I was listening to one of those audiocasts from the OS a while back, and Rick McCallum was talking about how in the early 90's when George first approached him with his project for the prequels, he told him of how a lot of their long-time fans would be upset becuase the films were not going to adjust their current age and mindset, but were instead going to be made in the exact style as the very films they grew up with, which was going to be jarring for them.

Hmmm....

(By the way, today is Nov 17, the 27th anniversary of the holiday special.)