This is fairly easy for me as I have a clear preference for most of them. I would put them as follows:

1. A New Hope
2. Return of the Jedi
3. Attack of the Clones
4. Empire Strikes Back
5. Revenge of the Sith
6. The Force Awakens
7. The Phantom Menace

why not:

1. Return of the Jedi

2. Revenge of the Sith

3. Empire Strikes Back

4. The Force Awakens

5. Attack of the Clones

6. A New Hope/The Phantom Menace

ANH and TPM are equally boring to me. But ANH gets artistic and nostalgia credit, but sometimes I just want podraces, politics and Darth Maul.

1) Empire Strikes Back

2) A New Hope

3) The Force Awakens (This may swap with ANH, after a second viewing; i need to be sure)

4) Return of the Jedi

5) Revenge of the Sith

6) Attack of the Clones

7) The Phantom Menace

1) The Empire Strikes Back

2) A New Hope

3) The Return of the Jedi

4) The Force Awakens

5) Revenge of the Sith

6) Attack of the Clones / The Phantom Menace

1) Return of the Jedi (this has lingered in my brain since childhood: giant space battles > everything else)

2) Empire Strikes Back

3) The Force Awakens

4) A New Hope

5) Revenge of the Sith

6) Attack of the Clones

7) The Ewok TV Movies (because we need a buffer between Clones and...)

8) The Gungan Menace

Empire

Star Wars/TFA

Return

Revenge

Attack/Phantom

1) Return of the Jedi (this has lingered in my brain since childhood: giant space battles > everything else)

As far as big battles, the Battle of Hoth has always been my favorite. But ultimately "I am a Jedi, like my father before me" and the entire culmination of Luke's character arc means I can't not have Return at the top.

1. A New Hope

2. The Empire Strikes Back (1 and 2 can switch depending on what sort of movie I'm in the mood for)

3. The Force Awakens

4. Return of the Jedi

5. The Rest

I did actually enjoy the Prequels, but when I'm going back for a rewatch they're not the ones that come to hand. In fact, the DVD's have made their way to the back of shelf. If it weren't for the final scene in Revenge of the Sith with Amidala abandoning her children and giving up to death because she's sad I might bump that one up. Unfortunately that one final note really just wrecks it at the end for me.

I'll Add in the TV series.

The Clone Wars: Whenever I watch it, somewhere in the back of my mind the thought that all the stuff in Revenge of the Sith is going to happen and that ruins it. That and I don't like Anakin. So, it's somewhere down with The Prequels

Rebels: I love. Can't wait for more.

A New Hope

Return of the Jedi

Empire Strikes Back

Revenge of the Sith

The Force Awakens

Attack of the Clones

The Phantom Menace

I don't think I've seen anyone here slot TFA below 4th...not sure if that's afterglow or a standing that will last...I'm on another site with discussions like this among what I'd assume is a somewhat older average age, and my 5th place ranking is the *highest* the new movie gets, with a few ranking it a distant last, behind even the generally-maligned TPM and AotC. While I don't see it quite that bad, I will sat that the gap between ESB and RotS on my list is big, and the drop from RotS down to TFA is just as big, if not bigger.

Basically, if there were a close race in my rankings, it'd be between TFA and AotC to keep out of the second-to-last spot.

Visually entertaining, but as a fan, it was really disappointing in a lot of ways.

A New Hope

Return of the Jedi

Empire Strikes Back

Revenge of the Sith

The Force Awakens

Attack of the Clones

The Phantom Menace

I don't think I've seen anyone here slot TFA below 4th...not sure if that's afterglow or a standing that will last...I'm on another site with discussions like this among what I'd assume is a somewhat older average age, and my 5th place ranking is the *highest* the new movie gets, with a few ranking it a distant last, behind even the generally-maligned TPM and AotC. While I don't see it quite that bad, I will sat that the gap between ESB and RotS on my list is big, and the drop from RotS down to TFA is just as big, if not bigger.

Basically, if there were a close race in my rankings, it'd be between TFA and AotC to keep out of the second-to-last spot.

Visually entertaining, but as a fan, it was really disappointing in a lot of ways.

