the star wars saga....Final Edition (my idea atleast)

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bigsef2
I'm 90 percent sure Episode III will end with Obi-wan apparently killing Anakin. That is the only way we will be as surprised in Episode V when Vader tells Luke that he is his father. In ANH, when Ben tells Luke that Darth Vader murdered Anakin Skywalker, we will know Ben is lying, but anyone watching the saga for the first time will think it is because Ben doesnt want to tell Luke that HE killed his father. In Episode VI, we will find out the real reason Ben lied, and that Anakin became Darth Vader. Ive explained this before in another post in greater detail. We will not see Anakin turn into Vader in Episode III, we will not see him hunt down and destroy the Jedi.

With GL's added footage to the Original Trilogy, I beleive that Episode VI will have EXTENSIVE extra footage at the VERY end. When you think about it, as it stands now, the ending doesnt really tie all 6 movies together. Something more is needed.

I beleive when Anakin is finally redeemed by Luke and dies in the shuttlebay, Lucas will show us Anakin's dying thoughts in the form of a montage of flashbacks. I beleive at this point, we will see scenes from the previous movies, as well as new scenes which answer questions we might have about Anakins life.

We would see shots of him as a slave boy. We would finally see glimses of Anakins murder of the Jedi, possibly a shot of him personally killing Council members such as Mace Windu. We would learn how Padme died (this issue isnt really raised until ROTJ when Luke asks leia what he remembers about her anyways) We would see shots of the pain and suffering Anakin brought to the galaxy so that we will fully grasp the evils he committed, we would see glimpses of the progression of events in the OT, as he is redeemed.

In my mind, this is the best way for Lucas to tie up all the loose ends, as well as make clear the theme the whole 14-hour long movie: Anakin's redemption through his son. The movie could then turn back to Anakin's last breath. The celebration scenes that follow show how the whole galaxy is finally free, and the last shot of Anakin, as he appears by Yoda and Ben, would have even more meaning.

Good idea/Stupid idea?

sand person no. 10
Firstly the films are supposed to be watched ep4-6 and then ep1-3. Secondly i am suspect of lucas adding new scenes to the ot, the special editon was an improvement in part but by adding knew scenes he would be chaning the story. Thirdly, lucas is not known for his use of flashbacks or extended endings, by which i mean stretching the duration of the last film to years. i think we will see vader hunt down the jedi council, they might go and hide in the same place and so killing them would be easy. maybe anakin hunts down the council still as a human and the last person on the council to kill is ob1, but ob1 defeats him and so anakin gains his suit.

Ushgarak
I very much agree with Sand Person here.

Just to comment more on the order in which the films should be watched; obviously, when complete it'll be great to watch episodes I through till VI. HOWEVER, in tbe end, you have to remember that the OT WAS made first, and the new fil;ms are made with the feact that everyone has already seen the originals in mind. TPM was a prequel in the truest sense- it wasn't much good without the OT. If it was truly the first film in a series mit would have been very different.

So keeping such surprises like Vader being Anakin is a bit redundant.

bigsef2
I will agree that Lucas is not known for flash backs, but I have to strongly dissagree with your statement that Lucas intends for the movies to be watched EP4-6, followed by EP1-3. Lucas has said in practically every interview in the past couple years that what he is making is one long "12 hour movie." Its meant to be watched in chronologial order. So the only way we will get to see vaders dastardly deeds in episode III is via a flashback. otherwise, we will just see Anakin do bad things without the Black Mechanical Suit.

Ushgarak
Please read what I just said. SP's comment about the film order IS valid. It doesn't matter that it is just one big movie. The PT is amde with the OT already being known in mind.

bigsef2
i wrote my message before yours showed up. aside from that, you are not considering that someone born now, or 10 years from now, will have all the episodes to watch IN ORDER. 1-6. just because all of US have been watching episodes 4-6 for years and years now, doesnt change the fact that we have watched them out of order. in 100 years, do you think it will matter that 4-6 came out first? no, GL is telling a long, sweeping, epic story to be enjoyed by generations to come.

