Another reason I would have loved to go microbial is getting to see an alien world within an alien world, fits in with Lucas talking about circles within circles in Cloud City, I imagine some wild 2001 stargate visuals to accompany cosmic depictions of the ethereal realm, especially after the mostly stale visuals we got from the ST all these things people called Lucas a mad man for I would have dearly loved to see, unrestrained use of CGI, inter-cutting between multiple intersecting side plots, a truly explosive finale, everything but the kitchen sink!
The great thing about the circles within circles aspect is that you see it in not only with Cloud City but other planets as well. It’s a reoccurring motif. Geonosis is probably the best example I can think of with another world he explored this circular technique. It would have been mindblowing seeing it take a step further into something unknown and yet connected to a simple but innocent conversation between Qui-Gon and Anakin in The Phantom Menace.