So, episode 5. It would appear that it takes us right up to the opening crawl of THE REVENGE OF THE SITH. Whoa. The pace was relentless, and I must admit that episodes 4 & 5 were somewhere in the scale between the most cinematic cartoons I've ever seen produced for TV (and I'm saying that as both a major Bruce Timm fanatic, and a lover of those first three SAMURAI JACK episodes that work so well when stitched together, they might as well have been released theatrically), and the best on-screen STAR WARS moments since the climax of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
Sure, I often jest at George Lucas's expense (and boy, can he afford it), but one thing that remains true about the dude is he sure knows how to pick collaborators (Irvin Kershner, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, for starters). It's just a shame he wasn't prepared to delegate some of the responsibility for the prequels earlier.