Ushgarak
That;s not the point, though. You don';t just start a story in the middle for no reason., The whole idea is that we see that we have seen that part of the story. The point of the PT is to show us the events leading up to all this. Trying to keep secrrets from the OT would be a pointless exercise from this angle, regardless of wheteher you have actually watched the OT or not.

Furthermore, it will all be far too obvious, so this idea of keeping it secret makes NO sense. The Vader breathing on the trailers, Anakin's OBVIOUS descent to the Dark Side that is happening... forarmed with this knowledge, the big ESB reveal would be worth nothing. Even if, weirdly, it is NOT revealed that Vader is Anakin in the new films, we will all know that Obi-Wan is lying through his teeth; the chcances of it not being shown anyway are very low.

What with James Earl Jones fairly sure he;'ll be in Ep. III, you;'ll have to do some REAL hard work to convince us that the Vader thing will be kept secret- and soing so credibly will b e near impossible.

So no, I am afraid, That secret is long gone. And the new films are designed to compliment the old ones, not just be set before them.

That';s just the way it is.

bigsef2
You miss the piont again. People 10 years from now will NOT be watching the "breathing" tralier, or any other trailers that make reference to anakin being vader. those trailers are for OUR benefit. Right now, Lucas has the difficult job of making these movies exciting for THIS generation, and not spoiling any surprises for the NEXT generation.

Anakins turn to the dark side is obvioius. Thats why i feel obi-wan will apparently kill him. When we see Episode IV, I beleive we will think Vader is just another Bad-ass sith causing trouble. In Episode V, we will find out he IS anakin and that Anakin DIDNT die in the lava pit or whatever, he was saved by the machinery.

There is a very simple reason Lucas created episode IV first. When he made the movie, he was writing ONE movie. Thats why it was innitially called Star wars. No "Episode IV-A new hope" was part of the title. He had no real thoughts of sequels, let alone prequels. In fact, when he wrote Episode IV, anakin skywalker and darth vader WERE different persons. Only when he wrote Empire Strikes back did he decide to make them the same person.

As far as James Earl Jones saying hell be in episode III, we also must remember that Mark Hamill said he will be in the end of episode IX, and that Samuel L Jackson says Yoda is the Head of the Jedi counsil. They are just actors, and quite frankly, they dont always know whats going on.

Ushgarak
No., YOU are still missing the point. The new movies are so obviously made with Anakin becoming Vader in mind that trying to keep it secret is a pointless and contradictory exercise. AGAIN. it doesn't matter if people further down the line don't see the trailers- the POINT is that they are a tell-tale symptomn of this issue. The breathing would not have been included if the intention was not to blow this thing open.

And you don;t need to tell me that actors aren't always in the know, but there has been a fair amount to siuggest this.

Meanwhile... you are wrong about GL. He has stated TIME AND TIME AND TIME again that he had the sequels in mind when he wrote ANH; in fact, he originally just wrote one big movie then broke it up into three when it was clear it would be too big. The point at which Anakin and Vader seperates is still extremely unclear; we had a thread about it a while back.

And yes, he ALSO had the idea of there being earlier parts; that is why he hinted at such an extensive back story in ANH. And in tbe end, it does not matter when he definitively decided to make this the middle of the story, the point is that he has had it in mind foir a long, LONG time, and the original story was told to reflect this.

No, he started that story mid-way through for two reasons- 1. the earlier galactic conflicts were going to be too large in scale, 2. he really wanted people to start to watch the story from the middle. The impact was better that way.

The PT pretty much lives off the OT; it is pointless without it. And so therefore when you look at it, everyone that happens in it is ALWAYS referenced to the OT already exisiting.

You really do have to look at the fundamental idea behind doing prequels like this. They may be set before the earlier films, but their intention is actually to ADD to them, to round at the story just as much as any sequel would. It was not simply his intent to bolt another six hours onto the front of the story, presumably on the idea that it was incomplete before. That really would be silly, and would make him starting the story in the middle like that a mistake rather than a solid storytelling decision.

