And another thing. I think the whole Han shot first think was the most retarded thing I ever seen.

He's taking it way too personal. Like the OP said, it still generated 4.4 Billion dollars in revenue, that's, like, WOW.
He's letting the vocal minority get to him. For every raging fanboy out there screaming how much Lucas has 'destroyed StarWars', there's 1,000 others out there who like the movies. Besides, those raging fanboys are letting nostalgia get to them in turn. It's not like the original SW trilogy is oscar-worthy, as far as movies go. It's just that for their time, they were good, and the people that are fans were mostly very young when these came out. It's the same with videogames, music, and a lot of other things too, really.

The prequels are significantly worse in acting, dialogue, pacing, and have clear plot problems whenever they "line-up" with the original series ... I would even argue that, due to how excessively they were used and being that computer generated effects age poorly, the special effects from the original movies look better in many cases than the special effects in the prequels.

With that said, I think the best approach to making more starwars movies would be to hand the reigns to another writer/director (Joss Whedon for example) who should do a series based on another time-frame entirely (say The Old Republic). While it gives people "new" Star Wars movies, it also provides an opportunity for a clean break from whatever else has been done.

Star Wars first trilogy released at the cinemas between 1977 to 1983 rocked. Stand outs were Star Wars: A New Hope Episode IV(first film) and Stars Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Episode 5 (second film). Return of the Jedi. Episode VI was ok and was better than the new Star Wars trilogy. I rate Star Wars first trilogy of films, second trilogy novels, 4 out of 5 stars. I am not a Stars Wars fan.

The second trilogy released between 1999 to 2005 sucked. The last two films were a joke. I rate Star Wars second trilogy films, first trilogy of novels, 2 out of 5 stars. Disappointed with Stars Wars 1: Phantom Menace. I was even more disappointed with Star Wars 2: Clone Wars and I was most disappointed with Star Wars 3: The Revenge of the Sith.

The critics are right to criticise the lacklustre new Star Wars trilogy films because hi-tech special effects can not make up for boring storylines and bad acting.

I only watched one star wars movie in it's entirety and it was the sixth, revenge of the sith. I never understood all the love for this franchise so the changes that he made like the scene where that one bounty hunter shoots hans solo first or the infamous "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" when Vader tosses palpatine into a ditch really make no difference to me. I think only REALLY hardcore fans care about these changes and he's right, it's his goddamn movie and if he wants to change it up then so be it. If you don't like it, stop buying all his crap and hang on to the original versions for dear life.

Hey, George, how about releasing the original unaltered versions of your movies, that would make you some money AND fans happy!

Poor George. He's probably alone on his ranch talking to a jar jar binx sock puppet, taking some time to "reflect".

I have enjoyed several of the comments in this thread. My favorite ones are those that someone other the series creator can do a better job in a world that he created.

Yep, handing the reins over to Joss Whedon would be a great idea...

Forget it coolbeans. 

Lucas is a no talent hack that lucked into Star Wars.  I've read it several times in this very thread.

Can't agree really. Look at the interest in Phantom and the huge drop off for Clones - that was down to audience reception. Sure, Lucas might feel that negativity puts him off but he's just saying people shouldn't criticize which is nuts.

It's his name on the box and he can indeed do what he likes, but he can't demand we like it.

The issue he faces is he released a set of films with a specific vibe and design which garnered a huge fanbase, then he released a second set of films with a different vibe and design that were supposedly in the same Universe - that's asking for trouble.

Suddenly Tatooine goes from a dangerous underpopulated frontier to hosting huge pod races with a stadium holding more people than the original film made me feel would live on the entire planet. I could care less, but plenty of other people will and they'll be vocal about it - and that's just a minor inconsistency between the two sets of films.

Poor old George, guess he'll have to be happy with the money and skip the adulation he got for the original trilogy.

I'd still love to see him make something experimental in the THX vein - but I've lost all interest in Star Wars as something potentially having a nice mix of adventure, fun with some depth of character.