I recommend watching TFA with a 12 year old girl. Watching the joy and happiness on her face pushed it up at least two notches on the ranking tree for me.

I recommend watching TFA with a 12 year old girl. Watching the joy and happiness on her face pushed it up at least two notches on the ranking tree for me.

I can't begin to express how pumped I am for girls watching this. I haven't stopped gushing about Rey.

I'd imagine it'd be akin to watching any movie aimed at kids with kids. It makes you happy to see them happy, but it doesn't make the movie itself any better.

I don't think so. I've watch a LOT of movies aimed at kids. Even as they're laughing or pumping their fists I'm cringing and writhing in my seat. in TFA I was smiling through most of it right along with my daughter (and my 14 year old son), and I'm a 43 year old man.

That said, there's no right or wrong answer here. You like the ones you like. I'm sticking to ranking TFA as my number 3, though I admit I've only seen it once. I saw the original Star Wars I don't know how many times before it left the theaters and many many more since then. With time and more viewings my rating of The Force Awakens might change, but I'm going to just enjoy the Star Warsiness of the movie and my mood for the moment.

I'd imagine it'd be akin to watching any movie aimed at kids with kids. It makes you happy to see them happy, but it doesn't make the movie itself any better.

That seems like a fairly mechanistic interpretation of what was being discussed.

I think the gist is that adults will share the pleasure of admiration and imaginative immersion with kids -- and in this case, one where girls are explicitly given someone they could understand or relate to. For me, that is emphatically part of the quality and enjoyment of the film, and that experience goes beyond my own personal loyalty to the IP.

I'd imagine it'd be akin to watching any movie aimed at kids with kids. It makes you happy to see them happy, but it doesn't make the movie itself any better.

That seems like a fairly mechanistic interpretation of what was being discussed.

I think the gist is that adults will share the pleasure of admiration and imaginative immersion with kids -- and in this case, one where girls are explicitly given someone they could understand or relate to. For me, that is emphatically part of the quality and enjoyment of the film, and that experience goes beyond my own personal loyalty to the IP.

As a non-parent, I guess I just don't share in that.

I'm always delighted to see a child get really excited about something, but it doesn't make a movie, show, or song any better for me. Maybe as part of the overall experience, sure, but not the material itself. It'd be just as accurate to say that you'd like the movie better with a thick T-bone and a cold pint of IPA. Not necessarily wrong...but not terribly relevant to a comparison of the films either.

I'd imagine it'd be akin to watching any movie aimed at kids with kids. It makes you happy to see them happy, but it doesn't make the movie itself any better.

In theory, it doesn't. But it can pull you out of your adult mode and make you see things through the eyes of a child again. Just a thought.

A New Hope

Return of the Jedi

Empire Strikes Back

Revenge of the Sith

The Force Awakens

Attack of the Clones

The Phantom Menace

I don't think I've seen anyone here slot TFA below 4th...

Oddly enough, the other person who did is me:

• A New Hope
• Return of the Jedi
• Attack of the Clones
• Empire Strikes Back
• Revenge of the Sith
• The Force Awakens
• The Phantom Menace

We both ranked it just below RotS and our lists are largely the same with the exception that Attack of the Clones bumped several places up on mine. I'm not sure why that is. I think it's mainly because it slots in so well with TCW which I hugely appreciate and gets knock-on benefits from the added depth that series adds to it. It's not a good film.

• Return of the Jedi
• A New Hope
• Empire Strikes Back
• Revenge of the Sith
• Attack of the Clones
• The Force Awakens
• The Phantom Menace

Yeah, I really didn't like TFA either.

Haven't posted in a while, but the Force Awakens hype brought me back!

As of my list, it will be a bit controversial for a lot of OT purist but here it is:

1. Revenge of the Sith

2. Empire Strikes Back

3. A New Hope

4. Attack of the Clones

5. Phantom Menace

6. Return of the Jedi (there are great parts in that movie but between bad-judgment Palpatine, even more incompetent Stormtroopers than usual, bad shooter Boba, and the Ewoks, this movie is just not doing it for me)

I've only watched Force Awakens once so far, thought it was pretty good, but I still don't know where it would go. Right over A New Hope, or right under it, most like.

