TV's Frink said:
He wanted people to feel shocked or confused before continuing with Episode IV, and they are. There isn't any argument about the ending that I'm aware of. I've never read or heard anyone say that they "enjoyed" or "loved" the end of the movie. I usually hear things like "disappointing" or "confusing" or "interesting." AM might well be the only person on the planet who truly understands and enjoys his ending, but that doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy the other 2 hours and 50 minutes of his work.
That link takes you to an article by Antimatter that includes this:
...Viewers are more likely to enjoy my movie if they can get past their familiarity with the original prequel films. Thus, I would not recommend this edit to someone who has already embraced the prequels.The all important Episode V reveal is again cool and meaningful because the Prologue never identifies Darth Vader.
These defenses of the ending don't strike me as particularly effective.
Interesting defense... but if this is meant for people who don't have 'familiarity' with the prequals, absolutlely nothing would make sense. Characters and situations aren't explained or even identified.
A blank slate watching this before watching SW, ESB, and ROTJ, would have no idea who Vader is, nor any reason to suspect Dooku was Vader, or Anakin. A question they may ask is "who was Dooku again?" since he does practically nothing in The Prologue.
During the reveal in ESB, the reaction would be "But how does that revelation match the Prologue I watched? I hope they make a prequal to explain it."
So anyone watching Prologue first would KNOW Obi is lying about his student Vader betraying and murdering Anakin... or at least boggled wonder who the hell is Vader, since they just watched the Prologue and he's not in it except for one nonsensical appearance in the first third.
That first defense reminds me of people saying that in AOTC Lucas wanted wooden acting, no chemistry, and bad dialogue. Because that's how serials were, or that's how teenagers talk, or because the romance was destined to fail.