Did he use his Jedi powers to see the future, or what?

Prescient quote of the day:

If it wasn't for this last film which casts a dark shadow retrospectively over the other, I would heap praise on Star Wars. The first two films really were astonishingly good, even subtle sometimes—and that is unusual in this sort of area. The famous scene in the bar in the first film, for instance, was a beautifully understated film clip. (I think Lucas listened too much to the praise on this scene. If a few aliens are good, he must have thought, then a lot will be better. Hence all those damn muppets in the last film. Someone should have told him that aliens are like salt on your fish and chips. A few grains makes them tasty. A salt cellar full makes them inedible.)

I recently saw the first two films as a double feature, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I would be happy to repeat the experience. For all their faults, they do have a magic about them. But the last film is tired, and the magic isn't there. If Lucas ever makes the other films in the series, I hope that he can revitalise his ideas. If he doesn't, then all we will end up with is a repeat of the 1950s B-picture. Only this time in colour instead of black and white. Cinemascope and surround-sound instead of gloomyscope and flicker-vision. And that will be a shame. Lucas has already proved that he can do it. The question is, will he?

--Alan Robson, reviewing Return Of The Jedi in 1984.
"Everything Happens In Threes"
(First published in Warp 39, March 1984.)

Oh, and here's something else: if you go read the review, note that Robson refers to Jedi as completing "the middle trilogy of the project." But wait! How is that possible? Lucas has said that he never intended for there to be nine movies! There were always only going to be six! Six! Only six! Why on Earth would a writer in 1984 seem to think that "Episode IV" through "Episode VI" constituted a "middle trilogy"? Who could have given him such an idea?

Hm. Who indeed, I wonder?

He must have imagined it....