People camped out in line in 1980 and 1983. In fact, I have a newspaper article from here in Toronto where a couple was married in the line-up to ROTJ...dressed as characters.

In 1983, Star Wars was also looked at as a cheap, merchandise-driven money-making empire. It was seen as diluted and hollow, an excuse to sell toys. And it was considered a cult, nerd-like thing the way ST was seen at the time.

It's really the same arguments. We tend to look at the past as a nostalgic "good ol days" as we age, but Star Wars hasn't actually changed much over the years, except the newer films weren't as good. So, in 1983, merchandising the fuck out of a good movie was perhaps questionable but fun. In 2010, merchandising the fuck out of a bad movie is seen as "reprehensible" or whatever. It all depends on whether you enjoy the stuff that its spun off from, ultimately. Its true that it cheapens the franchise, but the franchise has been cheapened since 1978, the only thing that changed, aside from an increase in output, has been that the films weren't as good.