I did things backwards and watched the entire Star Wars saga after seeing The Force Awakens. It's easy to see why this series became such a phenomenon. I liked A New Hope the best. The Empire Strikes Back is overrated. It suffers from "middle of the pack" syndrome where nothing of substance actually happens. The only good part is the battle of Hoth. Everything else is middling.
The reception to The Force Awakens has been interesting. Thanks to Rey, the wider world has now been exposed to a term that fanfiction writers like myself have already grappled with for years -- Mary Sue.
For the record, I don't think Rey is a Mary Sue and I don't mind that she's good at everything, because she lives in a fictional universe where there's a ready-made explanation for every possible plot contrivance imaginable -- it's called "the force."
So I'm all in on Star Wars now and I don't know how long it'll be until I get myself out. Probably until I finish the Clone Wars series.
