IMO, there are reasons why (at least IMO) the best SW films are Empire, Star Wars and Sith (in that order). The reason is this: for those 3 films there was a sense of urgency to get the films done right. I mean, GL was hospitalized over the stresses of the first film, and Empire had to be a success to make Star Wars a saga. Most sequels at that point were critical and financial bombs. If Empire had been Jaws 2, Psycho 2 or Rocky 2, the saga would have been over right there. When they were making Jedi, Menace and Clones all were LOCKS to be blockbusters. I think there was some urgency again for Sith after the general consensus was that the first two prequels were disapointing.

I just think GL got too complacent with SW for a while and stress/no guarantee of success always seemed to make GL work harder.