I find it interesting that various people place RO and TFA in opposite places in their ranking. Some put RO between the OT and PT, some put it below the PT. Some put TFA between the OT and PT and some put it below the PT. Few (except it seems on this page) place both between or both below. It seems to fall into line with whether the poster finds some redeeming quality in the PT or not. Those who do tend to put RO over the PT and TFA below it. Those who hate everything about the PT tend to put TFA over the PT. I’m sure that is not true of everyone, but a growing number seem to fall into one of those two groups.
For me Star Wars was always about the Rebellion vs. the Empire. I think that is why I love RO and Star Wars Rebels. That is what I have wanted more of all these years. TFA went backward and didn’t do it well. The PT are flawed. I think part of that is the story that Lucas had in mind. His notes to Alan Dean Foster back in 1976 for the original novel bear out that the PT was always going to be political as the collapse of a great Republic would have to have that as a component of the story. I have found it interesting since the PT finished to read the description of Palpatine as an ineffectual puppet controlled by others because that is exactly what Palpatine’s public persona is. We got his alter ego in Darth Sideous in ROTJ and the dual nature in the PT. That is the part of the story I love. The rest of the characters are pawns in Sideous’s game… and none of them realize it until too late. But all that depth that characterized the OT and to a lesser extent the PT is missing in TFA. I can see where the characters and settings could win over many, but the story is the weakest of all the stories to this point.
Lucas and Abrams have different strenghts and weaknesses and to me, Lucas’s work even in the PT is superior to Abrams work in TFA. I can see why others would see it the opposite. But those same strengths that Lucas had that came out in the OT are there in RO. If it has weaknesses, they are similar to Lucas’s and quite different from Abrams’. So this difference of opinion makes a lot of sense because it is two different view of the what made the OT great and the PT bad.