would fit the outline. None of this means, as Herbert seemed to be claiming at one point (though I think he's backed off of it the last few years) , that Lucas was ripping off his ideas.

EDIT: Er, I guess Herbert's been dead for a few years now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif That could explain his lack of further objections? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Honestly though, it would be difficult to write a sci-fi story in the 70's and 80's without having been inspired by Dune. It was the watershed moment for the genera.

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

Dune was boring. Clarke and Asimov were writing long before Dune.

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

Dogscoff, that's unfair, It's like comparing Indiana Jones to the Tomb Raider Movies. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Muppet Treasure Island is by far the superior film http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: OT - Star Wars Ep III
 

Corrections:
The Emperor/Palpatine/Sidious was in I, II, III, V, and VI, but never made an appearance in IV, A New Hope, he was only mentioned by Vader and the Moffs (re: disbanding the Senate)
Yoda, also was in I, II, III, V, and VI, but did not appear in IV, and did not even get a mention until Empire Strikes Back.
But Anakin/Vader, Obi-wan/Ben, C-3P0, and R2-D2 do make appearances in all six.