I wonder...

Wasn't it Star Trek that had the theory that the odd-numbered movies were the "bad" ones, while the even ones were "good"? That means the bad influences were pretty evenly distributed throughout his movie career. (I know nothing of the recent Star Trek: New Voyages (2004) with James Cawley in the role; perhaps someone could help with that.) And then there are the TV episodes of varying quality.

Meanwhile, the theory on Star Wars movies seems to be that the good movies are those with an episode number greater than or equal to 4, and Solo wasn't in any of the episodes before 4, as far as I know. None of those to taint *his* reputation.

Besides which, Kirk is a military man, taking orders from High Command... except when he doesn't. Han Solo is a bounty hunter, answering only to he who has the currency and the inclination to hire him. So he gets cool points for that, in many people's eyes.

Nyperold