Since I was a child I have always been a fan of Star Wars and while each film has its issues I do on the whole like them a lot. Unlike most old school fans I do not necessarily think the original (1977-83) trilogy is the best and while I think that The Last Jedi is by far the worst I do not necessarily think the sequel trilogy is a complete loss.

One of my issues with the original trilogy is there are sequences that are too long and consequently get boring.

• A New Hope- The droids wandering in the desert.
• Empire Strikes Back - Luke's Training with Yoda and the confusing cave scene (although in reality his training was very short based on what we learn later)
• Return of the Jedi - Jabba's Palace.

I could also argue that the Podrace in The Phantom Menace occupies a similar space.

As a child, post-Empire, but before the Return of the Jedi when I was playing Star Wars with my brother I was always Vader turned good (my bro liked Han Solo the most) and we always speculated what Episodes 7-9 would look like. In my mind after the Return of the Jedi the Emperor had to return and this was long before reality made that happen.

Strange how things work out.

Incidentally Vader' saving grace is of course flawed. It would be a bit like Hitler ordering the death of Himmler's son and then Himmler overthrowing Hitler to save him. Himmler would still be accountable for the mass murder (among other things) that he committed in the name of Nazism. as would Vader.

Personally I was delighted when the Emperor made a return in Rise of Skywalker although I was a bit frustrated that was attached to that pylon. I also found that Ian McDiarmid's physicial acting was very poor (not convincing with a lightsaber and even less so when being dragged off by the droids on Dooku's mothership at the beginning of the The Revenge of the Sith), but that voice...

Of course all of the movies were flawed and have some ridiculous concepts - none worse than the knife to locate the Emperor's Throne Room on the second fallen death star. However, the most significant one was how it changed the status of Vader. The original trilogy could be called "The Redemption of Anakin Skywalker", the prequel trilogy turns it into "The Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker" and the sequel trilogy becames despite some vain effort "Who the f**k was Anakin Skywalker".

So, to the point of what prompted today's Star War's post. I saw a thread the other day on my Facebook about who the most significant character in Star Wars was other than Vader who was an obvious first choice. And yes I was one of those who "oohed and arred" when Vader appeared at the end of Rogue One - which to me, while outside the Canon, is the best of all of the Star Wars movies.

Some suggested different heroes, Luke, Leia, Yoda etc, but for me there is only one candidate and I would even say he was more significant than Vader and of course that is the Emperor himself.

Why? I hear you asking.

While he wasn't physically present in A New Hope he dismissed the Senate just like that and it was clear he was the boss and that Vader was just his henchman. In Empire we see him calling the shots even in the short scene that he appears in (BTW I think it was a good thing to insert Ian McDiarmid there in the remasters - although I am not sure about what they did with Anakin at the end of Return of the Jedi) and he obviously comes to his own in Return of the Jedi. The prequels are all about his master manipulation and accession to power, Order 66 proves that this was a long preordained plan which he unfolded with perfect cunning. The sequels culminate in his return and just briefly a full restoration of his power as he drew strength from the dyad that Rey and Kylo Ren formed collectively. Prior to that we see that Snoke, although initially set up to be a new emperor, was nothing more than Palpatine's puppet.

And that my friends is why Emperor Palpatine is the number one character in the Star Wars universe. What do you think?

Incidentally, and I have worked this out, Carrie Fisher died at exactly the same moment as she appeared in Rogue One (CGI) when I was watching it in the cinema which also pretty much coincided with when my mum died - many many years ago.

As always stay safe and well my friends.