So, yes, I went out and saw Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. It is much better than The Phantom Menace was. In fact, it was much better than Return of the Jedi, in my not so humble opinion. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it even included some innovations for movie space battles.

It still had some really stupid moments, but to tell you about them would be to reveal some spoilers. And as you know, I haven't been inclined to publicize spoilers since lo those many years ago when the outgoing message on my answering machine (remember answering machines?) told callers: "Have you seen 'Presumed Innocent?' The wife did it. Leave a message."

As we discovered by watching the movie with folks who had seen the previous installment several times and folks who had not, Attack of the Clones makes more sense if you are already familiar with the settings established in The Phantom Menace.

The writer in me was also amused to note just how much easier it is to continue adding details to the same canvas over and over again than it is to create a new universe every time you set out to create. ("World-building" or "Universe-building" is a writer's term for creating a backdrop against which the story is set, independently of whether you are working on a literal sci-fi "world" or "universe.") This is the combined advantage and disadvantage of developing a "franchise" in your writing. You can have fun adding layers to the world-building you've already done, but you are also trapped with a landscape that contains flaws that cannot easily be painted over.

Sorry for mixing the metaphors there. My point is that Jar-Jar Binks is still annoying, even if he does become an ironically tragic figure rather than a pathetic comic hero. And, while it's easy to maintain a "holier than thou" attitude toward the retreading of the Star Wars universe, the fact of the matter is that I'd be all too willing to sell out if the masses offered me the kind of money that brings George Lucas back to the trough.

Formula? Sure. But fun formula in an ever richer context.