I only saw AOTC and ROTS in the theater once a piece and both were just horrible. I walked away debating which was worse and to this day it changes, but they're both gosh-awful. Tying the OT to them is like knotting an anchor around the OT's ankle and yelling, "Swim!" That's why, when it's all said and done, all SE stuff just has to go, period. All of it is in the vein of abstract silliness and EpIII is just patching together all the stuff he wasted his time not setting up in I and II. It's negligent filmmaking.
A lot of people still say Phantom Menace is the worst, and I see their perspective, but I disagree. The whole PT is bad, but the films suffer from the law of diminishing returns. At least with TPM, you had 16 years of anticipation without it coming in the wake of anything horrible (e.g., my guard was up for AOTC based on TPM, and when I saw ROTS I had no hope whatsoever) - you also had the most physical prequel in TPM, the most real sets and locations, and it was actually shot on film, which gives it a better look. Also, at least in TPM you actually had a Jedi-duo that was cool and worked well together - Neeson and McGregor (even though they didn't have enough to do and Neeson's character screwed continuity) - Yes, TPM had far too much childish crap, but I guess I forgive it more than the others because I wasn't yet wounded by previous prequels, everyone on opening night was positive and filled with hope before the film began unlike with the later movies and it was truly exciting to see some new Star Wars on the big screen...until it was over and my mouth was agape with shock and uncertainty.
Mike