All terrific points. I'm a high school teacher, so I'm often looking for the least offensive way to phrase something. "Student might consider vocation as a bricklayer" usually doesn't go over too well.

I did enjoy two things about "Shadows": the prologue, which gave some depth to what could have been going on at the Emperor's end during the TESB conversation, and the revelation (leastwise I'd never considered it before) that Vader's chamber was hyperbaric: he was trying to bring healing to his horrifically burned lungs. Two good moments. Which unfortunately were in a largely unmemorable novel (at least for positive reasons).

And yeah, 1999, when I sat in a theatre with my wife and friends on opening day and, two hours later, realized that the most thrilling part of "The Phantom Menace" was seeing the blue text before the title. The movie had fallen flat. Despite all the wonderful things that EU authors had accomplished and hinted at, the story was unmemorable at best.

The animated series, though.... It's a frighteningly low bar, but it seems far more interesting and enjoyable than the prequels. A statement that seems almost to define "damning with faint praise," but it's working to construct something interesting and even good. Canonicity, though? Not sure if I'd go there, but I'd give it more credence than Episodes I - III. Not willing to commit to more than that.