Polite, respectful Star Wars and Disney related debate is a cornerstone of the Star Wars fandom, however in recent times we’ve all certainly been witness to a growing trend of disturbingly petty and heavy handed discourse.

At TT5 we believe it’s important to be able to speak on the things we love, and don’t love, about Lucasfilm’s 40-odd year Homer-esque epic Star Wars and all of its unique variations and takes. Adverse to that idea, to be drowned in a sea of negativity every time we laugh and joke about gonk droids takes away the fun.

With that in mind it’s important to not think of this article as an opinion; as though we’re talking about presidential candidates and their policies on hot-button social issues. Instead, like schoolkids at lunch time swinging sticks around like lightsabers, let’s channel our inner children and reminisce about the days when you could call Yoda a meth-addicted Kermit the Frog and when we all feverishly pointed at our TV screens like the DiCaprio meme anytime anyone on one of the four commercial television stations mentioned “a Star War”.

You see not all Star Wars is created equal and when it comes to the live action elements of the franchise there is a lot that could go wrong; tone, writing, visual effects and the general “feel” of the whole project. A lot of writers and creatives absolutely nailed it, while other teams never quite hit the mark when it came to scratching that Star Wars itch – it doesn’t mean they can’t try again and win us back over, but at least on the first pass the thirst went unquenched.

In honor of all this, TT5 presents our ranking guide of the worst and best Star Wars live action movies and television shows, ranked from worst to best. Please note that we are not including the two Ewok adventure movies for two reasons: the first reason, we’re not exactly too sure that George Lucas wasn’t high on cocaine when he put these together, second, we’re not too sure of the validity of the canon.

Oh and they’re absolutely shithouse.

With all of this in mind, here are all of the current (as of May 2023) Star Wars live action movies ranked from worst to best:

16. Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

It’s difficult to know what went wrong with this entry, mainly because the audience were not privy to the behind-the-scenes clusterfumble at Lucasfilm prior to the development of the movie. In the cold-hard light of day several things are now pretty clear in hindsight – Lucasfilm, still wary about the less than tepid reception from Episode VIII and Solo, added with the constant revolving door of directors and creative leads, figuratively and quite possible literally shit the bed.

What’s also clear is that director J.J. Abrams took a look at the story and potential future plot elements that Rian Johnson had created, took a gigantic swig of ego-juice and swept them violently off the table in an effort to shoe-horn in brand new plot devices that were violently stapled over the top of the ongoing story.

From this we get a slurry of unexpected and hamfisted lines like, “Somehow, Palpatine returned” and the infamous “The Dead Speak!” during the opening crawl.

Other head-scrathingly confusing decisions include sidelining the character of Finn (arguably the best character in the sequels), writing Rose out of the movie almost entirely (what was the purpose of the romance in Episode VIII?) and making an effort to hammer into our skulls the nature of Rey’s origin story like she was the most important person to ever have lived in the Star Wars universe.

Why is that not such a great thing? Let me explain when we reach Episode VIII on the list.

There are definitely some positives though – on the surface it feels like Abrams was looking to inject a little of the high-adventure storytelling we came to enjoy from the original trilogy, especially Episode VI. On the surface the movie had more in common with Indiana Jones than the previous sequels or the prequel trilogy – a hunt for lost treasure, dramatic high speed chases and interesting alien characters that wouldn’t look out of place on Jabba’s Sail Barge.

However all of those elements couldn’t quite do the Skywalker name justice and it felt as though by rushing towards an ending that was meant to replace the ending written by the last guy, we ended up with something more akin to the Game of Thrones finale and not the satisfying final battle between good and evil that ultimately saves the galaxy.

Oh……..and they fly now.

15. The Book of Boba Fett (2021)

I’m willing to bet you were expecting Obi-Wan or even Episode I to take up this slot. While Obi-Wan was close, it still had as part of its core DNA a uniquely heart wrenching story that poured out of our televisions and filled our living rooms like a broken pipe. The Book of Boba Fett on the other hand, while a great concept that was executed moderately well, had absolutely zero emotional investment from the first frame until the last.

