zombie84 said:

Lucas retained merchandizing rights way back in 1973 when he started making it he had "visions of R2D2 mugs and action figures" when he was writing-- just as a fun tie-in

There is a huge difference between fun tie-in and writing stories specifically to drive the business of merchandising toys. As far as expressing opinions along with the memories - the original poster asked us to do just that. And yes, I'm aware that Kershner wanted to keep Empire on track as a second serious film. George's ego ended up getting in the way. I'm also aware that I'm very much in the minority where my Star Wars world is concerned, when compared to most of the fan base.

However, I was there in 1977. I experienced Star Wars at it's inception - without any baggage - and my views will always be from that perspective.

For the record, zombie84, there is no way I would challenge your knowledge of Star Wars history - and in fact, your book is required reading for anyone that wants to talk Star Wars with me......"no don't even bring it up with him, he'll just reference page 102 of the Star Wars history book where it quotes Lucas in the second page of the Rolling Stone interview from 1979 where he says Star Wars is episode 1 of the 12 films....in fact, let's just eat lunch without him today...you know he's on that Star Wars nerd board where they don't even use their real names" ;-)

I refer to it often before I post here, just to double check quotes, dates, etc.