For me one of the problems with the PT has been the abuse of CGI, it occupies & consumes EVERY scene of the movie. Now some of it works reasonably well (Coruscant city scenes), some of it works REALLY badly (early JarJar in TPM, C3PO in the factory scene in AOTC) but for me the pet hate is how cartoony everything is. If you watch the battle of Naboo at the end of TPM its like watching a poor Disney movie, characters falling over, accidently blowing things up (ok so plot is integral to this argument too
) I was just appalled watching it (as a then 25 year old) BUT I saw Star Wars upon its original release in 1977...........if i could transport myself as a 3 year old to 1999 & watch TPM would I have enjoyed it? Fuck yeah! I think any kid would want to be either Anakin or Padme & have a good old chuckle at the poor misfortunes of JarJar....but im not 3..i dont want to see Star Wars characters getting farted on or stepping in poo, where the fuck does that fit into Star Wars? Commentators spelling everything out for you just as its about to happen.............lame!So perhaps the problem with the PT is NOT the movies themselves BUT THE FANS? Think about what I said in the last paragraph..if i was 3 years old I WOULD FUCKING LOVE THE PHANTOM MENACE, probably as passionately as I love the OT, but then perhaps not, children today don't seem to have the attention span of the children of yesteryear, but thats totally off the point.
So as a now 30 yr old what do I like about the PT? Well the script sucks ass for the most part BUT the STORY kicks ass! The almost Shakespearian playout of events concerning the downfall of an entire Galaxy is incredible, & for that we must acknowledge George Lucas's skill at writing story. I am so intrigued by how the story plays out I cant stop thinking about where its heading next. Palpatine is slowly becoming my favourite villain in the Star Wars Saga, so cunning, so sly, so ingenious. Obviously we know Palpatine forges the Empire & the Jedi are hunted down & exterminated.....but how??? & why??? Do the Jedi confront Palpatine & Palpatine is forced to remove the threat b yany means necessary or does he use the Jedi's apparant involvement in secretly cloning an Army as evidence that they were preparing a military coup & thus branding them traitors & outlaws...these questions, & more, I hope to have answered in Episode 3, the shitty eye candy & dick jokes the kids can have, the Vader being transformed the gay fan boys can have, I'm just gonna be content with seeing how this EPIC story concludes.
& just to start an arguement I'd even go so far as to say the STORY (not script, dialogue or individual story elements but the WHOLE kaboodle) is far better than the story of the OT!