In the beginning

There have been a lot of different beginners products out there for RPGs over the years.  From the classic 1983 Red Box Basic D&D set to the Pathfinder Beginner Box and many more.  Last night glancing through my collection I spotted the old Star Wars Introductory Adventure Game from West End Games from 1997.  I used to play a bunch of Star Wars D6 back in the day and this game is essentially the same rules as the full game minus some extras and more complex rules.  It includes maps, dice, cardboard cutouts and some starter adventures.  One nice thing for the new GM is the fact that the box has a number of cards for different characters, vehicles, beasts and Force powers to make it easy to reference.  I can easily see where this would be a good set to get someone who's a Star Wars fan into roleplaying.  How it plays in practice though is hard to say.  I plan to give it a full read to see if it would be easy to run.  If I did run it, I'm sure I'd probably use the SW miniatures that WotC produced in the last decade instead of the cutouts.  What makes an ideal beginner box for you?