Well written Anchorhead, I remember feeling disappointed with ROTJ after the fantastic ESB, Jedi seemed to be a joke, cheap and rubbery at the start, pantoish (but cool) at the end.
I did get caught up in the excitement when Star Wars came back with the prequels, high hopes, but I remember feeling embarrassed for Star Wars almost like bumping into an old friend and he's not the way you remember him....lost his marbles.
After seeing the rest of the prequels and enjoying parts of them.....time has passed and I have divorced myself from them the same way I have erased Alien3 & Alien Resurrection from my head.......like Superman 3&4.......like Jaws 3 and..........you know what I mean.
Star Wars and its sequel were amazing, ROTJ was ok to end the movies....but the rest of what was made is just poor.
J