In practice this is because the titular character himself, to the audience, had no weight in the Star Wars universe beyond “Oh that’s a really awesome looking character that’s in some pivotal original trilogy scenes”. We can talk about games and books from here until the end of time, but at the end of the day our only expectation for Boba Fett was that he was going to continue showing us more Star Wars stuff in a world that was crying out for more Star Wars stuff.

I know it might seem a little hokey to pin the success or failure of a show on its emotional value, especially when so much of the Star Wars universe revolves around fantastic futuristic set pieces and space lasers that go pew-pew-pew! But emotional investment goes far beyond the story having heart, emotional investment also describes the riveting nature of the story, the desire to see villains and heroes fail or succeed and the wave of grief we feel once the end credits wash over our screens and we realize we have to wait another whole week before we get our next fix.

What could have been The Sopranos in space, with interesting power plays and the seedy politics of the outer-rim’s organized crime syndicates on display instead felt like a side story for other more popular Star Wars live action entries.

It failed to do what spin-offs like Stargate: Atlantis succeeded in doing – creating a universe of characters that didn’t rely on Richard Dean Anderson popping his head into the room every five minutes to reinforce the audience’s connection to the world.

Months on from my second viewing of the series I can’t tell you any memorable sequences; there was a Rancor at one point, a shootout in one of the cities and a train heist.

It’s not all bland however – the first few episodes retells Boba Fett’s escape from the Sarlacc and his incorporation into the Tusken tribe is masterful A+ story telling.

14. Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

I’ve let my feelings be known about Episode II before on this website, you can find the article here.

It’s difficult to pin down what truly makes it unappealing on multiple viewings – while the events of Episode II are incredibly pivotal to the Saga movies’ storyline and the story of the Galactic Republic as a whole, the overall fumbling of cringeworthy dialogue and the insistence of George Lucas filming EVERYTHING with CGI backdrops instantly dated the movie. In 2023 Attack of the Clones has the sheen, the not-so-fluid animation and clean sparkle of an expensive Super Bowl commercial.

But let’s start with some positives.

Number one is large land battles, oft spoken about in Star Wars but never witnessed in high detail. For the first time George Lucas moved beyond the squad based combat of Return of the Jedi and even further beyond the raid on the rebel base on Hoth. Never had we seen blaster fire on such a monolithic scale nor had we really witnessed the kind of combat that presumably Stormtrooper armor was designed specifically for.

Lastly is the ambitious nature to turn part of this movie into a detective story. Obi-Wan Kenobi, far be it from a grizzled cinema-noir private eye with a drinking problem, used this really great plot device to step us through uncovering the secretive (and yet undiscovered) nature of the Galactic Republic’s Clone army program. Step by step we uncovered the who, the where and eventually the why.

But the sunshine is often covered with clouds - as over 20 years have now passed since its release and we spend more time wading into the depths of the movie’s ocean of plot and effects, the negatives have come to slowly outweigh the positives.

Anakin’s raging boner for Padme and her inability to say no, the retconning of the Jedi that turned them from an order of galactic defenders of goodness into glorified space cops and subjecting the audience to the acting skills of the kid that played young Boba Fett have tarnished the sheen on what should have been an amazing introduction to the Clone Wars, one of the most important moments in Star Wars canon.

13. Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

Let’s start with the negatives and get them out of the way – shoehorning Leia into the story was pointless, the motivations of the villains is all over the shop and I’d be happy if I never saw Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers ever again.

However there are plenty of positives – it never dawned on me the emotional connection that Obi-Wan shared with Anakin. Obi-Wan, abandoned from an early age has never had any family; as Jedi are indoctrinated into a belief system that removes attachment, upon reflection you start to realize that Anakin is the without a doubt the closest thing that Obi-Wan has ever had to a family. I feel as though Lucas was building towards this in the prequels, however Obi-Wan’s portrayal as dutiful master overshadowed Lucas’ true feelings towards their relationship.

It’s only after watching Obi-Wan do you crack open your Episode III Blu-Ray, fast forward to the lightsaber fight on Mustafar and weep like a child when Ewan McGregor screams in agony, “You were my brother Anakin, I loved you”.

Time to cut some onions.

