(question in second paragraph) For some reason when I was a teenager in the mid 90s I decided for no good reason that I didn't like starwars. I used to see the cassettes in the videostore (yeah, v-i-d-e-o-store) with the deathstar and thought : "what is this nonsense?" In retrospect I think I only did that to separate myself from the crowd. I was so stupid about it that by the time a good starwars friend of mine rented the new episode I, I told him that I didn't have any interest in watching it. From afar (the kitchen) I saw bits and pieces and steadily got intrigued until I sat down and decided to watch the remainder of the film. From that day on I was a big starwars fan. Now what is interesting is that I then decided to watch the original trilogy only after I had already seen episode I. As a consequence, I suspect, I couldn't comprehend the flak directed at episode I from fans of the original trilogy (admittedly I can't be certain about how extensive this really was). I ended up loving the original trilogy as well as the new episodes.

How many like, and I mean really like, both trilogies? And of those that do, did you like me see episodes from the prequel trilogy before the original trilogy? See I wonder whether the majority of people who really like both trilogies perhaps fall in that category. If that is the case then that might be because the original trilogy was so damned awesome, the big fans hyped up the series so much they couldn't accept the change in taste/theme of the prequel trilogies. This has me slightly worried, because I wonder whether I will now for the same reason be unable to accept whatever disney is going to do with the franchise.

Clone wars? Never heard of it...

me and my friends are star wars fan and we watch the 2 trilogies. The six movies in chronological order, staring with phantom menace, ending with the return of jedi. We watch it almost once each year.

I like to think of the prequel trilogy as a spin off to the original trilogy. They are both very different kinds of movies, comparing them is very much like comparing apples and oranges (except that I have a particular distaste for apples, but I enjoy all 6 Star Wars movies equally).

I do I did not They are a bit fun

I think looking back with rose-tinted glasses is a big factor.

Very nicely put. Strange that its more difficult to look forward with rose-tinted glasses

Let's see. I did watch bits and pieces of the original trilogy (Especially The New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back) before I watched Phantom Menace. And while others decried Jar Jar Binks, I honestly didn't care so much. I liked Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn, the Destroyer Droids and the Pod Races. It was a good film for me. I found the second one so-so, while I hated the shit out of the third one. I just couldn't believe that this little shit Anakin Skywalker would become Darth Vader. His infamous "NOOO" scene had me rolling on the floor laughing when I first saw it. It sounded like a cow mooing.

Very nice :) We also like to watch them in chronological order. Uhm well by which I mean I,II,III,IV,V,VI which might or might not be considered chronological (depends on how you look at it)

I was a major fan boy of the original trilogy, and pretty much devoured a lot of the books as well, including the Timothy Zahn trilogy. I was moderately excited about the prequels, until they ended up being pretty bad.

It's fine if Lucas wanted to make massive continuity errors, hire actors with zero chemistry and make it an experience for kids, etc, but I think my lack of enjoyment of the prequels kind've cemented for me a total disinterest in it from that point on.

As such, I don't keep up with it, don't read the books or play the newer games. (I'll still defo fire up my copies of KotOR 1 & 2 though.)

It might have just been a kid phase, I guess?

I was in love with starwars for a long time. I loved all the movies and watched them through usually once every few months and have a fairly large collection of starwars memorabilia. I did this with a good friend of mine about a year ago and finally just stopped in middle of episode 2. I realized I had finally had enough of it all and just stopped caring. the thought of watching episode 2 again or really any of the newer ones is repulsive to me. the idea of watching the originals again doesn't seem to bad. I don't know if this was just me realizing the newer episodes sucked or if I had just got tired of the series as a whole though. I started with the originals so this may support your theory but I did at least I thought I did like the newer episodes for a time.

I have a lot of reasons for loving the first trilogy and disliking the second but basically it boils down to the following.
The original trilogy is adventure films for adults and the second adventure films for kids or young adults.

I think I'd call that the "Narrative temporal order".

I think the thing about the original trilogy is that most people who love it, watched as kids. If you watch it young then the bad bits get smoothed over, and you get caught up in the magic. Most people that I know that dislike it have tried watching it when in their teens or older, and of course by then are too skeptical to get carried away.

This is similarly why there was little chance the prequels could ever please both child and adult alike (they opted for children, which is probably the smarter move).
I fundamentally disagree, see above.

you say that the new sw movies are ok?
You best be trollin'

Well my experience is different. I find it hard to find anyone that like the second trilogy over the first. Even among those that watched the second while kids/young adults and the first after that. Even kids seem to be irritated with the over the top action and the annoying/stupid characters.
But this is subjective I guess and hard to argue about.

Sorry, I see the mistake I made now. I've updated my original post, "First" trilogy was meant to mean "Original" trilogy.