We both ranked it just below RotS and our lists are largely the same with the exception that Attack of the Clones bumped several places up on mine. I'm not sure why that is. I think it's mainly because it slots in so well with TCW which I hugely appreciate and gets knock-on benefits from the added depth that series adds to it. It's not a good film.

Don't know how I missed that one, so there were two of us...now there's more...

I generally give AotC bad marks for dialogue (and delivery of that dialogue) that is so beyond bad that it really ruined immersion in the movie and kept me from enjoying some of the better aspects of the movie. Every time Anakin is on-screen it became a chore for me to watch, and even McGregor and Portman struggled to deliver the lines convinvingly at some points (not a knock on them, as their acting was fine, but there's only so much you can do with the script you're given.

On a broader scope, the rest of the movie wasn't too bad, but the Battle of Geonosis really fell flat for me. Everything beyond the arena battle, from the moment Jackson delivers the "This party's over." line...he was more correct than he realized.

Lastly, I'm sure our difference in ranking stems a lot from our views of TCW. Your favorable impression buoyed your overall criticism of AotC, whereas I'd struggle in deciding which to rank higher: TCW, or the Holiday Special (TCW would probably beat out the Holiday special, but only narrowly, and only because of the weird cooking show they watched in the Holiday Special). So for me, AotC gets no help from TCW, and while I wouldn't use my unfavorable opinion of TCW to drag down AotC, there's certainly that common style between them, which you can apparently get behind, that I find as a negative.

That being said, I do think that, for me RotS beats TFA partially because of the story that it had no other option but to tell, whereas TFA needed specifically to allow space for that part of it's trilogy to be told later. One of my big issues with it is that typically the first movie in a trilogy sets the scene, with some sort of engaging conflict element to draw you in and make you care. TFA did neither. I still have only a vague idea of the galactic condition, and it didn't really make me care about the conflict. On top of that, their main villain, imho, is a lousy one. It ranks higher than AotC and TPM for three main reasons: far better acting and dialogue overall, not showing the severe flaws of the prequels, and showing rather than telling the few things it did communicate.

Comparing opions is really interesting. There are so with totally different rankings. I see some movies at the top of one list and the bottom of another. I think to my self "how could you like that piece of *#$!)&@" but obviously a lot of people do. Humanity is so interesting.

No right answer here, but I find the dichotomy interesting. I'd love to see an age comparison on the posters and a which movie did you see first.

For me, the ranking is:

1 - The Empire Strikes Back

2 - A New Hope

3 - Return of the Jedi

Then, pretty much everything else in the Universe

Pond Scum

Raw unfiltered sewage infected with the Rakghoul disease

Prequel Trilogy (three-way tie for the worst thing in the Universe)

I haven’t seen TFA, so I can’t rank it on this chart. And you **** well better not spoil it for me!

No right answer here, but I find the dichotomy interesting. I'd love to see an age comparison on the posters and a which movie did you see first.

Agreed, I'd love to see all the compiled data in some kind of pretty infographic that showed average ranking by age.

I'd suspect that, if you divided the demographics roughly into "Old enough to have caught the OT in theaters when they came out", "Young enough to have grown up with the prequels", and "Stuck in the middle" (Born on or after 1979 but before, say, 1990) you'd see that the most demographic-sensitive movies would be ANH, RotJ, and AotC.

Those that love ESB tend to love it as a movie, pointing to the acting, the drama, the cinematography, etc. as opposed to the story elements...this isn't really a valuation system drawn along age lines, but rather those who judge the Star Wars movies as films first and foremost, and content second.

I think you'd find the "old guard" who grew up (or were already grown up) as the OT came out to be split on a secondary level between those who raised kids through the prequel releases and those who did not, with the former being far kinder to the prequels in their ratings, with the latter tending to view the prequels in a dimmer light, considering that they were aimed more toward kids. I think both this old guard and the middle folks would tend to grant the OT in general some bonus points as part of a sort of "sacred cow" status attributed to them, with a notable exception being the "cinema enthusiasts" among both groups, who would tend to rate ESB notably higher, and ANH and RotJ notably lower than the majority of fans rating based on content as opposed to delivery.

