I thought TESB was a bit of a snooze fest when I was a kid. As an adult I love the perversity and bravery of following a film like A New Hope with something that seems to be anti-everything that made that film so good.

I think it's bollocks, though, that it was the film with which Lucas was least involved, a myth perpetuated by some who have a grudge against the man. I do understand the grudge but I don't understand the economical tampering with the truth*.

As for why it became so popular in the nineties? Easy. By that decade, us old fans felt that the film, with its mature overtones, somehow justified our obsession with a series of "kids' films". We could hold up TESB to the naysayers (you know, those peculiar people who just don't get Star Wars) and say "No, it really is quite good".

*Someone's going to provide a link now proving that Lucas had very little to do with the film thus putting so much egg on my face.