Mithrandir said:

...but can a Star Wars movie belong without Vader's armor, or Vader's character as THE driving force? Yes, the prequels tried; we all knew that the prequels were just an excuse to see Vader again...

Prequel as an excuse to see Vader again? How much screen time did Vader got? A few seconds, maybe a minute in Episode III. The reason that prequels (and not sequels) were made because that was the easier thing to do; Lucas didn't have to figure out a whole new story with a new finale, only tell a story in details that had already been summarized. A cash-in of the classic trilogy.

ImperialFighter said:

As far as George himself is concerned, while I'm relieved he won't be the one to come up with the final scripts in future, I kinda wish he could *still* be the one that would have the final say when it comes to choosing *all* the final character/ship/set designs etc.

Hell no! I wish George Lucas NOT to have final say in ANYTHING. I'm grateful to George for creating the original trilogy and the Indiana Jones-movies, but the prequel trilogy proved that was all he had in him. If we want anything like the OT, someone else has to take over the creative decisions who has a good grasp of what made to the OT what it was, has fresh ideas and willing to carry on in the same spirit.