My point was that there is SO MUCH CRAP that HAS to happen in the movie, there is going to be no way to make it NOT look rushed. To me, "story" and "plot" are two different things.
Here's a plot:
Boy meets girl. They get married. They have children.
Here's a story:
Han Solo meets Princess Leia Organa in a twist of fate that places him on the frontline of a battle against the evil and powerful Empire. At first, they hate each other, but over the course of hardened battles she finds she likes his rugged style and devil-may-care attitude. After a frightening chain of events leaves Solo encased in a carbonite prison, Leia risks life and limb to save him. Together, they play an important part in the war against the Empire, and bring about the destruction of the once powerful government. ( I'd go further, but I'd be relying on fanfics rather than Lucas. I think perhaps you get the point.)
George Lucas spent too much time in Episode I on Pod Racing and not enough on story. I cared about Han Solo; after Episode I, Anakin Skywalker was no more significant to me than the bounty hunter robot IG-88 who only made one appearance in the entire series. I mean, he was just a kid with force abilities that wanted to bone Natalie Portman. Aside from the force abilities, how is he unique? Lucas simply wanted to try out his new toys and make pretty special effects, NOT create a carefully crafted and magnificent backstory to one of the best movie series of all time. Don't get me started on Jar Jar Binks. His only function, ONLY function in the entire movie, was to show that Lucas could have a fully rendered character on screen. Imagine Episode I without Jar Jar. Would it have been that different?
Episode II was a step in the right direction, but fell short of the mark. Storywise, the movie was great. It provided motivation for a lot of the characters in the movie. However, its primary problem is it ended too soon. Because Lucas was too busy ejaculating to his SGI stations for Episode I, Episode II had to cover a good portion of backstory that could have been handled in Episode I with some charming "growing up" scenes for Anakin. Instead, we're dropped right in the middle of events that only make sense if we make deductions based on Episode I.
Now let's see, for Episode IV to make any semblance of sense, the following things have to happen:
Anakin has to:
Impregnate Padme/Amidala.
Fall under Palpatine or Darth Sidious's eye. (I still think that perhaps Sidious isn't who we think it is.)
Turn entirely to the Dark Side.
Become Darth Vader.
Discover that Leia Organa and Alderaan have some information they shouldn't, and give chase.
Palpatine has to:
Overthrow ALL of the Old Republic.
Become/Expose himself as Lord of the Sith.
Establish the Empire.
Train Anakin as Darth Vader, his apprentice.
Kill ALL the Jedi, except Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.
Obi-Wan has to:
Figure out something's up with Anakin.
Figure out that not all's peachy on Coruscant.
Hide Anakin's children from him, then hide from the Jedi exterminators (whoever they may be) on Tatooine.
Luke Skywalker has to:
Be born, and possibly have some "growing up" scenes. It doesn't make sense to go straight from infant to adult, especially when you consider the roles Leia has to fill.
Leia Organa Skywalker has to:
Be born.
Be assimilated into Alderaanian society.
Grow up and possibly have something bad happen that makes her hate the Empire.
Join the Rebellion.
Steal information about the Death Star from the Empire.
Now, I personally don't see how Lucas can cover all that, PLUS provide the amout of story that was in Episode II. This is not even counting that it would be nice to see more of Boba Fett and Han Solo, perhaps some new information about them. Instead, what we're going to get is the smallest amount of time Lucas can spend on each plot point. Along with that, he'll probably worm Natalie Portman in Leia's slave girl outfit somewhere in the movie, I mean, did anyone else notice that Lucas seemed to enjoy her assets a little too much?
I'm sorry I didn't explain myself in great detail, Beldaran. You see, sometimes I assume that others can understand my thoughts and ideas without me having to explain them in full. I did not realize that my statement went so far over your head to make you have to reveal yourself as the king of logic. I'm sure if this were a pissing contest, or if your opinions had any bearing whatsoever on my life, you would have won, sir.
There is an exercise called thinking. Sometimes my posts require a little bit of that to fully understand my points.
Besides, we all know that Episode III: Padme Bears All will simply be a 2-hour striptease in which Natalie Portman wears smaller and smaller outfits until the eventual end when she dies right before her bra and panties are removed. Sorry to spoil it for you. But the nude scenes will be on the Super Hyper Platinum 6th release Star Wars Trilogy Tournament Championship Edition. Only $449.95, which is a deal considering the Super Hyper Gold 5th release Star Wars Trilogy Tournament Edition was $448.95. You can afford them BOTH!