Another observation is that Darth Vader isn't just as über-evil as I originally saw him, but you really have some sort of compassion for him, knowing who's really behind that mask and what brought him there.
Though the "old" trilogy still didn't take itself as serious as the new movies do, though it may just be a personal opinion.
As a funny side-note, the Magical Mystery Wonder Button Amidala uses in her Nubian in AotC to first patch the call from Obi-Wan through to Coruscant, and then directly afterwards to start? They use the same button in the Nubian in RotS. Did miss that earlier. Was a funny moment in our little group (apart from the numerous bottomless pits of doom)
