Flicking through Simon Pegg's autobiography the other day, in which he discusses Star Wars a lot, he claimed that Lucas said in an interview in 2001 that Empire was his least favourite film in the saga. Pegg provided a link (don't know how hard he had to look to find it) but I find the statement a bit dodgy. I think there's plenty of evidence weighed against it but, on the other hand, maybe George was just getting tired of hearing that the best film in the saga was the one that he didn't direct and was the least like all the other episodes. I dunno, just postulating here (and I don't even know what that means).

Anyway, is it the best Star Wars film? No, but in the context of when it was released, it's certainly the bravest.

[returning after a long absence, hopefully with my sense of humour intact this time - well, I changed my meds so who knows?]