This is the true value of Disney’s Obi-Wan series – it is the definitive cherry on top of the prequel’s ice cream. It is the true signifier that Anakin Skywalker is dead and it acts as far better connective tissue between the events of Episode III and Episode IV than most other Star Wars media.

What lets it down is the vehicle that moves this impactful emotional bomb along towards its destination – a confusing Imperial Inquisitor and a boring Leia side story that detracts the audience from the real thing we’re desperately wanting to see.

The absolution of Darth Vader.

12. Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)

If you’re expecting me to savage this movie like a dog with a psychopathic obsession with chew toys, then you will likely be taken aback by the amount of praise I have for the eighth entry in the saga.

To be perfectly honest I genuinely believe The Last Jedi is the most visually appealing of all the Star Wars movies to date. Rian Johnson’s work with color, the brilliant camera angles and some electrifying action sequences could easily have propelled this to the top spot among all the live action Star Wars movies and shows.

Rey and Kylo Ren’s lightsaber battle in Snoke’s throne room will live rent free in my mind forever.

While J.J. Abrams can sometimes be summarized as a clone of 80’s Spielberg, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi honestly feels like a jazzy version of his movie Looper, albeit with a larger budget and more Jedi mind tricks.

Lastly, Johnson’s focus on downplaying the true nature of Rey’s backstory worked exceptionally well alongside the theme he was clearly trying to build into the saga’s finale; Rey’s origins never truly mattered, she was a nobody in the scheme of things, but it didn’t stop her from using her gift to do what was right and what was just.

It felt like he was bringing us towards a crescendo that involved the most disparate and downtrodden people across the galaxy uniting into a single mass – the destruction of the Resistance meant nothing, their role wasn’t to win against the First Order, it was to inspire the people of the galaxy to take the rebellion into their hearts and to fight on any way they could.

This was visualized via the young, downtrodden slave boy working in the stables, staring wistfully into the stars and exhibiting his force powers. A powerful throwback to Episode I, where Anakin Skywalker, a boy born into slavery, yearns to be free and become powerful enough to unshackle every slave in the galaxy and free them from their bonds.

Amazing. Part of this would eventually make its way into Episode IX, memorialized with the line “It’s not a navy sir, it’s just people”.

I truly think this is masterful storytelling, however Abram’s insistence on holding the audience’s hand through a confusing storyline that involved Palpatine’s clone sucked all of the poignancy out of the finale.

So what lets the whole thing down and sends the movie hurtling towards the bottom of the list?

Several things – a completely unnecessary heist sequence to obtain a macguffin with less significance to the story than any macguffin in the history of cinema, the downgrading of Kylo Ren into a moody teenager and the baffling decision to turn hyperspace into a weapon.

I mean, why bother with X-Wings in a Death Star trench run? Just load a few cruisers up with robot pilots and hyperspace them through the entire Empire fleet. Job done.

In all, while still a remarkably competent and gorgeous film, it simply doesn’t hold its own against its kin.

11. Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

While often heralded as the best of the prequels, I want to take a little time to challenge that notion. By 2005 Lucas was now far removed from the swashbuckling action-adventure romps that marked the high water level of his original trilogy.

This was Lucas’ Star Wars in its emo phase, this was the put up or shut up moment when all of the chess pieces were in place and it was time to show the audience the sequence of events we all knew were coming: Palpatine takes control of the Republic and turns it into the empire, the Jedi are defeated and Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader.

While all of these things were lovingly and carefully laid out in front of us like tubs of spring rolls at a cheap all-you-can-eat buffet, the delivery method left a lot to be desired.

There are infuriating plot holes that have me shouting at my screen like a possessed potty mouth, such as Mace Windu blurting out loud “I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi” and then doing absolutely nothing about it.

Lest we forget the medical droid that informs us that Padme has “lost the will to live”. I would have thought the two children you just dropped into the world would be a great incentive to hang around, but apparently Padme, suffering from nothing more than just the emotional weight of Anakin turning to the dark side has decided to peace-out on her own children.

There are lots of these moments, far more than I have to space to detail here, that you can find here in a previous article on the website.

