I don't hate the prequel trilogy as individual movies, as a set of SF sfx extravaganzas they were at least competent, but it never really fit into Star Wars as a myth and story the way the new movie does. And I really wanted it to be an epic story about how the Jedi Order fell through its own deterioration and failures, and a lot of the PT expanded universe stuff has been trying really hard to make that happen, but the movies themselves never seemed to be willing to commit to the idea that the Jedi Order was the problem, so for me it never did quite manage to do what it needed to do.

(Also the characterization and design were a mess, even if you don't worry about trying to make it mesh with the OT, but that's almost beside the point.)

But then I never accepted that the re-release of the OT was the real Star Wars either. :P