The secret pain and redemption of sci-fi geeks

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is actually getting good reviews. To quote just one, Kevin Smith writes, "'Revenge of the Sith' is, quite simply, fucking awesome. . . As dark as 'Empire' was, this movie goes a thousand times darker."

Thank God. After The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones I didn't know whether I could handle one more disappointing Star Wars prequel. The extent to which the original Star Wars trilogy is incorporated into my generation's sense of self, tapping as it does into the deepest hopes and fears of our collective unconscious, made the disappointment of the prequels almost emotionally painful. But somewhere deep in my heart I knew that George Lucas would come through for us in the end.

In related news, you now can get a glowing, battery-operated "spoon-saber" in specially marked boxes of Frosted Flakes! And boy are they cool!