This isn’t to say this is a bad movie, not at all, in fact from this part of the list onwards we are dealing with Star Wars live action entries that have far more positives then negatives. Lucas’ vision of turning this into a sweeping war epic instead of a self contained action-adventure like Goonies elevated Episode III’s longevity.

Its ranking, sitting just outside of the top 10, isn’t a mark of shame or signifier of inferior quality; instead it’s a reminder that the onward marching of time and a combination of Lucas’ reliance on CGI and the leaps and bounds that Hollywood has made in digital effects over the last decade, would always mean that the prequels would eventually lose their weight as state of the art emotional war films.

10. Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)

One could be forgiven for throwing this entry down the list faster than bullseyeing a womp rat in a T-16. Abrams strange boner for mirroring the plot points of the original 1977 movie certainly raised some eyebrows, but if I’m being honest Episode VII moved a lot of other needles in a positive direction as an effective counter-balance.

Finn, as a repentant Stormtrooper of the First Order, marked a completely different kind of protagonist and was absolutely, 100% not the kind of hero we expected to be rooting for once the crawl ended and the film began. The expectation of rallying behind the obvious Jedi character was a balloon that was burst within minutes.

The masterful mixture of practical effects and CGI, the introduction of what (at the time) seemed like a foreboding villain and the playful nature of dialogue between Finn, Rey and Poe made me whisper out loud, “Ok, here’s the new team, I love it”.

While the conclusion of Han Solo’s story may spark heated debate, all the Han and Chewie moments that lead up to that conclusion can sometimes elicit a tearful response from me. As Han Solo, the sceptic that mocked Luke Skywalker’s religious mumbo-jumbo, looks deep into Rey’s eyes and says, “It’s true. The force, the Jedi, all of it” mournfully and respectfully it’s hard to not harbor a shred of respect for emotional storytelling.

In all, it’s the movies that follow The Force Awakens that will tarnish its ongoing legacy.

9. The Mandalorian (2019)

While I’m sure to ruffle some feathers for reducing this to a number 9 slot, I think it’s best to address now that the weight of a television series in this list is affected by the quality of every season of the show. Had The Mandalorian been a single season program, I would have no hesitation to put this higher in the list.

The Mandalorian does a lot of things right – story building, a simple point-and-click adventure that is engaging and fun and it fleshes out a sub-culture that has existed in Star Wars since the original trilogy that is rarely ever seen beyond two of the animated series’.

The show follows the adventures of Din Djarin, a roaming bounty hunter that is trying to make his way in the galaxy, both legitimately and not, soon after the fall of the Galactic Empire. After being offered a job he possibly couldn’t refuse, he becomes entangled in a plot by imperial remnants that aim to seize power in the outer rim and secretly bring down the New Republic from within.

Often referred to as ‘lone wolf and cub in space’, the simplistic nature of the storytelling works well because it allows the characters to move from interesting set piece to interesting set piece without having to rely on important pieces of Star Wars lore that came before it. With no Jedi (at first), Jon Favreau can pick and choose the interesting toys in the Star Wars toy box and bring them to life any way he wants to do so.

This comes with a caveat – this only works until the story starts to get bogged down and slows to a snail’s pace by its own newly created lore. By season 3 the introduction of a menagerie of characters and the strange decision to put a pin in Grogu’s story as being the vehicle that moves the story along has meant that season 3 has become especially stale.

The ever-interesting life and times of Mando has been hijacked by Bo-Katan, a storyline that provides interesting action but carries less emotional investment.

But Favreau and team are nothing if not flexible, I am positive they are working towards something grand and have been busy taking notes of the audience’s reaction. You don’t get to win over the entire Star Wars fandom by not first paying homage to universe that spawned it and season 1 and most of season 2 are testament to the fact that this team know what they are doing.

8. Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

It’s easy to look at Jar Jar Binks and instantly blame the destruction of our childhood’s on a single, poorly developed character. Putting my cards on the table, I honestly refuse to weigh the value of a Star Wars movie or TV show on the popularity of a meme or a single feeling.

