gobalicious said:

One of the great things about the OT was the elaborate back story we got through hints across the three films.

I've been going through possible rewrites of the prequel story in my head and the more I do it the more I realize how difficult it is to fit the back story we get in the OT into only three films.

The events preceding the OT are much more complicated than the story of the OT itself. Consider the events we have to go through:

... ... ...

The complexity of the story and its forced insertion into only 3 films is one of the reasons I think the prequels failed. Even had Lucas put more effort into making more consistent plot lines, better dialogue, and more sympathetic characters, this difficulty might have been too much to overcome. In sum, the story is just too broad and expansive.

I think you're including a lot of events that don't HAVE to be there. Remember, the story worked just fine for 22 years without a prequal at all.

The Prequals don't HAVE to exist. Consequently, a question to be asked is what would be the BEST story to tell.

We don't NEED to see Anakin become a Jedi. He could be one at the start.

We don't NEED to see the Clone Wars. Perhaps the start of the story is the immediate aftermath of this galaxy wide conflice.

We don't NEED to see a love story. Anakin might start the story with a wife.

We don't NEED to see Palpy's rise to power. The rise of the empire could be experienced from other characters POVs.

I'm not trying to argue with your thoughts. Only to point out that there's no need to answer every possible question posed in the OT.