I always thought the major problem with the PT instead of the ST trilogy would be the characters. When you make a set of movies, and people love the characters, it is very hard to make another set of characters that are just as much loved in that same universe. Think of Back to the Future prequel about Doc Brown, but no Marty McFly? Think of the Matrix about just Morpheus and no Neo? Characters, characters, characters, that is what draws people to love movies.

The PT for me and alot of older fans had very inferior characters to the OT. Padme was always a weak character compared to Leia, Anakin for many including myself was miscast, and Lucas always portrayed him as the anti-hero, so we would always feel sorry for him. There was no Han Solo character, in which the PT desperately needed.

The ST would have reunited the big three from the OT, but could Lucas stike lightning in a bottle for another three movies? The more I think about it, he should have stopped after ROTJ.