I don’t really like the age/birth year/generation argument. As one factor, sure. But as the defining factor, not really.
My birth year is closer to 1999 than to 1977, and yet while I kinda liked TPM in theaters as a kid, I greatly disliked RotS the first time I saw it (and that was when I still appreciated RotJ). If age/generation is a huge factor here, I should probably be more inclined to enjoy the PT, or at least to be more forgiving of it, since I should be more familiar and prone to liking modern, more impressive blockbusters than older people, and yet that hasn’t been the case (and I’m sure many other people around my age are like me, so it’s not like I’m a demigod or a superior being, LOL). I was already familiar with the OT when I watched RotS, though, but I didn’t love TPM as much as the OT, or I probably disliked it by 2005 (I don’t remember when it was the first time I watched the movie since the only time I saw it in theaters).
Additional factors may be parents, friends, exposure to other movies, etc.
Age isn’t really the causation here, it’s almost beside the point. What I basically mean is that if PT is part of your introduction to Star Wars, then you’re going to accept it as “Star Warsy.” This could be the case with an adult being introduced to the franchise as well, it’s just more common with younger people because usually people are introduced to Star Wars at a young age, and many adults now did not have the PT at a young age when they were being introduced to the series. If that makes sense.
I’m in a similar boat with you. I saw and enjoyed all the PT films when I was a kid but at the time I didn’t think either TPM or AOTC quite measured up to the OT (AOTC in particular was something of a disappointment to me at the time).
well, i never got to watch any of the prequels in the theaters, so it’s not as if i’m nostalgic for any of them - i just feel/see them the same way as i do the ot.
It’s not about nostalgia, not really. When you’re a kid you might be more accepting of certain things or things might blend together more easily. It took me awhile to separate the three OT films in my mind. Even now sometimes it can be hard to watch just one and not see it in the context of the others. When I was younger it was a lot easier to accept the PT as part of the universe. But now, having seen all the films way too many times (and, most importantly, having seen a lot of other films to compare), it’s very easy to see how different they are for me. In fact, it’s getting hard for me when I watch them to go back to that younger mindset where they were all just “Star Wars.”