I disagree with almost everything you said FarShot. Clone Wars, both the first animated show and the CGI, is fantastically well done and actually makes Anakin look like a real human being instead of a talking piece of wood. The Force Unleashed games are great, but a terrible mark upon the saga because LucasArts decided to fire everyone that had anything to do with them, effectively killing any hope for an actual ending. And you literally CANNOT blame Lucas for these things. Why? Because Lucas is shown the stuff that SOMEONE ELSE DID and says, "Okay, go with it." Lucas doesn't care. He occasionally tells them to do something, but beyond that, he doesn't interfere with anything outside of the actual movies.
That being said, I enjoy the prequels for the visuals and the action scenes, but not the story telling. And the reason for that is simple. George Lucas is a special effects man. Not a story teller. But Star Wars did so well that the fans believe he's a great story weaver. He's not. Hell, some of the biggest genius character moments in the original trilogy were done by the ACTORS. Example: During the scene when Han was to be frozen in carbonite and Leia told him she loved him, Harrison Ford tried every variation of "I love you too" in the book before he finally just said, "I know." Cut, print, GENIUS. The fact of the matter is that the cast and the fans understand these characters better than the creators. And I think that comes through even in some of the performances in the prequels, especially Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan.
This is a cartoon series that they're making. Not just an animated series, it is a straight up cartoon.