What Lucas says & what Filoni says...
... on Luke confronting Vader in Return of the Jedi:
George says:
Yoda and Ben tell Luke that he needs to confront Vader. They hope he can save him, but if it comes to it, he needs to be ready to kill him because Vader likely won't stop trying to end Luke's life.
Dave says:
Obi-Wan and Yoda tell him to destroy Vader, they don't show interest in saving him.
In Dave's defense, he admits he didn't talk to George about it (and does so again in this interview) and is only basing this off of what the Original Trilogy shows... then again, just as we're never shown Ben and Yoda tell Luke to give Vader a compassionate speech, they're also never shown telling Luke to destroy Vader, so...
... on Anakin's fall to the Dark Side:
George Lucas says:
It was entirely on Anakin. He loveth too much, too possessively. Anakin's inability to let go of his attachment for Padmé, of his greed, of his need for power are what made him go from being a good man to a bad one.
Dave says:
Anakin's inability to let go caused his downfall... but is his way of loving really that wrong or bad? Maybe the reason he fell is because the Jedi were so dispassionate that they didn't give him the support he needed.
... on the Jedi's compassion:
George Lucas says:
All Jedi are compassionate. Period. They all know the difference between loving possessively and loving selflessly, it's standard Jedi philosophy.
Also, in general, he barely ever makes a distinction between the Jedi seen in the Prequels and those in the Original Trilogy except when talking about lightsaber fights.
Dave Filoni says:
The Prequel Jedi should be compassionate but they're not because they've lost their way, except for Qui-Gon who is the only one that knows you can love someone without getting possessive.
... on the Jedi's involvement in the Clone War:
Lucas says:
By being drafted/forced/used to join the war by the Senate/Palpatine, the Jedi lose their way and become corrupted. But the thing is, it's a conundrum. Sometimes you need to stand up for what is right and fight.
Filoni says:
By joining the war, the corrupt Jedi lose their way. Their involvement in the war resulted in nothing but violence.
Worth noting that, in a couple of other quotes, Dave also acknowledges Palpatine is in the background, orchestrating a lot of this stuff and he acknowledges that the Jedi aren't particularly happy with their role in the War... but he never says that Palpatine and the Senate drafted them. Which, ultimately, shifts the blame for their involvement.
As such, the message goes from
- the Jedi being "victims who were forced to choose between letting everybody die or compromising on their morals" to
- them being "arrogant morons who joined the war thinking they'd win and brought about their own destruction".
... on the state of the Republic, in the Prequels:
George says:
During the Prequels, the Republic is dying and Palpatine is killing it by orchestrating a war and taking over the Senate. People like Padmé and the Jedi have faith it can be saved, if they can just get everyone to stop fighting and listen. When Palpatine becomes Emperor, that's when it dies: with thunderous applause.
Dave says:
Once again, doesn't disagree with the facts... but says the Republic is pretty much already dead, it has already fallen and the Jedi and Padmé just don't see it because Sidious is deceiving them.
Dooku and Maul have the right idea, apparently:
Just a few differences here and there I think we all noticed, y'know?
Like, overall, I feel like Filoni gets the plot. Hell, something I didn't post here (because there's just so many examples it'd double the length of this post) is how similar his commentary on how the Force works is to George's.
So he gets the story and the themes and the lore, he acknowledges the intent... but then has an altered takeaway, one that doesn't hold the Jedi in the Prequels in very high regard.
It feels like he doesn't miss an opportunity to take a stab at 'em in favor of Qui-Gon or Ahsoka.
My guess is that there's gotta be some bias against the Prequel Jedi, who, for many, come across as "holier than thou" and unlikeable.
And if that's the case, Filoni would not be the only one who has this bias. It's a very popular read of the Prequels, just take a look at comment threads on Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.
For years after the OT, the Jedi were thought to be these wandering Knights of the Round Table who go on swashbuckling adventures like Luke, and were instead revealed to be diplomat space monks who sit in a circle.
Those who didn't like it could either add this to the list of reasons to hate the Prequels or try to see the Prequels through a prism that justified it the audience's new dislike for the Jedi and the midi-chlorians etc.
“[Jedi "measuring the Force" with midi-chlorians] is meant to be a plot point. The Jedi have their temple in a major metropolis, and care more about the inner political machinations than their own spiritual growth—they’re measuring things on science, and kidnapping children at the age of two to be Jedi—this dogmatic approach to spirituality is something Lucas wanted to highlight, because he’s saying the Jedi are flawed.
This isn’t Good Guys versus Bad Guys—again, this is meant to be Vietnam in space, and we’re seeing the seeds of that highlighted here, to be explored later.”
- Peter Holmstrom, cohost, The Rebel & the Rogue podcast
But the fact is, if you read everything George Lucas was saying... it's clear the Jedi weren't meant to be criticized by the Prequel's narrative. They - and Padmé and Bail and the concept of midi-chlorians - embody the themes George was trying to get across and Anakin and the Separatists embody the anti-theme.
Every principle that George believes in (being selfless, helping others, loving without getting attached, living on compassion, fighting for what is right, living in symbiosis with other living beings) is personified by the Jedi. If they were intentionally written as flawed and corrupt, it wouldn't make sense.
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