skyjedi2005 said:

Maybe Jedi was where the divide between the oot and the special editions and prequels began, because he finally became a father. When he made star wars and empire he was not a dad.

I totally buy this theory. And in fairness to Lucas, this happens to any artist who does something exceptional. As Mickey said to Rocky in Rocky III, "Like every great champion, you became civilized and lost that edge."

I believe alot of these directors change when they have kids as first they lose that edge and become 'soft.' Its natural but I think when they are writing, directing, etc, they think, "How will my kids like this?" When Lucas was shooting SW in 1976 he was thinking, "How will I like this?"