Look, man, I've heard it. The assumption that because I feel differently about the films that I couldn't possibly understand them is a condescending way to dismiss my opinion. To me, I think the ST as a whole works, even if it pivots in the middle. Empire takes a pretty hard turn from A New Hope, but Jedi turns back toward the comfortable elements of the original. The difference is that you enjoyed the originals and you didn't like the ST. Thats fair, and I'm not going to tell you why you should like them. I think though that people don't see the "flaws" in the OT because they love them so much, and they nitpick the ST, and the Prequels, for a lot of the same supposed issues present in the OT (most things really aren't issues at all to me). In the end, the ST didn't deliver what certain fans wanted to see, but it doesn't make their narrative flawed. Ep IX picked up every thread and tied them up - it all works - at least as well as any other Star Wars does. The Prequels were the only ones that really were planned out in advance (hmm, maybe that is why they are the superior trilogy).
Honestly, literally anything they chose to do would have disappointed some fans and they would be the loudest voices in the room - just like with the Prequels - just like with any long running series. If they change too much they "destroyed" it - if they don't change enough they are "just copying" it. There is no way to win with certain folks, but they did win with most of us who jsut wanted to enjoy it, and did.
I don't begrudge your opinion man. Chill out.
I'm not arguing that the themes and character points were bad in the ST. I actually think a failed and hidden Luke is an interesting story to tell. The story of a grandson of Vader being conflicted and torn is a great story to tell. The collapse and failure of the New Republic has good story elements to it.
My point is that the way these themes were displayed, how the story was told how the actual structure, pacing and beats of the story were presented to us over three movies was absolutely dreadful. Why were story elements that were built up in TFA completely tossed away in TLJ? Why was the culmination of the whole trilogy an antagonist that wasn't introduced until the third and final act?
I'm not good at this sort of breakdown, but you can
watch the first 30 minutes of this video if you're actually interested in the components of story telling that themes and character development lie on.
The OT had plenty of flaws, but the story elements of those movies were pretty basic and held to a pretty good pattern of classic heroes journey. Obviously the glaring issue is stuff like Luke and Leia and Ewoks defeating stormtroopers.
The Prequels were competent from a story telling point of view because they at least had a beginning middle and end and the elements were tied throughout it with a consistent vision. The argument there is if the story was good or not (though you can argue the filmography, direction, camera work, overuse of green screen etc made for competent film making). Anakin was the main character and you got to know him and his character arc (though, imo, poorly written) and even became better through the cartoon series.
In the ST, the main character was Rey who had terrible character development. She basically was good at everything and really had no set backs. She had no arc, and any arc she may have had was erased as the movies went on. She could have had a really good story if it was written better and still followed roughly the same story beats, but here whole story arc was written like fanfiction.
Ultimately that just leads to forgettable characters.
