Let's say you walk into your old elementary, grade, or primary school, and you're walking around reminiscing about old times. You go into the cafeteria and you can't even fit at the tables. You try to drink from the water fountain but nearly throw your back out bending down to it. You go into your old classroom and reach up to put your coat on the coat rack, and find it to be barely chest high. You walk out onto the playground to your favorite gargantuan slide to find that it just clears the top of your shoulders. You've lost a little perspective over the years. Things aren't anywhere close to the same as you thought they might be. Your remembrances of how things were have clouded your vision, and things just don't feel the same anymore. You might be a tad disappointed, and you might laugh at how your old memories pale in comparison to the reality.

I've heard all the criticism that Episodes I and II have received; how they 'just aren't Star Wars movies,' and how the scripts are lame and the dialogue worse. I've heard how there are no memorable 'quips,' and that the plots are unmoving. Let me add that I love Star Wars. I watch the films all the time, I've memorized all the memorable quips (and some not so memorable), I've bored others to tears with my knowledge of Star Wars trivia. I have to play the Trivial Pursuit game by myself just to get some competition. That being said, let's remember why Star Wars was so big in the first place. Just before Star Wars came along, the most popular pictures were dramas. They had not yet invented the grand Sci-Fi epic. In 1975, Godfather II won the Oscar for Best Picture. In 1976, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest won the day, and in 1977 it was Rocky. The best actors of the time were Sammy Davis, Jr., Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Shaw, Walter Matthau, Richard Pryor, Goldie Hawn, and Warren Beatty. I'll bet your pulse is really quickening now, isn't it? Let us not forget a little social experiment called American Graffiti that ended up paying off pretty good for its little known director, George Lucas. The soil was ripe for Star Wars to come in and blow the doors off the competition, and blow the doors open to the Action/Adventure blockbuster.

Star Wars was a rather special movie. Lest you may have forgotten or never knew, the film won the Oscars for Art Direction, Costume Design, Sound, Editing, Visual Effects, Original Score, and a Special Achievement award went to Ben Burtt for Sound Effects. All in all, Star Wars won the night on April third, 1978. A special movie indeed, and a feat not easily duplicated. Now, given people's complaints about the prequels, Star Wars was not nominated for Script or Actor or Actress in a lead role. Other than a tributary nod to Alec Guinness for his Obi-Wan Kenobi, the movie didn't break any new ground save in the technical and tactile categories.

Remember that Star Wars recalled an earlier time of high adventure and epic stories, and television shows that kids like George Lucas ran home from school to watch. It was cheesy and simple. A lowly farm boy and dirty smuggler team up with a crusty old warrior to rescue the princess from a dark lord and save the galaxy? Come on! What could possibly have been cheesier?! But you see, that was okay! Childhood was cheesy, and that's exactly what George Lucas used to reach his audience. The reason Star Wars was so big is explained by one word: synergy. The proper alignment of the planets or whatnot. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, George Lucas was nominated for best Director. The same guy people want to lynch so they can replace him with Irvin Kershner. The former genius people are now saying has no talent. They say the well has dried up. The fact is, the man was lucky to have gotten the right actors to perform just the right script in just the right way at just the right time with just the right composer making the perfect music to change the future of Cinema forever. That is what happened in May of 1977, and it rarely comes together like that for anybody.

We ourselves were lucky as leprechauns to have witnessed Star Wars in our time, just as I was lucky to have watched Joe Montana play football from 1988 to the end of his career. He was arguably the best quarterback to play the game. I envision him picking apart every defense in the NFL today. But would he have? He was lucky. The right quarterback under the right coach, with just the right receiver produced four Super Bowls and numerous fourth quarter comebacks. Joe Montana is larger than life in my mind today, but he wasn't a record setter like Dan Marino. He made the right decisions and won the games when he had to. What am I bringing up Joe Monatana for? Simple! My remembrances cloud my vision. I see something bigger and better than what was actually there.

Same thing with Star Wars. We see it as something larger than life. A decent quarterback did the right things and became the best. A cheesy movie pushed the right buttons and became a phenomenon. But can we expect a phenomenon to be re-created by three films for which you already know the outcome? Many of us have been living with false expectations. Our memories and affections for Star Wars get in the way, and we watch the prequels through glasses with a particular template on them, and when that template is not met, we cannot be anything but disappointed. When you watch a prequel and hear stilted dialogue, see a silly and almost juvenile plot, or witness a less than Oscar-worthy acting performance, remember that it's supposed to be that way. George Lucas hasn't changed, we have.

Oh yeah, one more thing? We all tend to wear our hearts on our sleeves when it comes to things we love. You might say we wear our opinions like jackets. So, next time you think about something concerning the prequels, and decide to hang your jacket up for all to see? Do me a favor and try not to miss the coat rack. It might be a little lower than you remember.

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