Tyrphanax said:

I feel like the general consensus has gone from initial shock, surprise, and maybe a little dismay to one of very cautious optimism; don't forget we've been burned several times before

I didn't forget. That's what George did to you, single-handedly. And now he's gone. That's why I don't understand your initial reaction. Mine was pleasure. There was no hope for anything Star Wars-related while George was in charge. From this point on, things only can get better.

BTW, for a few things that has already been mentioned. I thought the new Star Trek was great. After I watched I immediately thought that the Star Wars prequels should've been at least as good as this.

Indiana Jones 4: it wasn't really good, but wasn't as bad as most hardcore fan says. While the SW prequels seemed just made-for-money and such, they really tried to make IJ4 right. They brought back the original characters, they've made the script rewritten a hundred times and took ten years to finish, they've tried to repeat and rethink everything that was good in the Last Crusade, they've tried to top the Holy Grail-theme etc. They "just" didn't succeed, but you can tell they've tried everything. The sad thing is, it was the creative decisions where it went wrong. Because Lucas and Spielberg are so giant they're not walking on Earth anymore, don't take advices from anyone, don't trust anyone and probably noone even dare to tell them they're doing something wrong. No wonder none of them made good movies in the last 10 years.