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The middle prequel arrived May 16, 2002 with Hayden Christensen's brooding Anakin, the clone army, and the moment every 2002 audience cheered: Yoda finally drawing a lightsaber against Christopher Lee. It was also a landmark under the hood — one of the first major films shot entirely on digital cameras.
The prequel trilogy's dark landing, May 19, 2005: Order 66, the Mustafar duel, and the Vader suit sealed shut — the first Star Wars film ever rated PG-13. It was the year's #1 movie in North America, and it has aged into the one the prequel generation defends.
Decipher's black-bordered Star Wars card game, built from actual movie stills instead of new artwork. One player took the Light Side, the other the Dark Side, and you dueled over planets by draining each other's Force.
The podracing dream from The Phantom Menace, but actually fun. LucasArts captured the absurd speed and alien canyons of Tatooine that made you forget Jar Jar ever existed — at least until you beat it in an afternoon.
This MMORPG wasn't about saving the galaxy—it was about living in it. Crafters built everything from blasters to starships, player cities elected mayors, and Jedi were so rare and risky (permanent death, at first) that seeing one felt like a legend sighting. Then the NGE overhaul flattened it all, and players never quite forgave it.
Sixteen years after Return of the Jedi, Star Wars came back on May 19, 1999 — behind maybe the biggest hype wave in movie history. Fans famously camped outside theaters in ticket lines, and people bought tickets to Meet Joe Black just to watch the teaser and walk out. What delivered: Darth Maul, "Duel of the Fates," and the podrace. What didn't: Jar Jar and midi-chlorians.