Let me reiterate, I still love ROTJ, and I don't rank any prequel above it. I have a method I have been following for quite some time now of everytime I am in the mood for a SW movie, I try to watch SW, then ESB, then ROTJ, and then start over again at SW. In defense of ROTJ, I never watch SW & ESB, and skip ROTJ, or watch it every once in a while, so the movie totally works for me 100% as a trilogy. Last year, just to see this new saga, I tried 1-6, and about halfway through TPM, I started wondering, "Wait a second, everytime I do this 1-6 thing, I have to watch two crap movies, then a somewhat entertaining Episode III just to get to the good stuff in the OT?" I went back to 4-6 and never watched the PT again. And now once Sept 12th comes, I don't have to think of Hayden anymore while watching ROTJ. Yes, I admit I do watch the 2004 SE's, and thats what makes Sept 12th oh more sweet for me.

But if I just look at ROTJ comparing it to SW & ESB, it just lacks something the first two had. I can't describe it, but you know that feeling you have when you are watching a great movie, it just carries that gravitas that you don't second guess anything in it. In ROTJ, I do second guess some things, when I watch the original SW, that movies just carries a sense of joy and overall fun that no movie has ever been able to duplicate. Kenobi owns the first hour of that movie, as the talk between Luke & him in his hut is everything that Lucas did right about the OT. Luke, Leia, and Han have just perfect chemistry on the death star, and the trench run scene is the greatest space battle in movie history that is able to carry a sense of drama, action, and tension for a good 15 minutes. And who doesn't get that little smile on their face as Han & Luke receive their medals from Leia? It is cheesy, but damn it gets me emotionally every time!

And when I watch ESB, I am in a sense of awe of just the whole Cloud City part, Han being frozen, Luke getting his hand chopped off, Vader telling Luke his secret, Leia's relentlessness to find Han, and Lando pulling the greatest 180 of any character, and then Lucas being able to make him likeable to the audience by movies end. Hey George did you forget in the PT how to make characters likeable? When Chewy & Lando pull away and Luke & Leia and the droids look up at them as the camera pans away, you realize how great that movie is. Then you watch the PT, and wonder what the hell happened?

I just think that ROTJ gets lumped in with two classics, and that isn't fair sometimes. It is still great in its own way, and taken as a trilogy you will never see me complain about two classics, and a pretty good third act. Atleast the OT doesn't have 2/3 of its movies being setups. The PT crowd can have their trilogy, I'll be fine with the O-OT for the rest of my life.