Humby said:

After years of being on the inside, Lucas had no understanding of what made Star Wars important in the first place.

I've long preached that same point, but going one step further and saying I don't think he ever understood it, even when they were filming it. There are several interviews with people involved who mention some of the things he wanted to do that just didn't work, or ruined the moment.

This excellent piece about Marcia Lucas has extensive evidence that George just didn't get what made a film connect. The chapter titled Making Graffiti is particularly telling.
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/marcialucas.html

Humby also said:

Darth Vader was only a larger than life character to the audience, not to the other characters in that world. But Lucas didn't understand that.

Excellent point. Vader isn't even respected by the rest of the Empire leaders. He's spoken down to and mocked during the conference room scenes. He's certainly not respected by Tarkin or any other military official. He's only a bad-ass when he's the highest ranking officer in a room. Otherwise, he's practically getting an eye roll from the other officers.

It makes no sense what so ever that he's suddenly elevated to the feared-by-all status in the following film. What (in-story) warranted that transformation?

He didn't keep the Death Star plans from being stolen, he didn't get the Death Star plans back, he didn't stop Ben allowing the Falcon to escape, he didn't kill Ben (that was a self-sacrifice), he didn't break the Princess into giving up the location, he didn't stop Luke, he didn't stop the rebellion, and he didn't keep the death Star from being destroyed.

Fortunately for us, there were key people involved who kept George from ruining his own film. We weren't so lucky after that.

I don't think Abrams is anywhere near that obtuse. Whatever becomes of the next film, I doubt it will have silly-named charters, marketing-derived characters, rampant incestuous connections, or twirling light sabers.