Seems like everyone then decided that A New Hope was next and then Return of the Jedi. Some poor confused folks actually thought that Revenge of the Sith was better than ROTJ. And it seems most of the reasoning behind this was that Jedi has teddy bear Ewoks for kids and toy sales. I hear a lot of “Harrison wanted Han to die and they didn’t do it because of toy sales”, again.
Yea every SW film since 2005 (except for Solo and TROS) was called “the best one since TESB” by someone or other. I think there is such a strong desire, by some, to see an SW film on par with the original trilogy that they try to convince themselves that the latest one is better then ROTJ, since that is generally considered the least amazing of the OT and is, by extension, the lowest bar to reach.
With that said, I do think that ROTS is as good or better but I’m a PT fan so its more of a complement to ROTS then a knock on ROTJ. Both films are among my all time favorites.
I’ve never gone that far. My comments have always been best since ROTJ. And for me I haven’t really rated Rogue One, TLJ, and TROS in relation to each other. Solo didn’t feel quite as epic, but was so much fun. TFA had some issues in my opinion. I really love all 11 movies and among them I rate the OT at the top (with TESB at the top among them) and AOTC and TFA at the bottom (but still so far above Battlefield Earth that all 11 almost seem equal).