Exactly...non-SW people are always asking why the ships and everything in the prequels look better than the ships from 20 years "later".
The reason is that except for the Empire, the galaxy has fallen on hard times.
THe Imperials are the only ones with any real power, money, or access to new technology. When you think about the Naboo ships all streamlined and chrome in epI, and condiser that Naboo was one of the richest planets in the Republic (them and Alderaan), it makes sense. The only planet in the Empire that has the kind of dollars that Naboo had in TOS is Imperial Coruscant, and the EU stories made it clear that outside the Imperial Palace, Coruscant was like New Orleans and Kowloon all rolled into one. No wonder most of the ships and weapons we see in TOC look like tossed-together junk. THe Empire had a stranglehold on the money and the manufacturing. The first thing a dictator does is disarm the populace, then instill enough poverty to make revolution economically difficult...but not so much poverty that revolution becomes mandatory.
Wow...that was long. I'll shut up now.