I actually think the prequels are pretty good. They may not be up to the level of the original films but few are. The new films are better than a lot of the remakes and other crap that comes from Hollywood these days. At the very least, they showed great ideas and imagination which has been sorely lacking in a lot of other movies. The prequels are very different from the original movies, pretty much in every aspect. But that itself is not a bad thing. I think it's good they wern't rehashes of the old films. Ep II was dissapointing because I couldn't understand what Lucas was trying to do. It's very confusing and a lot of the questions essential to understanding the plot are never answered.

The prequels needed another person to oversee them because in some areas they resembled a great first draft that was never peer critiqued. I think Rick McCallum is a lot to blame for this. Lucas has always and still does have great ideas but he needed someone to push him to excel. McCallum as evidenced by his ep III commentary was nothing but a yes-man who fell in love with whatever Lucas did. There's a big danger because that creates complacency and takes away a burning desire to get it right, replacing it with good enough.