I myself have always thought ESB was the best. Even at 8 years old (this is 1995 mind you) I was entrigued at the way that, for the first time in my movie experiences, the good guys didn't win a spectacular battle at the end. Almost nothing seemed to work out for Luke, Leia or Han. Sure, there were some lucky happenings (Luke crashing right were Yoda was, Han navigating the asteroid field well) but it was always followed by something much worse happeing to them (Han and Co. end up in an asteroid monster, Luke goes to the Force Tree).

Then when they all got to Cloud City, being the spectacle that it was, you'd almost expect good things to happen in such an pleasent sounding place. Nope. We all know what goes on there.

I knew nothing about the directors, GL and that stuff but again at 8 I was still left feeling that ESB was the the best most interesting one IMO. I still see it as a welcome change from typical Good vs. Evil stories well still being as entertaining as hell. It still holds up as the most mature of all the Star Wars movies too. I thank Kershner for seeing the potential SW had for being something both kids and adults could get engrossed in both casually and in depth. It didn't totally alienate either audience like the PT does.

And yes, i clearly see your point about the box office grosses influencing the direction GL went in. It sad that something like this influenced him more than sticking to a creative yet mature storyline I think other writers and directors would have noticed and worked for.

But alas....history is history. We have a PT that in almost no way is equal to the story-telling that both young and old can fully enjoy and contains none of the mystery and myth that the OT created. I miss my Star Wars thoughts and memories before 1999. I really honestly do.