I'm with you on everything except Han and Lando. "Hey, let's go get help from this guy I know." And it turns out he knows the guy! It's a little like saying that it was too convenient that Leia's father knew Obi-Wan Kenobi. It's a relationship that is defined from the start.

And what better way to introduce a rivalry than the Falcon? Han might have stolen Lando's girl, but we've never heard of the girl, so why do we care? Go with the ship, the romance that we know.

Now, when it turns out that Ben has been hiding out nearby Darth Vader's kid's house on the planet that Vader grew up on when he gets a message from Vader's other kid by way of Vader's old droids-- AND NOBODY REMEMBERS ANY OF THIS -- then the universe gets too small.

When it turns out that the guy who captures Han Solo and is a fairly anonymous (if supposedly bad ass and notorious) bounty hunter is in fact the clone of the fellow that ALL OF THE STORMTROOPERS ARE BASED ON then the universe gets too small.

So Chewbacca is apparently intrinsically involved with the Jedi knights. Then Obi-Wan Kenobi shows up on his ship WITH LIGHTSABER IN HAND and he calls him an old fossil? Huh?!?

I think that it is nothing short of amazing that Lucas did NOT give in to the temptation to bring back his most popular character. Good on you, Mr. Lucas.

Now look at all of the people posting on this board: Have any of us met before now? Any unknown relatives? Did anyone take anyone else's job or know anyone else's cousin? Does anyone own my old Firebird? And we're only separated by thousands of miles. In Star Wars we're talking the freaking galaxy!