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In ROTS & the DVD of ESB, the emperor looks brooder & has a bit of a doubble chin, but in ROTJ, he looks much slimmer. He looks almost like a skeleten. He does lookd different. Why is this? I know the reason probably kis because ROTJ was filmmed earlyer, so Ian McDermad was younger, but what is the reason in the story of star wars? Is there a reason why he looks different?

1. he is older
2. The ROTS mask sucks.

Originally posted by queeq
1. he is older
2. The ROTS mask sucks. Yeah, he's older, but if it was that reason, would he look like that in ESB too? The DVD I'm talking about.

I refer to my point 2... I think that is the same mask.

Originally posted by queeq
I refer to my point 2... I think that is the same mask. You mean ESB mask is the same as ROTS? I agree, but I'm nmot talking about the explanation in the making. I'm talking about the star wars story. Is there a reason why he loooks exactly the same as he does in sith, in empire, but in Jedi, he looks different? Is there no reason? It's a pitty they coukdn't make the emperor in empire to somehow lookk more the way he did in ROTJ.

I don't think there is. This is a maker thing. Either Lucas didn't care for the similarity, or more likely he never liked the ROTJ make up and decided for something else. Making the ROTJ make up the odd one out... which is silly, cause I think the ROTJ make up look much better.

Originally posted by queeq
Making the ROTJ make up the odd one out... which is silly, cause I think the ROTJ make up look much better.

I disagree on that myself, I always thought the ROTJ make-up for the Emperor was a bit half-hearted, creepy but not overly scary. When I saw the damage he took in ROTS the combination of the make-up and the bristling, snarling attitude McDiarmid brought to the role when unmasked was a lot more scary. It was maybe overdone a bit , I agree the ROTJ make-up was more subtle.

It's funny when you go for so long without knowing why a character looks like that. Before the prequels I wouldn't have guessed he got the messed up face the way he did, I thought that it was just a physical manifestation of his hatred that twisted his features.

Originally posted by Lord Shadow Z
I disagree on that myself, I always thought the ROTJ make-up for the Emperor was a bit half-hearted, creepy but not overly scary. When I saw the damage he took in ROTS the combination of the make-up and the bristling, snarling attitude McDiarmid brought to the role when unmasked was a lot more scary. It was maybe overdone a bit , I agree the ROTJ make-up was more subtle.

It's funny when you go for so long without knowing why a character looks like that. Before the prequels I wouldn't have guessed he got the messed up face the way he did, I thought that it was just a physical manifestation of his hatred that twisted his features.
Before I saw the prequels, I just thought that he looked that way, because he wasn't human. He was just an alian, an aleans are often ugly. I now know that he was human & it was force lighting that made him look ugly.

Yup.

Originally posted by C-3POTheClever
Before I saw the prequels, I just thought that he looked that way, because he wasn't human. He was just an alian, an aleans are often ugly. I now know that he was human & it was force lighting that made him look ugly.

That's another way to have looked at it, kind of like Maul and whether the tattoos was just his skin or actual inked designs. The question now is which is better, the mystery or the truth?

This debate is taking place in three threads now...

The difference in the Emperors voice between Empire and Jedi always sticks out more than the facial difference does. Check it out, in ESB he sounds like he should be narrating The Outer Limits or something, then in ROTJ, he sounds like the Emperor we all know.

I thought it was explained he was deformed by Mace Windu due to deflecting his own lightning back at him. Could of sworn he mentioned they deformed him. That with age = old ugly man.

Originally posted by SevenShackles
I thought it was explained he was deformed by Mace Windu due to deflecting his own lightning back at him. Could of sworn he mentioned they deformed him. That with age = old ugly man.
I wasn't talking about him being deformed. I was talking about the fact that his voice had changed.

Ahhh his voice. Yeah I assumed it was age. Beyond that it's desicions made by Lucas. I'd imagine palpatine addressing those who still looked to him as such and not a sith lord with the voice from the origonal trilogy might have been problematic beyond any sympathy it might of generated for him. Sounded less diabolical and more agreeable until he had a few years into his reign where he could let his hair down and be a creepy old man.

Originally posted by SevenShackles
Ahhh his voice. Yeah I assumed it was age. Beyond that it's desicions made by Lucas. I'd imagine palpatine addressing those who still looked to him as such and not a sith lord with the voice from the origonal trilogy might have been problematic beyond any sympathy it might of generated for him. Sounded less diabolical and more agreeable until he had a few years into his reign where he could let his hair down and be a creepy old man. Oh.. Hang on! I thought this was a different thread that I posted. Sorry.. I did mean that he looked different in this thread, but I didn't mean why did he look different in ROTS. I meant why did he look different in TESB to the way he did in ROTJ. That reason wasn't bcause he was deformed by Mace, because this was a long time after. I don't think there is really an explanation when it comes to the story of Star Wars.

Special Effects if you want the obvious explanation. His aging and stress of running a massive galactic empire also were a major contribution.