The Fan Crusade to Save Star Wars: The Clone Wars Succeeded.

...a belief that the creators of Star Wars owe something to the fans...

They do. They owe a huge debt of gratitude to fans for the franchise's existence. Back when the original came out, it was just another trendy little movie that had to sink or swim on the approval of fans. It might have sunk and been a one-shot wonder. It swam. In fact, it won a gold medal in all swimming events thanks to the fans who saw it multiple times and spread the word that it wasn't just another trendy little film that would disappear in time, thereby getting more people to see it and become fans. Fans aren't the only reason for the series' continued favor, of course, the writers, directors, producers, actors, special effects folk, all of the production crews, have their hand in it, but their work wouldn't go very far if audiences reject it. Think of The Room, a gawdawful movie that has a cult following because it's so bad it's good on some level. If it were so mediocre that it was bland, no fans would prop it up.

Redoing The Last Jedi would be difficult due to the death of Carrie Fischer. I'd suggest allowing her to die in the void of space rather than having Leia Poppins, causing some deep issues for Kylo Ren, who obviously didn't want to pull the trigger. That could explain more about his turn on Snoke toward the end - he didn't want his mother to die and blames Snoke. Another change I'd recommend if anyone asks is, have the Luke disappearing scene before, not after, his battle with Kylo Ren. That would allow for the return of the character in Episode IX.

We must hang out in different parts of the internet. I didn't hear anyone complaining about females being in leadership positions. I heard (well, read, I don't have or need a screen reader) people complain that Holdo was an unnecessary character and that her part should have gone to Admiral Akbar, who had been a part of the world since the original trilogy. A few also mentioned that her purple hair was a dog whistle to feminists, proving that the franchise was going a social justice direction. Most people I hang with, both online and in real life, know that there have always been powerful female characters in Star Wars, the prime example being Princess Leia. Oddly, I did hear, going into this last trilogy, that there were no powerful females in Star Wars and that they needed them.

I don't think anyone I talked to online complained about Rey until TLJ when, in many people's opinions, she became a Mary Sue. Some did complain that she knew how to fly the Millennium Falcon too easily but I figured she was a scavenger with dreams of the stars so of course she could fly a number of types of craft; another complaint was that she was able to fight Kylo Ren and win when she'd never wielded a light sabre before. I figured it was the Force taking over in a desperate situation. Comparing Rey's instruction with Luke's in the original trilogy, she did become a Mary Sue. It took Luke two movies to become a full Jedi; Rey had three lessons, per Luke, and the third was not shown.

Rose. The huge part of dislike came from that whole casino planet side plot that took too much time, plus liberating a bunch of creatures and not children when she had been one of those children at some point. Another bone of contention was that she derailed Finn's run at the blasting machine (whatever it was) because of 'lurve.' We save the ones we love. That was exactly what he was trying to do, sacrificing himself in the process true, but it was all about saving people he cared for. Her action quite possibly cost the lives of others when his action would have cost only one life. I like the Finn character so I'm glad he survived, but this was a counter-productive save, IMO.

The Rose character could have been done much better. Not played better, I totally believed Kelly Marie Tran in the role, she did very well with what she'd been given. The problem is what she'd been given. And do we need to say that her connection to her sister was very veiled? That could have been fleshed out a little more instead of going to a casino planet. The only clue there was the necklace, too subtle since they didn't cut straight to Rose's half of it. And how about those bombers? Oy! Gravity doesn't work that way in space.

Poor writing. Subversive plot development that totally dissed the fans without giving them something new to admire and enjoy. Holdo not informing Po of her plans when, at that point, with the entire bridge crew lost to space, he was one of the highest-ranking folks there, made no sense, and her smarmy refusal to tell him anything, leading to that whole stupid subplot of the casino planet that ultimately went nowhere, was terrible writing. Laura Dern is a good actress. She deserved better for her role.

It did appear that the new females were there just to push an agenda. An agenda-driven story is almost never a good story when in the hands of someone who isn't Virginia Woolf. IMO, the writing was sophomoric.

I saw a video about Lucas's plans for the third trilogy. Apparently, there are things in the universe, called 'Whills', that command the Force. They also feed on it. The last trilogy was supposed to be about them. Here's the video, 10:53:

JarJar. Ugh! Yes, a decidedly hated character. Probably because he-sa was too-sa annoying. I had some trouble believing that he could rise to a high rank because he was so silly, even compared to his fellow whatever-they-ares. I agree that people can get too obnoxious with their objections, especially on the internet.

I read that first book, loved it, don't remember much about it since it's been forty years since I read it.

I liked the blind monk. Like Obi-Wan and Yoda, he went into hiding, showing that there's a trend going on as the Dark Side takes control. I expect that, in a world (said in Epic Voice, of course) where Jedi are ascendant, Sith go into hiding. It flips the scenario. I like that a lot.