Another benefit is that Lucas has led us to this point where we hate so many of the “good” characters. If we really are lucky, we can cheer on Anakin as he kills all of them. But I hope he kills Jar-Jar Binks quickly … I couldn’t bear to listen to him being tortured.

I was a fan of the first trilogy as a kid and have been disappointed with the latest incarnation. I’ve learned to take your approach of not setting my expectations too high. Just sit back and enjoy the movies for what they are — fun stories fit for a 10-year-old imagination.

The first trilogy had its fair share of slapstick, bad acting, and stupid dialogue. What we’re missing is the Han-Leia interaction — looking back that made a tremendous difference in those movies.

I first saw Episode IV when I was seven, one of the first movies I ever saw in a theater. Ep V in fourth grade, Ep VI in sixth. I grew up and spent my adult years thinking that Jedi Knights were masters of the universe.

Ep I was decent, I thought, but Ep II was indescribably awful. The only time I started to get excited was when a whole truckload of light-sabre-wielding Jedi Knights show up to set things aright…and they get wasted by a bunch of robtots and have to get saved by storm troopers. As I was watching my childhood dreams dissolve before my eyes, the severed head of C-3PO is delivering bad laugh lines.

That, and Ewoks, too.

2. Anakin and Amidala. The sappiness of their so-called falling in love is too too much. I can’t stand those scenes in the meadow. And this line: “I’ve been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life.” >gag

Nevertheless, some people at the time considered Annie Hall to be a bad choice for best picture that year, and were disappointed that it beat Star Wars. I think its fair to say that in retrospect Annie Hall was the obvious choice. Time has, at any rate, been much kinder to Woody Allen than George Lucas.

1. I don’t agree that the dialogue is ever as bad in Episodes IV, V & VI as it was in I and II, though it may be that I can’t judge the earlier films fairly, since they were such a huge part of my childhood imagination. (Look at how Yoda is written then vs. now, to really see the difference, IMO).

2. Agreed that the Han-Leia interaction is one of the best elements of the earlier films.

3. The whole Hayden Christensen-brooding teenage angst bit got old after about 10 minutes.

4. With Arturo, I also really hated the new digital effects added to IV, V & VI, but with the exception of Jurassic Park, I hate computer-generated effects in virtually ALL movies, so I’m not sure this counts for much.

5. I’ve never had the problem with VI (compared to IV and V) that others seem to have.

6. There are so many bad scenes with young Anakin; the melodramatic scene with Amidala on Tatooine right after Anakin kills the sand-people is one of the all-time worst.

7. That little kid who played Anakin in Episode I can’t act to save his life, and I don’t care who says I’m being too hard on a poor pre-teen. That’s life.

Aaron B

I beg of you, give Aaron a way to post on Kulturblog. He’s breaking my heart.

Aaron B,

You didn’t have to audition.