One last time, they'll be out in full Force

Jimmy Carter was president, gasoline cost 62 cents a gallon, and Elvis fans would soon be mourning the King's passing. It was May 1977, and Geoffrey Rosenberg still remembers the way George Lucas's ''Star Wars" cast a spell on him and millions of moviegoers during that time long ago and far away.

Next week Lucas completes the saga of Anakin Skywalker with the release of ''Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," the sixth and final installment of his sprawling epic. Among fans like Rosenberg, who grew up with ''Star Wars" and who remains a sci-fi buff, the event is already stirring mixed emotions.

For if Lucas changed the DNA of popular entertainment with ''Star Wars," he also changed the lives of countless fans in the process. To end it here and now, many say, is cause for sadness and frustration as much as for frenzied anticipation.

''It's bittersweet," admits Rosenberg, 46, a Natick businessman who caught ''Star Wars" in Los Angeles the day it opened, and was mesmerized. ''I'm excited to see the new film. But I recognize he's taken too long, quite frankly, to roll out the last three."

Jim Manning also saw ''Star Wars" 28 years ago -- he was 7 then -- and he not only grew up with the original three episodes, but also credits them with shaping his adult worldview. He compares the curtain dropping on ''Star Wars" to what Boston Celtics fans felt when Larry Bird retired.

''To me, these were more than movies. They were a philosophy of life," says Manning, 35, an Amherst, N.H., pharmaceuticals sales manager who liked the two previous ''prequels" that disappointed many ''Star Wars" devotees. ''There's a lot of polarity in my generation between the born-again types and those who totally lack faith. 'Star Wars' bridges that gap by showing that even good kids like Anakin can make bad decisions that lead to self-destruction."

Manning, like many other fans, plans to see the film as early as possible. He's taking a day off from work on May 19 to be sure he'll see it on Day One. So will Kate DiStefano, who'll attend an opening day screening with several friends.

''We'll see the movie, go out to dinner, discuss the movie -- and maybe see it again," says DiStefano, 33, who lives in Methuen. ''People I know are psyched to see this." Nevertheless, she adds, ''I'm stuck somewhere between excitement and disappointment that it's all coming to an end."

Credit Lucas's prowess as a filmmaker and marketing genius for tugging fans' emotions in several directions at once. If the Force is fully back with us, it's propelled by a prerelease campaign as relentless as any droid army raid on Naboo.

As even casual fans know, moreover, Episode III follows the transformation of Jedi hero Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader, the evil warlord who bedevils his own offspring, Luke and Leia, in the original ''Star Wars." How and why Anakin travels to the ''dark side" remains shrouded in mystery, however, creating unprecedented curiosity about how Lucas will resolve this key plot point.

Fan Lori Sartre, cofounder of the www.starwarschicks.com website, says when people ask her whether the latest movie can possibly match the best of the series, she reassures them that it can hardly misfire.

''I say, 'How can they not do a good job?' " Sartre says. ''If Anakin becomes Darth Vader, you have to go: yeah!"

She adds: ''You know it will end as a downer. You know he'll turn bad. But for fans like myself in their early 30s, the originals were literally kids' movies. We're grown-ups now, and this is a grown-up movie. We expect something dark."

Fandom for Sartre is a serious hobby. Her office in the Museum of Science, where she works as a graphic artist, is decorated with numerous ''Star Wars" items. She also belongs to the 501st Legion, a group of more than 2,500 ''Star Wars" fans that proclaims itself ''the world's definitive Imperial costuming organization." Costumed members attend charity and promotional events, and will be unusually busy around Episode III's release, Sartre reports.

To whatever extent fans make the new film a runaway hit or not, Lucas's empire seems secure -- and securely prosperous. So far, the ''Star Wars" movies have grossed almost $3.5 billion and have taken in another $9 billion from film-related merchandise. All have been issued in both VHS and DVD formats, and will be released in remastered 3-D versions at the rate of one per year, beginning in 2007.

Lucas has also announced plans for two ''Star Wars" television spinoffs, one a live-action series and the other an extension of the ''Clone Wars" animated series that airs on the Cartoon Network. Lucas says both are at least a year away from production.

Meanwhile, ''Star Wars" characters appear in more consumer-products ads than ever, with Yoda shilling for Diet Pepsi and Darth Vader hawking Kellogg's Corn Flakes. The franchise has seldom been stronger.

That hardly satisfies people like Marie Gunnerson, a baby boomer for whom ''Star Wars" once captured, if not guaranteed, a bright future of medical miracles and personal space travel. The fact that Lucas once toyed with the idea of making nine films, not six, has left her feeling let down, not just eager to see the latest and last installment.

''I feel my faith was taken for granted." says Gunnerson, a project manager in Maynard who declined to be specific about her age. ''I purchased all the movies and watched them multiple times. I invested my emotions in the promise that more films would come along. If Lucas's excuse is that he's too tired or old, well, he has people who could carry this on."

Bill Carter, who is in his early 30s, feels just the opposite, expressing relief that Lucas is wrapping things up and moving on. Although a serious fan -- Carter collected ''Star Wars" action figures as a kid and made the first three films ''the center of my universe," as he puts it -- he's been unhappy with the last couple of movies. The glut of ''Star Wars" merchandise and Lucas's progression from maverick artist to pillar of the Hollywood establishment do not sit well with Carter, either.

''I hated Episode II," says Carter, an events manager at Harvard University. ''The story was full of holes, and the acting was horrible. So now, for better or for worse, it will be done. No more expectations. No more doubts."

But will the Force truly no longer be with fans like Sartre? That remains to be seen.

Since the last episode came out, Sartre has become a mom -- she named her son Walker -- and has presumably moved into a different phase of life. Still, she says, so engaged has she been by other aspects of the ''Star Wars" universe -- the novels, comic books, and costuming group -- that next week's opening does not yet feel like some sort of ending.

''I'm engulfed with 'Star Wars,' " Sartre says. ''So I know, whatever happens, there's a 'Star Wars' beyond May 19th for me."

Joseph P. Kahn can be reached by email at jkahn@globe.com.