The Oklahoman has a great new feature about Yoda and fan reaction:

"They should've gotten Yoda to play Shaft," said Molly Pickrell, after watching the diminutive Jedi master move with the grace and speed of a samurai. The little green Muppet easily upstaged co-star Samuel L. Jackson, who actually played Shaft a few years ago.

"Star Wars Episode II" opened in Oklahoma City theaters just after midnight Thursday. The fifth film in George Lucas' saga, and the second in chronology, drew a host of Wookies, bounty hunters and dark lords of the Sith. Plus, it pleasantly surprised a few fans who were disappointed with its predecessor, "The Phantom Menace."

"I went in with really low expectations because of Episode I," said Pickrell, a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma. Even the most die-hard fanatics, when pressured, admitted that the 1999 film didn't live up to the hype and was a little annoying, thanks largely to a character named Jar-Jar Binks. Plus, the plot of George Lucas' first film moved a little slow.

But that's where Star Wars apologists, such as Mike Janssen, jump in.

"Let me just say, the reason he started with the second three is because no one would have come if he made the first three ... first," said the University of Central Oklahoma student, standing outside the Quail Springs Mall Wednesday night.

But "Clones" delivered, fans said after seeing the film. In addition to the lightsaber-wielding Yoda, there were intense battle sequences, political intrigue and a complicated romance between the Senator Amidala and Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker, who begins to show signs of affinity for the dark side of the Force. Fans know this will lead him to become Darth Vader in the classic trilogy, films Pickrell said she fell in love with as a child.

Jedi enthusiasts were sequestered outside AMC Theaters at Quail Springs Wednesday night, away from the other mall patrons, who watched them warily.