Symetry?

While admiring my Star Wars DVD collection last night, flush with wine and turkey, a few truths presented themselves to me:

The Phantom Menace and The original Star Wars (A New Hope) are road movies of the Wizard of Oz / Hidden Fortress variety, in which boys named Skywalker begin their journeys towards destiny; one is a kids movie because the Skywalker is a kid, the other a coming of age fable because... well, Luke's coming of age. And apparently according to Joseph Campbell you have to be older for the coming of age fable.

Attack of the Clones and Empire Strikes Back have stories that begin together for the first third, get split and intercut throughout the second third, and reconnect over botched rescue attempts for the conclusion. Both have love stories.

Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi begin with rescue missions and both feature inexorable marches to a dramatic conclusion and a tidy wrapping up of the loose ends, both are also George Lucas / ILM FX orgies in which both generations of ILM geniuses go for broke for the boss); one begins with the rescue of the high and mighty High Chancellor of the Galaxy and ends with a friendship and the galaxy in tatters, the other begins with friends rescuing friends and ends with the galaxy being righted at last.