May 19th is almost here! That’s the day when the last installment of George Lucas’ second trilogy, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, officially opens here in the United States.

There are those of you out there who are going, “Yeah, another messed up Star Wars movie! They just haven’t been as good.” Or, “I’ve outgrown those movies.” Indeed, even today’s older kids are a little jaded by the whole Star Wars thing: they’ve got Lord of the Rings and The Matrix as grittier, more compelling worlds.

I wasn’t that pleased with Episode I, and the improbable love story between Anakin and the Princess in Episode II had the worst on-screen chemistry I’ve ever seen. The whole affair stank. Even the ship designs left me a bit cold. So I was all set to ignore the impending release of Episode III. It’s gotta suck, right?

Right?

A few friends of mine have seen the trailer, die-hard “New Trilogy” haters all. But all of them have said something like, “Experience tells me it’s going to suck…but I still felt a palpable sense of excitement after watching the trailer.”

Whoa! Unexpected this is!

Then there have been some bright spots:

• Genndy Tartakovsky’s brilliant animated take on the Star Wars universe in The Clone Wars is fantastic. It even won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour Or More). It’s almost to be expected from the creator of Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Lab, but the material he is working with is pure New Trilogy: the fall of Anakin, the doomed romance, the inevitable conflict between student and master, and the fall of the Republic. Epic stuff. A small flicker of hope has taken root in my heart.

• And yesterday, I picked up the Art of Star Wars Episode III book. Now, I had not felt compelled to buy any of the previous art books because they left me a bit cold. But this one…this is the coolest Star Wars art book I have ever seen. The characters and illustrations are fabulous, epic, and stylish. I felt a little tinge of excitement just looking at the artwork, something I haven’t felt for a long long time from the series. The image for this post is one of the character studies for Padme…the book is full of stuff like this. Even the Art of the Incredibles book fails to move me as much. I know that this is going to ultimately turn for the worse, but dare I dream?

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p>It’s still up to Lucas to screw this up, of course, but I’m hopeful that as the new trilogy comes to an end…that we’ll actually feel something again.

And just maybe, all will be right in the universe once more. But I’m not holding my breath.