I saw Return of the Jedi in a drive in movie theater, with analogue stereo sound pumping all the sound effects and the legendary John Williams score into my parent's car. There's no comparison - even in today's digital age.
I believed that everything that I saw and heard was REAL. Palpatine, Vader, Jabba, The Rancor, the Millennium Falcon, that scary ass 2nd death star...I thought ALL of that was real even though I knew it was fantasy.
James Earl Jones'voice created the character of Darth Vader, period. That voice, and the breathing created the ultimate antagonist - who we all found out was supposed to be the main protagonist... These are things that we all know from watching episodes 4-6 over and over, but we're SO UPSET over 1-3 that we take the simple things for granted.
One really decent criticism that I agree with:
I don't believe that Anakin Skywalker is powerful. 1-3 Anakin is NOT the 4-6 Anakin. 1-3 didn't convince me at all.
In 4-6, you see Luke discovering this amazing dormant power from within himself, but 1-3 was written for an 11 year old. George Lucas even says this. THAT's why so many people are frustrated with it. On that note, Jar Jar binks was completely ridiculous.
Another criticism:
There should have been a deeper impact for Anakin's transition to the dark side. Ole Hayden C. didn't do it as good as we were expecting, and it was done too quickly. All the Jedi except one survived Palpatine's 666? That was done way too quickly with very little impact.
There were moments in 1-3 that made me feel like they were Star Wars movies. I really enjoyed the last 45 minutes of Episode 1, and ANY scene with Darth Maul. I enjoyed Yoda in Episode 2 - that was a welcome surprise. Episode 3 was the best of them all, but again, Lucas didn't want the movie to come off too heavy, with issues like the murdering of children and whatnot.
Episodes 4-6 created the Mythology. 1-3 are ok movies. They show a connection. They are in no way going to outdo 4-6. We can talk about any aspect of all six movies that you want to, but 4-6 are better in every way.
....you don't understand how scary that Rancor was. You don't get how friggin REAL we thought Jabba was, and how I thought that Luke and the gang were going to die. There are NO scenes in 1-3 that make you feel like you're gonna drop a load in your pants like 4-6 did. Needless to say, 1-3 ruined the whole "Luke I'm your father" thing for everyone else.
Hence the reason why this thread even exists. You really don't understand the "hate" because you unfortunately weren't there to experience these things. 4-6 are works of cinematic art on the highest level, and there's no disputing this.
1-3 are decent, but they fall short dramatically...because they were designed for an 11 year old, rather than a movie designed to hit everyone in the family.