Bingowings said:

The it was doomed to fail because of the anticipation argument would only work if A) the films were really good and B) if they flopped at the box office.

The films were genuinely pants and they made and continue to make tons of cash.

This.

The pressure to have awesome fast effects and fights worthy of the Second Coming, is no excuse for making the story so incoherent, and the characters so bland and painful.
I don't think anyone would really bitch about this or that action scene being over-the-top, or unnecessary to the plot, if the basics - a well-structured storyline and interesting, well-acted and genuine characters - were right.

Look at the Matrix - did anyone bitch about the Neo-Smith duel being pointless, because Neo should've known that he can respawn, and should be running for his ass?
No, because that movie had good, believable characters and a captivating protagonist arc that made the viewer feel with the main character. So maybe he was a bit over-confident? Who cares, this is AWESOME!

Now skip to Reloaded - everyone starts bitching about how pointless it was for Neo to fight 50 CGI Smiths and then fly off.
Why? Because Neo was basically just a cardboard cutout the whole movie, it was boring (even if stylish) and the pointlessness of the scene was the more obvious.
[Even though it wasn't completely pointless, as it's basically Neo facing a new, worthy enemy, and learning that he can't beat this one at the end.]

So if Lucas wanted to pander to the fanboys screaming for effects and lightsabers, but not the part of his audience that appreciated Star Wars for being the good movies they were, I'm afraid it IS his fault.

:)