Lucas is a film maker first, business man second. I'll accept your badmouthing him on not giving you the OT, but I won't accept you discredting his ability as an 'artist'. The man knows what makes a story, from Greek Mythology, to English legends, to Samuri tales. He was good friends with Joseph Campbell, the uttmost authority on all things myth throughout history. Listening to him talk on Charlie Rose's program, I rediscovered the feeling of admiration I had for Lucas before I let the mentalities of Internet Message boards degrade him. He is a visionary in storytelling and the technical aspects of making film.

The 'story' of the prequels is good. The execution (mostly editing) is where it fails. When you see all 6 films together you will understand the diffrences in the tone, pacing and approach. You basically go from the story of a grand republic with knights as it's guardians to a renegade rebellion against an empire, after almost 10 years of Civil War. The tones are obviously going to be diffrent.

Anyways, this isn't really directed at anyone in particular. It's just something I wanted to get off my chest. In the anger many have over the changes, let's not lose sight of the wonderful story telling that takes place. Hell, the Jabba scene in ANH is almost neccesary if you look at the movies as a Saga. If he is not in EP III, what you have is a character who disappears at the end of EP II, reappears in EP IV in a "I'm still here/What's he doing there" cameo, to EPV "Oh crap, he's back and this is what he was doing in EP V, to EP VI in which his name is uttered on screen for the first time in '25 timeline years' and he meets his doom.