I recently asked two super cool kids, both huge Star Wars fans, to name their favorite of the six movies. One girl, one boy. Both said Attack of the Clones. Which gave me great amusement, as it's the bane of the 'proper' fan.
The boy, a little older, was already aware of the scorn with which older fans look upon the prequels, and he was a little shy about admitting his love for AOTC at first. His dad had even made him watch the original trilogy before the prequels so that he could experience Star Wars the 'right' way. The girl, still in elementary school, wore her allegiance on her sleeve.
I love asking kids this question, and I've been doing it for years. More often than not, I get one of the prequels--usually Attack of the Clones--as the answer.
I think there's something key in this for the jaded older fan to learn, and I've certainly learned from it. The prequels may not have connected with us like the originals did when we were kids, but they've clearly connected with the next generation of kids like the originals did with us. So I'm going to say George Lucas ultimately succeeded.
I think a person needs to get this in order to do Star Wars right.
edit_NR