i think the reason he was such a popular character in TPM, was because, it was Episode I. just the fact u could see him in a new star wars movie was exciting.
he's always been a fun character to watch in my opinion.
btw, on the walk up scene, r u referring to the droids?
davnes did an edit a while back that had luke's head pasted over anakins in the scene of AOTC where anakin is riding the speeder bike. thus, luke's arrival is shown on a speeder bike.