I understand that TPM wasn't as thrilling and fulfilling as you hoped it would be and thus you fear that the prequel trilogy only serves to water down the original, but don't fret. When all six (or nine) films are seen as a whole everything will pay off and we might not even despise Jar Jar as much. Lucas' only mistake (if you choose to see it that way)was that he set out to make a popular art film rather than an easily digestible summer blockbuster.
You see, SW isn't really science fiction-- it's an old fashioned epic more in the tradition of Gilgamesh than Godzilla. (Don't get me wrong, I love SF--this just isn't it) For more on the nature of Epic mythology, read Joseph Cambell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces" which Lucas actually used as the inspiration and blueprint for The original trilogy. In a nutshell, TPM sucked because that's how epic cycles begin. The land is peacefull, but grows complacent. Civillization just sucks the life blood out of our animal selves. (Look at Amidala's cheeks for crying out loud.) Therefore, in order to restore vibrancy to our lives, evil must rear it's head and a hero must--this is obviously way oversimplified-- vanquish it. The turbulence of all this is the stuff of life. So that's why the jedi council seems like a bunch of dicks--they're bored. Yoda needs Vader. We all need Vader. (But you knew that.) The republic is stangnant and the characters that inhabit it are mostly cold and distant.
So unfortunately, we might have already seen the "best stuff"--the heroics-- but I think that the prequels will serve to enhance our understanding of the originals.
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I understand that TPM wasn't as thrilling and fulfilling as you hoped it would be and thus you fear that the prequel trilogy only serves to water down the original, but don't fret. When all six (or nine) films are seen as a whole everything will pay off and we might not even despise Jar Jar as much. Lucas' only mistake (if you choose to see it that way)was that he set out to make a popular art film rather than an easily digestible summer blockbuster. You see, SW isn't really science fiction-- it's an old fashioned epic more in the tradition of Gilgamesh than Godzilla. (Don't get me wrong, I love SF--this just isn't it) For more on the nature of Epic mythology, read Joseph Cambell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces" which Lucas actually used as the inspiration and blueprint for The original trilogy. In a nutshell, TPM sucked because that's how epic cycles begin. The land is peacefull, but grows complacent. Civillization just sucks the life blood out of our animal selves. (Look at Amidala's cheeks for crying out loud.) Therefore, in order to restore vibrancy to our lives, evil must rear it's head and a hero must--this is obviously way oversimplified-- vanquish it. The turbulence of all this is the stuff of life. So that's why the jedi council seems like a bunch of dicks--they're bored. Yoda needs Vader. We all need Vader. (But you knew that.) The republic is stangnant and the characters that inhabit it are mostly cold and distant. So unfortunately, we might have already seen the "best stuff"--the heroics-- but I think that the prequels will serve to enhance our understanding of the originals.