I REALLY should know better. But the truth is, I just can't help myself. See, despite everything, I'm still thrilled at the prospect of a new Star Wars movie.

Maybe it's the hype. Or maybe it's the memory of a visit to a crowded cinema when I was ten years old.

But next week, the sixth and last (or third, depending on how you look at it) part of the saga falls into place.

And despite enormous reservations, I'm terribly excited about it.

After all, this is the one we've been waiting for. The one where the evil Empire supplants the Republic. Where the Jedi Knights are destroyed.

And, most of all...

Look, if you don't want to know that Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, look away now.

Has any movie blockbuster in history come with so much of its story already known?

Let's face it, there are tribes in the Congo basin who've never seen a cinema screen but know that this is the one where Obi-Wan Kenobi's apprentice dons the black mask and heavy-breating of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

And yet, despite my enthusiasm, I can't shake a whole bunch of nagging doubts.

See, Star Wars (or Episode IV: A New Hope, as we now have to call it) was great, especially if you were a pre-teen used to science-fiction fare which came heavy on bad model effects and rambling technical exposition.

This was fast-moving glossy stuff with aliens that looked like aliens, not men in suits, and spaceships that looked and flew just how we imagined them.

And if the story was hackneyed and the dialogue risible, we were too young to care.

Whatever his faults as a storyteller, director George Lucas had a fantastic imagination, and we let our own imaginations respond to fill in the gaps.

Then, a few years later, came the sequel.

The Empire Strikes Back was darker, wittier, and just right for those of us on the cusp of teendom.

And the cliffhanger ending meant we would surely get a third outing.

Of course, we did (Return of the Jedi) and though by then we were older, and had the natural cynicism of mid-teenage years, we had enough nostalgia to forgive it for its faults - those damned Ewoks for starters.

Besides, it was the conclusion, the end to a story that fired our imaginations and spawned, for good and ill, an entire genre of effect-driven movies.

And that was that, give or take seemingly endless tinkering with the films to "improve" them.

Until one day George Lucas announced he was make three films set before the original trilogy.

We were as giddy as a roundabout full of children with no sense of balance. Even the title - The Phantom Menace - didn't put us off.

Looking back, it's not as bad as I remember. It has better lightsaber fights than the original films (not difficult), better actors, superlative special effects and a pleasant sense of retro-continuity.

Enough to just about balance out midichlorians, the same old banal dialogue, and Jar Jar Binks.

My confidence was rocked, but not shattered. No, we had to wait for Attack of the Clones for that.

Without the benefit of a rant spanning the next three pages, I can't tell you how much I despise that film on every muddled level, so I won't bother to try. Suffice to say, even Natalie Portman is irritating, and that's quite an achievement.

But still... this is it now. The Big One. They could give it to the Carry On team and it would still be impossible to mess up. Wouldn't it? The Force, surely, is strong in this one.

And if it's not, well, at least this is the last disappointment we have in store.