I like thinking about which films I liked best at certain points in my life.

As a child, RETURN OF THE JEDI was my favorite.

EMPIRE has since taken its place. It's darker, funnier, deals more with the character relationships than the other two, has an incredible reveal/twist at the end, and ends on a down note.

All that is much more in line with my personal taste.

The original STAR WARS has been slowly creeping back up into favor. It gets a lot of points on being simply ground-breaking. It is the foundation of a multi-billion dollar franchise and created an entire universe and mythology unto itself. I find that highly intriguing. Where EMPIRE is stronger in story, STAR WARS is stronger in world building.

EMPIRE, by far. First movie my parents ever took me to.

Empire is the best movie in all of Star Wars, and only its predecessor is even close. The more you look at ROTJ, especially in light of what is known about how the sequels are written, the more it becomes clear that the departure of Gary Kurtz and the dominance of Lucas over Kasdan and Marquand hurt ROTJ a LOT... and that it could have been a much, much better movie.

In one of the recent 30th-anniversary interviews, Kurtz shared some notes from his first plot draft of Jedi, which he and Lucas worked on in parallel before passing to Kasdan to be written up. Even if Kurtz is a filthy liar who is making it all up to retcon, it was so much a better plot that it staggers the mind. Han Solo would have died in glory for the Rebel cause, finally transforming his character from complete self-centeredness to being willing to sacrifice himself for his friends -- and the woman -- he loves. Leia would have struggled to hold together the tatters of the Rebellion as the natural forces of political entropy ate away at the fragile peace. And Luke Skywalker would have ended up walking away into the galactic sunset like the Wandering Monk, never to be seen again, harrowed and maimed but victorious over the Emperor and finally at peace with the Force and his father. Now tell me THAT wouldn't have been a better movie than a bunch of rubber alien masks in Yuma followed by a pile of teddy bears in northern California.

@Mike: Thanks for that re Kurtz and his alternate version of ROTJ. You wouldn't happen to have a link to that interview? As luck would have it, last night I was looking at a compilation someone gave me a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away (L.A.) called "Star War Rarities." It has the obligatory storm troopers as "Cops" TV show parody, and "The Donnie and Marie Show" special featuring Donnie as Luke, Marie as Leia, Red Foxx as Emperor Palpatine, Kris Kristofferson as Han Solo, and Paul Lynde (!) as somebody.

What I found interesting were the original trailers and previews SW I, II, and III. The language of the narrator is most interesting, seeing how the studio perceived the movies in terms of their marketing. I actually thought it would be intriguing to put together a transcription for a GITS post. Perhaps in conjunction with the Kurtz article?

While you are so right -- how much better for Han to sacrifice himself in death, a fitting closure for his own character arc -- then you wouldn't have had he and Leia getting married, having kids, and all those Junior Jedi Academy book series, etc. In fact, I wonder if the anticipation of being able to generate all that SW stuff dictated the ROTJ we all know and... [clears throat]... barely put up with.

I like Empire best, too, because of the Hoth battle and the romance between Han and Leia that finally gets kicking.

Leia: "I love you."
Han: "I know."

is one of the most memorable twists on the classic love confession ever put on screen - and that was, I believe, a suggestion of Harrison Ford's.

I agree that ROTJ was the weakest of the original three, but there were some highlights: the chase on the hover-cycles (or whatever those things were called) through the forest was an incredible bit of special effects at the time and Vadar choosing his son over the Emperor was a major cathartic moment. Personally, I'm glad Han wasn't killed. He'd come so close to death when he was frozen in carbon in Empire, I feel that was his brush with anihillation. He ends up fighting whole-heartedly for the cause, and to my way of thinking, that's as big a transformation as dying for it. Let him live to fight another day, and let Leia have a little romance in her life. Running the Republic is going to be hard enough. I feel much better at the conclusion of the epic story knowing Leia's going to have a rocking love life and a right-hand man. (I mean, we all know Luke's going to be the dreamy, spiritual one and she's going to be towing the administrative line, right?)

I prefer the Star Wars films in the order in which they were released. The first is nearly a perfect movie. Empire is great (especially for a movie with literally no plot), but it kind of drags when Luke is training after you've seen the film a few dozen times (though I never get sick of the Hoth battle). Jedi is very good, but obviously inferior. The three simultaneous conflicts at the end are amazing, especially the scenes with Luke, Vader and the Emperor.

And the best thing about the prequels are the Red Letter Media reviews.

The first Star Wars film has to be my favorite, simply because I can so vividly remember the excitement, fear and joy I felt as a child when I saw it for the first time.

Empire has a more rational attraction to me, especially now that I've been able to identify how it's a more superior film in terms of acting, direction, cinematography, etc.

But my heart will forever be with STAR WARS (minus the "Episode IV: A New Hope" hoo-ha.)