I mostly love it because of Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor. I was a nerdy sheltered 19-year-old girl at the time, and completely unprepared for Ewan’s hip schwing or ‘A Cheek Touch Before Dying’ on Liam’s part.

Here is my confession. When I saw A New Hope for the first time, I was incredibly, woefully disappointed. When it was over, I remember thinking “That’s it? Really?”

The visuals (and John Williams’ music, I admit that too) was what made it great for me. There are many things to hate about Ep I – Jar-Jar is merely the most egregious Lucas mistake. But for me, all it takes is ONE epic light saber battle and ONE epic space battle to make it all seem worthwhile.

I watched the entire 6-movie series over the course of 2 weekends about a year ago. Taken as a whole, these movies are not great movies. But they are pretty good, and in the 12 hours or so of screen time, there are some moments that do rise well above and stand out. Lots of stinker moments, too, but I find the great stuff more than outweighs the bad.

Additional confession: I actually enjoyed the animated Clone Wars. Yeah, on further reflection, it sucks, but I guess I’m a sucker for big dumb visuals of shiny things exploding.

@Mads: Well, I suppose we’ll have to disagree about the visuals. I personally like Abrams’ style and felt _Star Trek_ was lovely. As for the story, I’ll concede there is a revenge story in there, but I actually think the core of _Star Trek_ is the foundation/establishment of the friendship between Kirk and Spock. The revenge aspect was the backdrop, but the focus was those two men (and yes, to an extent, the crew). Tell me, then, what’s at the core of _Episode I_? I think the point made above by others (a point I agree with), that not much happens in it, sort of works against the argument that Lucas is a better storyteller. And in case you didn’t see my first comment, I am not saying I didn’t like _Episode I_ when I first saw it- I liked it, and I liked it a quite a bit. I don’t know if I would now, but I liked it then. Yet even then, I realized I was liking it more because it was fun and fluffy; and from what I recall, I came out feeling much more satisfied/excited/whatever after _Star Trek_ because I felt, overall, it was better. This could be a result of age difference among myriad other causes, but I suppose I’m defending _Star Trek_ for the same reasons you’re defending _Ep.I_: an emotional attachment to it because of the enjoyment I took in watching it. And in terms of competition, if we’re talking summer movies, yes, but in terms of genre, no: _Indiana Jones_ isn’t sci-fi. Or at least it wasn’t until the fourth movie.

Episode 1: Begins when Anakin is already a teenager. Lose all the backstory with his mom. All we know is that he was born on Tatooine, it was discovered he had the Force at a very young age, and he grew up on Couresant, same as the other Jedi-in-training. In this movie, the Princess is in danger (for some reason) and Obi-Wan and Anakin are assigned to protect her. Anakin and the Princess meet and quickly fall in love. Obi-Wan makes him choose between being a Jedi and being in love. He picks Jedi, but SECRETLY marries. Movie ends with the beginning of the Clone War, which in my version, comes directly out of the business with the Princess. None of this nonsense with Christopher Lee. Nothing in a Star Wars film should confuse a grown man. Ever.

Episode 2: Begins with Anakin taking the Trials to become a Jedi. I am bitter we never got to see this. Over the course of the movie, Palpatine gradually lures him over to the Dark Side. Movie ends with Anakin leaving the Jedi, becoming a Sith.

Episode 3: This whole movie is about ultra-powerful Anakin personally hunting down Jedi. The Jedi get to make some heroic last stands. I’d put the big lava fight somewhere in the MIDDLE, so the whole last act can be Vader in the suit, with James Earl Jones’ voice, giving us the Full Vader. So how, you ask, do you END the movie? Well, remember how Episode IV starts with the Rebel Alliance having JUST won its first big victory? Hmm, sounds like an exciting space battle, right? You could do a flash forward, show that battle, end with Leia’s little ship making the jump to warp, chased by the bigger ship. We come full circle, to exactly the point the original movie began.

The problem, of course, is that you really really need a 19-year-old Carrie Fischer to pull this off. If I were George Lucas, I’m sure I’d have no hesitation about using a CGI Carrie Fischer.

Anyway, I’m sure this outline is a bad idea for many reasons. I’m just throwing it out there, because that’s what comments are for. My point, if I have one, is that Episode 1 always felt unnecessary to me. The conflict is clearly irrelevant to the larger series. It’s just an excuse to introduce all the characters, without putting anything in motion. The real plot of the prequel trilogy begins in Episode 2.