Where we might actually differ a little is with the reaction after the prequels. Like you, I don’t think my immediate reaction to any of the prequel movies was as harsh as it maybe should have been, but my reaction slowly grew to something akin to hatred — enough so that it kind of poisoned me on Star Wars in general. Most fans seems to do mental gymnastics to separate in their mind the “good” Lucas and the “bad” Lucas so as to preserve the original trilogy. But I became unable to do so. I started thinking about distantly remembered flaws: the weirdly flawed plan to rescue Han in Jedi, the beginning of Lucas’ shameless merchandising ploys with the Ewoks. I became afraid to even watch the originals because I was afraid if I did so now as an adult, I would get hung up on all the flaws and not be able to enjoy even the “good” movies anymore. At this writing, it’s been probably been at least eight years, maybe closer to a decade since I’ve seen the original trilogy.

But recently, I’ve gotten over all that. I would even gladly watch all six films (well, maybe only “gladly” for Episodes IV-VI) if I owned them, something I plan to rectify soon enough. Unlike Andy, I’m only a tepid fan of J.J. Abrams, but I also don’t really care; I’m pumped regardless. There’s too much excitement in the air to get caught up on past flaws. There are too many fond memories to get hung up on any bad ones. It’s well overdue for me to spend some time falling back in love with my first love, Star Wars.