So. Noi Vader secret; I'm sorry., And what cannot be denied is thst the whole set-up of the new fil;ms is to show Vader's creation., Even if Anakin is seemingly 'killed' by Obi-Wan, the dramatic effect of the OT will still be lost by the time you come to it. There are SO many things that will give it away! And we will know that Obi-Wan is lying in ANH far too early... and where the heck would we think that Vader comes from, anyway? We would KNOW there is no such pupil of Obi-Wan's as Vader. We KNOW that his only pupil was Anakin himself!

The whole idea is ridiculous. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that you can keep the dramatic reveal of Vader being Anakin if you have watched the prequels first. The secret will be blown in a hundred ways. Once you accept that, you see how it makes far more sense for the prequels to be watched with possible knowledge of the OT already there.

So. No Vader secret. I'm sorry.

peluffo
I think the well known poster of ep1 with the little anakin and his shadow (Vader) just get the answer that the PT is ****NOT MADE*** thinking in keep some secret about anakin becoming Vader.
The fantasy of keep secrets to OT is good but is just that: A FANTASY. It will become evident in PT that Anakin IS Vader.

Ushgarak
Thankyou, Peluffo.

As I say, this does not mean that you should not watch them in order from I-VI. That will be a very interesting experience. But the point remains that the nature of the OT is changed by watching the PT first; they were made afterwards and that is no co-incidence.

bigsef2
If you watch the documentary before the Special Editions, George Lucas clearly states that the movie we now call A New Hope was created as a "stand-alone" movie. He had a vague notion of a backstory, but EVERY movie has a backstory, and the good ones, like ANH, have great, in depth back stories. But 99.9 percent of the time, the backstory is never made into a movie. GL had no idea how widely his movies would be accepted by fans, and until Empire was released, he had no intentions of making Episodes I-III.
The biggest problem with the continuity of the whole star wars series lies in the fact that that A New Hope doesnt really fit in with the other movies. Compared to any of the other movies, its scope is incredibly small. I am basing the majority of my arguments on the idea that Lucas will not make dramatic changes to Episode IV. After watching Episodes I-III, Episode IV will stand out like a sore thumb, and Episodes V and VI, will return to the continuity of the series.

If GL shows Anakin turning into Vader in Episode III, which i doubt if for no other reason than the movie would have to be atleast 3 hours to show everything that he would need to show, without the audience feeling cheated, he would have to make several dramatic changes to the flow of Episode IV. Personally, I feel that would tarnish the movies.

The thing we have to remember is that there is no such thing as an Original Trilogy and a Prequel Trilogy. Its all one 6 Chapter movie. Lucas has changed the scope of the Star Wars Saga before. I have no doubt he will do it again, and I am certain there are some big surprises in store. Until May 25, 2005, I guess we will just have to disagree. But that's the whole point of these forums. I think if alot of us put our heads together, we could get a good idea of what we can expect.

So my idea has pretty much been shot down by 2 people. If anyone would like to agree, please go ahead. If anyone has any better ideas that work with the continuity of the series, I'd love to hear them. 2005 is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way away!!!!!

Ushgarak
Fair enough- though I think you will find the prequels were on his mind for a VERY long time.

Point still is that the whole Vader-secret thing does not work once you have seen the PT, spo theyt may as well go the whole hog and reveal it. And even if they don;t hang a big sign on Hayden's head saying 'I am Vader', the point will still be well seen.

bigsef2
so, ushgarak, when were in the theatres midnight on May 25, 2005, what do you think we will see?

Ushgarak
Well, that's a bugger of a question. It's either:

1. First appearance of Vader
2. Ben's arrivial on Tatooine
3. Padme's death (unlikely).

Actually, screw that, I can think of a dozen others.

We'll need a better idea of where he is actually planning to end things.

Leia_2000
ok I'm not sure if any1 else has already mentioned this, I haven't read all the posts yet, but for people watching the movies in order, the poster alone for episode II gives the Anakin-Vadar thing away: Anakin is holding a RED lightsaber, and red means evil, so people who are watching it in order might put 2 and 2 together. Also, as we see in the trailer, and will see in the movie, Anakin kinda has a tantrum about how obi-wan's holding him back, and how he's going to be the most powerful jedi ever and he's all mad and everything. mad+powerful jedi= vadar, but that one might be more dificult to figure out if u haven't seen episodes 4, 5, and 6. However, in episode 1, yoda says about fear leading to anger, anger leading to hate hate leading to the dark side -so there's another clue smile

Ushgarak
To be fair to bigsef, he has been making the point that people in years to come won't be seeing the trailers and posters and the films have to be judged on their own content; I still say the trailers and posters are symptoms of the attitude taken- that Anakin/Vader is NO secret.

