>>6950975I think the difference is that Jar Jar is memorable. Lucasfilm had a knack for making memorable designs. George knew the money in Star Wars was in how children perceived the films and the coinciding toy sales, which is why he kept all merchandise rights throughout.
While the prequels were overly ambitious for their time and poorly written, the visuals and designs are actually quite amazing. Even surpassing the original trilogy in my opinion. Each of the prequels offered it's own unique set of characters, planets and war machines.
