5. The Previous Star Wars Films
Now some fans are going to cry foul of this inclusion on the list. Before you do, know that I spent a lot of time of time deliberating if Lucas was ripping off or simply referencing his back catalogue and the sheer weight of it all leads me to conclude it was the former. The prequels are full of references to the originals, with characters returning for little reason and unnecessary recurring themes. It'd be easy to level this as a way to bring the focus on merchandising, but it really goes beyond that. In this case, Lucas is actively trying to capture his earlier success in the least creative way possible. Take The Phantom Menace's finale. There's a space skirmish that mimics Episode IV, a primitive vs. technology land battle straight out of Episode VI and a modern update of the much loved lightsaber duels. So much of the prequels are structured to remind audiences of what's come before, but these moments just come off as plain rip offs.