With a great deal of input from Marcia, Kurtz, and McQuarrie, Lucas got lucky in 1977. A stand-alone film that works because it's stand-alone. As soon as Lucas started trying to write more story, he ruined the story. The"adventure and "haphazardness," disappeared when Lucas shrunk the universe. Particularly the haphazardness of it all.

I agree entirely with this poster. The original is the one and only and everything since is fan-fiction. Some of it is quite inspired and a lot of it is just awful - including 4 out of six of the of the films made for the cinema.