I loved ESB, but the Vader/Luke angle came out of nowhere, and the series seemed to get away from the macro aspect of ANH, to a more personal story in ESB with Luke/Vader, and that finally all came to head in 1983. I will be honest, I am one of the few who don't love Vader/Luke revelation, as I think it created just as many fans as it turned off, but ESB is damn good of a movie, I accepted the story. For me personaly, ESB is the only sequel besides Godfather II that is just as good as the original, and that to me is a real achievement to have movie magic in 2 movies from the same series.
I think SW will always live on with kids as we get older, cause I see my nephews and their friends enjoy the movies now, but the difference is when they get older they are going to discover the quality issues we discovered too. It is very easy for a kid to fall in love with a lightsaber or the millenium falcon, hell I did it back in 1977, but it is another thing for those same fans to still love those movies 10-15 years later, and that is where the PT/Saga fans will become a true niche fanbase, once the PT generation grows up.
I always use ROTJ as my analogy to the PT kids who love the movies now. I loved ROTJ as a kid in 1983, I thought it was better then ESB, but once I hit highschool and plopped in the trilogy on VHS around 1990-91, all of the sudden as an adult you understand what are the better movies, and ROTJ was just OK only cause it was SW. Now think of the PT, and times that by 3 movies, do you think kids in their 20's aren't going to notice Jake Lloyd & Jar Jar in TPM? The AOTC romance with Padme/Anakin? The ridiculous events that eventually lead to Anakin turning in ROTS? This is all stuff they will notice as they get older, just as I noticed as I got older that the Ewoks are kiddy, Jabbas Palace goes on too long, and the kiddification of SW actually began in 1983.
Trust me guys, quality always rules out in the end.