I think the funniest thing that keeps getting more and more exaggerated by media, fans, etc, is that the prequels had no sets, no costumes, no practical effects, every alien was cgi, etc.
Basically everything that's been seen or said so far about ep7 could apply to the phantom menace - it shot tatooine on location with real sets, ship props, costumed actors and aliens, etc just like ep7, it had many sets that had little or no blue/green screen as well.
Also believe it or not *gasp* even the three original movies all used blue screen at various times!