Every "Star Wars" movie and show ranked

A year after the game-changing success of “Star Wars," Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz, who were busy prepping “The Empire Strikes Back," essentially handed over their newly valuable brand to CBS for a chintzy, poorly thought-out holiday special built around the Wookiee celebration of Life Day. It wound up being a glorified variety show, featuring most of the principals from the first film and special appearances from Diahann Carroll, Jefferson Starship, Harvey Korman, Art Carney and Bea Arthur (in comedy sketches written by the hackish likes of Pat Proft and Bruce Vilanch). The highlight is an animated short that introduces Boba Fett. Lucasfilm has disowned the special, but it’s easy to find it on the streaming platform of your choice. Break out the eggnog, and behold one of the biggest marketing fiascos in broadcast history.

Given the popularity of the Ewok made-for-TV movies, an animated spinoff series made all the marketing sense in the world. The show was strictly kids stuff, but the adventures of Wicket W. Warrick and his furry family were agreeable enough in the hands of co-developer Paul Dini, who would go on to animated glory with “Batman: The Animated Series." Ewok mania eventually ended, and the show did the same after two seasons.

Set between the events of “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope," this animated series developed by Peter Sauder and Ben Burtt hoped to capitalize on the quarrelsome antics of C-3PO (voiced by Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 as they avoid getting captured, or worse, by all manner of galactic scum and villainy. It’s got a zippy theme song from The Police’s Stewart Copeland, and Boba Fett turned up once or twice, but the hunger for “Star Wars”-lite just wasn’t there. The series ended after one season.

The sequel to “The Ewok Adventure” upped the stakes and, most importantly, Wilford Brimley, hot off the geriatrics-and-aliens smash “Cocoon," stars as a cranky old coot who’s trying to restore his wrecked star cruiser. He’s joined in his efforts by Cindel and Wicket, while Paul Gleason (“Trading Places," “The Breakfast Club”) shows up as a surprisingly non-abrasive pilot. The production value is once again impressive for a TV movie, but it’s all pretty insubstantial. The writer-director duo of Kim and Jim Wheats would go on to give us “Pitch Black."

J.J. Abrams returned to helm the closing chapter of the sequel trilogy and delivered an ungainly, overstuffed debacle that, in lieu of expanding the possibilities and potential of the force as Rian Johnson had boldly done with "The Last Jedi," brought back Emperor Palpatine for nostalgia's sake. There's so much howlingly wrong with this movie - for instance, cutting out Jannah's (Naomi Ackie) backstory so it looks like an octogenarian Lando is macking on a twentysomething stormtrooper (she's actually his daughter) — that you wish the studio had slammed on the brakes and spent another year developing the story. It's a rush job that might've done long-lasting damage to the franchise. Nearly a year after its release, it's clear that this is the nadir of the film series.

Regardless of how fans felt about “The Phantom Menace” at the time of its release, pretty much everyone was relieved that the second film in the new trilogy would center on a young-adult Anakin Skywalker. Alas, Lucas opted to portray Vader-to-be as a petulant, impetuous twerp, which both undermined Vader’s menacing legacy and made it difficult to buy Ani as a love interest for the seemingly with-it Padmé (particularly when he’s whining about sand). This renders some of the film’s darkest scenes — particularly Ani’s slaughter of a Tusken warrior camp — oddly glancing when they should land like gut punches. The final battle is rousing enough (let’s face it, we all cheered the first time when Yoda went Sonic the Hedgehog on Count Dooku), but this is supposed to be the heart of the Prequel Trilogy, and it never connects emotionally (even with John Williams’ beautiful “Across the Stars” cue).

Still smarting from the embarrassment of “The Star Wars Holiday Special," Lucas took an active role in developing and producing this post-“Return of the Jedi” spinoff for ABC, and the result was an above-average family movie buoyed by the considerable talents of director John Korty (“Twice Upon a Time”) production designer Joe Johnston (“The Rocketeer”) and visual wizards at ILM. The story is no great shakes — a family of space travelers gets stranded on Endor, and the Ewoks pitch in to save them from the evil Gorax — but it’s perfectly enchanting for youngsters.

The inability of “Attack of the Clones” to get us invested in the tragic love story of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala renders this final chapter in the prequel almost totally bloodless. The film is interesting as the concluding chapter in a shockingly nuanced three-part tale warning against the rise of authoritarian rule. But when it comes to the moments we’ve been waiting to see for three decades — the duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, the latter’s transformation into Darth Vader, the birth of Luke and Leia — they mostly land with an unemotional thud. 

The origin of Han Solo told in the manner of an intergalactic Western sounds like a fabulous idea, so how did the film turn out to be such a joyless, disjointed mediocrity? Ron Howard replaced the original directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, late in principal photography, which necessitated a lengthy period of reshoots. There are some winning elements here (notably Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37), but it’s never as rousing as it should be, and while he’s a hugely talented actor, Alden Ehrenreich is simply all wrong as a young Han Solo.

Arguably the most anticipated motion picture since “Gone with the Wind," the first “Star Wars” movie in 16 years hit theaters after several years’ worth of hype, and it took months for fans to process their disappointment. Those who’d grown up on the original trilogy were put off by the broad, kid-skewing humor; they considered Jake Lloyd a towheaded nonentity as the future Darth Vader and loathed every minute spent with the hapless Jar-Jar. And yet as a piece of storytelling, “The Phantom Menace” is more consistently compelling than the next two movies. Whereas it felt like Lucas was responding to fan gripes with “AOTC” and “ROTS," this feels exactly like the tale he wanted to tell. Unfortunately what he wanted from “Star Wars” differed greatly from the fans’ fervid desires.