When putting all three prequels side-by-side The Phantom Menace instantly stands out from its peers – it is Lucas’ attempt to capture the magic and lightning-in-a-bottle wizardry of the first three movies. It blends the cuteness and ham-fisted commercialism of Ewoks together with the core fundamental principle of any kid friendly action oriented adventure; make the kid the hero.

It’s Shark Boy and Lava Girl, it’s Evangelion, it’s short round from Indiana Jones. The DNA of good roleplay is right there on display. Put the kid behind the wheel of a spaceship and let them save the day. Oh the kid is Darth Vader? Even better.

In 1999 everywhere you looked Anakin Skywalker’s face was plastered to everything, from pens to lunchboxes to Happy Meals. The marketing appeal among the young audience was apparent and due to the nature of the story is far more worthy of commercialization than the movies that followed; I’m not sure what part of Obi-Wan blasting General Grievous’ guts all over a landing pad was conducive to slapping on a sticker.

Sure, Midi-chlorian’s can go fuck themselves, but to be honest we never really bought into the religious nonsense behind the force anyway. In hindsight it really ruined nothing about the nature of the force and was able to adequately explain why some people are more force sensitive than others. The decades of books, comics and video games that came before Episode I were prepping us for this moment.

The Pod Race is awesome, Darth Maul rocks and it gave us better idea of the nature of the Jedi than the two movies that followed.

The more I think about The Phantom Menace the more I come to the conclusion that it deserves to be further up this list. In the end what stops me is the thought of a million angry people ranting that George Lucas r*ped their childhood. It has its flaws, but it’s the closest thing we have to re-capturing the vibe of the original trilogy and it still remains the most Star-Warsey movie we’ve been given since 1983.

7. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Initially panned, over the years I’ve come to see Solo for what it truly is; a really great heist movie.

Coming at the heels of Episode VIII, it unfortunately copped a lot of blowback from the fallout of Rian Johnson’s heavily debated entry into the series and it spawned a phrase that sends a shiver of cringe up my spine every time it gets wheeled out in Twitter debate threads; Star Wars fatigue.

The making of the film was rocky to say the least, with Ron Howard filling in the shoes of directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller after they were fired. Disney were apparently not happy with the direction the original filmmakers were taking the movie in and decided to jettison the duo several months into filming.

The product that remains does certainly flitter, sometimes awkwardly, between the light hearted banter of a Lord and Miller production and the emotionally stilted patter of a Ron Howard think piece. However the clear cut lines you think you would see between Ron Howard and the makers of the Lego Movie aren’t really that obvious and the hype surrounding Lord and Miller’s departure did more to damage the movie than the actual finished product did.

What we’re left with is a movie that is very aware of its own existence and is, for the better part, nothing more than a good ol’ fashioned good time.

6. Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

Now we come down to brass tacks, the final heave-ho where picking the order of quality can sometimes be reduced to putting names of movies and TV shows into a hat and drawing them out randomly while blindfolded.

It’s difficult to know where Episode IV sits in a best and worst list; on one hand it is the movie that singlehandedly defined the nature of the blockbuster, on the other George Lucas and his own passionate desire to continually push the boundaries of good technical filmmaking essentially drove the nail into the coffin of his first Star Wars release by making the two movies that followed it so exceptionally good.

The next decade of Star Wars clones made by terrible filmmakers that greedily attempted to suck the marrow out of a genre they never quite understood is testament to the power of Lucas’ vision.

In hindsight A New Hope is marred by the simplicity that Lucas and co had to weave into the story in order for a slowly evolving audience to grasp with both hands: a hero, a blatantly obvious bad guy and a princess in distress were the result. It’s impossible to for a modern audience to comprehend in 2023, but something as simple as the twist in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, that Vader is Luke’s father, was enough to generate an endless wave of open ended discussion.

However that simplicity is what makes the movie the perfect entry point for new fans and for children that are meandering their way slowly into Star Wars fandom – while technically dwarfed by the movies that followed, A New Hope is still so important in the development of future Star Wars geeks.

Spoilers, Chewie doesn’t get a medal though.

5. Andor (2022)

I can’t rave about this program enough. Andor may have done more to heal the rift between Star Wars fans and Disney than any other project over the last 5 years. While the dissenting chorus of folks that disapprove of the show rightly exists, the general reaction from most people is that Andor has added a completely new element to Star Wars storytelling that they were unaware they even wanted.

