In a New York Times piece piece giving various sci-fi writers a forum to trash the Star Wars series, Henry Fountain writes, “As if hyperdrive rendered historical continuity irrelevant, the first Star Wars film was actually Episode IV, and the last is Episode III. In the eyes of nonfans, of course, it doesn’t really matter where one lands in the saga. After the second film (The Empire Strikes Back) the whole thing went downhill.” Well, yes …but Empire was the pinnacle of the series in the eyes of true fans…meaning those who got off the boat 22 years ago with the arrival of Return of the Jedi.

Of course, if you listen to Kevin Smith (yeah, my former boss), Revenge of the Sith is “fucking awesome…the Star Wars prequel the haters have been bitching for since The Phantom Menace came out. And if they don’t cop to that when they finally see it, they’re lying. As dark as Empire was, this movie goes a thousand times darker…[it’s] so satisfyingly tragic, you’ll think you’re watching Othello or Hamlet.” I’d really like to believe that, but how can I? How can anyone believe that George Lucas has had some kind of radical personality transplant…that the filmmaking instincts that made Jedi, Menace and Attack of the Clones such resounding groaners have suddenly been retired or banished? Nobody’s that covert and middle-aged guys don’t change their spots. But an army of journos will be seeing it this coming Thursday (5.5), so there will be plenty of opinions to sift through before long.