My whole thing about Lucas is the ultimate irony. The man is a genius, but that genius also led to the average prequels. He made Star Wars, developed Star Wars, and deserves all the accolades that the success of Star Wars had garnered. But there was such a ensemble team that made them that much better than any other movie saga of all-time. Now the ensemble players don't deserve too much credit, but after they left you can feel the void in the following movies.
The ultimate ensemble cast was ESB. Lucas developed the story and Executive Produced. Lawrence Kasden wrote the great screenplay. Gary Kurtz was the producer on the set all day. Irvin Kershner was director who got great performances out of the actors, and made it the most realistic Star Wars movie. Ben Burtt was the sound designer that gave us the great sounds. And of course John Williams awesome score.
Now who is the only one who stayed for all 6 episodes: John Williams. Now the music of the prequels is great, and probably the least complained about by the fans. Ben Burtt went to editing in AOTC, and it shows, but the sounds are still awesome. Kershner left, and Marguard did a good job, but Lucas did an awful job of directing in the prequels, as most the actors seemed very flat. The dialogue mostly written by Lucas in the prequels, was terrible, and sure it was campy in the OT, but 10 times worse in the PT. Gary Kurtz was gone after ESB, and the kiddy factor slowly crept into the saga.
I don't who this Joss Whedon guy is, but damn he is 100% right on how to make a saga great, and how to ruin it.