Which SW film were you more excited about/anxious to see: I or VII?

The Phantom Menace without a doubt.

I haven't seen 1 or 7 but I would have to imagine that the hype for 1 would be so much more just due to time between films.

VII for sure. Don't think I found out about I until like 2 months before it was released. I just watched and accepted it blindly. This one I built up for years thinking about the most minor of plot details.

LINK

The hype for Phantom was through the roof because the memory of great films preceded it and we assumed more of Empire Strikes Back..., etc.

Star Wars mania wore off after the prequels disasters to some degree.

It's just not the same feeling. It had been over 15 years since the last Star Wars film before Phantom.

We thought the master had come back and were going to be treated with another master trilogy - we were wrong.

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Anyone should have rightfully been suspicious of Lucas coming back to direct Episode I alone. He hadn't directed a film since the original Star Wars and most certainly should have gotten another director to do it.

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“[Lucas] didn’t necessarily want to direct them. He told me he had talked to Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, and me (Ron Howard). I was the third one he spoke to. They all said the same thing: ‘George, you should do it!’ I don’t think anybody wanted to follow-up that act at the time. It was an honor, but it would’ve been too daunting.”

Lucas directed as well as wrote the first Star Wars film, A New Hope, but it was The Empire Strikes and Return of the Jedi, directed by Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand respectively, that are considered the better movies. Prior to the prequels, Lucas hadn’t directed a film since 1977. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is directed by JJ Abrams, who had success with the recent Star Trek films.

On the trailers and early script releases on the internet for Phantom Menance...via news services quotes...

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All around me, there were actual tears of joy. There was excited hollering. There were hugs, people laughing uncontrollably. As the haze passed and I realized there was a movie playing, one thing kept going through my head.

Thank you, George. Thank you, George. Thank you, George.

As I prepare to sleep now, visions of the prequel dance behind my eyes. I am exhausted, but I know sleep won't come easy. Now that the worst wait is over, the final stretch begins. Six months. I could do that standing on my head. Whatever we're going to see in those theaters next May, it's going to be something special. More importantly, the experience of seeing it with all of you will make it even more special. I am thankful I saw it with that crowd tonight. There was love pouring out of everyone in that theater. There was joy, pure and simple, over the viewing of the footage. I felt like I was among family.

It was a wonderful, magical night, the kind that keeps me going to the movies, and all I can say to sum it up is what I said before.

Thank you, George. Thank you, George. Thank you, George

-Moriarty, AintItCoolNews

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This script balances the humor with honest, direct writing that gives Jar Jar (dare I say?) a soul. He may be a sidekick, but here's betting that Jar Jar Binks becomes one of the biggest EPISODE I stars once audiences get their real introduction.

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You can't possibly know how textured and wonderful the story Lucas has to tell is going to be. The thing that makes THE PHANTOM MENACE possibly my favorite STAR WARS story so far (on paper, mind you) is the details. The time off has done something unexpected to Lucas as a storyteller -- it made him better.

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Wait, so are all those quotes from this douche?



If he had been born 10 years later or earlier, this clown would be the very definition of a loser living in his parents basement.

I counted 4 times in TPM either Jar Jar or Anakin said "Yippeee!!"

I mean who the frick says that?

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Which SW film were you more excited about/anxious to see: I or VII?

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Due to the question, I have to answer: BOTH.

I was SOOOOOOOOOO excited about Episode 1 coming out. Star Wars was brilliant, but still reliant on outdated special effects tech. There was so much more that CGI was going to be able to bring, to the greatest Sci Fi adventure story in moviedom. It was dizzying how much people anticipated that movie. ILM was going to rock us.

Anxious, I would have to go with Ep 7. As stated, Star Wars was the greatest adventure sci fi in movies, but the prequels were DOA. Enormously disappointing. Exhibit A for the argument that CGI sucks the soul out of special effects, and makes it bland and mundane. And now, we have a couple of generations who think Star Wars is about some silly "Jedi" monk/cops in beige bathrobes spouting philosophical mumbo jumbo while the common man is ignored, doing superhuman feats while looking bemused. They know it from books more than the movies.

So for this movie, I saw it as the franchise's last hope, like Les Miles' 2016 season. There's no room for "interesting" or "modestly fun", it was hit BIG or go away forever.
And it delivered.