Set several years prior to Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, Andor tells the story of Cassian Andor and his journey from thief, to reluctant soldier, towards his inevitable fate as a hero to the Rebel Alliance.

In essence the program attempts to tell the story of the birth of the Rebels and the key characters that sacrificed everything to ensure their initial success, unwittingly becoming essential television viewing in the process.

While not quite a suitable entry point for new fans to the franchise, Andor does stand alone in that it requires very little investment from the audience to understand the background and core elements of the story.

The characters feel real, the desperation of the anti-empire forces is genuinely palpable and both Diego Luna and Stellan Skarsgard absolutely take Star Wars acting to a whole new level. It’s gritty, it’s a sharp departure from commercialized Star Wars and it has you absolutely dreading the end credits.

4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Both Rogue One and Andor operate as two sides of the same coin; while one sets up the story of a reluctant hero, the other cements in place the legacy of Rogue One into the annuls of absolutely pivotal Star Wars lore and canon.

What sets it apart from its peers is the absolute departure of a traditional heroes journey; while the fate of Rogue One prior to Gareth Edwards’ masterpiece was never truly set in stone, the heroism of the spies that stole the Death Star plans for the Rebel Alliance reverberated throughout the entirety of the original trilogy. However to say we are devoid of Jedi isn’t true, Donnie Yen’s Chirrut Imwe flirts across the line between traditional Jedi and something new and yet unforseen. So while the staples of Star Wars are present, it deviates enough to push the heroism of characters beyond the core fundamentals of what we’ve come to expect from Star Wars.

For the first time in a long time, lightsabers take a back seat.

Rogue One, a rag tag team of misfits akin to The Dirty Dozen, undertake a dangerous mission to steal the Death Star plans from the Empire. What may have started as a way to tell a story that bridges the gap between Episode III and IV, instead has over time become one of the most influential underdog tales in Star Wars lore.

3. Episode VI –Return of the Jedi (1983)

While this marked a clear departure from Lucas into the realms of absolute and utter commercialism, it still stands as one of the most incredibly important pieces of work in the entire Star Wars universe.

The redemption of Vader, Luke’s evolution into a Jedi and the transformation of Han Solo from the chrysalis of a petty smuggler into the butterfly of a galactic hero are all on display and act as a fitting ending to what was likely to have been Lucas’ logical end point to this series.

2. Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Empire is 100%, without a doubt, the most definitive Star Wars experience any SW fan, new or old, can have.

While lacking the big budget space battles that would come to dominate Episode VI and the prequels, the audience was treated instead to something tantalising new in the Star Wars universe; ground combat.

Excellent dialogue from Lawrence Kasdan, the introduction of Yoda and a strong sense of morality made The Empire Strikes Back immediately more grounded and less childlike than the blockbuster that preceded it.

It is a cornerstone of filmmaking, not only because it popularised the concept of a sequel, but because it reminded us that sometimes the good guys don’t always win. With the Rebel Alliance’s back to the wall and the Empire growing stronger, Episode V’s ending may seem on the surface like a little bit of a downer, but in reality it painted an incredible picture that hope always exists when there are good people around to carry on the fight.

1. The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

I get it, it’s an odd choice for the best Star Wars live action adaption, but there is method to the madness.

If decades of Star Wars fandom has taught me anything it’s that disagreement and sometimes flat-out open hostility is commonplace among fans. In many ways, the one thing that unites us all is the unifying ideology that The Star Wars Holiday Special is a hokey piece of trash that exists squarely in the realm of “so bad its good” cinema alongside Tommy Wiseau’s The Room and Troll 2.

It is scientifically impossible for Star Wars fans of any background to differ in their opinions of this program - it’s a reminder that every Life Day, as we all get together to celebrate the strengths of our communities and rejoice in the ties that bind us together, we can all laugh at how utterly shithouse it really is.

Hating The Star Wars Christm…..errr….Holiday Special, is ironically, the one thing we can all agree on.

~ Andrew Archer

Ranking live action Star Wars movies and TV shows from worst to best.