i was shocked at how much they did to make this movie for hardcore SW fans like myself. If I had bought this as a book in the old EU, I would have been thrilled.

in the movie itself, i was geeked and completely uncritical. for God's sake, I had to look up whether Peter Cushing was dead or not after the movie. that says nothing about the quality of the effects and everything about a guy who saw Phantom Menace 5 times the weekend it came out and loved it each time.

this morning, i can totally see how tarkin and leia could alienate non super fans. leia is whatever, because she's in the movie for one word, but Tarkin was a major character who got no development within the confines of the movie itself. i don't think anyone is going to complain about the vader scenes, but he gets no development either and has even less of a reason to be there.