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In the Rolling Stones article I found here on the boards, Lucas makes reference several times to his decision to create Star Wars. Specifically, he says he wanted to make a children's film.

A children's film.

It's important to remember that this article came out before the real "Star Wars: Reflecting on a Saga" type of interviews began to come out. In this article, "Wookiee" still sounds funny to the readers. So Lucas hadn't yet gone along with all the metaphor and interpretation that other people would push on his series.

By his own, uninfluenced words, he wanted to make a children's film

Looking at it from that light, it makes sense why Lucas has had such conflict with the fan community. He set out to make a popcorn kiddy flick and he fell into one of the only true American myths.

The thing is, as the creator, Lucas can't see it as anything but "the kiddy flick that made good". So imagine his horror when he hands it over to Irvin Kirschner (a fan from the outside, not an original collaborator) and it becomes a moving character piece in Empire Strikes Back. Fans will remember Lucas tearing his hair out in frustration.

When he gets new director Richard Marquand for Return of the Jedi, he doesn't release his hold quite as much: hence we have Ewoks and little fluffy bits of merchandising love.

A children's movie.

And now, with the ideas stewing alone in his own mind for twenty-plus years: we have the prequels.

Children' s movies.

I think fans were confused by his intentions because Star Wars: A New Hope is so pure, it could go either way. That could be a Saturday morning serial with unintended depth behind it, or it could be the work of a powerful myth-maker with a love for purely visual excitement.

That may be the cause of the "Prequel Hate" today: a giant misunderstanding. For the fans, Empire was a brilliant second stroke and Jedi was a sell-out sequel. For Lucas, it may be that Jedi was the real intention and Empire was, simply, a mistake.

Scary thought, huh?