OK, People. Let's all calm down

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 2000)

I was just looking at a number of the negative user reviews for Episode 1, and most of them find fault with really bad acting.
With that in mind, I pose the following question to all of you. With the possible exceptions of Harrison Ford and Alec Guiness, who "DIDN'T" do terrible acting jobs in the first three films?
All three films from the original trilogy still rank very high among my favorite films of all time, but when I look back on them now, it's painfully obvious how whiny Mark Hamill's Luke is. And let's talk about the woeful hyperbolic rantings of Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia. Has anybody else ever wondered why Mark Hamill can't get arrested in Hollywood now? Has anybody else wondered why Carrie Fisher became a writer? BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T ACT!!!!! But does that matter within the Star Wars context? Of course not.
So why should it matter that Jake Lloyd sounds pretty whiny himself? One could argue "Like Father, Like Son!" Maybe Luke picked up a tendency to whine from his Dad!
And don't pick on Liam Neeson and Ewan MacGregor. They're playing Jedi Knights, for God's sake! They're not supposed to have personalities that jump off the screen.
And quit picking on Jar-Jar. Yes, he can be annoying, but
C3-PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, The Ewoks, and even Yoda had their truly annoying moments. Heck, Yoda's still a crotchety old curmudgeon.
I'm afraid people expected the same revelatory experience from Episode 1 that they received watching "Star Wars." But let's face it--we live in a radically different world now, and films such as Episode 1 can't possibly have the same impact that "Star Wars" did. However, I will still look forward to owning this film, and the complete sextet, once it's available.
(IF I WERE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ANYTHING--IT'S THAT THEY'RE NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD. THAT DEFINITELY BLOWS, NOT THE MOVIE)