I don't hate the PT as much as I am just profoundly disappointed by it. So many missed opportunities and only occasional glimpses or what was captured in the OT. Yes, I love Star Wars and was one of the fortunate kids to have grown up with it, but that did not make me so biased that I refused to even give the prequels a chance. On the contrary, I wanted it to succeed and was one of those who went into the theater to see the TPM trailer, and then left. I thought it was a brilliant trailer and I had a lump in my throat at the end of it. I was so looking forward to it. What I saw was a very lackluster drama full of inconsistencies and plot holes with tons and tons of CGI thrown on top to cover it up and distract. Do we really need fart and burp jokes?

I agree Patrick, somewhere along the way during his 20+ years away from the director's chair, Lucas forgot the edge that made the OT, particularly ANH and ESB so powerful. He started softening things up with ROTJ with the Ewoks, then continued to cut the gnads off with the Special Editions; now the circle is coming complete as the PT is more of "his vision" and if you ask him, he almost assuredly will say he loves the PT more than the OT.

Don't worry, I will be in line at midnight come May, 2005. It's the last Star Wars, for better or worse and must continue the tradition. Some of the stuff that has filtered out looks very good. We can only hope.