That's fair and correct. The data can be interpreted in multiple ways. However in this case common sense must prevail, and at the most basic point the field "times watched" =/= "Movie Quality".

The point is not about movie quality here.

Wait... since when is Star Wars on Netflix?

It's on my my web version, but I have heard that Netflix and Disney have made a deal. So, all Disney will be available through Disney at some point. That means the Star Wars movies. Or....I expect it.

I will say that I've found a fan edit that really helps the prequels. My calm father went on a tirade about Episode 1 a year ago that surprised me as i didn't think Baby Boomers cared much about it. Maybe just not as much as I did? Anyways, I had him watch a fan edit of the movie and he said he actually enjoyed it! Fall of the Jedi is the one that I like. Not the rubbish one on YouTube.

I find it ironic that fan edits of the PT are more enjoyable to watch, while the fan edits that Lucas did to the OT are not. Hayden "I hate Sand" Christensen at the end of Jedi... Greedo shooting at all. F***er.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPw_5rAWJVo

This was released before episode III and in my eyes is the best Star Wars.

P1 - If the prequels are universally hated, they would not be rented often

citation needed*

I've gotten over my hatred of the prequels long since.

I see them as sub-par, but I love the universe overall.

It's like your third favourite bands 4-6th albums. They are weak as hell compared to the raw 1-3rd album genius, but you still can't be a hater, and there are the odd good tracks.

These dreams is a great track dammit, and I LIKE ALONE!

I admit neither are Magic man or Barracuda but come on.

*I even like "all i wanna do is make love to you".

P1 - If the prequels are universally hated, they would not be rented often

citation needed*

You want a citation for "If a movie is popular, it will be rented often"? This one seems quite reasonable in itself. And again, I'm sure you would not have asked for a citation if you had not known about the conclusion, just like Watts would not have disputed the results from 'Berkeley Earth' if they had drawn radically different conclusions.

Alone, and All I gotta do is make love to you probably get more airtime than Barracuda or Magic man, but Barracuda & Magic man are objectively better songs.

P1 - If the prequels are universally hated, they would not be rented often

citation needed*

You want a citation for "If a movie is popular, it will be rented often"? This one seems quite reasonable in itself. And again, I'm sure you would not have asked for a citation if you had not known about the conclusion, just like Watts would not have disputed the results from 'Berkeley Earth' if they had drawn radically different conclusions.

Do you think that Jurassic Park 3 would be rented as often if it wasn't part of a popular franchise?

That's if Nirvana released Rebecca Black's friday as a single...

P1 - If the prequels are universally hated, they would not be rented often

citation needed*

You want a citation for "If a movie is popular, it will be rented often"? This one seems quite reasonable in itself. And again, I'm sure you would not have asked for a citation if you had not known about the conclusion, just like Watts would not have disputed the results from 'Berkeley Earth' if they had drawn radically different conclusions.

Seems reasonable to you. Doesn't seem reasonable to the rest of us.

Do you think that Jurassic Park 3 would be rented as often if it wasn't part of a popular franchise?

Uhm...if Jurassic Park 3 is popular because it is part of a popular franchise, then it is still a popular film...so this seems tautological.

To answer: no, if Jurassic Park 3 was not part of a popular franchise, I would assume it would not be popular and would not be rented often. But then again, I may be an idiot for thinking that.

So in the same vein as that admission, episodes1-3 are more popular than they would otherwise be because they are part of the Star Wars canon.

The Fiat Uno sold, and was popular among some people. As was the Reliant Robin.

Sega Master System.

Destiny. I mean, I bought and played Destiny because of the hype but it's a terrible game.

Here is a ranking of the Star Wars films' relative popularity on Netflix. The list is, from most rented to least:

Revenge of the Sith

A New Hope

Attack of the Clones

The Phantom Menace

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

I suspect the myth that 'once the prequels sunk in it was universally decided that they were rubbish' is just that - a myth.

This list also suggests what I have subjectively experienced: that, regardless of actual quality, the prequels have a higher 'rewatch' value. There's more to see a second or third time, because of the more lavish visual effects and the stories having more POVs.

My reply is down below.

It also suggests they don't want to spend $30 to own them though, lol.

If it is true, because it is looking like you're making up new facts to make an existing notion immune to falsification. Like how Anthony Watts reacted to the inconvenient data of the 'Berkeley Earth' temperature reconstructions.

I think BEST is quite a bit better than Anakin rolling around in grass giggling. And I think even Watts would admit that "rate of physical dvd rental" does not correlate directly with popularity. You have a confounding factor that directly opposes this correlation. Several, in fact.

