I could not disagree more on the hatred leveled at Return of the Jedi.
It was the last star wars film made with feeling, the last one with any magic to it. The last one made without shitty lame brain 90% cgi, and the last one to be edited by Marcia Lucas.
It might not be that great as a stand alone but as a third film that is supposed to tie up a series i think it works rather well. Despite the now continuous fanboy backlash against the ewoks and the them having a second death star.
I still wonder if hatred of jedi is popular because it was started by Kevin Smith and now everyone just parrots whatever he or his films had to say.
Leia being the sister never bothered me in fact that is one of the points i like, just like vader being luke's father. I also like that han was not just killed off to make it more edgy, which is a lame point of mordernism making everything dark and sinister.
Lumping it in with the phantom menace or its sequels you can do based on your own opinion, in my own that is crazy.
George was not a cynic when he made return of the jedi. Jedi while imperfect shows a lot of heart.
To me star wars would be a perfect 6 film saga if lucas only followed the original plan for the prequels. With the only change necessary of having Vader and Anakin One and the same and not separate characters.
He could have done a different sequel trilogy than original intended as well with the way jedi was filmed.
Any episode 7 would start out with Luke as a Jedi master rebuilding the order, Leia and Han Married. And the rebels set up the new republic while fighting the imperial remnant. With the possibility of sith being out there and still dangerous or that anyone Luke took on as a student might go to the dark side.
Basically all the points covered by the Zahn trilogy. Because someone else did it already even though not Lucas official canon, he feels like he can be lazy and not do those stories because someone else has.
Or perhaps the time passed long ago in the 1980's. It could also be argued Lucas would not do those movies because fans would claim he was just copying Timothy Zahn.