I've fallen prey to one of the classic blunders...

The first, of course, is "never get involved in a land war in Asia," but only slightly less well known is this:

Never say that you "enjoyed" a movie (especially one in the Star Wars Trilogy) without first giving notes on all the ways it should have been better.

It turns out that a fair number of people (mostly everyone I know) didn't like Star Wars III. I think I heard several people cursing Lucas under their breath today. Okay, it wasn't under their breath at all...

I'm going to stand by my original assessment. I thought it was a decent movie, and a fitting way to tie the story into the original Star Wars. Did I look at my watch once or twice when I was in the theater? Yes. Did I think some things should have been done differently? You bet. But I still think there is a lot of power in this story, even if it wasn't executed exactly as I would have liked.

At this point Lucas couldn't please everyone, or even most of the people. All he could do is finish his story as best as he knew how. And I think it was a noble effort. If we could look at it objectively, I still maintain that Episode III is at least on par with Return of the Jedi. There is less humor in this one, but it's a darker story after all.

All I'm saying is this: Give poor George a break. He had a great story to tell and he did his best to stay true to it. He went astray sometimes, there's no denying that, but at least he finished his epic. He remained dedicated to his story and told it as best as he could. In the process he affected millions of lives. How many of us can say the same?

-chc