Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings
 

This should be interesting since I think most of the people on this board either remember when Star Wars came out or were at least born right around that time. So some people may pick Star Wars for purely sentimental reasons. And Star Wars probably has a greater number of fanatics.

Personally I think Lord of the rings is a better triology (even though the third part hasn't been released yet). Honestly (and I know some people will rip me apart for saying this), even though I saw Star Wars when I was young when it first came out and thought it kicked ass at the time, now that I'm older I've come to see it as more of a marketing tool than a movie. The characters are wafer thin, the recycled plot was made even more generic by Lucas so it would have broader appeal, and the directing in all three is servicable at best. Lucas made, in essence, a generic revenge/adventure tale and dressed it up with a neato lightshow.

This makes it sound like I hate the movie, which I don't. But I do get the feeling more and more (especially now that the new ones have come out) that Lucas sold me a product way back when and convinced me that it was great entertainment, even art. Everything about the movie says "hey look how epic this is, look how emotional this is, look how cool this is" without ever providing the depth that makes movies epic, emotional, and, well, cool.

I guess I'm kinda pissed. I feel like I got ripped off way back when and I want my money back :D (what was it like three bucks back then?).

That's why LOTR gets my vote. It may not be high art, but it's certainly great entertainment.

As for the poll there's a choice for those who don't want to pass judgment until the LOTR Trilogy is complete and I had to put a couple of choices in for the die hard fans.

I have a hard time picking favorites...

:(

I stated in another thread that I thought I was leaning towards LOTR, espeically if ROTK is great. Peter Jackson just makes the stakes seem so much higher, and the depth of history and character is astounding. Maybe I would still say Star Wars if the prequels didn't pull the series down so much.0

There's no comparison between the original Star Wars trilogy and the current Lord of the Rings movies. Star Wars wins hands down. However...

If you compare the actual book trilogy of the LOTR to the Star Wars trilogy, LOTR wins with out a doubt.

star wars OWNZ man OWNZ!

i'm really into the futuristic battles and the space shits and all that sci-fi stuff.

After eating Taco Bell for lunch, I think I'm coming down with a case of the space "shits" right now....:lol:

If I had to choose, I would have to go with the Lord of the Rings series. Simply because Peter Jackson did such a fantastic job bringing it all together.

That being said, I think a lot of the appeal with the Lord of the Rings is the special effects. I think that if you were to remake Star Wars using the same technology, (subtle CGI instead of in your face Jar Jar or walking Jabba) then it'd be much better series.

LOTR - i don´t know why.
i guess i choose this one since i grew up with the books... and i think that they´ve done a great job with the movie adaption.

Too...... close....... can't choose......... brain....... overloading...........
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOTR has better character development, better acting, better SFX, better design but in the end I must still say Star Wars is the ruler of the trilogies. It has a far more relatable story and very interesting backgrounds (I know, I know Tolkien got every Age sorted out to the day...). Plus Star Wars has the appeal to all audiences, it's fun, exciting and very cool.

I don't want to sounds like an idiot who only likes fun movies, I'll tell you now that my favourite film of all time is Seven Samurai.

Anyway, I haven't a clue what else to say 'cause I'm tired and my brain feels numb and heavy...

Star Wars ALL the way :)

I'll take the Silence of the Lambs trilogy over both SW and LOTR any day.

I can't decide! If the newer Star Wars movies weren't such trash, I might lean more towards Star Wars. They are both fantastic movies and classics without any doubt.

LOTR has my vote until Lucas lets us get the special editions of 4,5,6 on DVD!!! I mean come on...

I know 3 will be the one to bring it all together but this waiting 3 years between movies and stuff like that it just seems not worth it as I cant get into them as I did the original trilogy.

I don't really like either of them. I love Tolkien's book, but Peter Jackson while very skillful in some areas of direction, is a complete moron in others. Visually, LOTR is superb, but everything else about it sucks really. Oh except the music, that ranged from mediocre to excellent. As for star wars, I find it boring as hell, too much boring dialogue, I don't care about any of the characters in the slightest and that jar jar is satan himself.

This one's easy for me, I've never seen the Lord of the Rings.:D

I hated the books, why would the movies be any different. :p

Since i wasn't around for the star wars generation, i'm gonna have to go with LOTR. I can see why people prefer SW, because it was so good for their time, but now to me, its nothing special.

I think the first three Star Wars were awesome [not counting the later ones into the argument], but the Lord of the Rings trilogy is just a bit better. The story is better [although you can see the influence LOTR had on the Start Wars story] and that puts it over the edge.

So sad. Just 3 years ago, starwars would have beat out anything around. now, not with the greatness that is the LOTR trilogy (and their great extended versions), that popularity is destroyed. His scripting is crap. His casting is crap. His direction is awful. so very sad.

What later Star Wars movies? :confused:

Seriously I'm just waiting for Return of the King. Maybe I'm jaded (probably because of Star Crap Ep 1 and 2) but I want to make sure they get it right before I say which I like better.

