The PT is even more “reverse engineered” than the ST is. The amount of “reverse engineering” is the whole reason people honestly believe “The Ring Theory” has merit.
The PT films are ALL bad stories, but they’re bad not because they’re reverse engineered, but because the ideas behind each entry aren’t elaborated upon, or executed competently. They’re THERE. But their mere presence isn’t enough to justify the larger story they’re trying to prop up.
The ST has one decent-ish story (TFA) that led into one great story (TLJ) that ended with a giant mess (TROS). Execution means more than intent at all times. If you execute well the intent doesn’t even really get questioned. If you don’t execute well… well, you wind up here, haha.