Hey, Raf, I can see you're a fan, so sorry so slight Star Wars. However, I must take exception to your comment "if you missed Star Wars, what the hell are you doing watching Episode 1??? If you're into Sci-Fi and you don't know Star Wars, erm... eh???"
At the end of the day, epidose 1 is supposed to be the _first_ in the series. Therefore, like any _first_ episode in a series, no prior knowledge should be assumed. If prior knowledge of a later part is needed, then that's just bad writing, which is added to by the sheer number of in-jokes. Imagine, for instance, if LotR had started with part two--that's what episode 1 felt like to that friend of mine...
Many of the details are also inconsistent, even to a person like me, who's not exactly a huge fan. C3PO being built by Vader was just odd (and out of whack with stuff that happens later) while one can only wonder if Lucas made Jar Jar responsible for the entire galactic war after finding out that everyone really hated the character after episode 1!
I dare anyone to find a continuity fault in the two new films.
There are dozens. Just do a Google and you'll find loads of sites talking about this sort of thing.
However, I do agree with your other point: Star Wars always was a kids' film, and essentially a Sunday morning movie for the big screen. What amazes me is how highly people rate the movies. I mean, they're not bad (well, at least Star Wars and Empire), and are fairly entertaining, but that's about all as far as I'm concerned. I suppose they don't really merit dissection.