I really find it hard getting into LOTR. I'm not entirely sure why! The guy who wrote it must have been on some crazy drugs with all the ideas/characters he comes up with.

Star Wars takes it by a country mile in my books.

I love both of these movies but my vote goes to LOTR. Don't get me wrong, I love the Star Wars movies....well, the original ones anyway. This is what i figure, what Star Wars was to my parents, LOTR is to me.

If it was just the original Star Wars I would go that way, but since then Lucas has run Star Wars into the ground with these shitty prequels so I'd say LOTR.

New to the board, let me say that its great to see LotR so far in the lead... I could just...:icare:

"Damn you and your cursed poll! It's just to close. I can't decide."

Perfectely expressed my thoughts walking into the poll.

lotr, star wars is good but tolkien has the edge.

I absolutely love LOTR, it is so visually stunning and just absolutely phenomenal.

BUT....

Star Wars was so incredibly groundbreaking. It broke all kinds of barriers, and it was so far ahead of its time its unbelievable.

So I just cannot pick one, I can't.

Way to close to call. However, unless Lucas pulls some magic out his arse for the next SW, LotR will probably take it for me in the longrun.

I used to be a huge Star Wars fan, but my torch dimmed for it just a bit after the last two. Not that Phantom Menace and Clones weren't really good movies, I thought they were. It's just that they weren't good enough to be held in THAT high of regard, and in my eyes they dragged the whole series down a slight notch.

Now, if Lucas can find the magic again that will tie everything together perfectly in the final film, then it will remain too close to call for me. :)

For me, sadatx hit the nail right on the head, except that I don't have the sense of betrayl, as I only saw Star Wars a few years ago.

Easy - LOTR is enhanced by special effects.
Star Wars is nothing without them.

both are WAYYY overblown.

Come on, the new starwars movies havent been that good. I enjoy them, but i dont care to see them again. LOTR brings the kid out in me, and makes me feel awesome. LOTR did much better job with making you feel the world was real. Lord of the rings is it.

LOTR was something original. People have copied it ever since.

Star Wars was stolen, apart from putting it in space, and the reason Akira Kurosawa broke off all ties with the West until his death.

Tolkien gets my vote.

Damn you and your cursed poll! It's just to close. I can't decide.

umm...your poll's might be a bit biased considering majority of the people on this board
tend to be in their 20's. I was 11 when the first one came out, and now I'm 35.
So these are the people (the older ones) who saw the phenomenon that was Star Wars when it came out.

The LOTR phenomenon is nothing compared to what happened when the original came out.
This trilogy learned all it's marketing tricks from that one.
The FX of the original SW were an incredible leap,
LOTR just takes advantage of what's out there today...but doesn't push it.

LOTR is a long-known & well-read book saga that has been incredibly scaled down to screenplay size.
SW is specifically written for the screen, don't let any book fool you,
but the level of detail done in SW just wasn't done in those days...I'm surprised he was able to get it through the system.
And of course LOTR's story is more filled out. (Have you ever read the books...geez, they are a challenge)
Completely different.

The people of recent memories are jaded by current levels of FX,
and the unfortunate less than adequate storytelling of the new SW movies.
Also the LOTR movies are a newer concept than the older Sci-Fi SW.
Fresh meat, you could say.

Don't get me wrong, the LOTR trilogy will change the way movies are made in Hollywood (make 3 at once)
And a REALLY good effort at the Fantasy genre has been needed a long time.
I really like what they have done, and I've enjoyed it.

But let's compare apples to apples.
Honestly, it would be better to compare The Matrix to Star Wars.
The original Star Wars paved the way for what we have today in Sci-Fi/Fantasy action movies.
LOTR is just another floor on the foundation that movie built.

I remember it, I was there...what happened was incredible.
It changed everything.

Star Wars for the earlier movies but legend is spoiled slightly with the latest 2.

lord of the rings is god.

I would have voted for star wars if TPM & AOTC had never been made, they have really ruined star wars for me now.

LOTR gets my vote, even if return of the king is a stinker (but i honestly can't see that happening in a million years!)

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to XenuHubbard for bringing up Kurosawa.

Anyone who thinks that Star Wars is so original needs to see THE HIDDEN FORTRESS immediately! Also check out John Ford's THE SEARCHES.

Lucas borrows so liberally from both of these movies it's criminal.

Star Wars was original because of Industrial Light and Magic AND the way it was MARKETED. End of story.

I agree that Star Wars is a blatant 'rip-off' (or westernisation for a euphemism) but from Empire Strikes Back onwards including the prequels that's all Lucas' vision, Kurosawa did not create characters that can be directly paralleled to all of those in Star Wars.

I'm not bashing Kurosawa, as you can see through my past posts I praise the dirt he walked on, Seven Samurai still stands to me as the best film ever made, end of story.

I agree with ya rogue.

I like the Sci-Fi and all (future Sci-Fi I mean), but LotR... and then I play D&D?... I gotta side with LotR on this one.