If you're interested in the lineage of Star Wars, you owe it to yourself to watch the Red Letter Media reviews of Episode 1. Yes, he justifiably thrashes it. But in so doing it compares it to the originals and the things that made them great.
The reviews of episodes 1-3 are far far better than the movies themselves. It's a nice way to recoup some of the energy that was wasted on seeing them to begin with.
http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/s...hantom-menace/