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Originally posted by: Shunty
(New paragraph) As for me being 6 when ANH came out, it was actually my 7th birthday when I got to see it, films stayed around for a lot longer in them days, Star Wars was in the cinemas for years after its release. Over the next 4-5 years I became a real addict. You had to really make an effort then as there was less media, no quick video/DVD release, no internet to check out every nook and cranny about a film. But since then I have(as many others have) seen the original trilogy honestly about 100 times and it is not with blinkers, ignoring the negative aspects(of which there are only a few) at all. In my opinion ANH and ESB as pieces of fiction adventure are true masterpieces in every way. You know why? Because Lucas had to work his butt off to make them happen, instead of strolling through these last 3 checking how many billion dollars he'd made that morning. That is maybe why ROTJ was not quite up to the first 2, he'd well and truly made it by then.
Myself, I saw SW 27 times in its inital release, so I relate with ya. (saw SW at the tender age of 13 the first time). What's more, I snuck in a dictation recorder (one of the early micro-tape jobs) and recorded the audio. Of course I wore out my "Story of Star Wars" too. Those days, we had a wait of about 3 years from movie theater to TV (remember the ABC Sunday Night Movies?). Star Wars was going to take 10 years (it ultimately made it to home video first in the mid-80's), so we did what we could. As far as RoTJ, I was initially furious when it came out at the obvious budget cuts (backdrop painting of the Falcon, anyone?), but the story made up for it. Now that I've dated myself, I'll add to the ROTS discussion....
I agree that once the hype dies down (along with the "BEST MOVIE EVER" crowd, who will have moved on to the next best movie ever), the overall take on it will be that it's the best of the PT, but still falls short of the OT. Lucas was trying to bridge both trilogies and the fans of both, but I think he just missed the mark. Why is ESB considered to be the best film overall, superior even to ANH? My opinion is it's the direction. GL should have found a suitable director for ROTS, but its all water under the bridge at this point. I submitted a review on IMDB reflecting this point of view, and I'll close with the the same close there: I'll wait for Magnoliafan's version.