Is it really that simple, though, I wonder to myself. Because I saw it 4 times and enjoyed it every time... and yet.

What I liked most was that it clearly turned the SAGA into 6 films about Darth Vader. I'm one of those guys who pretty much hates ROTJ as a betrayal of everything the first two Star Wars movies got right. To me, that whole new direction Darth Vader took in ROTJ was one of the biggest disappointments in movie history. So to me, TPM was a step in the right direction and it kind of made ROTJ better because it gave this total lame ass "It's too late for me"-Darth Vader character named "Anakin" some background.

But TPM was riddled through with problems. ...Then someone created "The PHantom Edit"... Then I realized the genius of the PT was to give us fans a bunch of half-completed films so that we could have the adult pleasure of "playing Star Wars" by creating fan-edits! It's the grown-up equivalent for the fun I had with Star Wars figures as a kid.

Thank you, George Lucas, for half-assing the PT. Where would we be if you had done it better?