I remember the heyday of the Star Wars franchise in the early to mid 90's. The classic trilogy hadn't been altered yet, the old Expanded Universe was kicking into high gear and the prequels were just a glimmer in George Lucas' eye. In short, the franchise was still highly regarded by the general public. It was an exciting time for a Star Wars-obsessed kid like myself. I remember sleepovers at friends' houses where we'd spend the entire time immersed in the lore. We'd watch all three movies back-to-back, discuss books by Timothy Zahn and take turns playing Tie Fighter on the PC.
Those were the glory days. Before the Dark Times. Before the prequels, Yuzzhan Vong and gibbering Mandalorian fanboys ruined everything.
...Well okay, maybe not. The franchise was already starting to creak under its own bloated weight of merchandise tie-ins, hack novels (*cough* KevinJAnderson *cough*) and cringe-tastic [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97nnHjUrLvU] spin-offs. But back in those days it was far easier to ignore, as the good still far outweighed the bad.