Funnily enough, Episode 1 was the only one of the prequels which created that sense of adventure and wonder for me as the original trilogy did.  Amazing locations, vehicles, and starships.  II and III just felt like they were rushing through everything they had to cover, and the ridiculousness factor just continued upwards from the start of II.

Darth Maul more than counters the Jar Jar factor.

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I love all of the movies, the story was all written the same time from Episode I till Episode IX (yes u read correct IX)

So Georges told the technology was not ready yet for Episode I till III, so he started with Episode IV till VI ( so the story was overthere already, so the only changes made are the scripts)