How is this travesty still open. Next thread idea, "Why are the prequels SO MUCH BETTER than the original trilogy?!", "How to perfectly cook a well-done steak with ketchup" or "Why is pineapple pizza so underrated?".
Growing up I preferred the third, then the first and then the second movie.
But over time I fell back in love with the original and even though I still adore the third. My actual ranking of best to worst movie IS the release order (although occasionally depending on my mood I'll switch 2 and 3 around :P).
I pretend I live in a world where 4.0 (or Live Free and Die Hard) and the 5th movie do not exist. It'll always be a pretty solid trilogy to me.