I also remember that we are still not entirely sure if that is a sabre in that poster; it looks a bit odd.

And as for the sabre/colour question...

peluffo
Ive already posted this on some other thread, but I think that in 12 hours movie the real fact will be the EPIC STORY, not the secrecy (we know that Juliette is not really dead at the end, but we still watch movies of ROMEO an JULIETTE)



AHHHHH AND WE KNOW THAT THE TITANIC DID SANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, yeah, but I don't see that movie... no really, I don't!!!!!!

Ushgarak
Oh yeah? Then how did you know it sank...

(Joke, before anyone says...)

peluffo
You got me!!!!!
big grin big grin big grin big grin big grin big grin big grin big grin big grin big grin

bigsef2
HMMM, my idea earlier i think is shot down, if due only to the fact that when vader mentions that ben trained him in their duel, it would give it away. we know ben doesnt have any other apprentices.

And, in thinking of Lucas adding scenes to ANH, i certainly think one with the emperor and Vader discussing the search for the 'son of skywalker' would fit well. Does Vader know that he has a son? I always thought HE did, but just kept Luke a secret from the Emperor, while Ben kept his daughter a secret from him.

Reguardless, I think ANH should have some more scenes with Vader added to it. ESB and ROTJ both have scenes which focus on Vader and his feelings and emotions. ANH doesnt.

DJ Velocity
In my opinion:

from our point of view, seeing the trailers 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3 works best as we are intrigued by Anakin.

However, I agree with bigsef to a degree. In the future, what order are our children/grandchildren going to be watching SW? Will the OT first, PT second work? I don't know, they won't have the anticipation and eagerness that we do. It will just be "an old film thats actually quite good".

Therefore, I think it will be down to preference, so GL will have to be careful how he puts Ep3 together.

yerssot
have to say that with TPM there are a lot of new fans around, so it would be crazy to reveal the biggest surprise...

Ushgarak
Like I keep saying, it doesn't matter in which order you watch them; the point is that from a writing point of view the new films are being made with the old ones in mind. It is IMPOSSIBLE to keep the Vader surprise once you have watched the PT, as bigsef and myself have already commented.

peluffo
If you see the old Simpson's episodes, then you KNOW VADER IS LUKE'S FATHER
So stop thinking there is still some secret to save. Its over


Vox Populi Vox Dei

yerssot
what have the Simpsons to do with anything?
well, you can still hope that it will not be told...

peluffo
homer reveals in loud voice that Vader is luke's father in an episode where he is remembering when Bart born.

BTW there are so much parodies and references about this on tv and paper, that for the secret, GL must wipe out to much tings to keep a secret about OT.

This is a Culture Knowledge. There is no more secrets about it. Game OVER.

yerssot
well, you can't throw everything away, but that all isn't star wars related... how will it be in 30 years? they don't know about the simpsons and stuff

peluffo
THERE WILL NOT BE SIMPSONS IN 30 YEARS?????!!!???
I need a Cicuta.
I can't live anymore without Homer's guidance!!!!!!

yerssot
what I mean is, it's not certain that the Simpsons will be there in 30 years...

Ushgarak
Err... yeah, what do you think he thought you meant, yerss?

yerssot
yerssot+thinking=http://www.themelee.com/smilies/s/cwm/3dlil/sleep.gif

sand person no. 10
it is very unlikely that people are going to find out about vader from a tv show. i'm sure the kids who watched the ptm know that anakin skywalker is going to become Vader.
The vader surprise is what makes sw's what it is and makes the esb the best film of the series (so far). If tpm had been released as the first film i doubt that the other 5 would have been made.

Venom

Ushgarak
A bit much to say we were ALL wrong, I think...

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