It's weird, isn't it? Here we are, fans of the same series of movies yet we can't help dividing us into into different groups.

We've got those that believe that only the movies are canon and others that believe that even the EU is canon.

We've got those that pro-Prequels and those that are anti-Prequel.

And so on and so on. And now I'm going to contribute to this. I'm going to divide all Star Wars fans into three distinct groups: The First Generation, those who saw, or were born when the Original Trilogy was on the big screen. The Middle Generation are those who were born and grew up inbetween the Original Trilogy and the Prequels. And then there's The Last Generation, those born during and after the Prequels who will grow up with both trilogies.

And this blog is about, as the title says, the Middle Generation which I'm a part of and which I find most interesting. I'm not saying this because I'm one, I just think it's interesting since we're born between the two trilogies and it's most likely here the biggest group of fans are. I think the most of my age-group, guys at least, have grown up with some kind Star Wars action figure or model on their toy shelf. Star Wars surrounds the early life of so many of us that most can't actually pinpoint our first Star Wars experience. I'm one of those. One could argue that kids born between 1977-1983 also grew up with Star Wars and can't remember their first Star Wars experience, but they were there when there was a hype around it then. In the years after, there were no movies to build up this hype around the kids. It was there anyway, and that is proof of the power of Star Wars as a story. But in some sense, I feel robbed of the Star Wars experience. Since the story surrounds and penetrates our minds from an early age, we've come to know the story by heart even before we ask the question "when?" and "why?". I've always known how the Trench Run ends. I've always known that Vader is Luke's dad. I've always known that Vader redeems himself. Everything with the Original Trilogy, I've always known. Sure, I still feel the thrill of the Trench Run, the chill when Vader tells Luke the truth and the relief of seeing the Emperor fall down but it's still something I'm used to seeing. Sometimes I wish that the next viewing of the Original Trilogy would be my first, but that cannot be changed and I actually look forward to the day that I can see the two trilogies with someone who's never seen Star Wars before. To see their surprise, horror and other reactions to the story. Because, let's face it, they're out there.

However, the great thing about the Middle Generation is that we were teens and kids when the Prequel Trilogy hit the silver screen. I was 10 when The Phantom Menace had its premiere, I was 13 when Attack of the Clones reached the big screen and I was 16 when the trilogy concluded with Revenge of the Sith. In my opinion, those were the best ages to see the Prequels, you kind of grew with it.

And for once, we also got our surprises. "Aha, so that's how Anakin Skywalker was discovered.", "Woah, that's the Clone Wars?!", "Hey, that's Luke's and Leia's mums!" and "So that's how he fell to the darkside. I thought he just went on a spontaneous murderous rampage.". And you can't really frown at seeing Star Wars on the big screen and it may come back in 10 or 20 years as new editions but nothing is compared to the first-time hype. So in some respect, I wish I was born sometime during the late 60's so that I could see the Trench run, witness Darth Vaders horrible truth and see the Emperors fall in it's original form. And then 26 years down the line see the backstory unravel. I mean, the first generation got a double dose of surprises. So yeah, that would've been cool, but somehow growing up with Star Wars and having Luke, Han and Leia as your best friends for as long as you can remember is pretty neat and you can't really beat that.