And it was always a big event when "A New Hope" would get re-released and when "Empire" and "Jedi" were first released. *Definitely* worth waiting for!

THIS.
Honestly, I'm okay with all nine films in the Star Wars Skywalker saga and I also hold the opinion Rogue One stands as potentially the best Star Wars movie since Empire...

but the oversaturation of the franchise killed it.

My first Star Wars was literally the first: I saw Star Wars '77 at a drive in with my family. I was six years old. I've been following this franchise my entire life.

The difference - as you put so perfectly - between then and now was there was a 3 to 4 year wait between the original trilogy films and aside from conventions, fan chatter and articles in movie magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland or Starlog, we had no other media.

Do you all recall what actually happened with the fandom after Empire came out? Those of us who came of age during that era can tell the fans who came along years following the release of Return of the Jedi ( which, at the time, seemed to be the end of the film franchise) that it was NOT universally accepted that Darth Vader was Luke's father. I remember having those debates with my fellow fans as a kid as to whether it was true or just an evil attempt to manipulate and confuse Luke by the Empire because they realized how powerful he would become.

We had no way of knowing for certain until the precise moment in Jedi when Yoda confirmed Vader was Luke's father just before passing away.

We had to wait some three years to have that moment, because the filmmakers certainly weren't talking. And that was part of the magic.

They were events. They were something special to anticipate and prepare for.

The prequels adopted the same approach although by design we all knew it had to end with Anakin becoming Vader, there was still that excitement and expectation because, again, there were only the films and they were released three years apart. So by the time we got to Revenge of the Sith ( which was my favorite Star Wars movie for a long time) , there was real, heartfelt enthusiasm because it was a big deal.

Now there's a new tv series every few weeks and even the sequel trilogy was released on a strict two year schedule. It just so happened that with Rogue One they went ahead and made an excellent Star Wars movie that felt like another addition to the original trilogy more than anything else, but there's no denying that when Solo arrived and suddenly there was new Star Wars content every few months, the thrill quickly went away.

And although I did enjoy the sequels ( I particularly loved The Last Jedi and no, I'm not going to argue about that) , I haven't really enjoyed anything past Rise of Skywalker, save for maybe the first two seasons of The Mandolorian.

There's too much of Star Wars now. It's become a mass produced product, with artistry and genuine creativity being supplanted by assembly line production schedules and a sociopolitical agenda that's gone from being effective subtext to a story that is meant to entertain first and foremost to being the point.

The magic is gone. Star Wars is just an ever available product now, another brand drained of the epic, unique qualities that made the original films such iconic moments in cinematic history.

The best thing they can do is shut it down and let us miss it for about a decade, then revive it with new movies released every four years that tell stories set in the rest of the galaxy and don't involve the Skywalkers at all.

Not "a new hope" it's called STAR WARS.

I meant, "Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope."

That's how I always referred to it since its April 1981 rerelease.

Me,too. I forgot about #4 being in "Empire." I mistakenly thought it was in "Jedi."

Same! lol

Had to stick around until Bea Arthur came in to take over her shift....

I got 9 out of 10. I always get Hoth and Endor mixed up.

Vice TV this weekend is showing a doc an The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Didn't think it got that cold on Endor...although the Ewoks do have those thick coats, don't they?