Ziz i like plenty of Star Wars after 1983. A lot of it EU where authors tried to Remain true to the original trilogy. The star wars i dislike are all George Lucas. I like the Zahn Trilogy, the Bantam Books era, a lot of the NJO. I felt del rey failed star wars with the legacy series they went in a different direction from what i would have. I like Knights of the Old Republic, shadows of the empire.
As much as the prequels rubbed me the wrong way I did not hate them as a whole, they were just executed poorly as evidanced by how much better the novelizations and ancillary books are.
In fact the first time i have literally found myself completely hating star wars was in the 2004 cuts of empire strikes back and return of the jedi and the new clone wars movie and series. Where did Lucas go wrong?
The spirit of the oot is tarnished by these new products Like the Special Editions, the Prequels, and the clone wars 2008. I have already mentioned i Like the Genddy series. I have also stated Revenge of the Sith was the best of the prequels but still failed miserably because Lucas could not Make Anakin's turn believable and botched it.
The Zahn Trilogy was true to the spririt of the original films and brought the story forward for the Characters we cared about from the first trilogy. You know the Luke Skywalker adventures and Stories Lucas abandoned to make the Prequels.
They are doing really cool things with the Kotor and Legacy comics. Also the James Luceno Novel Dark Lord was very well written. I also liked The Drew Karshyn Novels based in the old republic and about Darth Bane.
Plenty of artists and writers still get the tone and feel of star wars. Lucas is the only one who has changed and not for the better.
A director who was out of Practice for Sixteen Long Years. Anyone leaves their craft for that long is going to get rusty and make shit. You cannot be a recluse and out of touch with the average american filmgoer for over twenty years and still expect to Resonate with audiences. Their is a general Disconnect since Lucas is now lord of his Empire and no Longer the Luke Skywalker Figure Battling to take down the empire of hollywood, he is a businessman first and forgot that Movies should be fun and the storytelling should come before the cgi.
The Lucas form that Documentary From Star Wars to Jedi would have been appaled with his modern self, for overuse of cgi and Special Effects before story. He is not the same revolutionary Maverick filmaker who in the Seventies and Eighties knocked hollywood on its ass by making films outside hollywood and on his own terms. The Lucas and Speilberg's at the height of their powers Could kick the ass of these new hollywood upstarts. Only now they are a part of the problem with the cgi and lack of a good script and generally Lazy and Uninspired directing.
The prequels and Indy 4 had some of the most cringe worthy and worst Dialogue i have ever heard in a movie, The scripts were just a joke.
I would not hurt Lucas to take some writing classes or hire some writers who don't make a parody and a mockery of one of the most loved sci fi epics of all time.
The Prequels were Star Wars in name only. The magic was gone and the films felt utterly forgettable, did not resonate with Mythic themes. Sure there is Jedi, Lightsabers, spaceships. But without all these things they would just be some terribly expensive mediocre sci fi movies. Something was not quite right, the films felt tonally different
No Heroes Journey to anchor the movies.
The only thing they got right with the prequels was Artoo Detoo and See Threepio. They felt like the same characters from the other films.