You can't put two armies together in battle and tell them to stop because film esthetics demand it.
Seems to me like CelticP's point is, AOTC could have
not shown any of the battle, outside of what Anakin/Obi-Wan/Padme are experiencing.
He's saying that when a bunch of clonetroopers drop out of a gunship and start running across the dessert shooting at the droids, since the main characters are somewhere else, the scene is no longer relevant.
I agree to a point, but at the same time, this is more than a battle. It's the beginning of a war that will canonically shape the fate of the entire Star Wars galaxy.
You could consider it an "establishing shot," for the Clone War itself. It's important to see. Just as you'd need an establishing shot when introducing a new character, you need one when introducing a major ongoing event.
The relevance to the main characters is that it
changes their entire world from then on. The battle itself is a direct result of Palpatine's actions anyway. So just because it breaks the rules you were taught does
not mean it shouldn't have been there, you just have to look at it differently.
And also, some people actually
like to watch massive armies fight each other and blow stuff up.
ANYWAY, to keep this post relevant to the actual topic of the thread, I'll say that Gary Kurtz does seem a little overly bitter about Star Wars/Lucas, but I agree that Lucas just wants to wipe his arse with as much money as possible.
I don't think there's any relevance between decisions about character death and the toy sales of said character. Han dying in a meaningful way might make him
more popular in toy sales, so kids can re-enact his tragic death. I think the decision was made by Lucas regardless of toy sales.
Also, Star Wars
is Lucas's sandbox, but he's charging
us to play in it. And he only built the box. He had other people fill it up with sand for him.
I dont have time. 
I disagree about your disagreement.
