In regards to the EU, I read pretty much all of the prequel era novels and with the exception of Shadows and Heir to the Empire I haven't read any other Star Wars novels before or since. Lately I've only been bothered to read the comics, with Dark Times and Legacy being the only ones I really care about. I haven't gotten around to reading the ROTS novelization or Dark Lord. One big thing I have noticed though, and I'll admit this is debatable, is that the EU authors even now seem to be more on our side. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to hear that Clone Wars material covered in the Thrawn Trilogy-books from way back in '91-was being directly addressed in the new Clone Wars EU.
"The Saga, George's Vision, etc." I don't think the EU authors really care about or even acknowledge that. To them, they're still back in '77 or whenever they first saw any of the movies and Star Wars still means to them now whatever it meant to them right after they first saw it. This is assuming of course that their first time seeing it was at least prior to '97 but I think that's a safe assumption to make. The only real problem, regardless of how cool they write and draw things, is that now they can't just pretend like the events of the actual prequels never happenned. It's this simple fact that gives rise to what a couple of my older friends were doing in their rewriting of the prequels, episode by episode. One of them is 28, his parents took him to see Empire when he was barely 1 and a half years old. The other one is in his late 30's, saw all three movies during their originals runs, and he told me stories about seeing ROTJ on the big screen and the whole audience throwing their hands up and cheering during the Millennium Falcon "Fighters, Coming In" POV shot because it actually felt like you were in the Millennium Falcon. Suffice it to say I'm jealous of them both. Anyway, my 28 year old friend told me about when he first saw TPM with some of his friends back in '99 and how incredibly dissapointed they all were. One big thing he pointed to was Darth Maul using a doublebladed lightsaber and how much that takes away from the signifigance of Exar Kun. He saw AOTC during some free time one day during the summer of '02 and actually uttered a verbal explitive, outraging some nearby theater patrons, upon seeing the Death Star plans show up towards the end. I didn't meet him until fall of '04 and all throughout spring of '05 he was calling me a "Warsy" despite my claim that such a term doesn't exist/doesn't even sound clever. He saw ROTS about a week or so after I did and his first comments to me were "Oh my God, Oh my God, it actually felt like Star Wars!" Several months later he'd refer to that comment as a false alarm and say he'd had more fun watching "The Aviator."
So, I think if I do go back to reading Star Wars novels I'll stick to stuff written before the prequels were made.
I know I keep coming back to the subject of why things went the way they did with the PT, but let me just say a few more things. While GL's desire to get back into the "director's chair" (if that's what he prefers to call it) was probably the big reason for not hiring directors, there's also a theory I have. The film industry and indeed the original fans of the OT have pretty much looked at it as the beginning, middle, and end of the story. I mean, even with the '04 dvds, they still had to give the box that "classic" design and call it "Star Wars Trilogy" despite the IV, V and VI along the other side. GL probably wouldn't have had much luck recruiting good directors because they themselves probably cared more about directing their own stuff and their own "vision" than they did about the possibility of getting to work on a Star Wars movie. The thought that there would be more of them, even if they were aware of the IV, V and VI numbering, probably just didn't cross their minds much. Sorry, I just don't buy GL's desire to get back in the director's chair as being the only reason for things going the way they did. I'm just theorizing of course, but I think it's good food for thought.
What was inevitable, I think, was GL at least being the one to write the PT's story. It's what he did on the OT and I don't see how it would'v been different for the PT. What could've gone differently was the screenplay and the direction, those really could've helped the prequels immensely, but the past is the past.
If it weren't for the SE, the prequels would be just prequels like they should be. But because Lucas now has to make the entire thing his own, we get "the saga." Even Star Trek, a franchise many here are comparing to the current state of Star Wars, never went any further than making the special effects better. Yes, we might still be just as pissed as we are now even if Lucas hadn't gone so far as to change the actual story of the OT, but I think this difference is crucial. You still have plenty of shots in the SE that are not visual effects shots. You have next to none in the PT. GL is really just a producer and an editor, he's not a director like he once was.
I wonder what will happen when GL's kids-or whomever-take over LFL. I feel almost snobbish saying that the people who watch the PT and the SE, of which there are quite a lot judging from how often I see the silver boxset lying around at people's places, aren't the real fans. It's not their fault, since GL pulled the worst double dip in history and like I just said, most people had already bought the silver box thinking the original versions were never getting released, as per GL's very words (and don't play that whole "well, he actually said it doesn't exist to him" game with me. It's mere semantics and you know it). And then I know people who are a little older who bought the '06 release out of love for the OOT. At least they have 4:3 television so it doesn't really matter, even though the picture quality is still total crap.
Here I go again, bringing it all back to the OOT. I still hold out just a little hope that GL/LFL will get off their asses and do something about all this, realize that the OOT isn't just some "historical document" that people would only want to watch out of nostalgia.