For the younger crowd, who I'm generally defining as those who don't remember much of a time when there were only three SW films, I think you see the OT ranked significantly harsher, both "unfairly" against the gold standards we have today for action, special effects, etc. as well as "fairly" in the flaws being seen for what they are. I put these in quotes due to the obviously subjective nature of such things. There would, naturally, be plenty of deviation from these roughly defined profiles, but I think that overall, as groups, that's what a sufficiently large set of data would show.

1. Star Wars / The Empire Strikes Back - the former because, well, it's Star Wars, the latter because it is actually the first thing I saw of the universe and I was in awe as a kid

We both ranked it just below RotS and our lists are largely the same with the exception that Attack of the Clones bumped several places up on mine. I'm not sure why that is. I think it's mainly because it slots in so well with TCW which I hugely appreciate and gets knock-on benefits from the added depth that series adds to it. It's not a good film.

Don't know how I missed that one, so there were two of us...now there's more...

I generally give AotC bad marks for dialogue (and delivery of that dialogue) that is so beyond bad that it really ruined immersion in the movie and kept me from enjoying some of the better aspects of the movie. Every time Anakin is on-screen it became a chore for me to watch, and even McGregor and Portman struggled to deliver the lines convinvingly at some points (not a knock on them, as their acting was fine, but there's only so much you can do with the script you're given.

On a broader scope, the rest of the movie wasn't too bad, but the Battle of Geonosis really fell flat for me. Everything beyond the arena battle, from the moment Jackson delivers the "This party's over." line...he was more correct than he realized.

Lastly, I'm sure our difference in ranking stems a lot from our views of TCW. Your favorable impression buoyed your overall criticism of AotC, whereas I'd struggle in deciding which to rank higher: TCW, or the Holiday Special (TCW would probably beat out the Holiday special, but only narrowly, and only because of the weird cooking show they watched in the Holiday Special). So for me, AotC gets no help from TCW, and while I wouldn't use my unfavorable opinion of TCW to drag down AotC, there's certainly that common style between them, which you can apparently get behind, that I find as a negative.

That being said, I do think that, for me RotS beats TFA partially because of the story that it had no other option but to tell, whereas TFA needed specifically to allow space for that part of it's trilogy to be told later. One of my big issues with it is that typically the first movie in a trilogy sets the scene, with some sort of engaging conflict element to draw you in and make you care. TFA did neither. I still have only a vague idea of the galactic condition, and it didn't really make me care about the conflict. On top of that, their main villain, imho, is a lousy one. It ranks higher than AotC and TPM for three main reasons: far better acting and dialogue overall, not showing the severe flaws of the prequels, and showing rather than telling the few things it did communicate.

Interesting. Your reasons are largely similar to mine. I have always been fascinated by warfare, politics, economics, history... So AotC + TCW make for a lovely expansion of the setting. That's mainly why I place it higher.

On the general subject of people's age and preference on the movies, I'm not old enough to have seen the OT in the cinemas but I was also long past childhood when the PT came out. My ordering list for the films is a mix of OT and PT. I think that's fine. The main thing I dislike is when someone insists they know why you like one movie or another based on your age. Like in the Spoiler thread next door somebody did exactly that - attacking me over not like TFA much by saying that they were sure if ANH came out now I would hate that too. (I don't "hate" TFA, btw. Just think it's rather weak). I resent the implication that I'm not intelligent enough to understand how age and first impressions affect things and I see the same done to other people as well. On the whole, the people on this forum are pretty smart and whilst people may have fondness for films they loved as a kid, I think most are able to evaluate things independently as an adult and judge on what they actually are, not be the hapless slave to their age. My 2 credits, anyway...

For me, the ranking is:

1 - The Empire Strikes Back

2 - A New Hope

3 - Return of the Jedi

Then, pretty much everything else in the Universe

Pond Scum

Raw unfiltered sewage infected with the Rakghoul disease

Prequel Trilogy (three-way tie for the worst thing in the Universe)

I haven’t seen TFA, so I can’t rank it on this chart. And you **** well better not spoil it for me!

Spock saves the 7th Doctor from Voldemort...

Did I do it right?