5 here too. I DO really like 3 though. 2 has some really good moments as well. 5 Just takes the cake.

Seriously though... you have to remember a few things when dealing with 1-3:

1) When you saw 4-6, you were a kid. You fell in love with the series through kids eyes. You're seeing 1-3 as an adult with the mentality that you don't like ppl messing with your childhood. 4-6 had some really horrid written at times and certainly some really bad acting as well. Granted... nothing is worse than Anakin saying "yippee" or whatever in EP1. Methinks Lucas forgot how little boys talk. You're kids will never really have Star Wars messed like we did with b/c it's done now. Their view of it will ALWAYS be through kids eyes.
2) 1-3 was really a royal era. The language, society, and body language all reflected more of Shakespear's time rather than modern times like 4-6. 4-6 was set in a more contemporary time period that was casual and... well... oppressed. This makes it a bit easier for us to relate to.
3) Jar Jar's sole purpose is to vote YES on starting that clone army. He's a moron. He's annoying (unless you are under 10 and then... through kids eyes... he's amazingly cool). He's unfortunately justified in the script.
4) Good actors who have won awards can't always make good movies... esp when they are making new episodes of films they loved as kids too. Of course... bad direction, script problems and more haven't helped. All I can say is I did like how Hayden portrayed Anakin. Why? b/c he captured the same whining brat emotion that Luke had. Because he was able to say more with his eyes than anything else which was important given the regal era 1-3 takes place in. Because I could believe his anger and intensity. Now... Samuel L Jackson was pretty much wasted money since most of the time he just sat there and brooded. Lucas really should have used more nobodies like he did in the original series.

I just love the whole universe. Some moments really suck while others will always capture you love and imagination. Almost every scifi franchise is the same way. Man... I think it's about time for my annual Star Wars movies viewing

5) Dave is NOT a star wars geek in any way, shape, or form 


in order:
4,5 (sometimes 4&5 swap positions), then 6,3,2,1

actually... ST 10 was written in part by a fan... so... it really didn't suck. I'll comment on some of the other stuff later... maybe

At least you know I can be critical of star wars now though right

ep 1 - Darth Maul and the fight scene and finally see actual Jedi's in action cause previously we only seen Luke til now  Also pod race was cool.
ep 2 - alright, but Yoda fight scene was tha bomb.
ep 3 - liked it the most out of the 3 and plus it was a finalize since we saw the movies in 4,5,6,1,2,3.  Had better scenes than ep2.
ep 4 - first I ever saw of course
ep 5 - alright, still like Yoda in this, favorite quote comes from this movie.
ep 6 - my favorite

those are my highlights briefly, but 6,3,4 are my top

This one is easy for me. Nothing will ever top the first Star Wars. The good ol' days... back before there were any "episodes". Now we refer to it as ANH but it'll always be good ol' Star Wars to this fan.

Empire was great of course. Still, nothing will top the first one for me.

Rob

6 is my favorite

Good words there Matt. 3 really did tie it all together nicely. Seriously though... if you really want some insight into vader/anakin... read Dark Lord. It talks A LOT about his first few months as Vader and his mental state during that time. To me, it was very telling.