This weekend I finally carried through on a long-desired plan to watch all 6 movies straight through in one day. This was supposed to happen about a year ago, but for various reasons, I could never seem to set aside enough time to do it. Plus I intended to invite a few friends and family over as well, so it couldn't be a spur of the moment deal if I happened to get enough time unexpectedly.

With some deadlines now past and some free time available for awhile, I realized we were upon the 30th anniversary, which seemed like a particularly appropriate moment to finally do this. Plus I wasn't going to Celebration. On top of that, I have a much larger TV now that made viewing that much better. It once again exposed I need a better sound system someday, but it was adequate.

While this was the first time around for all 6, I have seen the original trilogy several times straight through and Episodes I and II back-to-back. It took almost 15 hours, with only minor breaks between the movies to restock the sandwiches, snacks and so forth.

I see different things with every viewing, of course. What I end up focusing on depends a lot on other things I'm doing at the time. Sometimes it's analyzing a scene or character for adaptation in to a gaming product. Others, its noticing a particular error or eccentricity of the editing or production process. I listen to the sound tracks a lot, so it's interesting to realize just what musical themes are used over certain sequences, often very subtly. Since I know the stories so well, many times I'm looking around the screen for odds and ends, just to see what's stashed in the corner.

So, here are a few comments from this time around. This is not a review.

* It strikes me how much I like certain sets: the sense of space or place, the texture of the materials, the color choices. Watto's shop, the Lars garage, the Hoth command center and medical bay, Obi-wan's hut, the Utapau platforms.

* The music mix in Episode II in the garage scene as Anakin is having his breakdown is a really interesting mix, including the Imperial March and the Emperor's theme. Subtle foreshadowing.

* The Episode IV scenes seemed dark in comparison to the other movies. I'm not sure if this was originally true or if there was an adjustment in the latest DVD release. I plan to pull out the older versions to compare, sometime.

* You can hear a difference in sound quality between the prequels and particularly episode IV. Just shows how much improved the technology has become. Episode IV seemed quieter, mainly because some scenes don't have background music.

* The prequels hold together well as a series. In fact, I may prefer to view them as a single whole instead of individual movies. Oddly enough, I think I'd rather seen the original trilogy movies separately, with some time in between.

* Each of the prequels is about 20 minutes longer than each of the original trilogy, so it makes the latter episodes seem to fly by in comparison.

* During the sarlacc scene, I was thinking about the breakdown of this battle into RPG terms, since Wizards posted it as an example of the new combat system at their website. It will be useful for running games in the new system.

It also got me thinking about some other possible blog topics, but that's good for now.

BTW, the final preview for Saga Edition is up, as is the final preview for the minis Alliance and Empire set.