Every series – whether a book trilogy, TV show, etc. – has moments in it that people find amazing or fantastic, not to mention quotable. They are the defining moments of that series, the ones that you remember no matter how long it has been since you’ve watched or read that story.
Unfortunately, lots of series also have “facepalm” moments too. Moments that make you want to go up to the writer or director and smack them…hard. These moments are also those that stick with you, no matter how hard you may try and forget them. Like the good moments, these are hard to forget.
Star Wars is full of these moments and, as a series, has inspired and disappointed its fans with some of its choices. Let’s take a look at some of the series’ more defining moments, for better or worse.
1. “I love you.” “I know.”
First on our list is the scene between Leia and Han Solo right before he gets frozen in carbonite. In case you can’t remember this pretty fantastic scene from The Empire Strikes Back, here it is:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO-KR-14uXM[/youtube]
Yup. Now, saying “I know” when someone says “I love you” is kind of the cockiest thing you could possibly say, that is, unless you’re Han Solo.
This moment immortalized Han Solo as a total badass, and someone whom young guys would want to be when they grew up. Not to mention his getting frozen is a pivotal moment in the series. The Empire is winning, and the good guys seem SOL. All in all, a fantastic piece of direction and performance.
2. Jar Jar Binks
Jar Jar Binks is, perhaps, the most hated character in the Star Wars movies as a whole.
I’m speaking with a little bit of hyperbole, but not too much. His character has earned the ire of countless Star Wars fans and was attacked by film critics as well; he has, in many ways, become the poster child of the creative problems that the prequels have been accused of having. Jar Jar has been the butt of countless jokes (South Park and Robot Chicken definitely had their fun with him) and it doesn’t look like it’s changing anytime soon.
He’s even been accused of being a Carribean stereotype. All in all, not many people like him, and for that reason he’s definitely memorable.
3. “That’s no moon, it’s a space station.”
As far as movie quotations go, this one is fairly memorable. Not only that, but it’s also taken on a life of its own as a joke of sorts applicable to a wide range of things. It’s been parodied all over the internet, and there are so many random pictures poking fun at this line.
Not to say that this movie quotation is a bad part of the movies at all. It’s a powerful line and, honestly, in the movies what it means is kind of terrifying. I do, however, love some of the parodies.
4. “It’s over Anakin. I have the high ground.”
So remember when Anakin and Obi-Wan are fighting and then Obi-Wan says that its over because he has the high ground? If you don’t here a clip of the fight that starts right before he says that line:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSwy412nttI&feature=player_detailpage#t=382s[/youtube]
Now before I get rolling, let me say this. The fight, as a whole, was a lot of fun to watch. One of my favorite aspects about the prequels was that I got to see Jedis and Sith Lords really fighting each other and going at it. Because of that, the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan was pretty fun to watch.
That is, until that stupid line was said.
Now, I don’t taken offense to the line. This is because in normal combat, if someone has the high ground, the fight is pretty much over. But these are Jedi. He could have used the Force to do any number of things; we’d already seen him use the Force with great tactical creativity, and instead he jumps and gets practically cut in two, more or less because the plot requires him to be crippled to become Darth Vader.
I know that Anakin can’t win, but why did he have to pull a Boba Fett and go out so…lamely? Just thinking about that line and scene makes me angry.
About a week ago we put up a Facebook post asking what some of our readers best/worst moments were – and I asked some of my friends around town as well – and these are the responses that I got!
From our Facebook page we got the following responses:
- Andrew Gregorovich said his least favorite moment was “The part where George Lucas changes things…”
- Trey Bayles said his favorite part was Luke watching the sunset, and his least favorite part was “any part with Jar Jar.”
- Andrew Plein said his favorite part was when Vader chucked the Emperor down the shaft, and his least favorite part was “anything that had to do with Midochlorians.”
- Erik Der said his favorite part was the line “I am a Jedi like my father before me…” and his least favorite part was when Greedo shot first.
So what are your best/worst Star Wars moments? Let us know in the comments!