Prequel Trilogy vs. Sequel Trilogy

Prequel trilogy.

But -- these would be almost unquestionable strengths of the ST if they had sat down for like literally five minutes in 2012 and written even the vaguest of plans amid the swastikas and phone numbers on the wall of a bathroom stall in Santa Monica. They're making it up as they go along (by their own admission) and this negates greatly their ability to use this dimension as a strength. You know? I completely agree that it's inherently more interesting to follow protagnists whose ending isn't clear to you from the outset, but if anything these movies have undermined that asset by Doing Whatever with each installment. Innit?

ETA: And of course I prefer the prequels; don't consider the Disney films part of the real/"core" canon. They're hit-or-miss fan films with very limited rewatch value for me personally. Even TLJ, which was by far better than Rogue and Awakens, isn't something I could see myself watching on the regular despite loving Hamill's performance and really appreciating a lot of the damage control done by Johnson viz. TFA/JJ.

Yeah, I think Johnson was rather clever in simultaneously subverting TFA entirely while doing so in a way that was mostly "reversible," with the obvious exception of the major deaths. (I still think, for instance, they could retcon Rey Random and possibly give us more Snoke backstory, etc.)

More importantly, did you enjoy "swastikas and phone numbers on the wall of a bathroom stall in Santa Monica"?

I never thought I'ld say it, but the prequel trilogy is the better one. Unless part IX is a true masterpiece, the prequels are better in almost every way.

Yes, they are boring and the whole Anakin/Padmé thing never worked well, the twists and turns were predictable and the whole was not even visually nice to look at. But by god they were better than TLJ. At least they tried to tell a story. Not waste two and a half hours.

TFA tried to offer something new and fresh, but ultimately was too much like a reboot of the series by retelling New Hope. TLJ offered nothing. At all. The fighting wasn't interesting nor believable at all. Yes, it's fantasy, but put a little effort in it.

Anyway, it does not look like part IX is going to be much better, so, the prequels.

I have criticisms with both trilogies, but I ultimately choose the prequels.

Sure, the prequels have their mistakes: Jar-Jar, clunky dialogue, Anakin's fall is clumsily handled and over reliance on CGI, but at least they do their own story arc without remaking scenes and story beats from the originals and killing off beloved characters we grew up with in a lazy manner. They even have some good characters and moments like Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon, Ewan McGregor as Young Obi-Wan (I think he's great in all three), Ian McDiarmid as Palapatine, the final lightsaber duel in Phantom Menace and Palpatine's corrupting of Anakin at the opera in Episode 3.

I liked seeing Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher return in the sequel trilogy, but was letdown by a lot of other things. The Force Awakens was just a remake of A New Hope with different characters. 30 years later and the same shit is going on? A whole universe of characters, alien cultures, politics and this was the story they chose? Last Jedi was a little better, but suffered from remaking bits of Empire Strikes Back and some poor script choices.

Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega and Oscar Isaacs are all talented actors and their characters have potential. I just wish the material they were given was more interesting than just remaking the character arcs from the originals.

Word, dude!

Ultimately, I'm just going to be an OT purist.

I enjoy Phantom Menace to a certain extent. And I enjoy Force Awakens to a certain extent. But episodes 2-3, and 8 just don't do anything for me at all. So neither trilogy has much value for me.

I still wish Star Wars had just simply continued after RotJ in the late 80s or early 90s. No prequels. No "focus on the next generation" sequels. Just continue the damn story with the original characters.

I would have loved to had the OT continue like you say.  I've got to believe that Lucas felt that he needed to provide the background of how he saw the Jedi and Republic's fall and the Empire's rise to tell his sequel story correctly, and then with the lashing he took when he told those stories, just never had the desire.