If the prequels really were widely recognized as being basically high-budget trash, you would reasonably expect the popularity on netflix to reflect this. This is not what we see.

It really is like debating creationists or climate denialists.

"The prequels were not well received."

As a matter of fact, they were. Reviews were as favourable as other SW films and they were box office hits.

"Okay, so they were well received initially, but the success was just in the beginning."

This isn't true either. The prequels were actually " well-loved ".

"But a few years after the fact, the audience came to its senses and realized the prequels were really bad."

If this is the case, then I would expect them not to do well on channels like Netflix.

"But that just means that nobody bought the DVDs. So this just confirms that they are unpopular."

At what point should I concede that I am not communicating with rational persons? Where do you draw the line in your debates with pseudoscientists or the likes of Monckton?

I agree with you that the preqs are much more liked than most SW fans would like them to be, even GL best friend, Steven Spielberg, cried a little during the first showing of EP 3 at the end when Anakin was confronted by Old Ben.

They are very good, I think most people dislike them because it doesn't have all the stuff we have seen in sw ep 4-6. In effect making them possible not feel like SW movies.

All that being said I don't think you can use those figures as proof of popularity. See I love MLP:FIM or My Little Pony G4 as it is sometimes called. Well after getting into it and making my first couple MLP friends I decided to see what My Little Pony G3 and G2 were like since they were on netflix, they had a lot of G3 movies.

I promise you I contributed lots of views for those movies... because I feel asleep over and over again trying to watch them. So then I forced myself to watch them by hitting myself if I thought I was going to fall asleep. So then I ran into another problem... I had to re-watch whole parts of the movies because I started daydreaming through most of them...

Long story short about mlp G2 & G3

Oh and they could have high replays / rents because people keep falling asleep while trying to watch them and so have to re-watch them. Although I doubt that is the case for Ep 3, its to magnificent.

I find it ironic that fan edits of the PT are more enjoyable to watch, while the fan edits that Lucas did to the OT are not. Hayden "I hate Sand" Christensen at the end of Jedi... Greedo shooting at all. F***er.

Oh, I know. I was always thinking that Lucas needed to get out of the way of Star Wars to make it good again. That's why I was really happy when Disney bought Star Wars. Because the would make a lot more stuff, and Lucas wouldn't be involved.

The fan edits that I've seen are good because they limit what many people consider stupid. They cut down on a lot of Jar Jar binks b/c he's just annoying. They remove the fact that Anakin created C-3P0 as that's dumb. Why does everything have to be circular? R2-D2 was not in the first movie. That was just some random R2 unit. They cut down on the unnecessary stuff, like most of the pod race. I mean, he was just trying to recreate Ben Hur, but did it have to be so long?

Having watched The Clone Wars series (in proper order), I will say that I'm a lot more forgiving of Ep 1-3. I feel like they fixed a lot with that storyline.

The fact that rotj is last should be a dead giveaway that you aren't looking at popularity there. NOBODY thinks that.

RotJ is one of the worst SW movies though. The ewoks are as bad as gungans and another Death Star as the main threat...come on man!

Revenge of the Sith first makes sense. It's my favorite and a lot of other people as well. I think it topped a big poll a few years back for favorite star wars film.

While many older fans prefer the OT more, or even the OT only, a lot of casual fans, especially younger fans, like the PT just as much if not more than the OT. I'm sure the clone wars series helped as well.

Revenge of the Sith is my second favorite behind Empire Strikes Back.

The fact that rotj is last should be a dead giveaway that you aren't looking at popularity there. NOBODY thinks that.

RotJ is one of the worst SW movies though. The ewoks are as bad as gungans and another Death Star as the main threat...come on man!

Y U no like ewoks?

Revenge of the Sith first makes sense. It's my favorite and a lot of other people as well. I think it topped a big poll a few years back for favorite star wars film.

While many older fans prefer the OT more, or even the OT only, a lot of casual fans, especially younger fans, like the PT just as much if not more than the OT. I'm sure the clone wars series helped as well.

Revenge of the Sith is my second favorite behind Empire Strikes Back.

I bet the clone wars series get watched more than any of the movies

I happen to hate EP1-3, but more because the quality of film making was handicapped by the need for merchandising and making a series that was popular with children into children's movies. There are very few good actors in 4-6, and they went out and got good actors for 1-3, but decided the buck stopped there. The rest of the movies could just be a video game waiting to happen with cut scenes that eight year olds would laugh at hysterically.

But my dislike of those movies doesn't mean that simply looking at Netflix rankings is a basis for any logical statement. What are the demographics? (this is paramount) How often are the movies watched from beginning to end? What are the actual numbers of EP1-3 rentals versus purchases of EP4-6? How does Netflix's search engine criteria correlate to their "Movies you might like" section? The list of applicable and required data to make the statement the OP is making is much more vast than simply looking at a percentage for rentals form one source (even a major source like Netflix).

