The episodic format popularized by sometimes cheesy genre films like "The Lone Ranger," "The Perils of Pauline" or "Flash Gordon" has become the feature film flavor of the year.

Not only are the "Star Wars," "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" films serial in nature, the last two were among the top grossers of 2001, with a combined domestic box office of about $600 million. The four "Star Wars" films together earned about $1.5 billion; "Star Wars" and "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," are the second- and third-highest grossing films of all time in the U.S.

Some may call them sequels, but a sequel just carries characters from one film to the next, like the "Lethal Weapon" films. A serial unfolds over a number of films, often ending with a cliffhanger, like Han Solo imprisoned in carbonite at the end of "The Empire Strikes Back."

The "Star Wars" saga charts the evolution of Darth Vader and the rise and fall of the Empire. The three "Lord of the Rings" films follow the arc laid out by J.R.R. Tolkien, as Hobbits and their allies try to keep a powerful ring from the forces of evil. And the "Harry Potter" films, about a young wizard and the dark force trying to destroy him, will continue as long as J.K. Rowling keeps writing the books. There are four so far, with a fifth on the way.

So not only is 2002 a palindromic year, it is cinematically cosmic: It is the only time all three serials will be released in the same year.

Much of what goes on in the world, much less Hollywood, seems random but is not.

All one needs is an organizing principle. Here is mine: One thing alone is an accident, two things are a coincidence and three is a trend. So three serial films in eight months invites closer examination. What do they hold in store?

Here's what:

"Star Wars: Episode II -
Attack of the Clones"

A possible cameo by 'N Sync, the return of Jar Jar Binks and comments by the film's star, Natalie Portman, comparing it to "Titanic" beg the question - can this movie be saved? Hard-core fans worry that the uneven "Phantom Menace" was the rule and that "The Empire Strikes Back," the one master stroke in a flawed series, was the exception.

Little they've seen so far has given them hope otherwise.

Perhaps a new trailer - airing on Fox around 8 p.m Sunday - will help. Certainly those plugged in have been saying the right things. When promoting the first film, producer Rick McCallum promised "something 25, 30, 40%, not bigger but more intense in sheer scale and size." And writer Stephen J. Sansweet, chronicler of all things "Star Wars," said in Milwaukee last summer that "Episode II" would be "a lot closer to the original trilogy" and be "more of a thrill ride."

The film's trailers so far have focused on a romance between Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen, and now Senator Amidala, played by Portman, who will become parents of Luke and Leia, the recurring characters in the original "Star Wars" films.

When inquiring "Star Wars" fans want to know what is really going on, they turn to TheForce.net, the largest fan site on the Internet. It gets 1 million hits a day, and that figure is climbing as the new movie approaches, said site editor Joshua Griffin, by day a student pastor at a Baptist church in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Griffin's coups included a "scriptment," or narrative version of the new film's script based on information he collected. It was "so good and so close" to the actual story that LucasFilm asked him to take it off the site. Since "Episode I" was disappointing to some, "Episode II" is "a make-it-or-break-it" event, Griffin said.

"It has got to answer the call and be amazing," he said.

Based on what he knows, and he knows a lot, Griffin is cautiously optimistic. He believes "Lucas has listened to what people want to see." He said the new film includes "knock-your-socks-off light-saber battles" that include Jedi master Yoda, the Muppet, voiced by Frank Oz.

An incident involving Anakin's mother will cause the youth's "revenge and hate" to lead to a dark side-like act of violence. And he will rebel against his Jedi Knight tutor Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor. Among the intriguing set pieces are a battle sequence in an arena, with Amidala and Anakin on carts, and a light-saber battle in the rain. Along the way, Anakin tastes the dark side, said Griffin, "and he likes it."

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"

Director Peter Jackson shot all three films in the series simultaneously, which should give them a feeling of creative continuity. This strategy would have been risky if the first had failed, but it was critically and commercially acclaimed on its way to 13 Oscar nominations, including best picture.

The first film was the story of a brave Hobbit who inherited a ring coveted by evil forces, and the fellowship of elves, dwarves, humans and a wizened wizard who accompany him on the way to destroying the ring. It began idyllically and ended with Frodo, the Hobbit, and his best friend Sam, going it alone while the others set out on another path.

The next episode "is a completely different film," said Jim Rygiel, the Kenosha native who headed the film's special effects team and was nominated for an Oscar for his work. The first film "had some bad things and some good things. Film two is all bad. It's just nasty Orcs all over the place and tramping through marshes" on their way to Mordor, the evil place where the ring must be destroyed.

Frodo and Sam are joined on their journey by Gollum, a creepy creature introduced in the first film and which is digitally created, said Rygiel, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate.

Meanwhile, Aragorn, the heroic character who finally "accepted his mantle of responsibility for guiding humanity through its dark days, now has to set about bringing everyone together," said Mark Odresky, president of New Line Pictures, which released the film. "And these are disparate groups not used to working in a unified fashion."

"Rings' " episode "two is bigger than one and the third film is bigger than two, in terms of effects, in terms of the battles and in terms of the characters," said producer Barrie Osborne.

The Hobbits "come of age and see things most Hobbits don't see," said Dominic Monaghan, who plays Merry in the film. "They have to strap on swords and go into battle, and that changes them as Hobbits. . . .

"Hobbits are not used to seeing death. And when they return to their world, even though they saved it, it is forever changed because they will never see it in the same way."

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Same cast, same director and same bad guy. Harry returns to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but new characters and monsters abound, as do fresh opportunities for magic. Harry encounters the younger sister of his friend Ron, a giant snake, a very extended family of spiders, a flying car, a ghost who haunts the bathroom stall where she died, gnomes, elves and a pompous new professor.

The film, based on the second book in the enormously popular children's series, again pits the young wizard against "he-who-must-not-be-named," better known as Voldemort.

Any 91/2-year-old could tell you the story backward and forward, so we asked one, named Katie Peterson, who lives in Bay View with her parents Jeff and Terese.

Katie has read each of the books two or three times, and her favorites are the fourth, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," and "Chamber of Secrets." The latter has a recurring device of a diary that young Katie thinks will be visually fun for director Chris Columbus.

"I would like to see how they make the diary's words come off the page and talk to people," she said.

"They left out a couple of things" in the movie of the first book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," she said, but "otherwise it was great.

"Except at the end when they showed Voldemort because he was scary," she said. "I have a problem if I see something scary like a mummy or a really scary ghost I have nightmares about it. It's not so scary when you imagine (Voldemort), but it's more scary when you see him."