Lucas spent too much time on the wrong things. There was no reason to dedicate so much screentime to Qui-Gon, 9 y/o Anakin, Anakin’s mom, the Trade Federation, Jango Fett, the clones origin, assassination plot and Anidala romance being as drawn out as possible, the amount of battles that are just experimenting/showcasing with the new CG (TPM did not need 4 fucking battles). Too many characters (esp having a new villain for every movie), subplots, random world expansion, they’re underdeveloped because the scripts are crammed, unlike the originals which have more simplistic plots and thus have time to fully flesh out their ideas and focus on the characters, the meat of the story. You can rewrite the prequels with similar overall story but simpler plots. The only way to actually make good movies with every element from the prequel screenplays is to make it a TV show.

How about just having Obi-Wan find Anakin? No point where Owen and Anakin actually have a brotherly relationship and have contrasting ideas? A slower turn to the dark side? More screentime with Anakin and Obi-Wan as friends? Seeing Darth Vader actually hunt down and kill Jedi?