Overproduced is probably the right word. I’ve been listening to the Blu-Ray commentaries lately, and one of the FX guys the process of creating the prequel hologram effects digitally. They could have more easily done it old school, shooting an actor on videotape and reshooting it off a CRT screen to get all those analog video idiosyncrasies that give the OT holograms their unique look. CRT monitors and analog video cameras were still plentiful when the prequels were being made.
I’ve read that the Alien: Isolation game went this route to give all the video displays the look and feel of the Nostromo’s monitors in the original film.
Interesting, I don’t think I knew that about the Alien: Isolation game. Maybe during the prequels development they really consider the “sanctity” of some of those effects, and how much they kind of made the Star Wars aesthetic. Maybe it is one of those things where they were a little too eager regarding the capabilities of their digital effects. Maybe they could have found a better balance between using old school techniques and “new school”, which I kind of think the new films have been doing pretty well.
It will definitely will take some time, but I think a project that overhauled some of the prequels displays and replace with old school motion graphics would go a long way to help make the prequels feel more inline with the OT. Sure, when you look at some of the old tech, it is sort of indiscernible as to what their function is, but I think that contributes to some of its otherworldly magic the Star Wars universe has. Like the glass screens in the rebel base with the green lines running across them, or the weird white starburst looking shape on the X-Wings displays inside the cockpit. I never understood what that was supposed to be, exactly.