Notice how you have to go to the end of the OT to make your point. The simple answer is staring you in the face, and yet you still don't see it
"If Anakin was the star, Retun of the Jedi would be a movie centered around Darth Vader's struggle to decide which way to go, not Luke's struggle to keep from falling to the dark side and fighting his father."
Bingo.
"becuase, as Lucas said himself, "it would be a rather boring story" or something like that."
To my knowledge, Lucas never made a statement like that in regards to the OT focusing on Vader. He simply stated that the three films comprising the OT were, in his opinion, more exciting in general - not specifically due to any particular character.
"But to me, the PT adds the depth to the story, rather than simply being the "backstory to the main story." "
Actually, Lucas has referred to the PT as the "backstory" several times as well.
"the problem is that you've merely expected the films to grow as you have."
You know, YOU are the one talking about the "added depth", NOT us. We aren't expecting them to grow - we want the OT to stay just as it is. Hence the name www. ORIGINAL Trilogy.com. Again, the obvious answer stares you in the face, and yet you completely miss it.
"I gave the prequels a chance, I didn't start bashing them until I saw all 3."
I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to TPM, and seeing Anakin's journey. I was also dying to see an all-CGI main character as well. All I saw was a lot of wasted material.
And before anyone else starts accusing me of "nostalgia", please bear in mind that I view ROTJ and ROTS on a similar level - that being that both have good material, but there are large segments that I fast-forward through.