I think eyecandy and john williams create that effect. Of course there are other factors such as hype and nostalgia and the OT's existence, but eyecandy and John williams is where it all begins. They can only cover up so many weak spots with them though...The stunts, music and visuals were brilliant. Williams, ILM and the stunt guys did what Lucas did not, and that was actually put an effort into creating something unforgettable and top quality. What brings them down is their creator unfortunately. Even more, the films were altered for the dvd so the original releases don't exist anymore... but no one cares to preserve them anyway... Where the films fail is at their heart. the main story is so dull and badly acted that none of the amazing visuals could save it on repeat viewings. All the little winks at the fans didn't help at all either. Star wars tales should be an escape into another galaxy far far away.... not filled with referrences to 'films' from decades ago. boba fett as kid was dumb, chewbacca being in ep 3 was dumb, threepio being built by anakin was dumb... etc. cameo etc. blatant forshadowing etc.... there's so much more to loath.

I've read on several sites now that Hayden's so monotone because he's imitating vader. I guess he was imitating him in Life as a House too. That dialogue coach really worked wonders in episode 3 for hayden. Natalie still gave a terrible performance and some believe star wars deserves better than that near-fanfilm quality... not just the acting, but the editing, and dialogue too... heck, the whole thing... scrap it and start over, I say.

I love the clone wars cartoons. If that had been re-worked into episodes 1 and 2, pulling plot elements from both and incorporating them into the story of the clone wars, with a stable main bad guy throughout all three films like dooku in it who then gets killed in the last one and replaced by vader... This new trilogy would have had a chance of surpassing the original.

The secret to immortality shouldn't seem like some throw-away afterthought at the end of this trilogy, but it did. And that's thanks to inept storytelling, wasting time to tell stories about podracing, tax disputes and midichlorian counts...

I hope that someone, maybe Lucas's son, will remake the PT some day. Like Lucas' says the OOT was about, "the children redeem their father's mistakes." or something like that.