2008: The animated movie and TV show test whether the audience will accept something new.

It's not a question of whether the audience will accept something new. It's a question of whether the audience wants to accept animated stuff as canon Star wars.

1999: A prequel trilogy debuts to unmeetable expectations.

I question whether the expectations were really unmeetable. I think it's more a case of they just didn't try to meet them.

1996: Steve Perry's Shadows of the Empire is published; finally we know Vader's thoughts, and a character tries to get Leia to disrobe.

You mean we know what some EU writer puts forward as being Vader's thoughts. I wouldn't say that really counts as knowing Vader's thoughts.