When did Empire get recognized as the best of the series? I remember in the 1990s and early 2000s, critics in retrospective reviews, documentaries, film studies, AFI lists, etc. seemed to focus more on the 1977 film instead of Empire.
share"When did Empire get recognized as the best of the series?"
Must have happened in 1983 when the trilogy concluded. For me, at least. I was disappointed with ROTJ and saw the first movie on VHS only. Empire was the first Star Wars movie I saw in theater and it was phenomenal.
For me, in order:
ANH was on UK TV at Christmas in the early 80s.
ROTJ was my first Star Wars cinema experience.
ESB was a movie I saw on VHS afterwards.
So basically, "I am your father" has NO effect on me and I think ESB is overrated. But I love ANH and ROTJ.