If it's free, you can go to satisfy your curiosity. If you don't like it, you can give yourself the enormous satisfaction of walking out on it without losing a penny.

I haven't seen Episode 3 because Episodes 1 & 2 were such disappointments. (Clone Wars, the animated series, is quite good, though. According to one of my girls, it's what Attack of the Clones could have been.) I really have no interest in seeing Episode 3, but I probably will because one must be aware of iconic images in my business, even if they are only pop icons. I can gather the plot in 30 seconds, but it's the images that will make an impact.

Now, the original Star Wars trilogy hit a classic hero theme (Han Solo is the hero, the essential man) and had solid mythic characters portrayed by more gifted actors. This is why I find them so satisfying, and maybe the same is true for you. Episodes 1-3 are only background for them. The original Star Wars trilogy could stand alone without the prequel.

If Episodes 1-3 portrayed a great tragedy, they would be more worthwhile, but I don't think they do. Tragedy requires the tragic hero to be aware of how Fate manipulates him, or requires a character of great wisdom, heroism and maturity to fall from grace through the intervention of a character whose chief trait is malignancy. In Anakin Skywalker, we have a youth too callow to have the requisite wisdom and maturity, or self-awareness, for tragedy. Lucas tries to make up for this by doubling up on the heroism, but derring-do isn't necessarily heroism. What he wants is Hector; what he winds up with is Achilles. He aspired to tragedy, and achieved epic melodrama. Perhaps that's enough for this age.

Just as a side note, am I alone in being disturbed that children are looking at Darth Vader as a hero? He's certainly a... magnetic character, but he's no one to admire or sympathize with in my book.