VideoDome! Jackson's Middle Earth vs Lucas' Star Wars

Star Wars

Agree that the prequels both nullify each other. Though the Clone Wars cartoon by Gennedy Tartakovsky almost redeems all the Stars Wars prequels. My love of both of the universes is bound far beyond their films. I have spent far more time with these two franchises than any other books/movies/games/media in the rest of my life.

But as movies, Star Wars has to take it, because they built the foundation for the SW expanded universe. (Still sad Expanded Universe got dropped from canon.) I love all of the SW OT equally. Empire Strikes Back is an incredible movie; the final hour of Return of the Jedi is so good. I have never watched as believable and thrilling a space battle as that. And the first Star Wars is just fantastic as a pop film.

LOTR is a great version of the books, but it's still just evoking the original tale.

Gosh darnit, I love 'em both so much.

SW never did as much for me as Lord of the Rings. And two virgin births is two too many for me.

Overwhelming vote for LotR

Jur wrote: And two virgin births is two too many for me.

Leave the Roman Catholics out of this please.

STAR WARS by a mile. Hobbits entrench the worst form of "pip pip Englishman and his Man" nonsense, with nostalgia for a time that should never have been. It overdoes everything. I love me some Helm's Deep--and the ideas in it about corruption are narratively very cool, but everything takes forever.

STAR WARS is a lived in, soulful world of rogues, grit, and adventure.

I am allowed to ignore the bad shit, otherwise I would have to include the prequels and the interminable end sequences and THREE FUCKING MOVIES OH MY GOD.

Wow, interesting competition. I was blown away by the first movies in both of these series, but then seriously disappointed by both as they went on. I have never seen the sixth movie of either series because I refused to waste any more money or time after seeing nothing but consistent crap. Crap after crap. Crappity crap crap crap. Crap as in I can't believe how much crap this is. Like not even watching a movie any more but just watching someone else play a video game that is based loosely on a crappy movie. Especially the prequels in both cases. Not only were they crap on their own, but in a sense turned the great movies that preceded them into crap. Crap CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP! Useless characters in useless story lines with huge budget special effects that just add up to money grabbing crap. So much crap that i can't even care anymore. More crap than the NYC sewer system could handle in a year. Just CRAP! Crap I tell you! Crap that craps on itself! How DARE they serve up such a plate of hot steaming crap CRAP crsjfnfoksrgkfl frfmwrfjfkrkew. "42;@8$24(&@'fkl. . .ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!


VOTE: Star Wars

you people who think ESB is the best of the series are adorable

Legomancer wrote: you people who think ESB is the best of the series are adorable

Well the LOTR films are more competent in almost every way. Acting, script, direction... Star Wars ties it in effects since they were both pretty awesome for their time. Jacksons movies taught a lot of film makers how to make CGI characters interact with real people, they showed how half sets, CGI, models and real people with awesome costumes could all be used together to make a more convincing whole. For me that's equal with the achievements that SW had with it's effects in it's day.

The notion being bandied about that the SW prequels are equal to the Hobbit prequels I won't even entertain. In fact I think people make the comparison knowing it's wrong headed and insane just to try and make a point (disingenuous is probably the word I'm looking for). The differences between the Hobbit and LOTR are very minor. The films looks and feel almost identical. The SW series have almost nothing in common. People fight completely different, it's damn jarring even if you did like the prequels. Plus if you watch one of them the other is ruined because of the whole either knowing who Vader is or who Anakin becomes. So they don't work as a team.

In almost every way SW's two series are much worse than Jacksons middle earth tales.

However... I give huge props to the fact that Lucas's world did not exist before... Jackson just copied some books and played in some one else's mythology. He changed some things around and what not but the bulk of the work was already done when he arrived on the scene. SW is a whole new mythology and even though it fails in every other category as far as making two film sets that work together.. (SW fails miserably at that one, dislike the Hobbit all you want you have to admit it's at least consistent with LOTR) it's still a new IP and that means a lot to me.

I think that as creations from the ether SW is better and more important, as a series of six films that tell of cohesive story, Jackson's Middle Earth is much better.

Yeah, but Star Wars.

bfkiller wrote: Yeah, but Star Wars.

Honestly, that is the best argument the SW fans have for their six films and I am not saying this half heartedly, I fully believe that it is a decent argument.

Josh Look wrote: Vote: Star Wars

The Star Wars movies aren't short, but they're aren't too long either. Also, Han Solo.

Didn't Han show up right at the end of the battle of Helm's Deep to help Aragorn win? Ugh, I'm so confused.

Forced to choose, I pick Middle Earth. Both sets of prequels were crap. Star Wars offers 2.3 good movies (the opening stretch of Return of the Jedi was okay), while Middle Earth offers 2.5 good movies (The Two Towers dragged at times). But I really feel no need to ever watch any of these movies ever again.

Hey if the OP had made it Lucas's SW vs TOLKEIN's Middle Earth, would anyone vote different? I think Peter Jackson should lose to George Lucas every day of the week for what both have contributed to pop culture but JRR Tolkein is more Lucas' league... that's a fair fight

OK, now it's time for everyone to watch this because it is the best thing to come out of you tube EVAR:





I'm gonna get some nutters from Parkhurst, dressed as yetis.....

Because of this, and this alone, Star Wars wins.

Easily, Star Wars. Not even that close. Tilt factors, if any are truly needed:

* Cultural impact: LotR's was significant but ephemeral; the Hobbit trilogy had almost none to begin with and less over time. Star Wars helped change an industry; SW7 will likely be talked about ceaselessly for the next year.
* High points: Pound for pound, Star Wars and Empire outshine Fellowship and Two Towers (though both pairs are impressive achievements).
* Low points: Star Wars' lows are shallower. Combined, the prequels are about a decent movie or a decent movie-and-a-half. The Hobbit is largely a betrayal of its source material. What's more, as noted above, the SW prequels did, if nothing else, beget decent expanded-universe material that helped preserve the franchise's viability.
* Originality: Jackson is building off of (sometimes enhancing, sometimes twisting) Tolkein, a well-regarded writer. Star Wars is an original (albeit in many respects not that "original" of a) universe.