As far as Abrams, well I loved the Star Trek reboot, but it's not very compatible with the original series. Which It wasn't supposed to be. Same thing will happen to Star Wars. The only good thing is hard core SW fans are used to writers playin in Lucas's backyard. With Lucas's permission and with no lawsuits to boot. Except Luke Campball and the 2 Live Crew.
I've excepted the reality along time ago, that Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy would never see the big screen. Besides reading the book gives the reader control.. Star Wars was inspired from Lucas's Love of Flash Gordon. It's there, especially in the prequels. I'm not one of these guys that Bash Lucas for changes and get pissed off cause he ruined my childhood fantasies. It's His baby, I love when Directors give their films a final cut. In the case of SW, we got a work in progress, which is even better. Hate the prequels because the movies sucked, not because of your preconceived delusions.
If I had changed one thing, Just one thing. I would've paid Paul Walker (not a Fast&Furious fan) whatever he wanted to be Anakin Skywalker. That would have been Bad Ass.