Phantom is the only one of the prequels I've seen, so I guess I should weigh in. The opening few moments in space seemed promising, but it went downhill very quickly. Even with a few known stars who could act (Neeson, McGregor), I just couldn't get on board. The droids & the technology seemed out of place in the Star Wars universe. They were late 90s styles being presented as a continuation of a series of films born in the 70s. They didn't fit at all with the universe we'd been introduced to previously.

When Jar Jar made his appearance, I was shocked at how stupid the character was, both in idea & in execution. Once it was apparent he was a central character, I knew Phantom wasn't for me. Add to that the laughably bad acting of Lloyd & Portman, a terribly weak story, and the sudden change to a universe & planets teeming with millions of people (as opposed the lonely & secluded universe of Star wars) - and it was something else that didn't fit at all with the originals.

When I left the theater I didn't know what to think. I was shocked at how far removed it felt from the originals. To me, it came across as formula without passion. After a few weeks I realized I wasn't going to follow Star Wars any further. It started to fade from my thoughts. After a while, I decided I wanted to secure more permanent copies of the original three. I only had VHS at that point. It took me a while, but it eventually led me to the laserdisc copies I have now, which in turn led me to this site as I tried to find a way to make DVD copies. These days, I sometimes read comments on here about Phantom and I have to struggle to remember the scene being discussed or some of the character names mentioned.

10 years later, I never give it any thought.