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Saying that that love story is "needless" is like saying that the one in Terminator is needless. Without Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor having sex, John Connor wouldn't exist, which obliterates the entire premise of that movie. Without Anakin Skywalker and Amidala having babies, you don't have Luke and Leia Skywalker in the first 3 movies. Where's the "needless" in this?

Anyway, I got the first two DVD's for my birthday the other day (I would've preferred to have gotten the first seasons of "24" and "The Shield", but what're you gonna do?). On second viewing, the movies are pretty good. Of course, with a DVD, you can zoom right past all the Jar Jar scenes in the Phantom Menace as if they didn't exist, as well as the painfully written love scenes of Anakin and Padme. Scenes which, after viewing it again, weren't all that bad. The scene where they're on the couch next to the fireplace made me cringe the first time I saw it and it still does, but subtract it from the viewing and the rest, with the exception of the occasional line here and there, is fine. Same goes for Anakin's supposed whinyness. There's really only one scene where he really whines and he's grating on the nerves (It's when Padme comments on how mature he becomes, at which point he starts to whine, whine, whine). Other than that, he's a good character. Upon a second viewing, watching it just by myself, I liked Anakin a lot better. And the rest of the movie is damn fine Star Wars viewing. From Jango Fett, to Yoda and Mace Windu, to Obi-Wan's mission, to the Clones, to the beginning of the Clone War, Palpatine's machinations, Count Dooku, etc.

The movies have problems, no doubt about it. Jar Jar being the #1 problem of TPM (I also would've liked some backstory on Darth Maul. That scene where they're separated by the force fields would've been a great opportunity for them to talk, but so much for that), and the occasional Anakin or Anakin/Padme scene. But overall, I think they're damn good movies.

Though thinking about it, there's one element that these movies are lacking that the first ones had. There's no roguish type. In the first three you had Han Solo, who was a good guy, but he was a merc, too. In these, either everyone's squeaky clean, or everyone's the epitome of all evil. There is no grayish, morally ambiguous character like Han.

As for the last movie, here's hoping George Lucas doesn't repeat the mistakes which he made in the first movie. And here's hoping that Jar Jar gets what he deserves in the last one. I want to see that filthy bastard DIE!

But the love story in Terminator takes all of 5 minutes, in Ep 2 it's the entire B plot. Obviously we need them to make whoopy at some point for the plot but did we really need 45 minutes of "I can't fall in love with you it violates the Jedi code" "I can't fall in love with you I must lead my people", blah blah blah blah. See there's love stories, there's chick flick love stories then there's painfully monotonous distracting from the muvie insipid stupid love stories. Ep 2 went for the later when they could have and should have gone for the former.

I'm pulling for 1st season of B5 for my birthday... actually I'd really like second season but both would be too much and I want them in order.

I've saw both movies three times in the theater (different groups, and I know from previous experience I have no interest in seeing Star Wars movies on the small screen, I'm not some purist snob or anything I'm just not drawn to them on the small screen), and they get better the next time around mostly because you know which parts of the movie to ignore. Both movies had a lot of potential and could have been great, but Lucas isn't a good actor director and he really needs somebody to clean up his scripts. There's a reason why Empire is the best of the original trilogy and so far the best of the whole series.

Remember Han Solo was really only rogish is a movie and a half, by the time he gets thawed out in Return he's completely turned into comic relief (a character change I'm still bitter about).

I'm sure Ep3 will be just like 1 and 2 all the way down to the crappy title. And I'll see it three times, and bitch about it for the rest of my life. In some ways I have to honor Lucas' brilliance, how many other guys can make a movie the fans know they won't like but they all go see it anyway?