padawanlost:

Nope. The purists
will die before admitting this but pretty much everyone who knows the Star Wars
EU will agree that the Prequels revitalized the franchise and its stagnated EU.
George had banned writers from exploring the events leading to A New Hope so
the authors could only go forward. Now imagine exploring the same trilogy for
20 years. That’s what happened, the authors were bound to write about the OT
universe, its characters (their adventures, their families, their friends,
their enemies, etc.) for 20 years. It got to a point it nowhere else to go.

Then came
the Prequels. In the years leading up to TPM’s release, people got interested
in the EU again. Suddenly, there were new possibilities. We were introduced to
politics, the everyday life of the Republic’s citizens, the Sith, the
organization of the Jedi Order, the Senate, ships, weapons and a shitload of
new characters, species and planets.

Star Wars became
this gigantic universe because of the Prequels. No one is denying the quality
and value of the original trilogy, but, in terms of worldbuilding, the prequels
remain the successful trilogy. The bulk of what we now know as the EU was
published after the Prequels were put in production.

It’s one of
these things that always amuse me. the purists go out of the way to pretend the
prequels never happened at the same time they neglecting to recognize most of
what we know about the galaxy far far away is a result of the Prequels
existence.  

Imo, the prequels
are more interesting because of the complexities of the characters and
situations. We don’t have a clear good vs evil narrative. It’s so complex and
layered. On the surface it looks like the Jedi vs the Sith but it’s also SO
MUCH more than that. The Republic feels lived in and its problems feel much
more relatable to our owns. And the heroes are not heroic, I love that about
the prequels. The good guys are the villains of someone else’s story, they are unwilling
digging their own grave. There’s a self-destructive element in these characters
that feel so very human, you know?

If the OT
is a study in what we should be (good uniting against evil), the PT is a study
in what we are (paving the road to hell with good intentions) and, in my
opinion, that makes it a more relatable story and, therefore, more interesting.