Well I feel it does follow that if Obi Wan beat Anakin, then that means he was better than Anakin - and if Vader was slowed down as a result of his injuries, so that he was not the same fighter he was as Anakin, then that means Obi Wan was better than Vader - which is definitely not the case.
Which is why I feel, that the explanation of Vader not being such a hot fighter because of his injuries isn't good enough - the fact is Vader did look scary and awesome as a fighter, UNTIL Phantom Menace - which was made in 99, and with better technology and emphasis on the actors looking much better in fight scenes ( Ray Park in any case IS an actor who knows martial arts ) Vader did not look so awesome anymore in comparison - and so the convenient explanation that he was slowed down by injuries etc... the thing is, if the OT was made in the late nineties, they would have made sure that Vader ( as in the case of Maul ) would have been shown to be a fearsome fighter in single combat, much more than what they filmed him 15 years back.
Take a hypothetical situation - say in 10 years they film Ep.7 - and one of the sith lords is a martial artist of the level of Bruce Lee - then Ray Park would appear much slower and ordinary in comparison - and then somebody explains that away by saying that Darth Maul was slow because he did not start his training under Darth Sidious when he was young enough or something like that ... that's basically what we are doing now.
And just because Vader was the apprentice with lines like " I must obey my master " does not neccessarily imply that Palpatine was more powerful ... like Cap. Rex says, Palpatine was the one who taught Anakin the ways of the dark side, set him up with a battle armour that kept him alive etc. - so basically that line is just a case of Vader accepting Palpatine as his guru - it does not neccessarily mean that Palpy's more powerful than Vader - although Vader in the end attacked his master in a surprise move, he DID in the process absorb the evil lightening, and was NOT overwhelmed by it, as was Luke.
Being the "chosen one" suggests that Anakin/Vader had a certain strength with the force that no one else including Darth Sidious or Yoda had.
Dudes, don't you think this poll should be shifted back to the Ep.2/3 forum ? Ain't enough people voting, and I think thats something to do with the fact that this is the ep.4/5/6 forum and most people head straight for the Ep.2/3 forums than for the old stuff.
Count Dooku is a character from Ep.2 and 3 so there shouldn't be a problem.
Vader did NOT look awesome in the originals, he looked slow and cumbersome. That was rather the point.
And why does it follow that Obi-Wan is the more powerful just because he beat Anakin in a sabre fight? As we have already said many times, sabre fighting is not all there is for power.
And Obi-Wan might just have been better on the day. But Vader and the Emperor are still clearly more powerful.
In any case- argue it out with George Lucas, not me. It's his choice.
This thread is as good here as anywhere else.
yeah especially maul
I think vader was only powerful because thats all that there really was in terms of fighting, thanks to him killing all the jedi. The fights looked cool when it was vader vs. luke butt if a prequel era jedi or sith fought vader in his aging form he would be toast especially against someone like maul.
Read the book shadow hunter and youll see why maul is such a badass.
There is NO way that vader would be toast against ANYONE - ageing or otherwise - ( except for his own son ) - like yerss says - for the 10th time - He's the CHOSEN ONE, you MUST see - he WAS made to look badass and overwhelming as a fighter the OT, by Lucas, with whatever resources he had at the time in terms of actors, etc. he may not look quite as deadly now, or fast because TPM was made in the late nineties with much better resources, and Ray Parks who played Darth Maul was a good martial artist, unlike David Prowse - so please don't confuse the actor with the character - Ray Parks would probably kick David Prowse's ass in single combat - but the CHARACTER Darth Vader would and did kick EVERYBODY's ass ( including the granddaddy of them all, Darth Sidious ) - except for his own son - and mostly he did it all in single combat - he's the chosen one with the highest midiclorean count of everyone INCLUDING Yoda - so try to imagine Bruce Lee, think of him as over 7ft tall weighing 250 pounds playing the character of Darth Vader - imagine how insane he would look in single combat then - THAT'S what Darth Vader, the CHARACTER is all about. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee was dead in 1977 - but just you guys wait and see Vader in Ep.3 - I can bet my bottom dollar Lucas is going to hire a huge and deadly fast martial artist, to wear the mask of Vader (and Maul and everyone else are gonna look like Roger Rabbit in comparison) just to put it all in perspective that Vader/Anakin is in a league of his own apart from everyone else.
Right, ok, this is becomog tedious.
Harmax, have that opinion if you want, but officially you are WRONG. GL has spoken on this issue and this CANNOT be denied. Vader IS outclassed by the earlier combatants.
We are going around in circles here. Unless someone has something new to add to this debate I will close this thread.