Did Anakin fulfill the prophecy and bring balance to the force?

The better question is was it all a massive meta-joke.

Because Episode 1 was really not that bad, but there was this prophecy that the Anakin character would frick shite up. And then Hayden Christensen was so terrible that ruined the rest of the movies.

I read an interesting take on this question somewhere that I really quite like, although it does depend on Lucas thinking years ahead when he made the OT, which is questionable at best. But, anyway, this theory says that although the Jedi obviously think they are the good guys, in their own way they are just as misguided as the Sith. They demand unreasonable discipline and self-abnegation from their own members, and despite their claims, they deal in absolutes even more than the Sith do (dark side always bad, anger always bad, etc.). They also believe themselves to be high-minded advocates of peace, but in practice they are just as violent as the Sith are. The balance that they believed Anakin would bring was to destroy the Sith and leave the Jedi triumphant, which of course would not be balance at all. Instead, he ended up bringing balance to the Force by killing both the Sith and all the Jedi save one: his son, Luke. Luke, meanwhile, though trained in the Jedi way by Yoda, quite obviously uses the dark side to defeat his father in the throne room (as symbolized by his wearing black throughout RotJ), but while he uses it he is not consumed by it. At the end of RotJ, Luke is the sole Force-wielder remaining in the galaxy, and he understands that the power of all the Force is available to him, not just one side or the other. Balance has been achieved.

Of course, now with the sequels and Snoke, who knows how he will fit into all this.

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Episode I is unquestionably the worst Star Wars film

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No its not. There's definitely questionability there.

Of course I was 11 when it came out, but I dragged my parents to the theater about 5 times and had the posters on my walls.

I loved that movie when I was a kid. And in not ashamed to say so.

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No its not. There's definitely questionability there.

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All the other films at least have a protagonist.

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Not a good script, no, but Lucas ruined Phantom Menace by casting such a young actor as Anakin. The script clearly intended for Anakin to be around 16. If he were, everything would make sense - the "meet cute" with Padme, his advanced skill with pod racers and robotics, the Council saying he was too old to begin Jedi training - but it's like after the script was written and everything was in place, Lucas suddenly realized a younger Anakin would be more marketable to younger viewers, and so he picked a little kid, but didn't change anything else about the movie.

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There's a lot of truth in this. And you know who was 16 around the time of filming and release?

Adam Driver
Dan Stevens
Chris Hemsworth
Henry Cavill
Andrew Garfield
Sebastian Stan
Matt Smith
Charlie Cox
Tom Hiddleston
Chris Evans
Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Oh, and Hayden Christensen I guess.

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Because Episode 1 was really not that bad,


Episode I is unquestionably the worst Star Wars film and one of the worst scripts ever written.

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My brother-in-law said he watched an edited version, with all the cutesy Jar Jar and Annie stuff cut out. He said it was pretty good, and I believe him.

The CGI is great and the basic storyline is ok; it's the bizarre and awkward forcing in of silly kindergarten elements that kills it. Annie, Jar Jar, the way the Trade Federation leaders and battle droids talked.

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Nope. You just described Episode II

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Episode II is bad. The dialogue is horrendous. Yet, Episode II has a place in the overall series. The events of Episode II actually matter. It has a plot. It had a protagonist. It has an antoginst that has depth greater than a sheet of loose leaf. None of this is true for Episode I. If we could somehow magically wipe away Episode I from our collective memories, the overall story of Star Wars is still 100% complete.