FWIW, I felt TFA had too many PT tie-ins (haven’t seen R1). By “too many”, I mean they were:
- not in any way necessary to advance the story or characters, and
- more likely to cause a “WTF” reaction from moviegoers who have not committed the PT to memory, which I’d say is a sizeable contingent
As I understand it, there were a few PT references in the film that were just fine–I understand there were flags referencing the PT in one scene, and while those didn’t advance the story or plot, they did not trigger any WTF moments or trip up the viewer–so those are fine by me. On the other hand, needlessly mentioning the Sith (what the hell’s a Sith?) and Clones (weren’t they ancient history at the beginning of Star Wars? Why are they even relevant by the time Episode VII rolls around?)–those just needed to go.
Well, both really go back to 1977. If there was something called the Clone Wars, all references to clones after that is in universe. And back in 1977, when there was no Expanded Universe, just the novel and then the movie (yes, the novel came out first), and all the promotional materials, Vader was know as Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith (http://thestarwarstrilogy.com/starwars/post/2014/07/11/Famous-Monsters-Star-Wars-Spectacular-1977). He was called that so many times that it is part of my earliest memories of Vader. It is how he is introduced in both the novel and the script published in The Art of Star Wars.
So I fail to see how either the word Clone or the word Sith could take out of of a 2015 movie when they both date from 1977. Both are very much OT in origin and were just more prominent in the PT.