The anticipation that we were finally going to be able to go home again after such a long time.
That we were going to witness something powerful and amazing.
That being said, I had realistic expectations. If the film had been a little weaker than Jedi, that would have been enough for me.
The crowd roared with excitement as the Fox log, LFL logo and the "A long time ago..." title cards appeared onscreen.
They screamed and cheered throughout the entire crawl.
The moment that Captain said, "Yes sir" to Qui-Gon, a hush fell over the audience. Something didn't feel right.
A collective gasp echoed throughout the theatre as the Viceroy spoke his first line.
The entire theatre was silent for the remainder of the feature except for a group of people "booing" when Darth Maul was killed.
When the film was over, my cousin turned to me and said, "THAT was a lot worse than Return of the Jedi."
Then other friends and family began to bombard me with questions and complaints.
"What the hell is a Sith?"
"Why did that frog hold up a glowing ball at the end? I thought it was a bomb like in the battle earlier."
"What was up with those goofy accents? Why couldn't they just talk in alien languages like Greedo?"
etc, etc, etc