Sluggo said:
What's your opinion? I think less is definitely more.
My opinion mirrors your own.
Less is most definitely more where Star Wars is concerned. It is, however, a concept that Lucas simply can't grasp. From what I've read in interviews, it's a concept he's never even understood. In the 70s, Marcia and Kurtz had to constantly reel him in and fix his mistakes where his poor choices of story telling & editing were concerned.
As soon as they were out of the way, he went right back to explaining everything ad nauseum - whether it was a character who happened into the adventure (C3PO) or something as simple as a sentence from a brief conversation ("...years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars").
When I was a kid, I thought the Clone Wars sounded interesting and mysterious and my imagination came up with a story\visual picture kind of thing. What I didn't really want or need, even back then, was that entire ordeal over-explained. It was great as a mysterious event from the characters' past.
That's not to say a great film couldn't be made about it, but that didn't happen. What we got instead were hours of needless & poorly written exposition in the form of a movie and a cartoon series. All of it - just from a single line in a film. Less would have absolutely been more. There are, of course, several other examples of the same ham-fisted treatment (3PO, R2, Vader, The Force, Jedi Knights, etc).
it really seems to discourage a fan from using his own imagination
More than anything, that statement perfectly sums up why I have such a different Star Wars world compared to most others around here. Lucas not only seems to frown on his fan base using their imagination, he seems obsessed with making sure they don't even attempt it.
They start doing some thinking, and the next thing you know - they figure out how much of a snake oil salesman he really is. Original Vision - please. George, give it a fucking rest, man. No one is buying it. Even his most loyal followers must know deep down that he's a liar. They can't be that stupid.
The myriad of EU books are sort of a take it or leave it deal for me. I have an idea of what fits my canon and what I needn't bother with. The mega-merchandising empire and branding are also something I've ignored. It's just noise.
Anyway. In answer to the original question; It stopped being fun for me around 1983. I just couldn't get past Return. For me, Star Wars became a single film, seldom watched. After I discovered this board several years ago, I started to carve out my own canon - with the help of several of you folks.
Star Wars is fun for me again, but it's a much different Star Wars than George intended. It's one film, one radio program, and a handful of books. It's a deeper, more vast, and more mysterious universe. It's the way it was for me in 1977. I disconnected from the machine a long long time ago and took very little with me.