Episode 4 was an amazing movie when it came out; I haven't watched it for a long time but I'm sure it hasn't aged well. When I saw Star Wars in the theater, the only things I could compare it to were 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Star Trek TV show. The former had very good special effects but an opaque plot. The latter had some good plots but pretty cheesy special effects. As Xenu aptly put it, Star Wars did an excellent job of presenting a different world, densely populated with aliens, robots, and spaceships. The watered-down religious references probably helped its appeal, since non-denominational self-help and self-actualization were very popular at the time. The cheesy dialog and tropes like "the bad guys can't aim" were noted at the time, but the momentum of the movie overcame them.
I enjoyed the first few Dune books, but they went badly off the rails at the end of the series.
Naming theme: Star Wars actors? I used actor names in EitB 44, and they tend to fit pretty well within the character count limit.
I enjoyed the first few Dune books, but they went badly off the rails at the end of the series.
Naming theme: Star Wars actors? I used actor names in EitB 44, and they tend to fit pretty well within the character count limit.