I have seen all six twice, the prequels do work better as a trilogy but Menace is still the weakest and in Clones various plot points in Menace are recalled(Anakin telling Obi Wan he hasnt seen Padme in 10 years Jar Jar doing the same Padme reminding the audience that Anakin was a little boy on Tatooine when they, recalling Gunrays been on trial for what he did etc) but no mention of Qui-Gonn(which weakens his character until his brief mention at the end of Sith) so theoretically you can live without it but maybe to get the full value watch Menace.Clones does tie in better to Sith and you can see the dilemma of Anakin with his visions of his Mother dying and her subsequent death, and the visions of Padme he has and a reasoning behind the selling of his soul to Palpatine to save her and how his "love" for Padme which has grown over the years and the polictical side does work well and Palpatines rise is convincing but there is still crap in my opinion in the first two which was not necessary...........

Now how they correspond and tie-in to the originals is another issue.....

it felt to me like two different trilogies rather than one complete saga

and watching the six I have to admit even though I didnt think Clones is as bad as people make out, I could not wait for Sith or the originals to start...