I'm not sure that it's such a big deal as the prequels are intended to be watched after the OT. Either that or Lucas is an even shittier writer than I thought. It would be interesting to see fan edits of the prequels which edit out any spoilers but then again, that would mean having to watch the damn things again and I'm not sure I ever want to do that.

I saw TESB on it's initial release and to be honest, I can't remember if the reveal was known to me before I saw the movie or not. I definitely remember buying an Empire Strikes Back movie magazine before I saw the film but I don't recall if it was mentioned in that...