To be honest, summer of 1983...I was done. There was no need to do ‘Phantom Menace’ in 1999. Disney’s strategy is that you can ‘milk’ this story for decades to come...making no sense.
Disney wasn’t part of it then.
The previous Star Wars were numbered Episodes 4, 5, 6 - Lucas was planning Episodes 1, 2, 3.
Disney bought LucasFilm and did the new movies - fine and dandy, but you don’t have to destroy the characters and the storyline that came before - and they certainly did.
And by the “new movies” - that would be Episodes 7, 8, 9...I didn’t bother ever seeing Episode 9. I used to be a huge Star Wars fan - after 8, the ‘magic’ was gone. Ruined it.