SparkySywer said:
I have a really hard time convincing myself they’re in the same universe.

I feel the same way. Each trilogy is written, edited, and photographed so differently that they don’t work as a whole for me. Stylistically, they just don’t mesh (think Anakin v. Obi-Wan on Mustafar and Vader v. Obi-wan on the Death Star). It’s why I understand GL’s desire to make the special editions, even though I think it was a futile attempt that just made the originals worse.

I look at each trilogy as its own story, loosely connected with the other trilogies. The incongruities are easier for me to forgive that way.