Revenge of the Sith

Despite the relatively recent date of my birth, I grew up with Star Wars. My parents recorded them onto VHS when they were shown over various Christmasses, and I'd seen them all by the age of seven. Except for the bit in The Empire Strikes Back where Han is lifted out of the carbon freezing chamber, because his clutching hands and the look on his entombed face were so unbearable I had to leave the room or hide behind a cushion.

Episodes I-III are both advantaged and disadvantaged by the fact that they are Star Wars films. IV-VI are so iconic, and at the time were so ground-breaking, that the later episodes - released into a world which is by now used to digital effects (used, I believe, for the first time in A New Hope, in 1977), and in which the other hallmark features of Star Wars have become tired clichés - were always going to pale in comparison. On the other hand, the fact that they are Star Wars lends them a power and significance they might otherwise have lacked. They are new stories set in a universe I, and many others, fell in love with before I'd even read The Lord of the Rings, and as such they will have an emotional effect without needing to be particularly good. The theme and the opening scroll was enough to set my heart pounding before I even began to read the backstory. The names of planets and people are deeply nostalgic. The legacy of "the original" Star Wars films in part condemns the new releases, but it also forgives them a great deal.

( I didn't expect to like Episode III. )