I would agree that Star Wars is dead in the same way that Rock and Roll is dead. Music stopped being about the music a long time ago, and it has only worsened through the years, like a malignancy spreading unchecked. "Music", if you can even call it that today, is all about style not only over substance, but in place of it. All a record company needs to produce an "artist" is a pretty face and the computer technology that can make it seem as though the person is a real singer. So, it all boils down to good looks (real or surgical) and a computer generated illlusion of talent. Sounds kind of familiar...no?

Star Wars is the same way. Star Wars used to have a heart and soul to it, an authenticity. It wasn't designed to appeal to people all around the world. It just did, because it was genuine and heartfelt. Dozens of movies since Star Wars have capitalized, or tried to capitalize on whatever formula it was that they thought Star Wars was made with. Just like record companies when one has a hit, all the others copy it hoping to duplicate the success. Studios began copying and distilling Star Wars' style, but precious little if any of its substance. With the PT, Lucas has become the biggest offender in this respect. He lost interest in making films that say something and connect to people, and morphed into a businessman more interested in making a marketable, lowest common denominator appeal, kind of product. He's the living embodiment of the type of film maker and studio head that he so detested in 1976.

Star Wars died a slow death. It began with ROTJ, where Lucas began to apply his stranglehold. Through the years it was decaying behind the scenes. How bad things were was unkown until the prequels began hitting the sceen.