I know there gets to be a lot of OT vs. PT debate, and this topic has been discussed before, but I was just thinking about this a little bit today. I too am one of many of you who believe the OT is infinitely better than the PT, although I do enjoy the PT movies for the most part as well (especially looking forward to III). I'm not a big fan of Phantom Menace, and honestly, if it wasn't Star Wars...I probably wouldn't ever watch it really (I rarely do anyways). I enjoyed Attack of the Clones a lot when it first came out, and do think it is a good Star Wars movie...its just not quite the same for some reason. Nostalgia might be a big part of that, but for many of us there is more. What do you think the Original Trilogy had, that the Prequels are missing (for you personally)?
There are many things that we can point to probably, the "magic" and story being two main ones. We'll cover a lot of them I'm sure, but I thought I'd bring up something I have been thinking about...characters. I was thinking today how so many characters from the OT are iconic. Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, R2, 3PO, Vader, Yoda, Fett, Lando....these characters are all, for the most part, common knowledge in the world today. Plus, one thing that might have helped this is that...with the exception of different clothing, they were the same character...age wise, etc. With the prequels, we have Anakin as a boy, then ten years later (with a different actor), and now leading into Episode III (which will probably be our favorite version of Anakin from the prequels). It seems that with many of the characters, there is too much jumping around (Maul..Jango...Dooku...Sidious).
Another thing about characters is the fact that in the prequels, many come and go. We had Darth Maul (who many really liked), but then at the end of the movie, he's gone. Next we have Jango, then he's gone. Dooku appears, and by his absence in the OT...he's most likely gone as well. We'll also have another baddie in Episode III, that I'll leave out of the discussion because of spoilers. In the OT, you associated "evil" and "bad" with Darth Vader. The character, the costume, the music, etc. I think it is hard to build that association with some of the prequel villains, for the main fact that they aren't around long enough too. Much can be said of the "good guys" too, although I do think they (and Ewan McGregor) have done a nice job with Obi-Wan Kenobi in these movies.
I guess maybe it is unfair to compare them, because in a way...they are different trilogies. The OT seemed a little clearer-cut "good vs. evil" movie, while the PT becomes more blurred with Anakin's transition, much of the behind the scenes "secretive" stuff (Palpatine), and maybe isn't quite as cut and dry. Although I enjoy the entire saga, and really look forward to Episode III.....something just isn't the same with these prequel trilogies. Since I'm an NBA fan, I often use this analogy to my friends who ask me what I think of the movies: To me it is like Michael Jordan...I was a huge Jordan fan when he was with the Bulls...he was just the greatest to ever play....then when he came back with the Wizards, I followed him again...and still liked him, he was still good (but older), but it just wasn't the same. Sorry for my extended ramblings, one of our servers is down at work so I don't have much to do right now...and this is just something that I've been thinking about. I'd be anxious to read any of your opinions/suggestions.