This is a very interesting thread, and I think it all comes back to the success of ESB, and fans set the bar for every SW movie after that at that level, including me. The first two SW movies, SW & ESB to me are bonafied classics, that rank up with any great film on any list. What seperates SW movies is that the sequel to the classic original is a classic too, and to me that has never been done before, and never since. I love Godfather II, but it is not as great as the original, I love Terminator 2, but it is not as great as the original, and I could name so many others.

After ESB, fans expected every SW movie to be a 'classic' and now I think about it, we should be lucky we got two great movies. If ESB had been a good sequel, but not great, many fans including myself would look at the OT or the saga 1-6 very differently. I would say, "Well, SW '77 is a classic just like every movie series, and the sequels are good, but just can't match the original, oh well." But ESB is as great as SW '77, so now many fans have been waiting since 1980, "Where is the next ESB?"

The Original SW is my favorite movie of all-time, but ESB makes me a SW saga fan. After I watch ESB, I have to watch ROTJ to get closure as a trilogy, so in a sense I will watch an inferior ROTJ 23 years later, when I would never watch any other movie series sequels that I think are pretty good/average. I will even watch the PT sometimes, just because there is the hope that this time 1-6 will work as a story for me and tie together nicely. If ESB was pretty good, I would probably only watch SW '77 and as Luke & Han get their medals, that would be my closure, and the rest of the sequels would be just that.

I used to get mad when I watched ROTJ & PT and said, "What if Lucas did this and that...." but if you really think about it, how the hell would anyone be able to put out 6 movies that are as great as SW '77 & ESB? I still like to debate 'what if' on message boards, but I have come to accept the saga the way it is now.

As for Lucas not releasing the O-OT in great quality it deserves, I can't defend him on that one. I think he is worried that fans may accept the O-OT as the real OT, so as long as it is inferior quality on home video, it will get people to shy away from it.

Hating Lucas for making an average PT, shame on the fans. Hating Lucas for making an average ROTJ, shame on the fans. Hating Lucas for putting out crap transfers for the O-OT, I will agree on that.