They looked at the stories and they said 'we want to make something for the fans,' so I said 'all I wanted to do was tell a story-- what happened, you know, it started here and went there. It's all about generations and issues of fathers and sons and grandfathers; it's a family soap opera.'If Lucas' focus on plot getting from a to b and generational soap opera issues doesn't clue you in to why there was a serious lack of meaningful development in the prequels, I don't know what will. Thank you for the Star Wars universe, George, but maybe your departure was for the best.