You now realize that Lucas' initial plan was for there to be 4 prequel movies, meaning that TCW is NOT damage control, just the 4th prequel story.

In the 70's, Lucas planned for one film to be a prelude to the actual prequel trilogy, making The Phantom Menace the prelude, and Attack of The Clones, The Clone Wars, and Revenge of The Sith the PT proper.

And IMO that shows. The prequels play like he knew he wasn't done at 3 movies.