POP WOW: PHANTOM MENACE MIGHT HAVE BEEN TERRIBLE, BUT IT CHANGED STAR WARS FOR THE BETTER.

Please don't @ me, Gen X. I know.

Twenty five years ago tonight, at about 10pm, I was standing in line outside the Eagle Theatre on Main Street in the little town of Chadron, Nebraska, trying to get my head around the most amazing thing: I was about to see a new Star Wars movie.

Today we call a new Star Wars film or TV show a Tuesday. But in 1999, it was a miracle. Even though he called his first set of the Star Wars stories Episodes IV-VI, when George Lucas completed that trilogy in 1985, he did it with finality. He had told the story he wanted to tell. It had been a global cultural phenomenon, but had devoured almost a decade of his life. He was going to move on to other things.

Oof.