The correct and applicable data is so convoluted that the statement that Netflix rankings proves a universal truth incorrect cannot be logically confirmed. In any case, the logic offered is also not correct.

Actually, you haven't specifically pointed out what conclusion is false, but I'll just summarize it and assume that you are referring to this conclusion I draw:

P1 - If the prequels are universally hated, they would not be rented often.

P2 - The prequels are rented often.

C - Therefore, the prequels are not hated.

Modus tollens conclusion in this case would only be vaild if C read "Therefore, the prequels are not universally hated." since P1 uses the modifier "universal". That is a true statement. However, more data would be needed to qualify whether or not movies that are rented often are only rented because people like them.

So, a new modus tollens would be:

P1 - If movies are universally liked, they are rented often.

P2 - The prequels are rented often.

C - The prequels are universally liked.

This conclusion, as we can see, is false. For one, I don't like them and therefore would negate the modifier "universal". A false statement used as the basis of logic for different statement is just picking a fight.

Having watched The Clone Wars series (in proper order), I will say that I'm a lot more forgiving of Ep 1-3. I feel like they fixed a lot with that storyline.

Ironically a lot of the clone wars stuff is directly from Lukus who you despite so much. ;-)

Luckily he was not direktor nor writer for the clone wars. I would say prequel movie storyline was fine, it just that the execution was so bad. Which would make George Lukas terrible at directing and script writing, but quite good at world and lore building. Who would have thought of this? Now at disney they seem to ******* up the whole lore and world building. The whole "half of the new republic" is joining the first order, Kylo Rens slaughtering the Jedi Temple and all that happens 6 years prior to TFA. EVERYTHING at once. There is again the corruption of the old republic in the senate of the new republic again separatists and centralist, etc ... but all that happens 6 years prior to TFA, while the new republic was running more or less fine for 20 years.

Ironically a lot of the clone wars stuff is directly from Lukus who you despite so much. ;-)

Luckily he was not direktor nor writer for the clone wars. I would say prequel movie storyline was fine, it just that the execution was so bad. Which would make George Lukas terrible at directing and script writing, but quite good at world and lore building. Who would have thought of this?

I think Lucas started his decline during Return of the Jedi. The changing of wookies to ewoks is terrible.

I know that TCW was done by Lucas Arts, but that's not necessarily meaning Lucas was doing the script writing. I think he's fine for creating the whole thing, but lost sight of it all when being too much in control for Ep 1-3 movies.

Now at disney they seem to ******* up the whole lore and world building. The whole "half of the new republic" is joining the first order, Kylo Rens slaughtering the Jedi Temple and all that happens 6 years prior to TFA. EVERYTHING at once. There is again the corruption of the old republic in the senate of the new republic again separatists and centralist, etc ... but all that happens 6 years prior to TFA, while the new republic was running more or less fine for 20 years.

I don't get this part. Personally, I don't think Disney has fouled anything up. I'm not sure what you are referring to, unless you are just talking about turning EU into Legends. I'm fine with that.

I have not ready fully everything that's come out for novels when it comes to the new stuff. I'm not sure what's going on with the New Republic. There is that new Leia book that just came out that I haven't had time to read, but is supposed to go into the politics involved. Is that what you are talking about? If not, then I'm not sure what you are talking about.

I don't get this part. Personally, I don't think Disney has fouled anything up. I'm not sure what you are referring to, unless you are just talking about turning EU into Legends. I'm fine with that.

I have not ready fully everything that's come out for novels when it comes to the new stuff. I'm not sure what's going on with the New Republic. There is that new Leia book that just came out that I haven't had time to read, but is supposed to go into the politics involved. Is that what you are talking about? If not, then I'm not sure what you are talking about.

New Disney canon from that new Leia book. After the battle of jaku everything was happy and sunshine for a while, but 6 years prior to TFA there was a new separatist and centralist faction within the republic senate, the same old corrupting as in the new republic and basically half the republic joins the old imperial forces and the first order. The Jedi Academy students gets slaughtered, Ben Solo becomes Kylo Ren, because he is angry that his mother never told him that Vader was his grandpa, Han leaves Leia, etc all within a short amount of time, all in one book. Backstory done, 6 years later the new republic is dead in one blow and we are back to resisting the empire which has basically half the known galaxy as supporters again. If this sounds like great world building then I am out.

edit:

Title is Star Wars: Bloodlines btw. Just bloodlines was already taken from another star wars crap eu thing. ;-)