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I love all the movies of Star Wars. I think TPM and AOTC got 10/10.

But ever since ESB's "No, I am your father" twist came into the saga, it seems George wanted to suprise us again.

Allow me to explain.
At the start of ROTJ, Vader explains the Emperor is coming to the DS. He explains how he's not as forgiving as he is.
I think George wanted to show us that a new bad guy is coming.
We we saw the Emperor, we thought he was defensless...my arse!
He had lightening bolts coming out of him left, right and center. I think that was the suprise of ROTJ. The Emperor's lightening.
But it was taken lightly because it didn't surpass the "No, I am your father" scene.

you make an interesting point there. the emporer, before the PT, was a complete enigma in rotj. before he opened a can of lightning whoopass on luke, the only demonstration of the force was when he released luke's shackles. as far as all his forseeing, that could have been passed off as arrogance, as we all gathered that palps was overconfident from the moment he landed on the DS2. thus the shock when he unleashed the lightning. he seemed to dwarf vader's power at that point and the audienced realised "THATS the all powerful enemy". that shock is now gone, as all the emporer's tricks will have been revealed along with his masterminding. i dont think it ruins the film, but it does take away from the mystery and suspense. "just what power is this guy hiding" will no longer be a thought.

I reckon it would have been better if the Emperor was on the Executor in ESB guiding Vader, just showing how important he is then in ROTJ showing his power.
IMO that would have done the trilogy more justice than it needs already.

see, i dont know about that...the emporer is all powerful, so why should he get off his ass. i think the fact that we see vader running all over the galaxy while palps just sits aloft in his ivory tower illustrated their rolls as master and slave.

Wow, how did I miss this thread? I understand what you are saying Bass, but we've yet to see EP3. Perhaps you'll get your big shocking twist there. Altho, I wouldnt hold your breath.

no, but I would take a ticktack

(adapted quote from Shrek)

But I also reckon RotJ had alot more twists. For exmple, the death of the Empire, Luke and Leia sisters and so on.

that really wasn't terribly surprising considering how we all knew he was powerful through what he was saying.

I doubt that was intended as a surprise.

This old man. He's keeping you hostage for some reason. He has no weapons but you know he someone dangerous. So you try to attack him and his protector comes in the way. You disable his protector and just left with the old man. You wanna kill him but don't because you feel sorry for him...
...All of a sudden the same old man brings out these lightning bolts that zap your arse left right and cantre and really hurt. That's not a surprise?

sounds like a William Wallace to me

i dont know about luke feeling sorry for the emporer...but i agree that it WAS a surprise. anyone who says they were not surprised when they first saw palps zap luke's ass is bullshitting.

but whatever...its not like it kills the scene.

now those who view it for the first time will have a different perspective.
we must remember that luke does not know of force lightning, and although he makes the right choice, he has ignored yoda's plea to NOT underestimate the emporer's power... so imho surprise will be replaced with suspense:

oldschool fans viewing for the first time: HA ...whats that little old freak gonna do now? *ZAP* HOLY SHIT!!!! HE SHOOTS LIGHTNING!!!

new fans: NO LUKE!!! DONT THROW AWAY YOUR SABER!!!! oh boy...he doesnt know does he? *ZAP*

LoL. I agree. When I first saw the rerelease in Cinema in 1997 I was like "That old man. He's just talk What's he going to - holy shit sweet merciful god he shoots lightning"!