This Dave Filoni-created animated spinoff is set before “The Force Awakens” at an aircraft refueling station that attracts pilots from all over the galaxy. Poe Dameron has stationed a young resistance member, Kazuda Xiono, to be his eyes and ears at the base as the nefarious First Order’s influence begins to spread. Mostly the show, which aired its final episode in January 2020, is about hotshot pilots engaging in “Top Gun”-like antics, which makes this a fun watch with just a little bit of smuggled-in political commentary.

As the in-between-trilogies animated spinoffs go, this post-“Revenge of the Sith”/pre-“A New Hope” series from Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg is probably the most entertaining of the bunch. Like “Rogue One” it’s a show that can only offer so much hope; there are small victories and really lovely character development, all of which reinforce the need to keep fighting even when all looks bleak.

Celebrated animator Dave Filoni (“Avatar: The Last Airbender”) was an inspired choice to run Lucasfilm’s next iteration of “The Clone Wars," and the pilot turned out so well that Lucas himself thought it was worthy of a theatrical release in August 2008. Though critics were unimpressed with the film, fans were enthralled and stuck with the series through its eight-season run. While the established characters from the prequel trilogy were the initial draw, viewers quickly grew to love the padawan Ahsoka Tano and the Dark Jedi bounty hunter Asajj Ventress.

Lucasfilm’s first crack at giving “Star Wars” fans the Clone Wars strum-und-drang they were (somewhat unexpectedly) denied from the prequel trilogy remains its most visually striking work yet. Genndy Tartakovsky was coming off the phenomenal “Samurai Jack” when he took on this “micro-series" in 2003, and what it lacks in richness of character and story it more than makes up for in eye-popping animation. It’s the most experimental work in the “Star Wars” canon. It’d be nice to see the company take a stylistic risk like this again.

If “Star Wars” fans are being completely honest with themselves, the prequel trilogy was always viewed as the appetizer to the third trilogy of films that would continue the saga of Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca and the indomitable Max Rebo. For a while, it didn’t look like we’d ever get these movies. Then Lucas made a little deal with Disney, and, voila, the band got back together — for a fully engaged Harrison Ford bantering anew with Peter Mayhew’s Chewbacca, absolutely. Rey’s largely dialogue-free introduction was enchanting. Finn’s predicament as an AWOL stormtrooper had a child-soldier resonance. General Leia? C’mon! J.J. Abrams struck a steady balance between fan service and contemporary social commentary. It’s got narrative hiccups aplenty, but as the Coca-Cola Classic of “Star Wars” movies, it hits the spot.

Disney+’s “Lone Wolf and Cub” riff has won the meme-happy hearts of a world subjugated to social media. It’s a well-made show. The helmeted title character is tethered to the infuriatingly adorable “Child” (aka “Baby Yoda”), and six episodes in, you’d have to possess a heart of stone to not be invested in the welfare of the green puppet. Consider this ranking provisional. If Jon Favreau and Co. stick the landing, this could hop a spot or two. If they blow it, “Attack of the Clones” might have some company. We'll find out when Season 2 hits this October

Until 1999 this hugely entertaining blockbuster was considered the nadir of the big-screen “Star Wars” saga. Yes, we were all disappointed Wookies were swapped out for Ewoks, but let’s give the furry munchkins their due: They’re some seriously lethal guerrilla warriors. The first act in Jabba’s palace is interminable until we get to action on the skiff, and the climactic Luke-Vader duel is a dull walk-through of their “Empire” set-to. But the Rebel armada’s assault on the unfinished Death Star is a landmark of old-school optical f/x. It’s a lovable mess that actually works better with the Special Edition alterations (save for the Max Rebo Band remix).

The now discontinued “Star Wars Stories” got off to a rocky start production-wise with this men-and-women-and-droids-on-a-mission yarn about the successful theft of the Death Star plans. Regardless of what went down during the shoot, “Rogue One” is a stirring, lump-in-the-throat paean to heroic sacrifice. Everyone is Gunga Din in this movie, but their actions set in motion the first act of “A New Hope," and that, to quote a white-haired wizard in a different fantastical saga, is an encouraging thought.

J.J. Abrams ended “The Force Awakens” on a tantalizing cliffhanger: How would Luke receive the return of his lightsaber? Dramatically, the most interesting choice tends to be the least expected, so nonchalantly hurling the weapon over his shoulder opened up myriad possibilities. “The Last Jedi” subverts expectations every step of the way while honoring the arc of its characters, old and new. Leia finally gets to show off her force powers, Luke finds a clever third way to defeat an enemy partially of his own making and Poe’s headstrong, damn-the-torpedoes bravery is undercut by a greater kind of self-sacrifice.

Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” got blasted to a galaxy far, far away, and the movies were never the same again. George Lucas leaned heavily on his influences (which also included Saturday morning serials and Akira Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress”), but his gearhead love for junk-built hot rods gave his universe a funky, tactile feel. A lot of this was lost when he slathered on excess CG for the “Special Edition” releases in 1997, but the dopey swagger and intellectually dull yet emotionally sincere spiritualism still sings.

It's the longest cliffhanger in film history until “Back to the Future Part II." Viewers had to wait three years to find out a) how Han Solo would escape from carbonite, b) if Darth Vader was really Luke Skywalker’s pappy, c) if Luke would finish his Jedi training with Yoda and d) if Boba Fett could do anything cooler than disguise his ship as space garbage. The answers weren’t entirely satisfactory, but the fact that the sequel to the biggest blockbuster of the modern era left us hanging on all of these questions and more is a testament to this franchise’s hold on the public’s consciousness. Add in some snappy screwball banter and an elegant beginner’s guide to Zen Buddhism delivered by a shriveled green Muppet who sounds vaguely like Miss Piggy, and you’ve got one of the greatest movies ever made.