How could the Star Wars prequels be better?

Phantom Menace could've been better simply by setting it up 5 years later than when it actually did,making Anakin a teenager,and then maybe I dunno have him in debt and he's working it off. Also it should've had Jar-Jar as more of a Genius Ditz,rather than the attempted Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist.

But otherwise the film resembles A New Hope,and actually does it better by means of better effects,better acting from The Obi-Wan,and a more original plot.

Attack Of The Clones should've focused more on Plaptine and Anakin and less on Kenobi,maybe more adventures on Tatooine or Naboo,some indirectly caused by the Jedi,that would justify Anakin's fall a little bit more,and suddenly willingness to kill

Revenge Of The Sith would've been best if it was remade and based off of Matt Stover's novelization

A more original plot doesn't count for much if it's awful and confusing.

While many people have good suggestions for improving the movies, the problem with the prequel trilogy is not so much that the films' content is mediocre at best; it is more that the original Star Wars trilogy did not need prequels at all. When I went to see a production of Hair, the opening announcement admonished the audience to "please refrain from using any newfangled, futuristic devices to record this show. Let it live solely in your hearts and minds." That advice was what Lucasfilm desperately needed to follow: they should have kept their fancy computer effects away from Star Wars and let the original films' richness carry them throughout the ages. People could have simply used their imaginations to fill in the gaps. Even at their corniest, the original films still demonstrated creativity and commanded the viewer's interest. (You can complain about the Ewoks being created entirely for merchandising purposes, but I was interested in their culture and evolution, at least.) To quote Harry S. Plinkett, "I don't like any of these people [from the prequels]."

Yeah, I would've made Anakin a few years younger than Luke was in A New Hope, too.

Another thing that differentiates the PT from the OT is that everyone in the PT is growing up, whereas everyone in the OT, with the exception of Luke (and possibly Leia), are already grown up.

Surely this thread should have lasted longer than this. I would have...

• Made Bail Organa a more prominent character to justify "My father fought alongside Obi-Wan in the Clone Wars".
• Found a better face for the Trade Federation than Nute Gunray. Possibly a former member of the Naboo royal family, an Evil Uncle type thing who, I dunno, forms a big anti-monarchist movement with the Trade Fed's backing as a power play. Someone who's a strategist or politician, to play off the more familiar Emperor.
• Make some heavy changes to Anakin's backstory:
  • I agree with the decision to age him up. I rather like the idea that he is near Obi-Wan's age; I think having to call someone your own age "master" can really rankle you if you're generally a proud person.
  • I just don't care for the "miracle birth" thing. I prefer one of the early scripts where a very different Anakin was raised on the fringe with his father (a Jedi who left the order), and was traumatized when a mysterious black-clad figure (set up for Darth Maul, maybe?) killed his younger brother and crippled his father. That gives him a reason to be overconfident in his abilities, and a reason why he believes in responding harshly to injustice.
• I'd actually like to see Mace Windu as Grandmaster and Yoda as a lower-ranked tutor to Annie and Ben, regarded as an eccentric by the rest of the Jedi. Keep his Trickster Mentor tendencies from Episode V, you know? Plus, it could give Windu more screen time and would be more in keeping with Ben's "the Jedi master who taught me".
• One rather petty thing: I think the main cast could have used a Cool Starship Home Base, same as the original trilogy had the Millennium Falcon. The Tantive would have worked, I assume.
• Maybe found more interesting ways to tie the Lars family into the story. For that matter, I kind of like the idea of a young Raymus Antilles or his father in this series. I'd like to build on these characters we know next to nothing about.

Padme reveals a talent for deceit in the first movie, enough to pull one over on two seasoned Jedi. That never comes up again. Why not give her some time undercover where she can pull off some Master of Disguise/Con Artist stuff, to flesh it out?

For that matter, if you must have Jar Jar, give him a skill he can use to be worthwhile. Is he a mechanic? A good haggler or diplomat? A keen tactician? Good with animals? Medical knowledge? Give him a reason to be here, for Heaven's sake.